The Doctrine of the Word of God

We have just finished our study of the Gospel of John in which the Word incarnate is proclaimed and a revival in which our conformity to the Word was examined. I think it would be a good time for a brief overview of how we should view the Word of God. That relationship is outlined in the doctrines related to the Word of God. See the Systematic Theology by Grudem for more information on these topics. The outline used here is based on Grudem.

First we’ll look at the forms that the Word of God takes. Then we’ll look at the characteristics of Scripture as 1) authority, 2) clarity, 3) necessity, and 4) sufficiency.

Forms of the Word:

The Word of God as the Person, Jesus Christ:
Having just finished the Gospel of John this one should seem pretty natural. However, this usage isn’t very common in Scripture. We find this in John 1 and Revelation 19.


Revelation 19:13-16
He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.


The Word of God as Speech by God:
God’s Decrees – for example, Genesis 1:3 which reads “And God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.“ This is the powerful creative Word of God.


God’s Words of Personal Address – God has at times spoken with people on earth. For example, Adam and Moses. In Matthew 3:17, God said “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” and it was heard by those surrounding Jesus at the time.

God’s Words as Speech Through People – True prophets deliver God’s words. For example in Deuteronomy 18:18 God tells Moses, “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brethren; and I will put my words in his mouth and he shall speak to them all that I command him.


God’s Words in Written Form (the Bible) – This is the form of God’s Word which is most familiar to us. We often don’t value it as highly as we ought to because it is so familiar to us. Sometimes we think that if God would speak to us or through us then we’d find obedience to be easier but Scripture shows us that isn’t true. Many folks failed like us even after a direct word from God. Jonah is a great example. To say that if God would speak to me directly then I would obey is to fail to see the value and authority of the written Word of God.

The Authority of Scripture:

The authority of Scripture means that all the words in Scripture are God’s words in such a way that to disbelieve or disobey any word of Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God.

All the Words in Scripture are God’s Words

This is what the Bible claims for itself. Very often in the Old Testament the words of a man were preceded by “Thus saith the Lord” and if the prophet was wrong then he was a false prophet. This is not to say that all the words of the Old Testament were what God was saying because some portions are historic or poetic. However, remember that “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness” 2 Timothy 3:16. All means all and Scripture is a word that explicitly means Old Testament. The New Testament writers claim and recognize the same authority for the work of the Holy Spirit through them.


The Holy Spirit uses Scripture in our lives to correct us. As an editor, I am accustomed to coming to a work with a hard look of criticism. However, Scripture comes at me with a hard look of criticism. I take note of the historical accuracy and the remarkable internal consistency of a multi-authored document but in the end it is the Holy Spirit that “proves” the Word and convicts my heart.


To Disbelieve or Disobey Any Word of Scripture is Sin

We must understand Scripture correctly but we can’t start from the point of view that rejects the command and then justifies disobedience. If you disbelieve and disobey and you are a Christian then God will discipline you and correct you via the Church or via His work in your life. God will not let you get away with distorting His “prescriptive commands” forever. I’ve seen people do this because they didn’t like God’s commands. It is ultimately rebellion and treason but we are great at justifying our sin.

Scripture is Truth

God can’t lie so you can come to Scripture for truth. God can’t lie because it is contrary to His nature. It isn’t possible for God to lie. So God has kept Scripture true and without error for us. He has done this through all the noise and confusion of history. Psalm 12:6 says that, “The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.” Just a few weeks ago we read Jesus’ prayer for us in which He says, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17) and He didn’t say Your Word was like truth but rather He said Your Word is truth.

Written Scripture is our Final Authority

Paul said that the written Scripture was “God-breathed”. People with an agenda will start to argue about what Jesus meant rather than what is written or what Paul meant or was thinking in contrast to what is written. It the written form that is our authority. The authority of Scripture means that all the words in Scripture are God’s words in such a way that to disbelieve or disobey any word of Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God.

The Clarity of Scripture

The clarity of Scripture means that the Bible is written in such a way that its teachings are able to be understood by all who will read it seeking God’s help and being willing to follow it. Once we have stated this, however, we must also recognize that many people, even God’s people, do in fact misunderstand Scripture.

The Bible Frequently Affirms its Clarity


The testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple (Psalm 19:7). Not everything in Scripture is easy but the big points are clear and are easily understood. Some things are more difficult to understand (2 Peter 3:15-16) but they are not impossible to understand. Scripture even commands that we should teach our children constantly about God’s laws (Deuteronomy 6:6-7).


The Moral and Spiritual Qualities Needed for Right Understanding


The ability to understand Scripture is more a product of a moral and spiritual attitude than an intellectual ability. Those who are unspiritual don’t receive the things of the Spirit of God. So the New Testament says that it is clearly written but that it will not be understood by those who are unwilling to receive its teachings. However, when the Holy Spirit is at work, an unsaved person seeking salvation will understand and a believer with God’s help can understand (1 Corinthians 2:14; 1:18-25; James 1:5-6, 22-25).


Why Do People Misunderstand?


The short answer is Sin but it is a difficult question. All believers will not agree on all the teachings of Scripture. Hermeneutics is the methodology of developing sound methods of interpretation. The practice is exegesis in which you explain what a verse means. History tells us that interpretation will not always be in agreement but this also tells us that it is not wise to be ignorant of our history. Just as God always had a people from Genesis through Acts, He has always had a people from Acts to our day. Historical conflicts and controversy have shaped and focused our understanding of Scripture … or they will if we pay attention.

The Necessity of Scripture

The necessity of Scripture means that the Bible is necessary for knowing the gospel, for maintaining spiritual life, and for knowing God’s will, but is not necessary for knowing that God exists or for knowing something about God’s character and moral laws.


Knowledge of the Gospel


Romans 10:13-17 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.


The “hearing” is a product of the Word enlivening the spoken Gospel that comes via preaching. There are not spontaneous regenerations. Regeneration occurs in response to the Word as the Holy Spirit works. The Holy Spirit may drive someone to a place in which they can hear the Word - but salvation comes via “hearing” the Word of God.


Maintaining Spiritual Life

How lightly we take the Bible. Jesus says that “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” and yet we fast the Word rather than fast our food to devote ourselves to the Word. At our own risk and those in the Body of Christ around us we suppress our hunger for the word with the bulk filler of the world which doesn’t nourish or even satisfy and also with the things of the enemy of our souls that poison and pervert the natural hunger for spiritual milk (1 Peter 2:2).


Certain Knowledge of God’s Will


We can’t guess all things that God finds pleasing. The moral law is explained in Scripture but we do tend to add to it or subtract from it as seems pleasing to us. We have a certain inherent familiarity with the moral law even before salvation (Romans 1 and 2) and that seems to lead us to make up our own. This is naturally forbidden by God in Deuteronomy 4:2 but we sure do need reminding. God gives Scripture so that we can know what His will is and to restrain us from our own devices.


The Bible is Not Necessary for Knowing That God Exists.


This is spelled out in the first chapter of Romans. Paul teaches that creation gives evidence of God’s existence and character so plainly that even evil men see it. This revelation is not sufficient to bring salvation although the Holy Spirit may use it to move hearts prior to salvation.

The sufficiency of Scripture means that Scripture contained all the words of God he intended his people to have at each stage of redemptive history, and that it now contains everything we need God to tell us for salvation, for trusting him perfectly, and for obeying him perfectly.

We Look for God’s Word and Answers in Scripture

We can find what God requires of us and needs for us to know on every topic necessary for our life in submission to Him. We don’t error on the side of Roman Catholic theologians who insist that Church tradition and history add to God’s word. We reject that notion. We agree that history may help understand God’s Word but it never adds to it or subtracts from it. We also don’t error on the side of liberal theologians who view Scripture as just one of many religious books.


Scripture Accumulated Over Time in Accord with God’s Sovereign Will


God’s people have had exactly what God wanted them to have at each point in history. His revelation at each point was not exhaustive but it was sufficient and He repeatedly warned against adding to it or subtracting from it.


Practical Application of the Sufficiency of Scripture


This doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture should drive our passion for the Word of God. If you internalize the fact that God has given you exactly what He wanted you to have then you’ll value Scripture correctly. You’ll realize that what God wants He has provided in written form. All that you need to understand your salvation and communicate it to others is found in Scripture.


Now I want to use a video. I don’t do this very often but this video shows the correct response to the Word of God. These are a people named the Kimyal. At one point they were not believers. These guys are from the Indonesian part of New Guinea and they have called upon the name of the Lord. They had never heard the Gospel but someone was sent to them, learned their language, and preached to them. This video shows a people who know far better than we do “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” Their faith came by hearing as the Holy Spirit changed hearts and created this response to the arrival of Word of God for the first time in their language. This is what revival looks like.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9dpmp_-TY0










The Sufficiency of Scripture

John’s Gospel – Lesson 28

Last week we read the portions of the Gospel of John that covered the resurrection. This week we’ll finish the Gospel of John and start by discussing the first command that Jesus gives after the resurrection that indicates the purpose of the disciples. At the time of the command, it is likely that only the ten disciples were present with Judas dead and Thomas gone for some reason.

John 20:19-23
On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”


The peace produced by confidence in the sovereignty of God over history is an important fruit of the Spirit. We need this and these disciples needed it. We need to know to our core that God is in control.


Jesus gives a command to the disciples and in effect makes them Apostles. These guys were charged with the continued care of Jesus’ Church here on earth. They filled a special role in all of history.


What they needed to fulfill this command was immediately given to them as Jesus provided the Holy Spirit. Remember that Jesus was in perfect submission to God the Father and the Holy Spirit as He lived out a perfect life on earth and now we see the Holy Spirit being sent from the Father and the Son to us for our benefit. This also foreshadows Pentecost but these disciples needed the Holy Spirit to direct the Church and prepare for Pentecost.


John 20:24-29
Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”
     Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”


Thomas was a little hard headed but that is OK. He wasn’t the most optimistic disciple but God can use anyone He wants to use. Jesus gave Thomas what he wanted and Thomas affirms the deity of Christ. The word used for Lord here was also used in the Old Testament translation into Greek (the Septuagint) for Yahweh and God is God. The belief of Thomas was affirmed by Jesus. This recognition of Jesus as God incarnate is one of the non-negotiable beliefs of Christians in all ages and in fact it is often one of the truths abandoned by cults. As a result, it is actually a useful diagnostic.


John 20:30-31
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.


I like seeing myself and those like me in Scripture. Here we are in Scripture. This revelation is not all inclusive but it is sufficient for what I need to know. I believe in His name and I have life in His name. In fact, I’m blessed because Jesus said that I’m blessed because I “have not seen and yet have believed.”


John 21:1-3
After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way. Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.


This was prior to Pentecost and the way in which the Church would be built wasn’t completely clear. This sounds like they had some time and Peter wanted to do something that he knew how to do. So they seven went out and fished all night without catching anything. Peter knew how to fish but that doesn’t always involve fish as anyone who has fished long enough realizes. We get a picture here of activity without the Holy Spirit too. We are completely dependent on the Holy Spirit as we minister. If we forget then God will remind us of that.


John 21:4-8
Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” They answered him, “No.” He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea. The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off.


John recognized that what had happened was the product of the Lord’s command. They didn’t just get lucky. Peter swam ashore while the other guys moved the net to shore. Every time you eat tilapia I want you to think of Jesus. It is called St. Peter’s fish and there are a number of species involved but it was the kind of fish caught in the Sea of Tiberias or Galilee.


John 21:9-14
When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.


Here we have the third private moment with the disciples. This wasn’t the third appearance of Jesus but this was the third with the disciples privately. Jesus fixed breakfast for them. I like the picture of Jesus caring for our physical needs. Their trip was about to end without any fish and 7 hungry guys but instead it ends with lots of fish and Jesus feeding them a hot breakfast. Jesus knows both our physical and spiritual weakness and cares for us.


Hebrews 4:14-16
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.


God’s knowledge of us is information given to us to drive us to the throne of grace. His knowledge of your weaknesses should cause you to respond to your weakness by running to the throne for mercy and grace. Jesus knew all about Peter just like He knows all about us.


John 21:15-19
When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”


Peter wasn’t grieved just at being asked the same question three times … he was grieved that the verb changed from agape to phileo on the third question even though he used phileo in each answer. We don’t have adequate precision in our language to understand all that is going on here without thinking about the Greek.


The commands are to (in the power of the Holy Spirit and with the Word of God):

1) Feed the lambs (the new births),
2) Tend to the sheep (pastor those growing in Grace), and
3) Feed the sheep (feed those growing in Grace).


God was faithful to accomplish these things in Peter’s life and He can do the same for us.


John 21:20-23
Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who had been reclining at table close to him and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!” So the saying spread abroad among the brothers that this disciple was not to die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?”


This even caused some confusion about what God was going to do in the life of John. The point here that we don’t want to miss is that we can’t be wishing that someone else’s life was our life. God will be glorified in each of us in a different way. We want to yield completely to what He is doing in our lives and submit to Him. We don’t want to be looking at other Christians and wishing we were them. What does that look like? I think Paul describes it …


Philippians 2:12-16
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.


Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.


If you get caught up comparing yourself and your life to others then you are clearly not, “working out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”


John 21:24-25
This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true.
     Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.


I read these verses and they connect us to John. Through all the centuries this is John’s signature witnessing to what he saw firsthand. God’s revelation of the acts of Jesus is not complete. John makes a point of telling us that this isn’t a complete record of all that Jesus did. However, God’s revelation through John is sufficient so that, “you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

John’s Gospel – Lesson 27

Last week we read the portions of the Gospel of John that covered the crucifixion and this week we will read the portions of John that cover the resurrection.

One aspect that I suppose should be discussed here (since Sproul discusses it here) is a little controversial and that is the question of where was Jesus between His death on the Cross and His bodily resurrection. We know where His body was, but where was His soul?

The “Apostle’s Creed” complicates the discussion with the statement that, “suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried: He descended into hell; the third day He arose again from the dead.” The Apostle’s Creed is not Scripture although it is Scriptural. Some have taught that Jesus descended into hell to complete our atonement but there are serious problems with that point of view. Note also that the phrase indicating that He descended into hell is a 3rd century addition to the Creed and we have no reason to think it is Apostolic in origin.

The Roman Catholic Church teaches that Jesus went to hell to free captives that were in limbo from Old Testament days but without sufficient Scripture. Calvin taught that we should use the Apostle’s Creed as it has been given to us but remember that the decent into hell occurred on the Cross. What I mean by that is that Christ paid the price there on the Cross and not by descending anywhere else. In essence, the Cross was His descent and we must remember Jesus’ last words on the Cross were, “It is finished” (John 19:30) and that He told the repentant thief on the cross next to Him, “today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43).

So which verses result in people thinking that Jesus descended into Hell? The verse that is most often referenced is found in 1 Peter 3. I’m going to read verses 18-22 but I’ll also be discussing the greater context of these verses.


1 Peter 3:18-22
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.


The greater topic here is persecution and the behavior of individuals in the midst of persecution. The recipients were suffering for their religion and this is to be an encouraging letter. It begins in Chapter 1, 2, and the first part of Chapter 3 with encouragement to holiness and to submission to the order God has established in the Church and at home. Then at verse 8 of Chapter 3 the key word “Finally” occurs to indicate summation and the goal of all the above. We are encouraged to be patient in times of trouble and tolerant of those who are reacting badly to difficult times. We should always be ready to give a defense of the Gospel with gentleness and respect so that we’ll give that same example in suffering that Christ showed. That brings us to verse 18 and we hear Peter teach that Christ suffered. Peter wants to use our salvation as an example because everything revolves around our salvation. Christ was put to death in the flesh but he was alive in the Spirit and (not to indicate a time sequence but to link to a picture of our baptism) Jesus preached in the Spirit through Noah (who was also persecuted) to those who were in spiritual bondage in Noah’s day. They didn’t respond but the 8 were saved and brought safely through the water which corresponds to baptism. Remember too that when we studied baptism I said that although our testimony in immersion is that we were baptized with the baptism that Jesus was baptized. Your testimony in water doesn’t save but you are saved by baptism because either you were there in Christ as He was in the flood of God’s wrath for your sin or you are not saved.


There is another verse that is also sometimes referenced and that is found in Ephesians.

Ephesians 4:7-10
But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.”
     (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)


First of all remember that the picture of leading captivity captive or leading a host of captives must occur in heaven. You don’t celebrate until you bring it all to the heavenly Jerusalem. Captives are taken by his decent to the earth and perfect atonement on the Cross. Paul is stressing that the same on who descended, who walked on this earth also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. The gifts are the people given to the Church and the ministries given to the Church.


Does that make sense? I think it is fair to say there are no verses that contextually address what Jesus did for the 3 days when His body was dead with the possible exception of what he told the repentant thief that hung next to Him. However, if you want to believe that Jesus was preaching to those in hell … you will not be the only one believing that but I and many others do not.


John 20:1-10
Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples went back to their homes.


Mary (Magdalene) was not likely alone because she said “we don’t know where they have laid him.” They would sometimes name a group by the leader and they were likely going to add additional spices to those (> 75lbs) that Nicodemus and Joseph had applied at Jesus’ burial.


Seeing the tomb empty and not having understood that Jesus was to be resurrected resulted in a sort of panic and the assumption that someone in authority had taken His body away. So Mary and the others went to tell Peter and John that Jesus’ body was taken. In fact, since it was a rich man’s tomb she may have been scared that tomb robbers had violated the tomb.


When Peter and John went in they saw a strange thing. The wrappings were there and not in disorder as if Jesus’ body had simply passed through them on the way to resurrection and then the head covering was folded up. John says they didn’t understand the Scripture that Jesus must rise from the dead but when he looked at the arrangement of the grave clothes he believed that he must have risen from the grave. The arrangement was not the arrangement of a grave robber but rather the arrangement of a body that simply left them. Jesus, in His resurrection body can be touched and eat. He is embodied but it is a resurrection body and we still don’t know fully all that is meant by resurrection body. So John believed but he didn’t really understand what had happened at this point.


John 20:11-18
But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her.


Mary is back at the garden tomb and crying. John and Peter had headed off by now. She is grieving for the loss of both her Lord and the body of her Lord. The Angels were there at the spot of the resurrection and they used the title of honor saying, “Woman, why are you weeping?” because it was time for great joy. She didn’t know that and all she had was a deep grief. She turned and mistook Jesus for the gardener and asked Him where the body was so she could go and get it. But Jesus spoke her name and His sheep recognize His voice and she called Him Rabboni.


She seems to have grabbed his ankles and hung on. The next verse has generated a boat load of speculation. Everything from science fiction scenarios to various legal scenarios have been offered up. The simple exegesis is probably best. Jesus was just saying, “I’m not going yet, no need to panic, just go tell the disciples that I will be ascending to the Father.” Mary got the message and ran to tell the disciples she had seen the Lord.

John’s Gospel – Lesson 26

With Jesus on the Cross above them … the soldier divided Jesus’ garments. I wonder if John watched this and had a flashback to Genesis and God sacrificing animals to provide covering for Adam and Eve that they only needed because of their sin.


John 19:23-24
When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says,
     “They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.”
     So the soldiers did these things,

Genesis 3:21 tells us that “the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.” God’s covering for your nakedness is seamless and it is entire. It is not in pieces. There is only one way of salvation and Christ’s work for you is perfect. The casting of lots points to Jesus words that the move of God is like the wind.

John 3:8
The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

You can’t see where it comes from or where it is going to but you can see the effect. That is what we pray for when we pray for the winds of revival. Specifically, that is what we pray for when we pray about the upcoming services with Life Action Revival.

John seems to enjoy showing us that God in His sovereignty was in complete control even in the darkest times. Nothing surprised God and the events were unfolding as He knew they would and as He had written in Psalm 22.

Psalm 22:14-18
I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax;
it is melted within my breast;
my strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
you lay me in the dust of death.
For dogs encompass me;
a company of evildoers encircles me;
they have pierced my hands and feet—
I can count all my bones—
they stare and gloat over me;
they divide my garments among them,
and for my clothing they cast lots.

But Psalm 22 doesn’t end like that. It goes on.

Psalm 22:30-31
Posterity shall serve him;
it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;
they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn,
that he has done it.

We all know the love of God in part. We know, at least intellectually that it is without limitation. However, I think to see it in action for the care of Mary in the next verses is amazing.

John 19:25-27
but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.

Remembering that “Woman” was a term of honor then here is Jesus on the Cross letting Mary know that she was to view the Apostle John as her son and John was to view Mary as his mother. Jesus was making sure that His mother’s physical needs were cared for even as He was taking care of her spiritual need for a savior. In particular I think this sheds light and significance on Philippians 2:1-11 and I want to read it thinking about this service of Jesus to his mother while on the Cross. This is an exhortation to us from the Apostle Paul.

Phillipians 2:1-11
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The love found in Christ surpasses understanding but it is a demonstrated love. We who are saved rejoice that Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” 1 Peter 2:24–25. Christ’s love is so holy and pure that it staggers the imagination. I’m not sure I can even comprehend how rational the act was to care for your mother, who was a sinner to be saved by grace, while on the Cross paying for the sins of the world and her sins in particular.

I like biblical prayers. One of my favorites is found in Ephesians 3:16-21. We can pray these prayers and know that without doubt it is a good prayer because God places it in the right context. So we can pray:

Ephesians 3:16-21
that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Amen. Yes the love of Christ passes knowledge. But He demonstrates what we are called to in our lives. We can’t do it apart from Him but we also must, in obedience, confess that He is able to do far more abundantly than all that we can ask or think, according to the power at work within us. God gets all the glory in this.

John 19:28-30
After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

The sour wine apparently had gall (a collection of bitter herbs are used) and it probably made it undrinkable. Jesus finished our salvation and died. He died at exactly the right time in exactly the right way to make our salvation possible.

Psalm 69:21
They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.

The Jews were always careful to obey the laws that suited them. I guess they are like us. So to avoid violating religious law they asked for the Romans to finish off Jesus and the two criminals.

John 19:31-37
Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe. For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.” And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.”

With broken legs you would immediately suffocate because you’d be unable to get your weight off of your arms. However, Jesus was already dead and was then pierced with a spear. Again all these things were seen by God before hand and within His sovereign control. Nothing was out of control. John here is giving testimony that he saw that Jesus was dead and not just a little dead but really totally dead by Roman standards and they knew dead when they saw it.

John 19:38-42
After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.

At least two men became ritually unclean to handle the body of Jesus. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus both handled the body it seems and perhaps servants helped. It seems to me that 75 pounds of myrrh and aloes along with Jesus’ body would require more than just 2 guys but they only moved to a tomb that was nearby so perhaps not. They wrapped Him up with strips of cloth, 75 pounds of spices, and covered him with a shroud.

However, being unclean at Passover was no excuse for not keeping the Passover.

Numbers 9:9-12
The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, If any one of you or of your descendants is unclean through touching a dead body, or is on a long journey, he shall still keep the Passover to the LORD. In the second month on the fourteenth day at twilight they shall keep it. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They shall leave none of it until the morning, nor break any of its bones; according to all the statute for the Passover they shall keep it.

I can’t imagine what Passover was like for Joseph and Nicodemus that year. They couldn’t take a hot shower with strong soap. They would have been covered with the blood of Christ and the smell of spices. Their houses would have been different that year.

They had unleavened bread to show that sin is gone. They had bitter herbs for our bondage in sin. They had wives busy preparing the Passover lamb while they were burying the Lamb of God.

1 Corinthians 5:7-8
Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

John’s Gospel – Lesson 25

We ended last week with Pilate’s struggle in the first 11 verses of John 19. Pilate didn’t like the idea of giving in to the High Priest and his mob. He couldn’t find any fault in Jesus and seemed to be looking for pity in the crowd by flogging or scourging Jesus. They used metal and/or bone fragments in the whip to make it dig deeper and do more damage. The process of scourging alone could be fatal and afterwards Pilate presented Jesus with the words, “Behold the man!”

Use of the phrase “Behold the man” was natural but it also has spiritual significance because Jesus was the last Adam. He showed how life should be lived in contrast to Adam who did not show how life should be lived. Christ was the last Adam in the sense that salvation is revealed clearly and the New Covenant of Grace was established.

Romans 5:14-17
Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

Death reigned from Adam to Moses. Essentially there were no persons serving God during this time. It was a terribly dark time if you think about how few served God. In Moses and the Law many followed God even if it was fitfully and with many interruptions. The Book of Judges is depressing even compared with Kings and Chronicles. So the point is that one sin destroyed many lives but now even though there are many sins we can be justified by the work of Christ. No more are sin and death to rule in our lives since grace and the free gift of righteousness now rules in our lives as we submit to Christ.

Jesus also showed what resurrection was supposed to look like for those of us who are subject to death.

1 Corinthians 15:42-49
So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.

Well naturally all of this was lost on Pilate. He was afraid of Jesus because first Jesus admitted that His kingdom was not of this world and then the Jews told Pilate that Jesus said that He was the Son of God. Pilate was smart enough to know 1 plus 1 is 2 but, like most men, he feared Caesar more than God.

John 19:12-16
From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic Gabbatha. Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.

Pilate kept pressing the point that Jesus didn’t deserve to die but then, in a move that must have made Pilate’s head hurt, the Jews claimed they had, “no king but Caesar.” In effect they blasphemed again against God.

I know we’ve covered this before but since we are going past the “Behold the Man” verses in John and Jesus is the Last Adam I want to stress that He sends the “life-giving” spirit and we should be encouraged that although we first bear the image of Adam with our sin natures we have the promise that we will also bear the image of the “Man of Heaven”. We will be embodied and we will no longer struggle with our sin nature when we are in heaven.

1st Samuel 8:7-9
And the LORD said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”

When we say, “Jesus is Lord” we had better think about what we are saying. It has never been a thing to say lightly because God will try your heart and test you to see if you’ve got any kingdoms in your heart in which you’ve rejected Him as King. The Jews, in Samuel’s day and here again rejected God as King.

John 19:17-22
So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’ ” Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”

So the editors (chief priests) were unhappy. The inscription, by tradition, identified the offence for which the execution was ordered. They wanted the offence to be rephrased. However, Pilate got it right. He didn’t know that he had it right. He was used by God to testify to the truth even though he was perishing. Jesus is the King of the true Son’s of Abraham and is King of King’s and Lord of Lord’s. Our King was on the Cross but those who were perishing claimed no king but Caesar.

 

John’s Gospel – Lesson 24

Today we will begin with the arrest of Jesus. He had finished the High Priestly Prayer, crossed over to the Mount of Olives and had spend the evening in prayer.

John 18:6-11
When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground. So he asked them again, “Whom do you seek?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. So, if you seek me, let these men go.” This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken: “Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one.” Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.) So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?”

Jesus was caring for the disciples even as He prepared to lay down His own life. Jesus used “the cup” to symbolize not just His death but the punishment for sin that we deserved (Matthew 20:22, Mark 10:38).

Mark 10:38-39
Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized,

We only drink the cup and pass through baptism in Christ … the cup and the baptism would be more than we could bear and even then we’d have no merit before God. Christ drinks the cup and passes through the baptism for us in atonement and then we are also clothed in His righteousness.

We don’t know much about the events with the sword. It is not a Scripture to teach that self defense is wrong but it was not the right act here. John is the only Gospel that records the name of the servant and Luke (22:15) is the only Gospel that records that Jesus healed the ear. It is one of those things we’ll only be able to ask about in heaven but … Since Malchus was the high priest’s bond servant and Jesus healed his ear I can’t help but wonder if the hole formed by the ritual of becoming a bondservant.

Exodus 21:2-6
When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing. If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out alone. But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.

I guess I’d like to think that the reason that John knew his name is because he was eventually saved and to heal both the ear and the sign of Malchus’ bondage to the law (high priest) seems to be especially consistent with the Gospel. We can ask someday.

John 18:12-14
So the band of soldiers and their captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound him. First they led him to Annas, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people.

Annas was removed as high priest by the Romans but he was still very influential among the Jews. He was father-in-law to the high priest named Caiaphas who prophesied the atonement without understanding what he was saying.

John 18:15-18
Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he entered with Jesus into the court of the high priest, but Peter stood outside at the door. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the servant girl who kept watch at the door, and brought Peter in. The servant girl at the door said to Peter, “You also are not one of this man’s disciples, are you?” He said, “I am not.” Now the servants and officers had made a charcoal fire, because it was cold, and they were standing and warming themselves. Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself.

Peter’s first denial seems odd because he is going in with John who was apparently recognized by the servant girl. So a harmless person without much consequence was the first denial.

John 18:19-24
The high priest then questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret. Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them; they know what I said.” When he had said these things, one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand, saying, “Is that how you answer the high priest?” Jesus answered him, “If what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong; but if what I said is right, why do you strike me?” Annas then sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.

If you look at the rules for trials in a document called Mishnah from 200 years later (because it is the best guide we have) then there were many mistakes and violations in Jesus trial.

1) The Sanhedrin wasn’t suppose to meet at night,
2) The death penalty couldn’t come in the same day as the trial,
3) False evidence was found in the witnesses,
4) Jesus was hit by attendants during the trial, and
5) The Sanhedrin couldn’t hear a capital case on the eve of a Sabbath or feast day.

So the trial was unjust from beginning to end.

John 18:25-27
Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, “You also are not one of his disciples, are you?” He denied it and said, “I am not.” One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, “Did I not see you in the garden with him?” Peter again denied it, and at once a rooster crowed.

These are the second and third occasions. Some time may have passed between the two questions. The second denial was in response to a crowd. The third denial was to a relative of the guy who had his ear chopped off. So from easy to hard on the challenge to Peter’s confession but this fulfillment of prophecy (Zechariah 13:6-7 and Psalm 69:20-21). Jesus went though this ordeal alone.

Psalm 69:20-21
Reproaches have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none. They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink

It seems likely that both Caiaphas and Annas interrogated Jesus during the night and then they sent him to Pilate.

John 18:28-32
Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor’s headquarters. It was early morning. They themselves did not enter the governor’s headquarters, so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover. So Pilate went outside to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?” They answered him, “If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.” The Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.” This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die.

They wanted the death penalty but only the Romans could do that (unless they reacted as a mob as in the case of Stephen in Acts chapter 7). Pilate’s problem was that if they couldn’t give the accusation then he could give a trial. Also, for Jesus, stoning wouldn’t be consistent with prophecy for Jesus death (3:14 and 12:32-34).

John 18:33-40
So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”
     After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him. But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” They cried out again, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber.

Jesus clarified, for us and Pilate, that this was not a question associated with salvation. Pilate was just trying to figure out what sort of trial to have. Pilate rejected truth as a concept and made it clear that he was not “of the truth” as taught by Jesus. “You say that I am a king” is an affirmation by Jesus that He is a king. However, then Pilate used the name “King of the Jews” in a sarcastic sense but he really was the King of the Jews in a messianic sense.

John 19:1-11
Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!” When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.” The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.” When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer.
     So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”

Pilate seemed to be looking for a way out simply because he can’t find any reason to put Jesus to death. The flogging, crown of thorns, and purple robe should have struck at least a nationalistic cord but not with the chief priests and officers. Pilate eventually was afraid of what he was doing. The question of Jesus origin was answered clearly by Jesus in John 16:27-28 when He said, “for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.”

But this is something revealed by the Holy Spirit and Pilate, who thought he was in control, couldn’t see the Truth when it was standing in front of him.

John’s Gospel – Lesson 23

Today we will read through a portion of Scripture known as the High Priestly Prayer and I want to repeat the five verses we ended with a couple of weeks ago.

John 17:1-5
When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

This is Jesus declaring His and the Father’s purpose. His purpose was to bring glory to the Father by the authority He has to give eternal life to all those that the Father has given Him. We, as the Church with a capital “C”, are a love gift of the Father to the Son.

This is what eternal life looks like … knowledge of the one true God and Jesus Christ. This is “knowing” as you know your immediate family and the word can sometimes be even be used in Scripture for “knowing in a biblical sense.” Remember that knowing in salvation moves through 1) knowing the facts, 2) knowing the facts are true, 3) knowing Christ in a fiduciary sense.

As I mentioned last time, the fiduciary acts on the behalf of the principle. The principle is a person in need and the principle must place confidence, faith, and trust in the fiduciary. His infinite holiness and perfection make your rebellion and treason worthy of eternal punishment. You are wholly unable to remove yourself from this situation by your own works. You can’t remedy your past sins and you’re current obedience is flawed. To think your works are good enough to get you into heaven is simply one more sinful offence against God.

We are baptized as a testimony that we have accepted Him as our fiduciary and that we passed through the wrath of God in Christ and the debt is paid by our Savior. In old Roman law (first and second century) the Fiducia Pledge was a pledge with possession. In the first century AD, if you made a Fiducia Pledge then your property was transferred to the fiduciary. It was not just held as a lien or security. The ownership moved from the principal to the fiduciary. Then the fiduciary could do with it whatever the fiduciary wanted to do with it.

In the same way, when we accept Christ as our savior then our lives are transferred to His ownership. We as the principal might object to what He does with our life but the transfer of our lives to Him is our salvation. In the first century, they debtor only did this when they had no other means of handling a debt. The Christian, by the grace of God, realizes that they have no other means of handling the debt and they accept Jesus as Lord of their lives.

Galatians 2:20-21
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

We are saved by grace through the works of our Savior who was God incarnate. That is God in a human body who was eternally begotten of the Father. He had no beginning and now is glorified in the presence of God the Father with the glory that He had with the Father before the world existed.

John 17:6-8
“I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.

Here Jesus continues in prayer describing His ministry of manifesting or representing God fully and accurately to those the Father, through the Holy Spirit, gives to Him. While the world was rejecting Him as the Christ, the disciples were accepting Him as Christ. They (and now we) recognize that Jesus was speaking the Father’s words, that He was divine, and that He was sent by the Father.

As we rest in Him then we recognize His words, His person, and His mission as being divine. While Jesus was fully human in His incarnation that didn’t take subtract from His divinity in anyway. He has two complete natures without mixture, confusion, or separation.

John 17:9-12
I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

Not only are you a love gift of the Father to the Son (for God’s reasons and for no reason found in you) but you are also kept from falling away by the power of God. Our security in salvation is based in God and not in our own ability or righteousness. We will not outgrow our need for a shepherd.

John 17:13-19
But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

These verses get at the heart of why it is so important to read and digest Scripture. The Word gives joy. The Word separates us from the world. The Word sanctifies us with the truth. That is we are set apart for God’s purposes and work by the accurate understanding and ministry of the Word. It is only because of Christ’s consecration as our savior that we can enter into this living relationship with truth.

We often think of the joy and forget the road to get there. Jesus’ words are so that we can have His joy fulfilled in ourselves but part of the process is confronting sin in our lives. So it isn’t always a field of daisies if we have unrepentant sin that the Holy Spirit is pressing in upon. We are sent.

John 17:20-23
“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

Here Jesus explicitly prays for us. We are a love gift of the Father to the Son, we are kept by the power of the Father, and here we see the Holy Spirit as the glory that the Father gave the Son making us one as the Father and the Son are one. The Holy Spirit is given to make us one and that oneness is to be a testimony to the world. Our unity is to be produced by the Holy Spirit and not to simply be a persona we adopt.

John 17:24-26
Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

I find it very comforting to have Jesus’ prayer for us. That He wants to have me with Him in heaven. I can wish for heaven and doubt that I’ll get there but I can’t doubt the efficacy of His prayer. I know God hears Him and therefore I know that I’ll see His glory someday.

The final words are words that build the Church. Jesus knows the Father and has revealed Him and will continue to reveal Him so the active love of God will be in us along with Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit.

John 18:1-3
When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the Kidron Valley, where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples. So Judas, having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons.

Jesus finished this prayer apparently in the upper room after revealing new meaning in Passover with the Lord’s Supper. Then they went out and went across the Kidron Valley to the Garden of Gethsemane someplace on the Mount of Olives. The name means “oil press” and we know that this is where Jesus prayed that night. We know the agony of bearing our sins began to weigh upon Him at this place. Oil press seems an appropriate title for the place. The exact location is not known but the approximate location is.

Judas was not with Jesus and the disciples at this point but he knew where Jesus liked to pray so he knew where to look. We also know that he tried to make this look like he was not the one betraying Jesus by greeting him with a kiss. Jesus did not draw back from the work of our salvation.

John says it in wonder again …

John 18:4-6
Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?” They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am he.” Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground.

As I mentioned in an earlier lesson, the Greek phrase ego emmi is translated “I am” but is also a claim of deity pointing back to the burning bush. God has being in Himself and in Exodus 3:14 takes the name “I am” for Himself. We are created beings and depend on God every moment for our continued existence. God is not created and can’t stop existing. That is because He has being as part of His immutable nature. As the deliverer of the Children of Israel who were captive in Egypt, God revealed Himself as the great “I am”. Here also Jesus as our deliverer from bondage reveals His divinity. The force of that revelation caused the soldiers to fall to the ground.

Next week we’ll look at the following verses but in verse 12 we see that they bound Jesus. I don’t think there was ever in the history of mankind so pointless an act as binding the hands of Jesus. He offered up His life willingly and it had to be so. He went with these men because it was time to lay down His life for us. It wasn’t a moment too soon or a moment too late. Only He could redeem us. If He had not willingly given his life for the sheep then all the armies of the earth couldn’t have bound Him or even survived the attempt.

John’s Gospel – Lesson 22

This week we will begin in the middle of Jesus instructions and reassurance for the disciples.

John 16:1-4a
“I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.

This was not just an attempt to keep them from falling away but is rather a sure set of hedges. Don’t read that first sentence as if Jesus was saying that He has done all He can and now He is watching to see what will happen. We walk out our salvation with fear and trembling because of the holiness of the Father and His discipline but not because we may ultimately fall and fail if we are truly saved.

John 16:4b-11
“I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

We benefit, like the disciples, from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Then through us we see these effects. First, we see conviction of sin, righteousness, and judgment.

The light of the Gospel convicts of sin, righteousness, and judgment.
 1) Conviction is one of the most blessed gifts of the Holy Spirit. It can guide Christians but brings anger to non-Christians,
2) We have a testimony of true righteousness in the life, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, and
3) We have a testimony of judgment for evil that begins with the ruler of this world and then comes home to those who refuse the Gospel.


The Helper or Holy Spirit brings the entirety of the Trinity in a sense. Conviction of sin as a ministry of the Holy Spirit, conviction of the virtue, truth, and beauty of Christ’s life to glorify the Son, and conviction of the reality of the judgment that comes from the throne of God the Father.


From “On Christ the Solid Rock” by Mote in the early 1800s


When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found;
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.

Knowledge of conviction for sin, knowledge of righteousness, and knowledge of God’s judgment as things that are virtuous, true, and beautiful are works of the Holy Spirit within our hearts.

John 16:12-15
“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

His purpose is to glorify Christ by explaining, in the revelation that is Scripture by enlivening you, all that pertains to the goodness, truth, and beauty of Christ and God the Father. He will not glorify Himself because that is not His purpose. The disciples did not understand all of these things.

John 16:16-24
“A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” So some of his disciples said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and, ‘because I am going to the Father’?” So they were saying, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We do not know what he is talking about.” Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

God  - prior to salvation - is the one against whom we have committed treason. After Salvation, God is our Father and is attentive to our prayers because we are in Christ.

So, for the disciples, their final condition was to be far superior to what they had known as disciples. They would become, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the children of God.

John 16:25-28
“I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father. In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.”

The bottom line was that He was “leaving the world and going to the Father.”

John 16:29-33
His disciples said, “Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech! Now we know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you; this is why we believe that you came from God.” Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

“Going to the Father” sounded good. The transfiguration may have provided a model for their conception of Jesus going to the Father. The glory was on the other side of the Cross. All of our sins would make a sea of separation between us and God were it not for the grace that has been bought and paid for on the Cross.


So at this time so near to the Cross, the sheep would scatter but the Shepherd would gather.


Jesus has overcome the fallen nature of creation. His work takes us out of the kingdom of darkness and makes us Children of God. He places our feet upon the rock of His Salvation.

We continue to have difficulties in this fallen world but our peace with God and with our lives is the product of the knowledge that this world is not all there is and that Jesus has overcome our falleness with His perfect sacrifice.


Next, Jesus stops speaking to the disciples and begins to pray. What He prayed is called His high priestly prayer. The disciples had the opportunity to listen to the prayer. This is a portion of Scripture that Jesus prays for you. He says that explicitly in verse 20 of this chapter so keep that in mind as you hear what He prays.

John 17:1-5
When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

In a fiduciary relationship, the fiduciary acts on the behalf of the principle. The principle is a person in need and the principle must place confidence, faith, and trust in the fiduciary. Of course you can imagine the courts often must regulate and adjudicate this sort of relationship. This is not something that the principle enters into lightly or without need because property is turned over in trust to the fiduciary because the principle is unable to do what needs to be done the principle’s own good and needs the fiduciary to do what needs to be done.


So the facts are that you have sinned. You have sinned against an infinitely holy and just God who will not tolerate the least sin. His infinite holiness and perfection make your rebellion and treason worthy of eternal punishment. You are wholly unable to remove yourself from this situation by your own works. You can’t remedy your past sins and you’re current obedience is flawed. To think your works are good enough to get you into heaven is simply one more sin strapped on your back dragging you down into the kingdom of darkness.


However, knowing the facts of the Cross and that it was a real true Christ that died for sinners nearly 2000 years ago you can make Christ your fiduciary. He did what you can’t do. He carried the wrath of God for our sins and died in our place. We are baptized as a testimony that we have accepted Him as our fiduciary and that we passed through the wrath of God and the debt is paid by our Savior.


In old Roman law the Fiducia Pledge was a pledge with possession. Ironically, the Emperor Constantine ended this type of pledge with possession. It is ironic because he was the first emperor to convert to Christianity. However, in the first century AD, if you made a Fiducia Pledge then your property was transferred to the fiduciary. It was not just a lien or security. The ownership moved from the principal to the fiduciary. Then the fiduciary could do with it whatever the fiduciary wanted to do with it. The principal might object but the transfer of property to the fiduciary made the property theirs and not the principal’s any more. Of course you only did this when you had no other means of handling a debt.


The book of Romans tells us that we who have Jesus Christ as Savior have entered into a Fiducia Pledge with Him. It is the grounds and basis of our salvation. The property of your life has been transferred to Him. It is His now. When we say that Jesus is Lord then we are affirming that He has control of all that is ours. We are saying that even if we don’t mean that or are ignorant of what it means to say Jesus is Lord. I’m afraid that some hesitate after a knowledge of the facts of the Gospel and even after acknowledging that the facts are true and draw back from the Fiducia Pledge. It is with good reason that a man pulls back because it is a commitment of your life. Listen to what Romans 12:1-2 says.

Romans 12:1-2
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Galatians 2:20-21
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

Romans 6:3-4
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

Soli Deo Gloria – Glory to God alone. I was lost and now I’m found. I was by nature a child of wrath and my condemnation would have been just but God who is rich in mercy has lifted me up and I am accepted in the Beloved.Our baptism is our testimony or statement of the fact that we were crucified with Christ. He paid the price for our sins. We must jealously protect the integrity of the grace of God in our lives and never let it be in our minds that we have earned God’s favor. To stand before God and indicate that anything other than Christ makes that possible is to say that Christ died for no purpose. We are acceptable and holy because of the Cross and for no other reason. We make our Fiducia Pledge on that basis and on that basis alone.Only in Christ can you present your body as a living sacrifice that is holy and acceptable to God as justified. Only after accepting Christ as your fiduciary can you do that. You can’t be holy or acceptable apart from Him. The transformation and renewal of mind make it possible for us to walk out our lives before God seeking to be increasingly sanctified and to fully realize the transfer of ownership of my life to Him. In another place Paul says, Here is a declaration of purpose. Jesus purpose was to bring glory to the Father by the authority he has to give eternal life to all those that the Father has given Him. This is what eternal life looks like … knowledge of the one true God and Jesus Christ. This knowledge is not like the algebra you “know” from high school. This is “knowing” as you know your immediate family and the word can sometimes be used in Scripture for “knowing in a biblical sense.” Remember that knowing in salvation moves through 1) knowing the facts, 2) knowing the facts are true, and 3) knowing Christ in a fiduciary sense. The disciples did not have the depth of understanding in foresight that we can have in hindsight with the benefit of the rest of Scripture and the Holy Spirit.The reality of the Crucifixion would be revealed later. The atonement was still something that the disciples could struggle with. The necessity of Christ bearing the just punishment for your sins was still hard to hear and it was easier for them to think of it as a “woman giving birth”.Jesus is explaining the change in relationship that we undergo as we experience Salvation.Jesus continues to explain what the Holy Spirit will do. This is also so you can see why the Holy Spirit is so focused on the rest of the Trinity. His ministry is to guide you into what is Christ’s and the Father’s.
Jesus has made provision for our security in salvation and here Jesus is telling the disciples that He had taught and inspired (literally) and would baptize in the Holy Spirit to keep them from falling away. When Jesus said it was better that He go away it was deeply true in the light of the Gospel.