In John 9 Jesus heals a man who had been born blind. A discussion arises as to whether this newly sighted man was the man who been born blind or was just someone who looked like him. So his neighbors and those who often saw him begging brought him to the Pharisees. There is division among them because the miracle was performed on the Sabbath. Some saying that a man of God would not perform miracles on the Sabbath. Others saying that if he were not from God, he could not perform such miracles.
Those not wanting to believe launch a full investigation, trying to disprove the man's healing. (It seems that instead of doing everything they can to disprove it, good leaders would be celebrating with the man.) They start with the man himself, he praises Jesus, but they still did not believe. They bring in the man's parents next. They identify the man as their son and state that he had indeed been born blind, but as for how he came to see they did not know. (They were afraid to say more out of fear.) The parents responded that the man was of age and that he could speak for himself. So they went back to the man and asked him the same questions all over again. The man was not afraid like his parents had been and speaks up for Jesus, finally asking them if they wanted to be Jesus' disciples too. In the end he gets kicked out of the synagogue.
Jesus finds the man later and they talk. Jesus comments that "the blind will see and those who see would become blind." The discussion that they have is overheard by a group of Pharisees, who ask Jesus if he was saying that they were blind. The discussion that follows their question, "What? Are we blind too?" is recorded in chapter 10. We often look at this passage, as it is about Jesus, the Good Shepherd. I had never really looked at it in this context however. Jesus is having this discussion with a group of Pharisees because of their treatment of the man born blind that he had healed.
So chapter 10 is aimed at the Pharisees, the supposed shepherds of the people, and compares them to the Good Shepherd, himself. The Pharisees don't come out of this comparison looking very good. Jesus calls them thieves and robbers, or at best hired hands, who care nothing for the sheep. The evidence was right there. Their treatment of the man born blind and his family shows that they cared nothing about Israel's sheep that they were supposed to be shepherding. They did not celebrate the man's great victory and kicked him out of the temple for his own rejoicing. Meanwhile his family lived in fear that they would be kicked out as well.
On the other side, Jesus is the Good Shepherd who not only cares for the sheep but has a relationship with them and lays his life down for them. I'm going to take a moment to throw a little Greek at you. According to Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament this word translated "good," Καλός (kalos) can mean according to context "beautiful, handsome, excellent, eminent, choice, surpassing, precious, useful, suitable, commendable, admirable; a. Beautiful to look at, shapely, magnificent. b. good, excellent in its nature and characteristics, and therefore well-adapted to its ends." Jesus is so much better than good. In today's vernacular, we might call him, "The awesome shepherd."
So one side are bad shepherds who are in reality thieves, robbers and hirelings vs. the Good Shepherd, for whom the word "good" is really underselling it. In this comparison, the Pharisees come out on the short end, like they always do. Great evidence of Jesus as the better shepherd was all there in chapter 9. In the end it was he who had the relationship with the sheep of Israel and later it would be him that lays down his life for them (and us.) We can be grateful for the Καλός shepherd who can be all of those things mentioned above. And the ongoing battle of the Bad Shepherds vs. the Good Shepherd the Good Shepherd wins again.
Tom
Friday, February 21, 2014
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Jesus: The Good Shepherd
Hello everyone.
Here we are with another snow day. My fifth, this year. Seemed like a good time for a little blogging. Any way, I want to continue to discuss Jesus and his "I am" statements. This time looking at John 10 where Jesus says "I am the good shepherd."
In this conversation with the Pharisees, Jesus has already said, "I am the gate for the sheep," where Jesus is the way into the really good life that we have in Christ. Later in the conversation he makes his "good shepherd" statement two times. In John 10:11 Jesus says, "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired man is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep." Jesus makes a comparison here between a good shepherd and hired hand. There are two difference here that I can see. One is ownership. The good shepherd owns the sheep. The hired hand does not. This brings about the second difference, which is the level of caring about the sheep. Deep down the hired hand cares nothing for the sheep because they are simply a means to a paycheck for him. The good shepherd, however, cares deeply about the sheep. They are more than a means to an income to him. He loves them and lays his life down for them.
I have to say that I would not make a very good shepherd. I just don't think that I could lay my life down for sheep. I would reason that I am a man and that they are sheep and my life is simply more valuable than theirs. I couldn't do it. This is what makes Jesus such a good shepherd. Just like sheep are not on the same level as men, we men are not on the same level as God. You may be like me, and be unwilling to give yourself for a creature so far beneath you, Jesus wasn't like that at all. His death on the cross on our behalf shows him to be the ultimate shepherd in terms of caring for the sheep. Truly, He stoops down to make us great. (Ps 18:35)
In John 10:14 Jesus makes the statement again, "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me." The other thing Jesus does that sets him apart as a shepherd is the relationship that he has with the sheep. He knows the sheep. His sheep know him. He has a relationship with them. The good news for me is that I don't have to be a good shepherd. I have to be a good sheep. My job here is to know the good shepherd and do everything I can to ensure that he knows me. It is a great comfort that Jesus, the Son of God, would desire a relationship with me, even enough to lay down his life for it. It would be incredibly foolish to not seek that relationship.
Thank you, Good Shepherd.
Tom
Here we are with another snow day. My fifth, this year. Seemed like a good time for a little blogging. Any way, I want to continue to discuss Jesus and his "I am" statements. This time looking at John 10 where Jesus says "I am the good shepherd."
In this conversation with the Pharisees, Jesus has already said, "I am the gate for the sheep," where Jesus is the way into the really good life that we have in Christ. Later in the conversation he makes his "good shepherd" statement two times. In John 10:11 Jesus says, "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired man is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep." Jesus makes a comparison here between a good shepherd and hired hand. There are two difference here that I can see. One is ownership. The good shepherd owns the sheep. The hired hand does not. This brings about the second difference, which is the level of caring about the sheep. Deep down the hired hand cares nothing for the sheep because they are simply a means to a paycheck for him. The good shepherd, however, cares deeply about the sheep. They are more than a means to an income to him. He loves them and lays his life down for them.
I have to say that I would not make a very good shepherd. I just don't think that I could lay my life down for sheep. I would reason that I am a man and that they are sheep and my life is simply more valuable than theirs. I couldn't do it. This is what makes Jesus such a good shepherd. Just like sheep are not on the same level as men, we men are not on the same level as God. You may be like me, and be unwilling to give yourself for a creature so far beneath you, Jesus wasn't like that at all. His death on the cross on our behalf shows him to be the ultimate shepherd in terms of caring for the sheep. Truly, He stoops down to make us great. (Ps 18:35)
In John 10:14 Jesus makes the statement again, "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me." The other thing Jesus does that sets him apart as a shepherd is the relationship that he has with the sheep. He knows the sheep. His sheep know him. He has a relationship with them. The good news for me is that I don't have to be a good shepherd. I have to be a good sheep. My job here is to know the good shepherd and do everything I can to ensure that he knows me. It is a great comfort that Jesus, the Son of God, would desire a relationship with me, even enough to lay down his life for it. It would be incredibly foolish to not seek that relationship.
Thank you, Good Shepherd.
Tom
Saturday, January 18, 2014
Jesus: The Gate for the Sheep
Hello everyone.
I will continue with my examination of Jesus' "I Am" statements with some thoughts about his statement, "I am the gate for the sheep." This statement come from a conversation that Jesus is having with the Pharisees and also contains the next "I Am" statement, "I am the good shepherd." It seems that Jesus always has very interesting conversations with the Pharisees and they usually end with Jesus getting the better of them. This conversation is interesting on a number of levels. One reason that I find it interesting is that Jesus is talking about being a good shepherd to the men who were supposed to be spiritually shepherding Israel, and yet when he talked to them about spiritual things they did not understand what he was talking about.
Look at at John 10:1-6 and you will see Jesus talking about entering the sheep pen through the gate and that those who enter through some other way are thieves and robbers. He talks about how the sheep recognize the voice of the shepherd and will follow it, but will not follow the voice of a stranger. Verse 6 says, "Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them." So, since they were unable to understand what Jesus was telling them, he spoke more plainly. Verse 7-10 says, "Therefore Jesus said again, "Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."
There are many things we could learn from what Jesus is saying here. For example, if Jesus is calling the supposed spiritual leaders of Israel, "thieves and robbers," we could look at the Pharisees as examples of what not to be like. However, today's focus is on Jesus and how he is like the gate for the sheep. So let's ask ourselves, "What is a gate?" Well, a gate is an entrance, a way in. In this case, it is a way into the sheep pen. This is good. I want to be in Jesus' sheep rather than out. But even better than that I notice that when you are in Jesus' sheep pen, he offers life, and that life is to the full. I don't about you, but I find the offer of a full life appealing.
Now to be honest, I don't have a lot of experience in dealing with sheep and so I need help understanding what a full life for a sheep would be. So I turn to Psalm 23 where David is the sheep and the Lord is his shepherd. So this perhaps what offers to the sheep in his sheep pen:
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures. (Comfort)
he leads beside quiet waters, (Peace)
he refreshes my soul (More peace)
He guides me along right paths for his name sake. (Guidance, direction)
Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me. (Protection)
Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. (Discipline)
You prepare table before me (My needs are met)
in the presence of my enemies (More protection)
You anoint my head with oil. (Cool things that a sheep has no right to expect.)
My cup overflows (More of everything)
Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life (Goodness and love, lasting relationships)
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. (Promise of eternal life)
That's a pretty good offer for a sheep. A wise sheep would enter through Jesus the gate into that sheep pen and never leave it.
Tom
I will continue with my examination of Jesus' "I Am" statements with some thoughts about his statement, "I am the gate for the sheep." This statement come from a conversation that Jesus is having with the Pharisees and also contains the next "I Am" statement, "I am the good shepherd." It seems that Jesus always has very interesting conversations with the Pharisees and they usually end with Jesus getting the better of them. This conversation is interesting on a number of levels. One reason that I find it interesting is that Jesus is talking about being a good shepherd to the men who were supposed to be spiritually shepherding Israel, and yet when he talked to them about spiritual things they did not understand what he was talking about.
Look at at John 10:1-6 and you will see Jesus talking about entering the sheep pen through the gate and that those who enter through some other way are thieves and robbers. He talks about how the sheep recognize the voice of the shepherd and will follow it, but will not follow the voice of a stranger. Verse 6 says, "Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them." So, since they were unable to understand what Jesus was telling them, he spoke more plainly. Verse 7-10 says, "Therefore Jesus said again, "Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."
There are many things we could learn from what Jesus is saying here. For example, if Jesus is calling the supposed spiritual leaders of Israel, "thieves and robbers," we could look at the Pharisees as examples of what not to be like. However, today's focus is on Jesus and how he is like the gate for the sheep. So let's ask ourselves, "What is a gate?" Well, a gate is an entrance, a way in. In this case, it is a way into the sheep pen. This is good. I want to be in Jesus' sheep rather than out. But even better than that I notice that when you are in Jesus' sheep pen, he offers life, and that life is to the full. I don't about you, but I find the offer of a full life appealing.
Now to be honest, I don't have a lot of experience in dealing with sheep and so I need help understanding what a full life for a sheep would be. So I turn to Psalm 23 where David is the sheep and the Lord is his shepherd. So this perhaps what offers to the sheep in his sheep pen:
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures. (Comfort)
he leads beside quiet waters, (Peace)
he refreshes my soul (More peace)
He guides me along right paths for his name sake. (Guidance, direction)
Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me. (Protection)
Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. (Discipline)
You prepare table before me (My needs are met)
in the presence of my enemies (More protection)
You anoint my head with oil. (Cool things that a sheep has no right to expect.)
My cup overflows (More of everything)
Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life (Goodness and love, lasting relationships)
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. (Promise of eternal life)
That's a pretty good offer for a sheep. A wise sheep would enter through Jesus the gate into that sheep pen and never leave it.
Tom
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Jesus: The Light of the World
Happy New Year everybody.
I will continue looking at Jesus "I Am" today by looking at his statement "I am the light of the world." He makes this statement twice, in John 8:12 and again in John 9:5. In fact, the Gospel of John has "Jesus as Light" as a constant theme throughout. In John 1 it says a number of things about Jesus being the light, including making connections between the Light and life (John 1:40).
John takes some time in John 1 to compare the light of Jesus with the darkness of the world and explain how the darkness has rejected the light. In John 3, in talking to Nicodemus, Jesus says that people love the darkness rather than the light because they are afraid that their evil deeds will be exposed. (John 3:19-20)
In John 12:35-36, Jesus again compares light and dark, saying that those who walk in darkness do not know where they are going. I personally have found this to be true. Getting up at night and trying to navigate my way around in the darkness has sometimes proven painful. I have injured myself bumping into things in the dark, sometimes I have walked into things I knew were there. I just didn't see them clearly. The great thing about light is that it enables us to clearly see our path. I seldom walk into things when the light is on. It is the same in our spiritual walk. Walking by the light of Jesus, we can see more clearly the path that has been marked out for us. This is a good thing.
But here is what I want to focus on today. Twice Jesus says, "I am the light of the world." Once he says, "You are the light of the world." (Matt. 5:14) We can share in this one. This makes this "I Am" statement unique. I cannot be the Bread of Life. Nor can I be the Gate, the Good Shepherd, the Way, the Truth, the Resurrection or the True Vine. And I certainly can't be The Life. However, Jesus tells me that I can be the Light. So I want to be the Light. The question becomes then, How?
II Cor. 3:18 says: "And we, who with unveiled faces reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." The light doesn't actually come from within us. We become the light by reflecting the the true light of Jesus. As we get closer to Jesus we reflect his light and therefore light the way for others to see how to live. I like the way Steve Kinnard put it in his book King Jesus, (p. 126): "We are to be "the light of the world."As Christians, we are to be the spiritual light that allows the world to see spiritual truths. The light of our example will expose lies and darkness and show people what they need to change." Well said.
Jesus is the light. We can share in that or we can walk in darkness. Not much of a choice really.
Tom
I will continue looking at Jesus "I Am" today by looking at his statement "I am the light of the world." He makes this statement twice, in John 8:12 and again in John 9:5. In fact, the Gospel of John has "Jesus as Light" as a constant theme throughout. In John 1 it says a number of things about Jesus being the light, including making connections between the Light and life (John 1:40).
John takes some time in John 1 to compare the light of Jesus with the darkness of the world and explain how the darkness has rejected the light. In John 3, in talking to Nicodemus, Jesus says that people love the darkness rather than the light because they are afraid that their evil deeds will be exposed. (John 3:19-20)
In John 12:35-36, Jesus again compares light and dark, saying that those who walk in darkness do not know where they are going. I personally have found this to be true. Getting up at night and trying to navigate my way around in the darkness has sometimes proven painful. I have injured myself bumping into things in the dark, sometimes I have walked into things I knew were there. I just didn't see them clearly. The great thing about light is that it enables us to clearly see our path. I seldom walk into things when the light is on. It is the same in our spiritual walk. Walking by the light of Jesus, we can see more clearly the path that has been marked out for us. This is a good thing.
But here is what I want to focus on today. Twice Jesus says, "I am the light of the world." Once he says, "You are the light of the world." (Matt. 5:14) We can share in this one. This makes this "I Am" statement unique. I cannot be the Bread of Life. Nor can I be the Gate, the Good Shepherd, the Way, the Truth, the Resurrection or the True Vine. And I certainly can't be The Life. However, Jesus tells me that I can be the Light. So I want to be the Light. The question becomes then, How?
II Cor. 3:18 says: "And we, who with unveiled faces reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." The light doesn't actually come from within us. We become the light by reflecting the the true light of Jesus. As we get closer to Jesus we reflect his light and therefore light the way for others to see how to live. I like the way Steve Kinnard put it in his book King Jesus, (p. 126): "We are to be "the light of the world."As Christians, we are to be the spiritual light that allows the world to see spiritual truths. The light of our example will expose lies and darkness and show people what they need to change." Well said.
Jesus is the light. We can share in that or we can walk in darkness. Not much of a choice really.
Tom
Monday, December 30, 2013
Jesus: The Bread of Life
Hello everyone.
Today I am going to look at the first of Jesus' "I Am" statements. It is found in John 6:35: "I am the the Bread of Life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."
Here is the context. Earlier in chapter 6, Jesus had fed the five thousand with two fish and five loaves of bread. That night Jesus walks on water and the next day the crowd follows him around to the other side of the lake and we get this discourse on bread. So understand that the people that Jesus is speaking to are largely the same crowd that he had fed fish and bread to the day before. Jesus acknowledges this in 6:26.
Jesus gives the crowd advice, saying "Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life." In this advice, he differentiates between two kinds of food, physical and spiritual, and it seems that while Jesus talks of spiritual food, his audience thinks of physical food.
The crowd asks Jesus for a sign that they should believe him, and talk about how God gave their ancestors manna in the wilderness. (v.30-31.) (It is interesting that a crowd of people that had just been miraculously fed from five loaves of bread and two fish would ask for a food sign that Jesus was worth believing in, never-the-less they asked.) So the crowd refers back to Exodus 16 where God sends the Israelites bread from heaven. It must have been amazing stuff. Asaph wrote in Psalm 78:24-25:
He rained down manna for the people to eat,
he gave them the grain of heaven.
Human beings ate the bread of angels;
The people were impressed with this manna from heaven, and rightly so, because it was great. God fed his people for forty years with it, as they wandered in the wilderness because of their disobedience.
But within the context of this manna God gave the Israelites, Jesus says, "it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." (v. 32-33) When Jesus says this bread "gives life to the world," we can see that he is talking about something different, since the manna was only given to the Israelites. In v. 41 we see what he is talking about. Jesus says, "I am the bread that came down from heaven."
The bread God gave the Israelites was great, but the bread God gave the whole world is far greater. Jesus points out that those who ate manna died in the wilderness. They ate God's bread and still died. Jesus talks about eating this new bread and living forever. This confuses his listeners who missed the part about physical food and spiritual food. They think Jesus is telling them to literally eat his flesh. He is not. They are not spiritual thinkers and therefore do not think spiritually. Jesus had pointed out that those who ate the manna died in the wilderness, but I do not think he was talking their physical death. That generation of Israelites, save Joshua and Caleb, spiritually died because of their lack of faith and disobedience. They did not enter the Promised Land.
Jesus is saying to this new generation that they are to eat his spiritual bread, that he will give them (v.27) and live eternally, or enter God's eternal Promised Land.
OK. What does this mean for us? God provides for our physical needs and this is terrific. We eat food to provide us with growth and to sustain life. Great. But more importantly God provides us with Jesus, the Bread of Life, the Bread that has Come Down from Heaven, to provide us with spiritual growth and eternal life. Greater.
Let us enjoy this Bread, together.
Tom
Today I am going to look at the first of Jesus' "I Am" statements. It is found in John 6:35: "I am the the Bread of Life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."
Here is the context. Earlier in chapter 6, Jesus had fed the five thousand with two fish and five loaves of bread. That night Jesus walks on water and the next day the crowd follows him around to the other side of the lake and we get this discourse on bread. So understand that the people that Jesus is speaking to are largely the same crowd that he had fed fish and bread to the day before. Jesus acknowledges this in 6:26.
Jesus gives the crowd advice, saying "Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life." In this advice, he differentiates between two kinds of food, physical and spiritual, and it seems that while Jesus talks of spiritual food, his audience thinks of physical food.
The crowd asks Jesus for a sign that they should believe him, and talk about how God gave their ancestors manna in the wilderness. (v.30-31.) (It is interesting that a crowd of people that had just been miraculously fed from five loaves of bread and two fish would ask for a food sign that Jesus was worth believing in, never-the-less they asked.) So the crowd refers back to Exodus 16 where God sends the Israelites bread from heaven. It must have been amazing stuff. Asaph wrote in Psalm 78:24-25:
He rained down manna for the people to eat,
he gave them the grain of heaven.
Human beings ate the bread of angels;
The people were impressed with this manna from heaven, and rightly so, because it was great. God fed his people for forty years with it, as they wandered in the wilderness because of their disobedience.
But within the context of this manna God gave the Israelites, Jesus says, "it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." (v. 32-33) When Jesus says this bread "gives life to the world," we can see that he is talking about something different, since the manna was only given to the Israelites. In v. 41 we see what he is talking about. Jesus says, "I am the bread that came down from heaven."
The bread God gave the Israelites was great, but the bread God gave the whole world is far greater. Jesus points out that those who ate manna died in the wilderness. They ate God's bread and still died. Jesus talks about eating this new bread and living forever. This confuses his listeners who missed the part about physical food and spiritual food. They think Jesus is telling them to literally eat his flesh. He is not. They are not spiritual thinkers and therefore do not think spiritually. Jesus had pointed out that those who ate the manna died in the wilderness, but I do not think he was talking their physical death. That generation of Israelites, save Joshua and Caleb, spiritually died because of their lack of faith and disobedience. They did not enter the Promised Land.
Jesus is saying to this new generation that they are to eat his spiritual bread, that he will give them (v.27) and live eternally, or enter God's eternal Promised Land.
OK. What does this mean for us? God provides for our physical needs and this is terrific. We eat food to provide us with growth and to sustain life. Great. But more importantly God provides us with Jesus, the Bread of Life, the Bread that has Come Down from Heaven, to provide us with spiritual growth and eternal life. Greater.
Let us enjoy this Bread, together.
Tom
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Knowing Jesus
Merry Christmas everyone.
As I have continued my study of the book of John, I have reached the end of John 7. In John 7 there is a lot of discussion and debate among the people as to who Jesus actually is. In 7:40 some call Jesus "the Prophet." In 7:41 others call him, "the Messiah." At the same time, some argue that Jesus can't be the Messiah because the Scriptures say that the Messiah was to be of the line of David and come from Bethlehem, while this Jesus was from Galilee, not Bethlehem. It told me that these people, who argued against Jesus as The Messiah, knew the Scriptures, but did not know Jesus. Had they really known Jesus they would have known that he had been born in Bethlehem and was indeed of the line of David.
It reminded me that a person can really know a lot about the Bible but not really know Jesus. I want to make sure that this statement does not describe me. This study of John has really helped me reacquaint myself with Jesus in new ways. I have been amazed by Jesus as I come to know him better. In conversations with others, it seems that many are reaching this same conclusion, that we need to dig deeply into the life of Jesus so that we can all know him better.
When I reached John 6 in my study of John, I ran across a list of "I AM" statements that Jesus makes scattered throughout the book of John (King Jesus, by Steve Kinnard, page 307.) They are as follows:
Tom
As I have continued my study of the book of John, I have reached the end of John 7. In John 7 there is a lot of discussion and debate among the people as to who Jesus actually is. In 7:40 some call Jesus "the Prophet." In 7:41 others call him, "the Messiah." At the same time, some argue that Jesus can't be the Messiah because the Scriptures say that the Messiah was to be of the line of David and come from Bethlehem, while this Jesus was from Galilee, not Bethlehem. It told me that these people, who argued against Jesus as The Messiah, knew the Scriptures, but did not know Jesus. Had they really known Jesus they would have known that he had been born in Bethlehem and was indeed of the line of David.
It reminded me that a person can really know a lot about the Bible but not really know Jesus. I want to make sure that this statement does not describe me. This study of John has really helped me reacquaint myself with Jesus in new ways. I have been amazed by Jesus as I come to know him better. In conversations with others, it seems that many are reaching this same conclusion, that we need to dig deeply into the life of Jesus so that we can all know him better.
When I reached John 6 in my study of John, I ran across a list of "I AM" statements that Jesus makes scattered throughout the book of John (King Jesus, by Steve Kinnard, page 307.) They are as follows:
- I am the Bread of Life - John 6:35
- I am the Light of the World - John 8:12, 9:5
- I am the Gate for the Sheep - John 10:7-9
- I am the Good Shepherd - John 10:11-14
- I am the Resurrection and the Life - John 11:25-26
- I am the Way, the Truth and the Life - John 14:6
- I am the True Vine - John 15:1, 5
Tom
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Son of Man
Hey Everybody,
As we move into John 5, Jesus heals the man at the pool. The man had been an invalid for 38 years. Shortly after Jesus heals him, Jesus appears to him again, and tells him to "Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." My first thought about this is what could happen to the man that would be worse than being an invalid for 38 years, but the answer to that question is in Jesus' statement. If the man doesn't let go of his sin, he may spend an eternity in hell.
Any way, Jesus has this great healing. Awesome. Of course, Jesus does this great healing on the Sabbath, and so the this gets the Jewish leaders all stirred up against him. This leads to a very interesting conversation between the Jewish leaders and Jesus recorded in John 5:16 and following. Jesus makes some amazing claims in this passage including: He claims the power to give life (v. 21), he claims that God had given him the right to judge all people (v. 22). In all of this he is claiming to be the Son of God. These are some very bold claims if you think about it.
The one claim that I want to focus in on today though is from verse 27, where Jesus claims to be the Son of Man. I had never understood why Jesus referred to himself this way. Son of God made sense to me, Son of Man did not. So I did a little research. It turns out that that name, Son of Man, comes from Daniel 7:13-14:
"In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power: all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed."
Clearly the Ancient of Days is God the Father. And in claiming to be the Son of Man Jesus is claiming all authority, all glory, and sovereign power. He is claiming that all people will worship him (see Philippians 2:9). He is claiming that his kingdom will be eternal. In essence he is telling them that he is the son of God. (In Matt. 26:64 he refers to himself again as the Son of Man and throws in the part about coming on the clouds of heaven just like in Daniel 7.)
Back in the 1930s, a famous baseball player named Dizzy Dean was quoted as saying "It ain't braggin', if you can do it." Today, hearing someone talk like this, we would probably consider him delusional. But Jesus was not delusional, all of these things were absolutely true. It's not delusional, if you can do it.
Tom
As we move into John 5, Jesus heals the man at the pool. The man had been an invalid for 38 years. Shortly after Jesus heals him, Jesus appears to him again, and tells him to "Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." My first thought about this is what could happen to the man that would be worse than being an invalid for 38 years, but the answer to that question is in Jesus' statement. If the man doesn't let go of his sin, he may spend an eternity in hell.
Any way, Jesus has this great healing. Awesome. Of course, Jesus does this great healing on the Sabbath, and so the this gets the Jewish leaders all stirred up against him. This leads to a very interesting conversation between the Jewish leaders and Jesus recorded in John 5:16 and following. Jesus makes some amazing claims in this passage including: He claims the power to give life (v. 21), he claims that God had given him the right to judge all people (v. 22). In all of this he is claiming to be the Son of God. These are some very bold claims if you think about it.
The one claim that I want to focus in on today though is from verse 27, where Jesus claims to be the Son of Man. I had never understood why Jesus referred to himself this way. Son of God made sense to me, Son of Man did not. So I did a little research. It turns out that that name, Son of Man, comes from Daniel 7:13-14:
"In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power: all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed."
Clearly the Ancient of Days is God the Father. And in claiming to be the Son of Man Jesus is claiming all authority, all glory, and sovereign power. He is claiming that all people will worship him (see Philippians 2:9). He is claiming that his kingdom will be eternal. In essence he is telling them that he is the son of God. (In Matt. 26:64 he refers to himself again as the Son of Man and throws in the part about coming on the clouds of heaven just like in Daniel 7.)
Back in the 1930s, a famous baseball player named Dizzy Dean was quoted as saying "It ain't braggin', if you can do it." Today, hearing someone talk like this, we would probably consider him delusional. But Jesus was not delusional, all of these things were absolutely true. It's not delusional, if you can do it.
Tom
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