Talk of JESUS .com

Tag: eternal life

Rumors of Life & Death
Reporters of News

And this rumour of him went forth throughout all Judaea, and throughout all the region round about.
Gospel of Luke 7:17 – KJV

Sojourners become clarions of news to uninformed ears in new places from the places where they have witnessed life.

The ‘rumour‘ to which the Gospel-writer Luke refers (above) is Jesus’ raising a young man from his coffin along his own funeral procession in Nain in remote Galilee. Other English translations of the same Greek word [λόγος] use “report.”

When we return to John’s Gospel (Good News) we will encounter such reports again, some stories which veer from the truth.

Good News/Bad News: True or False?

The Disciples who traveled with Jesus from town to town reported the Good News of Jesus the Messiah of Israel to many who had not heard in places distant from the events they had witnessed. Reliable reports from other witnesses also reached the ears of thousands who had not yet seen Jesus in Person.

The four written NEWS accounts of JESUS CHRIST are not the only news of the Savior. Many reports are oral, even many first-hand stories from witnesses to Jesus’ many miraculous events recorded by the Apostles.

Picture the Apostles after Jesus’ death and resurrection as reporters and add to their number every saint of the Church who consequently believed their report of the Lord Jesus Christ, then you may realize why John and others had to address false reports of their time.

While reading the Gospels we discover many who reject the “Good News” of Jesus which challenges one or more of their earthly embraces of sin. Many reject God and refuse to acknowledge or let go of their sins.

Some will believe in anything in order to deny the Truth.
Roger Harned – talk of Jesus .com

All the REPORTERS of Jesus had to be taken at face value for their rumors (stories) of the Messiah. Those who did not witness an event had to ask themselves the same questions we would ask today.
- Is this even possible?
- Is their report TRUE or FALSE in some way?
- If it is true, is this GOOD NEWS or BAD NEWS for me?
- How should I react? (What must I do?)
- What is my response to this NEWS to others who have not heard?
Brief Vitae of the Good News Reporters

As mentioned previously in Witnesses to Jesus Risen! John and the Apostles continue to report their GOSPEL to others until the end of their lives and John writes to some who have witnessed even more miracles than he reports in his Gospel.

Briefly from our Gospel archives take a look at these dates of the reports.
- Jesus was crucified around the year AD 30
- John Mark’s Gospel – before AD 49; martyred AD 68
- Matthew’s Gospel – as early as AD 50, before martyrdom ~AD 60
- the physician Luke’s Gospel/Acts – AD 60-61, prior to the great persecution that began under Nero in A.D. 64; Luke likely martyred in AD 84
- John writes his Gospel to the churches after AD 85 [~AD 90-100]
- 2nd c. AD – many Church fathers, disciples of John, Peter & others, testify to the truth of their Gospels and oppose false reports by false teachers.
Countering False Reports

So this rumor spread to the brothers and sisters that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not tell him that he would not die, but, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? ”
John 21:23 CSB

John 21:

Recall from John’s previous report [Witnesses to Jesus Risen! – Peter] of a third time they encountered Jesus after His resurrection:

5 So Jesus said to them, “Children, you do not have any fish to eat, do you?” .. 7 Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!”
- Peter enthusiastically dove into the water and swam to meet Jesus on shore before the other Disciples came onshore in a boat filled with fish.
- Simon Peter and Jesus have a conversation about feeding His sheep and Simon hesitates in his answers to the Lord (our Shepherd).
- Jesus asks:
  - “Simon, son of John, do you agapaō Me more than these?” then, “Simon, son of John, do you agapaō Me? and finally,
  - “Simon, son of John, do you phileō Me?”
- Peter’s hesitates in answering Jesus call to agapaō and each time confirming that he loves Him (phileō differing slightly in meaning).
- The Lord commands him with some subtlety after each response:
  1. Tend My lambs.
  2. Shepherd My sheep.
  3. Tend My sheep.
And to the reader knowing that Peter has already died for his Lord, (Peter’s dearly departed friend) John offers an explanation.

17 .. Peter was hurt because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You..

Good News, Bad News

John gives the reader some ‘bad news,’ which is no longer NEWS to most and the ‘good news,’ which the other Apostles also witnessed. (Most of them had also died for their witness of the risen Christ Jesus!)
Rumor vs. TRUTH

Who said it?
What is the RUMOR?
Where were they when it happened?
When might this have taken place?
Why would your NEWS source tell you?
How does this impact you?

WHO DO YOU BELIEVE?
As the last surviving Apostle, John witnesses the Good News of Jesus Christ and His resurrection for decades!

What happens when a rumor creates a myth short of truth?

This would happen later when the Church tells stories not supported by Scripture.

When the saying (or story or myth) multiplies, then eventually encounters truth what most certainly will happen? The rumor is crushed and faith along with it (when the aging Apostle dies).

And remember, regardless of when or how the saying had started, it has already been around for a time since the original witness is some fifty years before John writes his Gospel truth.

Many disciples of The Way and saints of the church might easily elevate John (or for that matter, Simon Peter, other Apostles or even family of Jesus) to glory and worship due only the LORD.

John’s simple approach to false witness

The always esteemed and ever truthful Disciple does two things:
1. John states the false witness (translated: saying, rumor, story)
2. He refutes it by his own authoritative true witness.
WHO DO YOU BELIEVE? It’s as simple as that.

The incident in question involves what JESUS said to Simon Peter. Only six other Disciples including John witness it first hand. So John states:
- 21:23 Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die:
- yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die;
  - (FALSE rumor – John categorically states: – Jesus said NOT)
- but,
  - (here is the truth I witnessed, says John)
- [Jesus said ..],
  - If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? [KJV] or
- “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?” – NASB
The Disciple by quoting Jesus refutes the rumor of John’s alleged immortality told in this story circulating among early Christians.

John squashes this rumor before it can multiply into false teaching which will cause us to doubt the ‘Gospel Truth.’

His own witness, true to facts unknown through rumor, states what happened (decades ago):
- 20 Peter turned around and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them—the one who also had leaned back on His chest at the supper and said, “Lord, who is the one who is betraying You?”
- So Peter, upon seeing him, said to Jesus, “Lord, and what about this man?”
- Jesus said to him, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!”
  - Peter turned around, John was following him and Jesus.
  - Peter asked the Lord about John, because Jesus had just told Peter:
18b “.. when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will put your belt on you, and bring you where you do not want to go.”
- John tells the reader, who likely knows of Peter’s crucifixion, why Jesus said this.
- After having refuted the rumor with the truth, John puts his seal on the whole truth of restating the ‘story.’
This is the disciple who is testifying about these things and wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true.
John 21:24 NASB

John’s closing is comparable to Paul writing, “I sign this in my own hand.” At stake is the Authority & Truth of the Lord Jesus
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Rather than adding questions on this section of John,
I leave you to question Truth vs. fiction.
Please click PG 2 
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December 23, 2020
From This World to the Next – Truth
Jesus continues to pray for those the Father has given Him:
And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
John 17:19 KJV

What is truth?

‘What is truth?’ Pilate will soon ask the Creator of all things who came to this world of His creation.

Yet prior to the tragic truth of the trial of His righteousness sacrificed for us, Jesus prays for those given to Him:

“For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.” [CSB]

Christ Jesus, sanctified for us, prayed about truth. So just as we previously defined sanctification [in our last post linked above] let’s define truth as used in scripture.

ἀλήθεια – truth
1. objectively
  1. what is true in any matter under consideration
    truly, in truth, according to truth
    of a truth, in reality, in fact, certainly
  2. what is true in things appertaining to God and the duties of man, moral and religious truth
    in the greatest latitude
    the true notions of God which are open to human reason without his supernatural intervention
  3. the truth as taught in the Christian religion, respecting God and the execution of his purposes through Christ, and respecting the duties of man, opposing alike to the superstitions of the Gentiles and the inventions of the Jews, and the corrupt opinions and precepts of false teachers even among Christians
2. subjectively
  1. truth as a personal excellence
    that candour of mind which is free from affection, pretence, simulation, falsehood, deceit
The Truth of Eternal Life

All of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory.
Romans 3:23 CEV

This includes you, fellow sinner.

Eternal God and Mortal Man
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A reflection of Psalm 90:
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3 You return mankind to the dust,
saying, “Return, descendants of Adam.”

7 For we are consumed by your anger;
we are terrified by your wrath.
8 You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sins in the light of your presence.
9 For all our days ebb away under your wrath;
we end our years like a sigh.

But what next?

‘The days of our years are threescore years and ten… OR perhaps eighty, the Psalm reminds us… (OR perhaps a score more, but maybe just 50 years… or a death more sudden).

‘… Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow;
For soon it is gone and we fly away.” – Psalm 90:10b NASB

Returning to the night of Jesus’ betrayal

The Messiah Jesus came to man — living among us and teaching God’s way.

The Lord looks toward heaven on this night on which He was betrayed. From an upper room in Jerusalem Jesus prays to God our Father. This perfect High Priest stands before His own Altar of suffering and Sacrifice on behalf of those the LORD has chosen.

For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.
John 17:19 NASB

You will die and I will die.

The Son of Man did die… for those whom He sacrificed for Himself.

The witness of Scripture and the Gospel confirm what happened next to the Messiah of God. What will be next for you?

Hebrews 9: excerpt:
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A New Covenant
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Behind the second veil there was a tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies… only the high priest enters…

11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation..

.. through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.

… sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh …

… “THIS IS THE BLOOD OF THE COVENANT WHICH GOD COMMANDED YOU.” …

For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us
Hebrews 9:24

… at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment
Hebrews 9:27 NASB

AND YES, fellow sinner, you know well from Scripture what is NEXT after DEATH.

28 so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.

Do You await HIM?

As Jesus our High Priest interceded for them, the Apostles only had hint of what would come next. Certain sacrifice of their Lord and ours! Probably persecution and death for each Disciple of Jesus, the only question being when.

Yet by the Lord’s prayer of protection He sent disciples into a world which hates Jesus, the Christ of GOD; a world which hates the very GOD it denies.

No question about it, ALL will die; but few await death with joyous expectation. Do you await the resurrection of our flesh and joining of your soul and the Spirit of the LORD GOD?

NONE want to face the Judgment of sin – an evil nature woven into our being which cannot face the Very Light of the Lord GOD.

Those who deny God or claim Christ falsely must, in time, face the judgment of having chosen darkness over the Light and Glory of God and of having refused God’s grace of a new choice to turn back to the path of righteousness which leads to life in paradise.

What is True of Christ Jesus?

The Good News of John about Jesus our Savior:

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Truth from the Gospel of John 14:6
- The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
- “Anyone who believes in him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.
  - “This is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil…
    “But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God.”
- Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
- “I sanctify myself for them, so that they also may be sanctified by the truth.
As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
The Revelation of Jesus Christ to John 3:19 KJV

Do you hear your Savior’s voice and open the door to Him?

Will you receive eternal life?

He has sanctified those He calls to eternal life.

How will you get to the paradise of God without the righteousness of Christ Jesus?

‘He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. – Revelation 3:22 KJV

Amen.
July 31, 2020
Who Does JESUS Pray For?
Eternal Life, But For Whom?

We have entered the Father’s house of prayer through the sacredness of scripture. And before us in this holy upper room in Jerusalem stands Christ Jesus, arms lifted toward heaven and praying as a High Priest beyond the curtain.

Along with John and the eleven remaining Apostles we hear the Lord’s plea for eternal life – not HIS, but ours. We have seen the Lord’s power before including that to raise the dead, but does Jesus have the power of eternal life at His Command?

The Messiah Jesus, the Anointed One, stands before us praying for eternal life, but for whom?

The Gospel of John 17:

“Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life…”

We glance at John and the Apostles, fearful in this secluded room not far from where Jerusalem’s powerful seek Jesus’ life and theirs. Jesus intercedes in prayer for His fellow friends of this flesh and blood of mortal life as the Eleven look on.

The Lord has assured eternal life “to all whom You have given Him” and the Apostles know that Jesus means them (and not Judas).

And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
John 17:3 KJV

Who do you pray for?

When, like the Apostles facing the crowds of Jerusalem and controversy of Jesus, you FEAR for your mortal life, how comforted are you by hearing someone say, “I will pray for you.”

Yet you know how we cling to this fragile flesh; for what little power we exercise over it. What man born of woman can intercede before God to save us?

At times I suppose you pray for your loved ones as Jesus does here. But with what authority, my fellow sinner, do you pray before the altar of sacrifice?

Who prays for you?

Jesus, the Son of Man and mortal man of flesh facing death, prays for His friends. He prays to our Father God as our intercessor and High Priest.

“I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.
John 17:6 NASB

7 Now they know that everything you have given me is from you, because I have given them the words you gave me. They have received them and have known for certain that I came from you. They have believed that you sent me.

Clearly Jesus, as their Most Personal Priest, prays for His Disciples.

I ask on their behalf;
I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours…
Intercessory prayer of Jesus – John 17:9 NASB

But what about the World?

Jesus as High Priest before God the Father prays: “I am not praying for the world…” {CSB}

What does the Lord mean by this?

(For even ‘the world’ of these last days will know the ‘John 3:16‘ assurance.)

“For God did not send the Son into the world ^G2889 to judge the world, ^G2889 but that the world ^G²⁸⁸⁹ might be saved through Him.
John 3:17 KJV with Strong’s link to ‘world’ or ‘kosmos’

THEREFORE, when Jesus states that HE is NOT praying for the world (that He came to save), the Lord confirms that only some will be saved.

But who does Jesus mean?

First in His High Priestly Prayer, Jesus prays on behalf of the Apostles. Then the Lord adds a notable intercession.

I am not praying for the world but for those you have given me, because they are yours. – John 17:9b CSB

Who has the Father given to Jesus who are NOT ‘the world?’

(Could you be one of these in addition to the Apostles?)

NOT for the world…

11 I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you…

Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
John 17:11b KJV

Why a High Priest?

110:4 נִשְׁבַּ֤ע יְהוָ֨ה וְלֹ֥א יִנָּחֵ֗ם אַתָּֽה־כֹהֵ֥ן לְעֹולָ֑ם עַל־֝דִּבְרָתִ֗י מַלְכִּי־צֶֽדֶק׃

Jesus continues, “While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name…”

Jesus is the ONLY High Priest to save us completely, the only sinless man who ever walked through life in this world. He IS a Perfect SON OF MAN interceding for God’s chosen ones before the LORD, His Father and ours.

Here our High Priest stands before the Altar of His soon-to-be Perfect Sacrifice already speaking of His Own mortal life in the past tense.

Jesus kept those the Father gave Him.

He kept the disciples not from death of the flesh, but for eternal life. And the Lord kept them, mere mortal men for His continued purpose.

Jesus prays to the Father:

18 As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.

We do NOT need an Apostle, Levite or sinful Saint as a High Priest in succession to a Perfert High Priest! But we do need men and women who do believe and will follow Jesus to take His Gospel into all the world.

We now have a Perfect High Priest praying for us Who IS and was and will be our Savior by grace.

This is Eternal Life for those who believe

20 “I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe in me through their word.

21 May they all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us, so that the world may believe you sent me.

Have you prayed to our beloved High Priest that you might be in Him and also the Father?

… that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
“He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
John 3:16b, 18 NASB
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To be continued...
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June 30, 2020