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Tag: grace

JOHN 2020 Good News for A.D. 2020
Intro to the Gospel of John

IN THE BEGINNING: λόγος logos

Intro to talk of Jesus .com

in A. D. 2020

talk of Jesus .com shared the Gospel of John
in the context of A.D. 90, with application to A.D. 2020,
rather than chronologically, culturally or by chapter & verse..
..while during recent months:
- some sought to stream the stage of worship
- some sent seeker-friendly scripture into our homes
- some church communities disintegrated while others diminished & distanced (like our 2020 remote office meetings complete with slides).
To review the Gospel of John, simply click on any link in the outline below & it will open in a new window.
Roger – author of A.D. 2020 series on the Gospel of John

I hope you were blessed by the secure links to reliable sites for further study of Scripture, as well as insight into the 1st century church of John’s Gospel (written ~A.D.- 90).

Scripture encourages us to a more mature faith.

John’s Prologue – Good News!

IN THE BEGINNING was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.

ALL THINGS came into being through Him, and apart from Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of

MANKIND.

And the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not grasp it.

14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us; and we saw His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God [Son] who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.
John 1:18 NASB

The Book of the Prologue

John’s Prologue [1:1-18], from which the Apostle next proceeds to the testimony of John the Baptist and the Messiah’s calling of the Twelve, states many important theological themes & along with his Epilogue [21:1-25 {linked below}] provides additional depth of purpose of John’s Gospel.

John’s Prologue & Epilogue

“Follow Me

In A.D. 2020, this is where we began our deep dive into the Good News of John.

Signs – Jesus IS the Messiah

Unless the Father draws you – Signs

Do you believe in the Son of Man?

Life in the Holy Spirit

John 3: “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” …

Teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ
- ‘My Father’s House – John 2
- “You must be born again.
- I am the Messiah – John 4
- Before Abraham was, I AM
- John 11
- “..and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.
- also love one another-John 13
- Jesus prays – John 17
- Jesus answered him – John 19:11
Jesus said:
Gospel of John

“Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! – John 1:29b

As Jesus passed by, He saw a man who had been blind from birth. – John 9:1

Are you greater than our father Abraham who died? And the prophets died. Who do you claim to be?” – John 8:53

“But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. – John 10:26-28

Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise from the dead.” .. “I am the resurrection and the life; the one who believes in Me will live, even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” – John 11:23,25

talk of Jesus .com

About the Author John -2- Sons of Zebedee

The Gatekeeper & the Shepherds – the Door

Before Abraham was, I AM

If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly

Even in the unexpected crisis of these last days what does man fear most?
from Lazarus – HELP from the grave

Death!

It is finished.. + Death’s witnesses

Witnesses to Jesus Risen! – the Eleven, a Passing Witness
The Hour Is Come

“Indeed, an hour is coming, and has come, when each of you will be scattered to his own home..

.. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”

John 16:32-34 excerpt CSB
“Take heart,” the Lord Jesus encourages disciples, I have overcome the world.”
And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book:
John 20:20 KJV

Unrelenting Bad NEWS of A.D. 2020

What must I do with the GOOD NEWS

of Jesus Christ?

Good News for A.D. 2020 – A.D. ∞

Hear all the unrelenting bad news of yesterday or today.

For followers of Jesus, His death diminished life’s hope in eternal life; that is until the Gospel of the Lord’s resurrection reached the eyes and ears and touch of His dearly beloved friends.

John and the Disciples witnessed the Lord Jesus in His Risen Flesh many times after His resurrection.

“Peace be with you.”

And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
John 20:20

Their sorrow had turned into joy and so must ours; for in Christ Jesus his disciples of every generation have eternal life through His sacrifice for our sins. This is our Gospel, His Good News to those who would believe.

NEWS of A.D. 2021

SEE what follows JOHN 2020 in JOHN 2021.

“Peace to you,” yet also a command of the risen Christ Jesus.

& without Him:

EXPECT MORE BAD NEWS

John’s Epilogue
John 20:30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book.

But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
John 20:21 CSB

I pray that the Lord has blessed you through the Gospel of John in A.D. 2020
Roger – Roger@talkofJesus.com

May our Lord Jesus Christ draw you into His grace, giving you new hope of Eternal Life in the YEAR OF OUR LORD 2021, in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, AMEN.
December 30, 2020
Crucifixion! – Scripture Fulfilled
Crucifixion! – The Spirit of Grace

.. this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. Acts 2:23
And how is this the Spirit of Grace?

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that He might suffer and die on a Cross for sinners like us, that we should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Roger Harned – talkofJesus.com – on Christ’s Crucifixion & John 3:16

The Apostle John presents the Good News of Jesus Christ in light of the love of God the Father.

Yes, the LORD of Old Testament Scripture to which John will point IS the Almighty God who must judge sin! Yet John testifies of Jesus who reveals God as the Father, the One of relationship who willingly shows mercy for the sake of the Son and saves sinners like you and me by grace.

A brief reintroduction to John

John had unique access to witness the questioning of Jesus by the High Priests of Jerusalem. At the beginning of our journey through the Gospel of John we introduced the Apostle, this youngest Son of Zebedee who we now know was also known in the house of Herod.

It is important to note here that the Apostle John later became the last surviving Disciple of Jesus Christ, living more than fifty years more until nearly the next century.

John wrote the gospel during his residence at Ephesus in Asia Minor when he was advanced in age (Against Heresies 2.22.5; 3.1.1) – source

John’s Good News is NOT a News Alert to our phone, a BREAKING NEWS HEADLINE interrupting our life at home or even a well-researched story for an Ephesus News Courier.

The Apostle, therefore, has not written the Gospel of John as events unfolded at the horrific scene of the crime of Jesus’ Crucifixion.

In Conclusion

The beloved Apostle and recognized authority of witness to these historical events some decades ago will soon assure the reader of John’s Good News (Gospel): 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.
John 20:31 ESV

John now begins the conclusion of his Gospel even before the climax of the Good News of Jesus’ resurrection.

Intermingled with John’s conclusive evidence, he includes reporter-like facts (which we will address in a later post), but his purpose now is to reveal why Jesus did some of what the Lord came to accomplish.

Every mention of Scripture (of course) refers to the Old Testament. John links the events of Jesus’ crucifixion to Old Testament prophesy.

John 19:

Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 The soldiers also twisted together a crown of thorns, put it on his head, and clothed him in a purple robe. 3 And they kept coming up to him and saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” and were slapping his face.

Isaiah 50:

6 I gave My back to those who strike Me,
And My cheeks to those who pull out My beard;
I did not hide My face from insults and spitting.
7 For the Lord God helps Me,
Therefore, I am not disgraced;
Therefore, I have made My face like flint,
And I know that I will not be ashamed.

14 It was the preparation day for the Passover, and it was about noon…

17 Carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called Place of the Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. 18 There they crucified him and two others with him, one on either side, with Jesus in the middle.

23 When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, a part for each soldier. They also took the tunic, which was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. 24 So they said to one another, “Let’s not tear it, but cast lots for it, to see who gets it.

This happened that the Scripture might be fulfilled, John tells us.

Scripture includes more than the Law, which Jesus promises will be satisfied; but also the Psalms (or songs of worship), historical scrolls and also writings of the Prophets who Jerusalem’s religious leaders seldom heeded and like now, rarely taught.

Here is this Scripture, a Psalm most descriptive of Jesus’ crucifixion.

Psalm 22:

READ ALL of Psalm 22, if you dare. And looking upon the scene of the Place of the Skull, with Jesus’ Blood pouring forth from His broken Body on the middle Cross, know His suffering for our sin endured for the grace of God’s love.

¹⁸אֲסַפֵּ֥ר כָּל־עַצְמוֹתָ֑י הֵ֥מָּה יַ֝בִּ֗יטוּ יִרְאוּ־בִֽי׃

18 They divide my garments among them,
And they cast lots for my clothing.

This is what the soldiers did, John tells us.

John 19:

28 After this, when Jesus knew that everything was now finished that the Scripture might be fulfilled, he said, “I’m thirsty.”

Psalm 69:

21 They also gave me a bitter herb in my food,
And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.

31 Since it was the preparation day, the Jews did not want the bodies to remain on the cross on the Sabbath…

32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man and of the other one who had been crucified with him.

33 When they came to Jesus, they did not break his legs since they saw that he was already dead.

John 19:

Jesus’s Side Pierced

34 But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out.

Isaiah 53:

The Suffering Servant

Yet we ourselves assumed that He had been afflicted,
Struck down by God, and humiliated.
5 But He was pierced for our offenses,
He was crushed for our wrongdoings;
The punishment for our well-being was laid upon Him,
And by His wounds we are healed.

John’s Testimony is True

Jesus replied [to Pilate]. “I was born for this, and I have come into the world for this: to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”
“What is truth? ” said Pilate.
John 18:37b-38 CSB

The Apostle here answers Pilate’s earlier question before he pronounced the sentence of DEATH ON A CROSS for Christ Jesus.

John 19:35 He who saw this has testified so that you also may believe. His testimony is true, and he knows he is telling the truth.

John 19:

36 For these things happened so that the Scripture would be fulfilled: Not one of his bones will be broken.

37 Also, another Scripture says: They will look at the one they pierced.

Psalm 34:

But the Lord rescues him from them all.
20 He protects all his bones,
Not one of them is broken.

Zechariah 12:

12:10 וְשָׁפַכְתִּי עַל־בֵּית דָּוִיד וְעַל יוֹשֵׁב יְרוּשָׁלִַם רוּחַ חֵן וְתַחֲנוּנִים וְהִבִּיטוּ אֵלַי אֵת אֲשֶׁר־דָּקָרוּ וְסָפְדוּ עָלָיו כְּמִסְפֵּד עַל־הַיָּחִיד וְהָמֵר עָלָיו כְּהָמֵר עַֽל־הַבְּכֽוֹר׃

Here is John’s Gospel GOOD NEWS of Scripture fulfilled.

“I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced;
and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.
Zechariah 12:10 NASB

The Spirit of Grace

John began his Good News speaking of grace. He begins his conclusion by quoting Zechariah’s imagery of the Spirit of grace and of supplication.

For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.
John 1:16-17 NASB

Yet rather than supposing that we know what grace is, let’s look at grace through John’s eyes.
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Technical NOTE on Strong's Concordance linked here.
H-#'s = Hebrew equivalent & G-#'s = Greek equivalent 
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χάρις – charis

Even Pilate would share some understanding of this Greek concept of grace.
- that which affords joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness: grace of speech
- of the merciful kindness by which God, exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues
  - (This, of course, is that love of the Lord Jesus which John frequently shares freely as grace.)
John later greets his fellow beloved believers in his second letter (mailed in about A.D. 90–95):

Grace, mercy and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.

About 5-10 years earlier in about A.D. 80–90 John would have had his Gospel delivered to these same saints of the churches where he quotes Zechariah (from about 520 BC, five centuries after David and before Christ), whose name means: “The LORD remembers.”

“I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace..,” John encourages from Scripture, as one who witneesed and had mourned for his beloved friend Jesus near the foot of the Cross.

chen – חֵן

The Hebrew meaning of grace from Zechariah understood by Jews is:
- favour, grace, elegance, kindness, acceptance, (even beauty, preciousness or gratitude)
  - But Noah found favor H2580 in the eyes of the LORD.
  - The LORD said to Moses, “I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; for you have found favor H2580 in My sight and I have known you by name.”
You are fairer than the sons of men;
Grace H2580 is poured upon Your lips;
Therefore God has blessed You forever.
Psalm 45:2 – A Song Celebrating the King’s Marriage.

The Spirit of Supplication

.. and of supplication, which John adds from the prophet Zechariah,

Do we even know what that is?
ἱκετηρία –hiketēria

an olive branch
supplication

Hebrews 5:

In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety.
tachanuwn– תַּחֲנוּן

earnest prayer:—intreaty, supplication.
supplication for favour

Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer;

And give heed to the voice of my supplications!
Grace by God in the Person of Christ Jesus

John began his Gospel by hope in the Messiah who was hung on a Cross.

No one has ascended into heaven, except He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes will have eternal life in Him.
John 3:13-15 NASB

As Jesus gave up His Spirit while John and other witnesses sat beneath the Bloodied Cross with the corpse of their Messiah and Savior they must have wondered why.

John 3:35–36 “.. The Father loves the Son and has entrusted all things to His hand.

The one who believes in the Son has eternal life; but the one who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”

“It is finished.”
Then bowing his head, he gave up his spirit…
They will look at the one they pierced.
The Gospel of John 19:30b,37b NASB
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To be continued... 
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November 7, 2020
Crucifixion! – The Spirit of Grace
Now Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It was written: “JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS.”
John 19:19 NASB

More Mockeries of the Son of Man on the Cross of Sacrifice

Even today mockery of Jesus Christ is as common as rejection of the Lord God.

In CRUCIFIXION! – The Pangs of Sin we saw the suffering Servant Jesus as punishment continued.

From John’s witness thus far…
- Then the band and the captain and officers of the Jews took Jesus, and bound him – John 18:12 KJV
- ..one of the officers which stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand saying, Answerest thou the high priest so? – John 18:22b KJV
- 24 Now Annas had sent him bound unto Caiaphas the high priest.
- 28 Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment..
- 29 Pilate then went out unto them, and said, What accusation..
- 33 Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews?
- 38 Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.
- 19:1 Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him.
His scourging poured forth sinless Blood by 39 lashes upon Jesus’ back.

Pilate and the politically motivated religious leaders of Jerusalem made mockery of mercy (one less lash than Rome’s forty which should cause death) by condemning the Son of Man in whom they found no guilt.
- John 19:2 And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on His head..
- 3 and they repeatedly came up to Him and said, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and slapped Him in the face again and again.
- Judas & a detachment of troops & officers from the chief priests & Pharisees,
- Hosanna to the Son of David:
- Behold the Man
- Pilate *said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?”
- The chief priests answered, “We have no king except Caesar.”
- Jesus, the King of the Jews
From Glorified King to Crucifixion on a Cross
About the sixth hour [noon]

14 Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Look, your King!” 15 So they shouted, “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 except Caesar.”

16 So he then handed Him over to them to be crucified.

17 They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, carrying His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which in Hebrew is called, Golgotha. There they crucified Him, and with Him two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between…

21 So the chief priests of the Jews were saying to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews’; rather, write that He said, ‘I am King of the Jews.’”

A Temporary Victory

The powerful have won the political battle of the day!

Yet complete defeat is near for political rulers of the Empire and the powerful leaders of religion in Jerusalem. For by their own shouts the preordained Sacrifice of the Lamb of God for the sins of the world is now to be fulfilled.

22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

It was nearly noon, the Passover Lamb now prepared by scourging. “CRUCIFY, CRUCIFY!” shout the crowds. We will NOT follow Jesus.

Jesus the Christ will take back the power of sin from the enemy and defeat death from a Cross of Sacrifice.

.. this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. Acts 2:23

And how is this the Spirit of Grace?

For this grace you must also wait until next time.
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To be continued...
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November 6, 2020