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  • God’s Love Through John: Light of a greater testimony

    “John was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.

    Jesus, of John the Baptist – John 5:35 CSB 

    The Illustration

    The Apostle John makes more references to light in his Gospel than any other New Testament writer.

    Job, Psalms and Isaiah in the Old Testament also use the concept to evoke reflection on varying comparisons, as Jesus does in John 6. Here are just a few illustrations from the Hebrew definition, familiar to disciples of both John the Baptist and followers of Jesus.

    אוֹר ‘owr – [used 122 times as a noun] means:

    Light of day, of heavenly luminaries (moon, sun, stars), day-break, dawn, morning light, daylight, lightning, of a lamp (as Jesus uses here to refer to John the Baptist), of life, of prosperity,

    As a teacher with the greater ‘light of instruction,’ Jesus compares Himself to John the Baptist.

    John 1: a brief reflection

    Although we will not continually return to the beginning of John’s Gospel, it is important for us to understand the Apostle’s perspective as events unfold in the teaching ministry of Christ Jesus.

    Orazio Fidani, Saint John the Apostle, c. 1640-56

    Just a reminder here that the events of Jesus’ ministry occurred around AD 30 when the Apostle was a young man and John wrote his Gospel [Good News] between AD 70-100 as the only remaining Disciple who had not been martyred for Christ.

    John makes many references to light, including many in John 1, as we have already seen in ‘God’s Love Through John: In the Beginning.’

    Reflections of the Teacher

    John 1:4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it.

    John’s reference to Christ Jesus

    7 He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that all might believe through him.

    John refers to Jesus and the witness mentioned is the teacher, John the Baptist. Then John continues to clarify the difference by restating the comparison of John the Baptist to Jesus.

    8 He was not the light, but he came to testify about the light.

    The Gospel-writer then unequivocally states that Jesus the Messiah is both ‘the true light’ and the greater light than John. He was coming to the world as the light – a light of hope – for everyone in the world.

    9 The true light that gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

    Gospel of John, of the Messiah Jesus

    As mentioned earlier, John then proceeds to both explain the role of Jesus and continues to reflect on the relationship of the Prophet of the wilderness, John, to the Messiah.

    What John’s Gospel does not say

    And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which, if every one of them were written down, I suppose not even the world itself could contain the books that would be written.

    John 21:25 CSB

    Although we are studying the Gospel of John, it is important for us to put some missing events detailed in other gospels about the life of John the Baptist. So before we proceed with Jesus’ teachings, let’s briefly chronicle a few events of the well-known teacher, John.

    Matthew

    Matthew, of course, was the other Jewish writer of the gospels who adds additional detail.

    In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, “Repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near! ”

    Matthew states later of Jesus and his reaction to the political events which led to the Baptist’s arrest, 

    When he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee.

    Matthew 4:12

    Jesus had been in Judea, but leaves for Galilee and gathers Disciples to Himself. John, no doubt, hears of this and sends some of his own disciples to Jesus with questions from John asking for assurance.

    Matthew 11:

    Now when John heard in prison what the Christ was doing, he sent a message through his disciples… Jesus replied to them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see:

    We will continue shortly from the Gospel of John with the signs they would witness to the Baptist and others. 

    “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been suffering violence, and the violent have been seizing it by force. … “Let anyone who has ears listen.

    The Messiah Jesus, Matthew 11:12

    Later in Jesus’ three-year ministry we learn the fears of Herod about Jesus from Matthew:

    At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the report about Jesus. 2 “This is John the Baptist,” he told his servants. “He has been raised from the dead, and that’s why miraculous powers are at work in him.”

    The Greater Light

    Immediately after John’s most quoted Scripture he testifies to the Messiah’s purpose and mission in Jesus’ own words. Jesus again uses comparisons of light and darkness.

    John 3:

    19 This is the judgment:

    The light has come into the world,

    and people loved darkness rather than the light

    because their deeds were evil.

    John 3:19

    20 For everyone who does evil hates the light and avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed. 21 But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God.”

    Before we speak of Jesus’ love we must remember repentance. Darkness and evil envelope our lives, yet some love the darkness. Jesus offers love not only to Israel but to the world.

    The Gospel of John shows many signs of the Messiah which should be recognizable to the Jews, even though many chose darkness.

    Where will you look? Do you have eyes to see?

    Do you rely on a lesser lamp or perhaps even live in complete darkness?

    John presents signs, evidence and explanation of the Messiah.

    Who is your hope?

    To be continued...

  • God’s Love Through John: Disciples

    “If anyone serves me, he must follow me. Where I am, there my servant also will be. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

    John 12:26

    Preachers, Teachers & Disciples

    We’ve all seen them, the up and coming preachers who gain a public following. Of course appointed religious officials would like to be the superstars of their mega-temples in Jerusalem or cathedrals of later times, but this was not the style of Jesus or of his populist predecessor, John the Baptist.

    Some men have the gift of preaching a message to which others will respond and follow. As we pointed out in our previous post, John the Baptist was one such gifted preacher and like Jesus after him, he also had gained a following of disciples.

    How is a Disciple different from other hearers of preaching?

    To be clear, Jesus was not the only teacher or Rabbi with disciples, so let’s begin with a definition.

    μαθητής – mathētēs – a learner, pupil, disciple – from μανθάνω manthanō – to learn (in any way):—learn, understand.

    Certain followers of rabbis of the same school of teaching, as in the party of the Pharisees, were also called disciples. These disciples often were loyal to a particular teaching in a certain place, often Jerusalem. Popular Pharisees and popular Sadducees competed for prominent disciples with influence.

    Iterate teachers like Jesus or teachers in the wilderness like John also developed a following. Their crowds of disciples wanted to learn more about what they were preaching, but had to travel to a distant place to hear more teaching from this rabbi or prophet.

    The question of truth always goes to what are they preaching and why does their message connect to their followers?

    John’s Disciples

    John’s message is ‘repent and be baptized,’ but it is more than that. Note these references to the disciples of John, men who followed John the Baptist as he cried out to sinners to repent and be baptized. 

    John 1:

    “I baptize with water,” 

    “Someone stands among you, but you don’t know him. He is the one coming after me, whose sandal strap I’m not worthy to untie.”

    35 The next day, John was standing with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”

    37 The two disciples heard him say this and followed Jesus.

    What a pivotal moment it must have been in their lives! These two men were disciples of the brash baptist, John, the Prophet of the wilderness.

    And what had John witnessed to his disciples about Jesus?

    “Here is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

    30 This is the one I told you about:

    ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me, because he existed before me.’

    31 I didn’t know him, but I came baptizing with water so he might be revealed to Israel.”

    He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” – John 1:20 ESV

    Therefore, these two disciples of John the Baptist now turn to follow Jesus.

    Disciples of John follow the Messiah

    Where are you staying?
    38 When Jesus turned and noticed them following him, he asked them, “What are you looking for?”

     

    They said to him, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”

    39 “Come and you’ll see,” he replied. So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon.

    40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John and followed him. 

    Who was this unnamed disciple with Andrew who heard John and followed Jesus? No doubt, the young evangelist, John, who will also introduce his older brother to the Messiah of Israel.

    James and John, along with Andrew’s brother, Simon Peter, will become Jesus’ inner circle of Disciples.

    Disciples and Apostles

    A preacher or teacher may have many listeners who do not hear, but men like John the Baptist had followers or disciples. John’s message was more weighty than the politically correct preaching of any particular religious party (like the Pharisees), with the authority of the LORD in Scripture.

    Disciples are followers of a certain teacher, Rabbi or other preacher. Some now use the terms disciple and apostle interchangeably, but is there a difference?

    Preachers need an audience of listeners. Disciples may follow some teachers of Scripture or other philosophy, yet an apostle is different. The apostle is a man with a different function than merely following a teacher.

    Apostle

    ἀπόστολος – apostolos – a delegate, messenger, one sent forth with orders; specifically applied to the twelve apostles of Christ, in a broader sense applied to other eminent Christian teachers, i.e. of Barnabas, of Timothy and Silvanus. – from ἀποστέλλω – apostellō – to order (one) to go to a place appointed or to send away, dismiss.

    The Apostle John does not refer to himself as an Apostle in his Gospel or three letters, even though clearly he is sent by Jesus after His resurrection. John makes only a single reference in the words of Jesus at the time of their preparation for the Sacrifice of the Lamb of God for the atonement of Israel.

    Nearly three years after having been disciples of John the Baptist Jesus will send them out as Apostles. John witnesses a story of their mission pointing to his own love and humility learned from Jesus.

    The Meaning of Foot Washing

    John 13:

    12 When Jesus had washed their feet and put on his outer clothing, he reclined again and said to them, “Do you know what I have done for you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are speaking rightly, since that is what I am. 14 So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done for you.

    16 “Truly I tell you, a servant is not greater than his master, and a messenger is not greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

    You may find the terminology of the King James Version helpful to understanding the root relationship between a master teacher and a follower sent out.

    Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.

    John 13:16 KJV

    ‘Amen, amen,’ begins the Greek. The servant is δοῦλος doulos, the same word used for slave. (I know we have difficulty relating to this relationship.)

    The slave, therefore, says Jesus to His Disciples, is not greater than the lord (a term used for the master responsible for slaves). And ‘he that is sent,’ ἀπόστολος apostolos or apostle, is not greater than the one who sends (his lord who commands him with the message).

    John the Baptist did not send his own disciples to Jesus, but witnessed the Lord of all Authority.

    I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”

    John 1:34

    Early Disciples of The Twelve

    35 The next day, John was standing with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”

    John and Andrew, disciples of John the Baptist follow Jesus. They may not have been the only ones and other disciples no doubt followed Jesus later.

    Their brothers, Peter and James then follow.

    41 He [Andrew] first found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated “the Christ”), 42 and he brought Simon to Jesus.

    When Jesus saw him, he said, “You are Simon, son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which is translated “Peter”).

    43 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. He found Philip and told him, “Follow me.”

    Galilee to the north of Judea is of course not only the place where Jesus stayed, but also the place of business for Simon and Andrew, sons of Zebedee, and others.

    Beginning in Galilee

    44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the hometown of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the law (and so did the prophets): Jesus the son of Joseph, from Nazareth.”

    46 “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Nathanael asked him.

    “Come and see,” Philip answered.

    John, Andrew, Peter and then Philip, (John’s older brother James is not yet mentioned); the an addition of Nathanael. 

    47 Then Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said about him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”

    48 “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.

    “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you,” Jesus answered.

    49 “Rabbi,” Nathanael replied, “You are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel!”

    “Teacher, you are the Messiah and King of Israel,” says Nathaniel (נְתַנְאֵל which means, “God/El has given”), who other Gospel writers refer to as, ‘Bartholomew.’ He is likely also a fisherman from Cana, near Nazareth, where Jesus grew up as a child after returning from Egypt.

    John does not introduce the other Disciples of Jesus here, but continues with witness of Jesus’ first miracle at a wedding in Cana, where John and other local Disciples were no doubt present.

    50 Jesus responded to him [Nathanael], “Do you believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.”

    51 Then he said, “Truly I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

    To be continued...

  • God’s Love Through John: Of water and the Spirit

    “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

    Christ Jesus – Gospel of John 3:5

     

    The Apostle John begins his Good News with creation then proceeds to verify the identity of Christ as prophesied and witnessed in Jesus’ earthly ministry.

    Previously I addressed the very question of God, for not everyone believes in Almighty God, creator of the heavens and earth. We will for the moment skip over the powerful testimony of John the Baptist and continue with creation.

    Do you believe in God?

    If so, it must follow that you want to know more about God. John refers to Jesus as logos or ‘the Word.’ He tells us: “… the Word was God.”

    Therefore, Jesus IS at the beginning – He created with God and He IS God.

    Note that the Hebrew word for God, אֱלֹהִים ‘elohiym is plural. Jesus speaks of Himself in this same plural sense.

    John 3:11, “Truly I tell you, we speak what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you do not accept our testimony.

    Perhaps you believe in God, but do you believe what God says?

    Jesus speaks the very words of God!

    John acknowledges the Messiah Jesus the Son as part of the One True God; but John witnesses even more. So let’s continue with the nature of God, also considering Spirit and the intangible attributes of that which is unseen.

    John introduces the Holy Spirit in a dialogue between Nicodemus and Jesus.

    Nicodemus, a faithful Jew

    Visit of Nicodemus to Christ painting by John La Farge

    Nicodemus was a Pharisee and therefore believed in the resurrection. His learned position as a leader of the Jews brought him to question Jesus, who had performed many miracles.

    John 3:

    “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could perform these signs you do unless God were with him.”

    3 Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

    4 “How can anyone be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked him. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born?”

    We make the same mistake, thinking of birth as creation. It is not.

    Just as the resurrection marks an event uniting a created soul with God, birth is an event marking a new existence of that which was already created. The birth of the flesh marks an event connected to the breath of a baby whose spirit is formed by the Lord.

    Just as you don’t know the path of the wind,
    or how bones develop in the womb of a pregnant woman,
    so also you don’t know the work of God who makes everything.

    Ecclesiastes 11:5 CSB

    Does the work of God in the spirit of man end with the end of our flesh? The Pharisees and Jesus believed the spirit to exist beyond the life of man. (We will not here discuss the nature and timing of the resurrected body here.)

    Note that the Hebrew word for wind, רוּחַ ruwach, is equivalent to ‘spirit,’ which we note in the creation narrative of Genesis.

    Genesis 1:

    In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

    2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

    A description of a chaotic void of darkness, an emptiness, watery depths describes a formless space without purpose or life itself. Yet God, specifically the Spirit of God (רוּחַ ruwach אֱלֹהִים ‘elohiym) was moving over this formless void.

    God IS the only Life in the instant of creation.

    Jesus tells Nicodemus, ‘you should know that God is Spirit.’

    5 Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit.

    Born of water

    Genesis 1:6-7 Then God said,

    “Let there be an expanse between the waters, separating water from water.” 

    So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above the expanse. And it was so.

    Consider for a moment that if Jesus is the logos, the very spoken Word of God, then these Mosaic quotes may be attributed to the Messiah.

    Jesus implies, ‘I AM He who separated the waters and I tell you that you must be born of water and the Spirit.’ 

    Be born again from your chaotic sinful life into the resurrection, reborn pure and forgiven that you might have eternal life.

    John also witnesses a connective symbolism between the pure water and the blood at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry in Galilee.

    John 2:

    6 Now six stone water jars had been set there for Jewish purification… 

    7 “Fill the jars with water,” Jesus told them. So they filled them to the brim… the headwaiter tasted the water (after it had become wine)…

    11 Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee. He revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.

    John then tells us how after this Jesus goes to Jerusalem and cleanses the Temple marketplace. As a result of these events Nicodemus will come to Jesus privately one night.

    23 While he was in Jerusalem during the Passover Festival, many believed in his name when they saw the signs he was doing.

    John points out additional connections between the purification water and the purification of the wine of the Passover sacrifice. In his first letter John speaks again of this rebirth as he writes to the church:

    1 John 5:

    Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God.

    6 Jesus Christ—he is the one who came by water and blood, not by water only, but by water and by blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.

    7 For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit, the water, and the blood—and these three are in agreement.

    Born of flesh

    Imagine a personal conversation with God! The Lord, a flesh and blood ‘Son of Man’ as Jesus referred to himself, answers a learned teacher of scripture. He essentially suggests to Nicodemus that what is created of water and Spirit is different from our flesh created from dust.

    Water becomes essential to bones and flesh, as blood  flowing with life. Spirit separates the chaos of created man from the lifeless nature of a formless and godless earth.

    Perhaps Jesus referred to the scripture from Ecclesiastes in His dialogue with Nicodemus asking about being born of water and the Spirit.

    10 “Are you a teacher of Israel and don’t know these things?” Jesus replied.

    Jesus, the Messiah in the flesh, tells Nicodemus that we must be born again – born again in the Spirit.

    John the Baptist and many other Prophets urged true believers in the Lord to repent. Jesus also preached repentance and emphasizes a return to a new and pure relationship between the Spirit of God and the spirit of a man.

    To be ‘born again’ is much more than mere repentance, which may be temporal and lacking in guilt, contrition and an earnest desire for the cleansing of sin.

    Our born again spirit is rebirth of a relationship between the new spirit of changed flesh and the Spirit of the Living God.

    John also witnesses much more of the difference between spirit and flesh, mostly in the spoken words of Christ Jesus.

    “The Spirit is the one who gives life. The flesh doesn’t help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.

    John 6:63

    Born of Spirit

    The concepts of spirit, as in the Holy Spirit and the spirit of man, is more complex than what we can address in discussion of John’s Gospel, letters and the Revelation of Jesus Christ to John. Jesus’ simple reply to Nicodemus that we must be born again does point to the Holy Spirit.

    For a more detailed study worthy of academic study of Scripture as Nicodemus would have been familiar see the entry below:

    “Holy Spirit.” Examples where the Person is meant when the article is absent… Sometimes the absence is to be accounted for by the fact that Pneuma (like Theos) is substantially a proper name, e.g., in Jhn 7:39. As a general rule the article is present where the subject of the teaching is the Personality of the Holy Spirit, e.g., Jhn 14:26, where He is spoken of in distinction from the Father and the Son. See also Jhn 15:26 and cp. Luk 3:22… 

    The subject of the “Holy Spirit” in the NT may be considered as to His Divine attributes; His distinct Personality in the Godhead; His operation in connection with the Lord Jesus in His birth, His life, His baptism, His death; His operations in the world; in the church; His having been sent at Pentecost by the Father and by Christ; His operations in the individual believer; in local churches; His operations in the production of Holy Scripture; His work in the world, etc.

    Vine’s Expository Dictionary:

    What does it mean to be ‘born again?’

    We could, as many do, become entangled in more theological argument of what Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:3 and consequently neglect John’s witness of what Jesus reveals about the Person of the Holy Spirit. 

    Jesus states that we must be born again in Spirit. Where else does John mention this?

    Because the Holy Spirit commonly the Person of God most misrepresented and least mentioned, let’s look first to the examples cited in Vine’s Dictionary (above) to the scriptures from John.

    “The one who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.” He [Jesus] said this about the Spirit. Those who believed in Jesus were going to receive the Spirit, for the Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified.

    John 7:38-39 CSB

    In our next post we will take a look at the witness of John the Baptist, who also bears witness to Jesus receiving the Holy Spirit, to which the Apostle John refers here.

    Jesus, prior to His crucifixion and resurrection in the flesh and in the spirit, instructs the Apostles further about the Holy Spirit.

    John 14:

    25 “I have spoken these things to you while I remain with you. 26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.

    Jesus’s Gift of Peace
    27 “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Don’t let your heart be troubled or fearful.

    Who would not love a personal counselor like this? Jesus promises a Person with His same love in the Person of the Holy Spirit. Later John affirms this testimony of Jesus:

    “When the Counselor comes, the one I will send to you from the Father ​— ​the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father ​— ​he will testify about me. 

    “You also will testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.

    John 15:26-27

    John is witness and testifies to this for many years, more years than all other Apostles. Jesus also refers to the Holy Spirit as ‘the Spirit of truth.’

    Does one desiring God seek truth?

    John provides both witness and explanation of the Truth. Therefore, even in this present day we would not want to miss what he shares with the church in the Revelation of Jesus Christ to John.

    “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will never be harmed by the second death.

    Revelation 2:11
    God’s Love Through John: To be continued...