The Resurrection

John 2:22

“When therefore He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture, and the word which Jesus had spoken.”

One commentator said of this verse ““It is in the light of the resurrection that we can understand the Bible, and can interpret and believe the words and claims of Christ.”

In my opinion, the resurrection is the single most important event in the Bible. Jesus appeared many times to many people in His resurrected body so that no one could prove that the resurrection did not occur. From that day forward, continuing to today, people have tried to prove that His resurrection did not occur.

During Jesus time on earth many saw Him as a great healer but they were unwilling to trust Him as their personal Savior. We still hear that same thing from many today. He was a great person, they say, but they deny He was God.

We are also told that as His disciples witnessed the resurrection and believed on Him as their Savior, they truly began to understand much of His teaching and the Old Testament Scriptures. They understood to the point of believing His words and claims. Those He poured His life into began to share that good news with others.

Now we, as believers, accept by faith His resurrection. The Bible predicts it, documents it, and provides witnesses testifying to it so that we may trust Him as our Savior. Because of His resurrection some two thousand years ago we can be totally assured of our eternity with Him.

We should thank God daily for His great love for us as manifested by sending His Son to take on human form, die for our sins, and for raising Him to eternal life so that we too might enjoy eternity with Him.

Conformity to Religious Rites

John 2:13-25

Jesus next travels to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. We know from the Gospel of Luke (2:41-52) that He had made this trip since He was a child. The temple had a large courtyard surrounding it and in that area people were buying and selling to those who had travelled to the event and were taking advantage of them. Jesus was highly offended because He knew their heart.

The real offence, I think, was that many had maintained the ritual but were neglecting the purpose. I remember when we visited the wailing wall in Jerusalem I was disturbed about the evidence of ritual without true meaning. It is just as easy for us to maintain rituals we have been taught without really worshipping our Savior. A couple of areas come to my mind; the first is the practice of communion.

Paul shares with us in I Corinthians 11 the fact that we should practice communion and the method of doing that. We do that to be reminded of the price our Savior paid for our Salvation. He sacrificed his body and blood so that we may have eternal life. We are told that we should take part in communion on a regular basis. Some churches do it as often as weekly. Sadly, it has become a ritual for many and we really don’t reflect on and appreciate its true meaning. We are cautioned in I Cor. 11 to examine ourselves to make sure we are without unconfessed sin in our lives before we take communion.

I’m afraid many have much the same attitude in the area of giving. We are taught from the Bible that we are only stewards of God’s resources and we should freely give to the Lord’s work as He leads us. That applies to giving not only our financial resources, but our time and our abilities as well. So often we think we satisfy this requirement by putting a few dollars in the offering plate, or even tithing. The Bible teaches that God owns it all and we are responsible to Him in the way we handle these resources. We should hold everything with an open hand and let him take what He wants. We are as responsible to Him for the dollars we spend and save as the dollars we give. We are as responsible for the time we waste as well as the time we use wisely.

We need to be careful about establishing rituals in our lives. We need to make sure our actions do not become meaningless, but that our attitudes are correct.

Jesus’ First Miracle

John 2:1-11

In this passage we have recorded the first of 35 miracles preformed by Jesus that are preserved in the Bible for us to learn from. It is recorded only in the book of John and occurs at a wedding feast which in that culture often lasted for seven days.

One of the purposes of this miracle was to help Jesus’ mother further understand her Son’s mission. I don’t think she expected a miracle from Him when she told Him they were out of wine although she knew He was a special child from God. As far as we know, she had not previously witnessed any miracle by Him. Jesus was now around 30 years old. His answer to His mother in most translations may seem disrespectful but it certainly wasn’t in that culture. It did remind her that He truly was the Son of God. You can see that she was not offended by the statement she made to the servants” “Whatever He says to you, do it.”

Another important lesson is to consider that the provision of Jesus is always adequate, and often in abundance. Each of the six stone water-pots would hold 20 to 30 gallons of water; they were very big. Therefore, Jesus provided 120 to 180 gallons of wine for the party. Not only was there plenty, it was also of high quality. Notice that the headwaiter commented on how good it was. We can always be assured, as Christians, that Jesus provision will be adequate. It may not be what we want but it will always be what is best for us.

This miracle, as well as the others, witnessed to the fact the Jesus was the Christ. We see from the quote in verse eleven that “His disciples believed in Him”. But I think the deepest meaning related to the life of believers and the joy of the wedding feast. It provided clear evidence that being a Christian does not rob life of its happiness. We can actually enjoy life more than others because of the joy that we have. Our perspective is different though because of our relation-ship to Him. Our loyalty to Christ is not inconsistent with enjoying life.

I pray that you might consistently recognize and be satisfied with Jesus’ provision in your life and that your joy may be full.

Peter

John 1:41-42

“He (Andrew) found first his brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which translated means Christ. He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him, and said, “You are Simon the Son of john; you shall be called Cephas” (which translated means Peter).

We are now given a brief introduction of Peter and it is good to reflect on this great man of God. I’m impressed that as our Lord was choosing His disciples he so often chose the common men to be the leaders of His church. Peter, for instance, was an uneducated fisherman. As we study the disciples it is evident that Jesus knew their heart much better than we. While man looks mostly on the appearance of others, Jesus knows our hearts. He immediately identified Peter as the man upon whom He would build his church. Notice Jesus response to Peter’s confession of faith in Matthew 16:18: “…you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven….”

We know from Luke’s gospel that life was not a bed of roses for Peter. In Luke 22:31-34 we learn of Peter’s denial of Christ in a time of crisis. Even after much personal mentoring by Jesus, Peter still failed. That points up to us the fact that we must be constantly on guard against Satan’s devices. Neither are we able to depend on the strength of our own personality to bring us through difficult times. We must continue to strengthen our spiritual lives and our dependency on Him.

We get another glimpse of Peter at the end of John’s gospel (John 21:15-17). There Jesus asks Simon three times whether he loves Him. I believe this passage stresses the love motivation in our lives. The success of our lives as Christians is dependent on our consistent love for Him.

Andrew, The First Convert

John 1:35-42

This passage reveals the beginning of Jesus public ministry. Notice that John saw Jesus and identified Him as “The Lamb of God!” Two of John’s disciples heard Jesus speak and followed Him. One of those men was Andrew and he obviously quickly recognized Jesus and believed Him. He immediately went to find his brother, Peter, and exclaimed to him “We have found the Messiah.” I take it from this phrase that the subject of the Messiah had probably come up in earlier conversation.

One of the things we learn about Andrew was that he was not bashful in his faith. It doesn’t appear that he was a great preacher that ministered to thousands, but he faithfully shared his faith with those he knew. In this instance, he introduces his brother Peter to the Lord. We are all familiar with the impact Peter had through his testimony. He became one of Jesus closest friends; one He chose to disciple in depth.

Andrew’s personality was probably like many of us. He apparently was not a gifted orator like Paul, or a public person like Peter, but he was a strong believer and shared his faith with his friends. We all have that responsibility. We can most effectively share our faith by telling others what Jesus means to us and how our relationship with Him impacts our lives. We can also live our lives in a way that reflects our faith in Him. In fact there is an old cliché, that our lives speak so loud, others may not hear our words. Our lives need to be consistent with our verbal testimony.

Notice how simple Andrew’s testimony was to Peter. He didn’t quote a lot of Scripture nor did he go into great depths of explanation; he simply said “We have found the Messiah” and he brought Peter to Him. Our testimony may be as simple as inviting others to church with us or to hear someone else share their testimony. We don’t have to be a theologically trained student to be an effective witness.

I pray that you will be faithful in sharing your faith with others.

John The Baptist

John 1:19-34

John the Baptist and Jesus had a very unique relationship. We learn from Luke 1:36 that they were physically related. John was important enough in Jesus life that when the angel informed Mary of her pregnancy, he also informed her of John’s conception. We are also told that when Elizabeth heard Mary’s voice, the baby (John) “leaped in her womb”.

John was faithful to his ministry. Some may have believed that he was their Savior and pride could easily have allowed him to accept that mantel. But notice that he quickly shared that He was not the Christ (1:20), but only a faithful messenger (1:23). He also clearly recognized who Jesus was. Notice he says in v. 29 “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

I can imagine that Jesus and John spent time together as children since they were close in age and also were related. A great love must have developed between the two of them. Jesus said of John in Luke 7:27 “among those born of women, there is no one greater than John.”

John also clearly knew his purpose and boldly accomplished it. He says in John 1:34 “And I have seen, and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.” I think that is the primary message the author wants to share with us about this man.

As I reflect on this section of Scripture I’m reminded that God has given every one of us a purpose. A major part of our purpose as a child of God is to share our faith with others. We are to be faithful in doing this just as John was.

Sharing our faith is more than just verbalizing it. It involves living our lives in a way that reflects the fact that we are Christians. Others should be able to see Christ in us. We are stewards of the life God has given us. Not only are we to share with others financially, but we are also to use the time and the abilities God has given us in a way that pleases Him.

I pray that you will be a faithful steward and servant of the Lord Jesus.

The Word Made Flesh

“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

John 1:14

Have you considered the tremendous sacrifice Jesus made to be willing to assume human form and come to this sin-sick world just for you and I? He left all the glory of heaven; went through all the testing and temptation we do, yet without sin, and ultimately suffered the pain and agony of death on the cross to pay the price for our sins so that we might have eternal life.

While His sacrifice for us was His primary mission, He also poured His life into twelve men so that they would be able to carry forth His message. Verse eighteen tells us that while none of us has seen God, the Son “has explained Him”. A part of his mission was to help us comprehend God’s love for us and His plan for our lives.

We also begin to understand that He introduced a new age in God’s plan. John mentions (v. 17) that “the law was given through Moses” but “grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ”. No longer are we subject to the law, but we now live in the age of grace. As the acronym explains we experience Gods riches at Christ’s expense.

John uses the phrase “full of grace and truth” to describe Jesus. In verse eighteen he states “He has explained Him (the Father)”. Jesus’ life on earth and the love He demonstrated helps us understand the Father. Jesus taught much about life while He was here and those teachings were faithfully recorded in the Bible so that we might live our life in a way that pleases Him.

Later in this book (15:13) Jesus says “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” Jesus also loved us so much that He shared with us difficult things about life, so we would know how to walk through the tests and temptations we face.

One of the most important teachings was about forgiveness. John shares with us in I John 1:9 that “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Just as He forgave us, we are to forgive others. Eph. 4:32 says “and be kind to one another, tender-hearted forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.”

We should thank the Lord daily for His willingness to come dwell among us, teach us, and provide the way for us to share eternity with Him.