Death is the Way to Life

John 12:20-26

Some Gentiles had been observing Jesus and wanted to meet Him. They approached Philip who through Andrew arranged for them to meet. I’m sure the entire conversation is not recorded but we know that Jesus made this comment to them: “unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone; but if it dies it bears much fruit.”

We can see this concept demonstrated in several ways. Jesus speaks of a grain of wheat and I’m reminded of a kernel of corn. One kernel of corn produces a large plant with several ears of corn. Each of those ears of corn contains about 650 kernels. Consider how fast that multiples. Consider how many acorns an oak tree produces every year with each one of them capable of producing a tree.

From the animal kingdom we know that a caterpillar builds a cocoon and dies and becomes a beautiful butterfly which I think is a beautiful picture of what happens to us. We are living on earth in our sin racked bodies and are certain to die. Hardly anyone lives to be over 100 years old. But that is not the end of our existence for we are created to be eternal beings.

The Psalmist says in Psalm 116:15 “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His godly ones.” That is so because when Christians die we enter into an even greater relationship with our Lord. The fellowship we enjoy with Him is even greater than what we experience in our earthly lifetime. We are not burdened with the sin nature any longer.

While death is a rather scary process, because no one has been on the other side and come back to tell us about it, we as Christians can have a completely different attitude because we know our eternal destination.

It is good to be reminded, however, that the ability to trust Christ as our Savior ends at our physical death. Remember the story in Luke 16:19-31 of the rich man and Lazarus. That story reminds us that our eternal destiny cannot be changed after our physical death. This truth should lead us to share the wonderful story of our relationship with Jesus as our Savior.

Entry Into Jerusalem

John 12:12-19

The time for the Passover had come and a great number of people had come into Jerusalem to celebrate the feast. The multitude heard that Jesus was coming and there was much enthusiasm for they were ready to crown Him king.

You wouldn’t expect a king to come into a city riding on a donkey, but on a chariot surrounded by much protection and in kingly regalia. But that is exactly what Jesus did as He was fulfilling the prophecy in Zechariah 9:9 “Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, humble and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

Notice that even those He had discipled the most didn’t understand what was transpiring. But notice in v. 16 John records that they did later when Jesus was glorified and the Holy Spirit became active in their lives. As I consider this statement about the disciples I am reminded how often I don’t understand the purpose of some of the things that happen in my life until I reflect back later how the Lord used a situation in my life to mature me or to help me share my faith.

Once again as we read about Lazarus we are reminded that the multitude is attracted to Jesus because of the miracles He performed and their belief that He can right then become their king and provide for all their physical needs. They did not understand what was going on from a spiritual perspective. Neither did the Pharisees, but they did understand they were losing the battle as the people were attracted to Jesus. Because the reaction of the crowd was so positive they were afraid to take further action against Jesus

As we consider the reactions of the public to Jesus I’m reminded that it is not that much different than today. Many are really not interested in Christianity or a relationship with Jesus until they get into a situation beyond their control in which they need help. Then they look for a miracle to care for their physical needs. While Jesus is certainly willing to help us in that area our spiritual needs are much more important. When we understand that our relationship with Jesus is eternal, it takes on a completely different perspective involving different priorities.

The Ointment

“Mary therefore took a pound of very costly, genuine spikenard ointment, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment” John 12:3

I’d like to spend some time on this verse because it is ripe with meaning and application. We’ve considered Mary before and know quite a bit about her personality and her love for the Lord. In this verse we see that manifested in yet another way. Notice the verse says the ointment was very costly; estimated to equal almost a year’s wages. Think about the lavishness of that gift but also consider the lavishness of God’s love for you to be willing to give His own Son to die on the cross so that we might spend eternity with Him.

Consider also the fact that she wiped His feet with her hair, a dramatic demonstration of humility. She cared little for herself and much for Him.

Think about the lavishness of the Son’s love to go about the pain and agony of death just for you. Ephesians 1:7-8 says “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us.”

Now consider your approach to giving to the Lord’s work. Are you willing to do that lavishly or does your Savior get the leftovers. It is my firm conviction that our top priority with those things we consider assets should be to ask what does the Lord want me to return to Him and then be obedient to the prompting of the Holy Spirit.

Look at the Lord’s response to Mary’s action. In verses seven and eight we see He was pleased. I don’t think that was necessarily true because of the cost of the gift, but because of Mary’s attitude. Consider his attitude when the poor widow gave two small copper coins. He was as pleased with that as He was with the ointment (Luke 21:2-3).

We know how great is God’s love for us; how great is your love for Him.

Jesus Power Over Death

John 11:1-57

This is a wonderful chapter of the Bible and there are many people featured in this portion of Scripture from whom we can learn much. For instance consider the person of Mary. I wrote several devotionals about her several years ago. Think about the personality differences between her and her sister Martha and examine how they both revealed their great faith. Which of them is more like you?

Consider verses 9 and 10 where Jesus claims to be the light of the world and all the ramifications of that. Think about the contrast of walking in the light of His teachings which we can learn from the Bible and walking in darkness, without the knowledge we can gain from the Scriptures and without the ministry of the Holy Spirit if we are not a Christian. Our desire to walk in the light should drive us to the daily study of the Bible.

Have you ever considered that Lazarus was not really resurrected but was resuscitated. He would have to face death again. Jesus is the only person in history who has been resurrected, but we, as Christians, can be assured that we will be resurrected with heavenly bodies when the Lord returns to take us home to spend eternity with Him.

It would be profitable to study the person of Thomas, who is most famous for doubting Jesus resurrection. Here he shows his devotion by being willing to follow Him to death.

Would you memorize verses 25-26: “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die.’” What a tremendous promise that is. Note the difference between physical death and spiritual death as both are mentioned here.

Jesus love is reflected in His conversation with Mary. Even though He knew that the resuscitation of Lazarus would bring joy to Mary He was deeply moved by her current sorrow and wept with her.

After this tremendous demonstration of His power over death many believed, but just as in the past many also did not believe and continued to plot to kill Him. We must realize that the Truth of the Bible always divides people. Many people accept it and live by it, but even more reject it and go their own way. Our responsibility is to share the good news of the Gospel and let the Holy Spirit work in the hearts of those with whom we share.

Two Great Truths

John 10:22-42

As we look at this passage I would like to dwell on two great truths that are extremely critical to our faith. After Jesus tells the parable of the Good Shepherd the Pharisees continue to argue with Him. They wanted Jesus to relate to them on their terms, but He continues to assert His deity.

In v. 27 He speaks again of believers as sheep and explains that they listen to Him and follow Him. He also says that He knows them and in v. 28 asserts that He gives eternal life and the believer will never perish and also that no one can take the believer from Him. Notice as He continues that thought in v. 29 he also says that no one can take the believer from the Father either. That means that we are eternally secure in Him. Once we have trusted Him as our Savior we will not lose our relationship with Him.

Some believe that it is possible to lose our salvation, but that implies that they are depending on their works or their attitude to help get them to heaven. This passage repeats a teaching we notice in John 6:37-39 where Jesus says “the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out” and in v. 39 “all that He has give Me I lose nothing”. Satan will always try to put doubt into our minds regarding our relationship with our Savior, but we can resist that by recalling these Scriptures.

Verse 35 contains the second truth I would like to consider “the Scripture cannot be broken”. This statement supports our belief that the Bible is the inerrant word of God. We believe that the original text of Scripture contains no errors and is completely trustworthy. There is much internal evidence of this truth. II Tim. 3:16 assures us that “all Scripture is inspired by God” and II Peter 1:21 further explains that “men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God”.

This is another area that Satan loves to attack the Christian. If he can get us to doubt God’s Word then he has opened the door to further disbelief. As he attempts to place these doubts in our mind we must remember that inerrancy does not guarantee scientific exactness (but estimation), it is not exhaustive, but sufficient; and our lack of understanding does not reduce its credibility. We must keep in mind it is not a scientific book, but where it touches on science it is true; it is not a history book, but where it touches on history it is true.

We should be thankful to God for giving us His trustworthy Word and for the ministry of the Holy Spirit to help us understand the Scripture as it applies to our life.

Parable of the Good Shepherd

John 10:1-18

Previously we considered the healing of the man born blind. As Christ healed the physical blindness He was indicating to Israel that He was the One who could remove their spiritual blindness. As we see from the discussion with the Pharisees the miracle raised the question of the identity of the person of Christ. This question will be answered through the use of the Shepherd/sheep analogy.

He used the sheepfold to represent the nation of Israel. John the Baptist represents the “doorkeeper” or “watchman” mentioned in verse three. He fulfilled his mission by introducing Christ to the nation of Israel as both the Savior and the Sovereign Lord. One proof that Christ was who He proclaimed to be is that those who are His own sheep listen to His voice and recognize Him and are willing to follow Him (v. 3-4).

Next He explained the kind of Shepherd He is. In v. 9 He claims to be the way of salvation. He is also a Shepherd who liberates His sheep for we can “go in and out”. This speaks to the freedom and liberty we have in Christ. We will find “pasture” or provision for He is our provider and He does that abundantly. We not only have life, we have an abundant life because of all the blessings we have in Him.

Finally, He showed His deep love for us as a Shepherd because He was willing to lay down His life for us. He cares more for us than He does His own life. These are characteristics of Christ that no false shepherd can claim and are further proof that He is who He claimed to be.

Jewish people have had an especially difficult time recognizing Christ as their Savior, but so have many Gentiles. We can be thankful that through the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we have recognized Him as our Shepherd.

Healing The Man Born Blind

John 9:1-41

The entire ninth chapter deals with Jesus healing a man born blind, which is the sixth sign miracle John records in his book. Jesus used this occurrence to teach His disciples, to challenge the Pharisees and to affirm His deity.

First, notice the disciples reveal an error in their spiritual thinking. They thought that his blindness, and likely other similar problems were caused by sin. Jesus response to them was that it wasn’t provoked by a sin problem but it was a way that God’s works could be revealed and glorified. It is natural to search for why we deal with various issues in our lives and when we do, we need to consider how God may receive glory through that circumstance.

Notice in verse four the use of the word “we”. Jesus is including the disciples in the statement about working the works of God. That includes us also. As Christians we have responsibilities for which God will hold us responsible. We will one day receive rewards based on how well we carry out those duties.

Do you wonder why Jesus puts clay on the blind man’s eyes and giving him a task rather than simply restoring his sight? I think He is doing that to help develop the man’s faith. Clay certainly had no medicinal benefit. He also may be using the washing of the clay to illustrate how He will cleanse us from our sins and restore our spiritual sight. It is interesting that all the elements of salvation are presented in this story; a Savior to save, a need recognized, and the obedience of faith.

As we look at the Pharisees judgmental attitude I am reminded of how easy it is to judge others without really understanding the situation. It is interesting that the parents were afraid to give an opinion; concerned that they would be excommunicated from the temple. It forces me to ask the question do I hold on to religious practices for fear of what others will think?

Finally, what does this passage teach us about developing our faith? We can read the Bible and be obedient to the things we learn just as the blind man was obedient to Jesus instructions. We should develop the courage to hold fast to our convictions in times of testing. We can be willing to suffer for His sake if we are placed in that position.