Yahweh litigates His case against Israel

Posted on June 10, 2023 by PastorDave

JEREMIAH | Lesson 2

Read Jeremiah 2.1-37

INTRODUCTION & MAKING THE CONNECTIONS

1/ Go back to ch 1.9-10. Yahweh had called, commissioned, and sent the youth prophet Jeremiah with a six-fold charge: pluck up, break down, destroy, and overthrow. Also to build and plant – but they will come later in Yahweh’s covenant promises to bring Judah back from the 70-year captivity in Babylon [chs 25 & 30] and finally in the Messianic New Covenant to be fulfilled in Christ [ch 31].

2/ But for now, it is all about the rising threats and impending judgments that would come on them from the invading Babylonians to the north [see ch 1.13-16].

3/ I have called this lesson Yahweh Litigates His Case Against Israel because that is precisely what this first message is that He sends Jeremiah to deliver. It is both an ‘opening statement’ and a ‘summary statement’ to declare to them what His grounds are for sending these judgments that are coming on them / see v 35b.

4/ He will make His case with explicit and irrefutable details about their chronic and historical rebellions against Him. I will point out the specific evidences of His case He presents against them in the various sections of chapter 2.

5/ We have seen Yahweh use this format before in our previous studies from Micah and Amos / see especially Micah 1.2 & Isaiah 1.2.

6/ And another of our previous studies from Hosea was a specific, more detailed drawing out of His charges against them in verse 2: I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride…

7/ Chapter 2 is a lengthy chapter, 37 verses. So all I can do is give you summaries of the various sections and how they connect and weave together as Yahweh Litigates His Case Against Israel.

8/ BTW, I am also calling this lesson ‘…Against Israel’ even though the specific audience of this message was ‘in the hearing of Jerusalem,’ that is, the southern Kingdom of Judah. The northern Kingdom of Israel is already in captivity in Assyria from 100 years before [722 BC]. But Yahweh is still addressing them also. See v 4: Hear the word of Yahweh, O house of Jacob [Judah], and all the clans of the house of Israel. Yahweh still maintains His covenant promises to both kingdoms. In fact, there is a remarkable passage in ch 3.6-14 where Yahweh stingingly rebukes Judah for not learning from Israel’s fate and repenting when they witnessed it … and He continues to call Israel back to repentance.

9/ ALSO, we need to point out that everything Yahweh will charge Judah and Israel with committing has been done so openly, so brazenly, so egregiously … that the whole world knew! Yahweh appeals to the very heavens to corroborate His witness against Israel, as in v 12: Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares Yahweh! / Again, see Yahweh’s appeal to the heavens and earth to certify the truth of everything He’s charging in Isaiah 1.2.

I / vv 1-3 / The Two Grounds for Yahweh’s Case Against Israel

1/ Yahweh had established a two-fold covenant relationship with Israel when He redeemed them from Egypt’s bondage and slavery in the Exodus. He had faithfully fulfilled His commitments to them and had kept all His promises – Israel had egregiously and faithlessly violated them all.

  • MARRIAGE: Yahweh had lovingly married Israel to Himself as His bride and wife / see Ezekiel 16 & the Book of Hosea. They had forsaken Yahweh and gone after other ‘lovers,’ – the gods of all the other nations around them / see v 25: by their own admission.
  • THE LAND: Yahweh had granted to Israel the Promised Land. It was His Land. He would dwell with them there in their inheritance / see Numbers 35.34: You shall not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I dwell, for I Yahweh dwell in the midst of the people of Israel. And yet, they did just that! See this chapter, v 7. He would plant them there as His choice ‘vine,’ and they would give Him the firstfruits of His harvest in their love, faithfulness, worship, obedience, and service. See vv 6-7 & Psalm 80.8-14. And yet what ‘fiorstfruits’ did they return to Yahweh? See v 21: Yet I planted you a choice vine, wholly of pure seed. How then have you turned degenerate and become a wild vine?

2/ All of these charges, accusations, and indictments will be presented and well-documented … not only by the records of their transgressions, but as we shall see, by their own stubborn and insolent blasphemies back at Yahweh. / Also, see my note of application at the end…

II / vv 4-8 / In His own defense: “What wrong did your fathers find in Me…?”

1/  Yahweh needs no defense, but He presents it anyway. Israel had no grounds or just cause for their faithlessness / vv 4-5

2/ Instead of faithfully ‘seeking’ Yahweh to know His will, ways, and pleasure, none of them said, Where is Yahweh? that they might follow Him.

  • The people did not seek or inquire after Him / vv 6-7
  • The priests did not seek or inquire after Him / v 8. They were the ones charged with ‘handling the Law’ and teaching it to the people.
  • The shepherds [pastors] did not seek or inquire after Him / v 8 [cp 3.15]
  • The prophets did not seek or inquire after Him / v 8  

III / vv 9-19 / The absurdity and senselessness of Israel’s faithlessness and infidelity

1/ Yahweh announces His ‘suit’ against Israel with this word ‘contend.’ This word means ‘to hold an argument’ or ‘to plead.’ When Yahweh declares, ‘I still contend with you,’ He means to let them know He is still open for their repentance. In this next section, He will show Israel that they had proven themselves to be both absurd and senseless in all their faithlessness toward Him.

2/ vv 10-11 / No other nation had ever ‘shopped around’ among the other nations around them to find gods other than their own chosen, preferred, patron gods … and abandoned their own gods for others. Yahweh was the ‘glory’ of Israel by His very Presence, but Israel had abandoned and forsaken Him for that which does not profit. That is absurd and senseless!

3/ Israel had committed two evils – both absurd, senseless, and egregious: [1] they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, [2] and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. Water was their most prized and essential staple. Yahweh had been to Israel the fountain of living waters, all they could ever need or desire. Yet, they forsook Yahweh and ‘hewed out their own cisterns – thinking to be independently self-sustaining from Yahweh – only to find that their self-made, self-found sources and supplies of help and assistance could hold no water.

4/ v 14 / Israel was not a ‘slave’ – they were Yahweh’s ‘firstborn son’ / see Exodus 4.22. The very name Israel was the name Yahweh had given Jacob [see v 4], meaning prince with God / see Genesis 32.27-28.

5/ v 15 / Yet, the very nations Israel had committed spiritual and physical adultery with turned on them, abused them, and even eventually invaded and enslaved them.

6/ vv 16-19 / Memphis and Tahpanes were cities in Egypt / see ch 44.1-14. At least for the previous century, when the neighboring nations had threatened them, instead of appealing to Yahweh for His covenant protections, they had gone to Egypt and even Assyria to seek friendships and protective military and financial alliances / see Hosea 7.11 & Isaiah 30.1-5; 31.1-3. As it applies to us, see James 4.3-4.

7/ Israel’s absurdity and senselessness of seeking protection from their alliances with those nations who were their worst, most inveterate, cruelest, and most abusive enemies is summed up in v 17: Have you not brought this upon yourself by forsaking Yahweh your God, when He led you in the way? and v 19: Your evil will chastise you, and your apostacy will reprove you. 

IV / vv 20-28 / ‘In your own words’: Yahweh turns Israel’s own words against them – they become the chief witnesses for the ‘prosecution’ against themselves

1/ This is an ingenious argument and rebuttal that Yahweh brings against Israel – He repeats back and throws back in their faces all the belligerent, hateful, and rebellious statements they have made to Him over the centuries He’s been seeking to call and woo them back to Himself [see again Hosea]. In effect, He cites their own ‘confessions of un-faith,’ making them witnesses against themselves in their own words!

2/ There is a series of five of such ‘confessions of un-faith’:

  • v 20: …but you said, ‘I will not serve.’ Yahweh had broken their yoke of bondage and burst the bonds with which Egypt had enslaved them … He had planted them like a choice vine and of pure seed in the Promised Land. But when they got into the land, immediately they began their idolatrous and adulterous worship of the false gods of the Canaanites around them. They had turned degenerate and become a wild vine / see v 3 and Isaiah 5.1-7.  
  • v 23: How can you say, ‘I am not unclean, I have not gone after the Baals’? After declaring them unclean and ‘the stain of your guilt is still before Me…,’ Israel has the brazen, lying audacity and gall to retort that they are NOT unclean and that they have NOT gone after the Baals. In truth, they had been worshipping the false gods of the nations around them from the days of Joshua / see Joshua 24 & Judges 2.11-13.
  • v 25: But you said, ‘It is hopeless, for I have loved foreigners, and after them I will go.’ In follow up to their previous blatant denial of their idolatry, Yahweh reminds that they had relentlessly pursued and chased after the neighboring nations’ gods like a wild animal in heat – seeking gratification for their spiritual lusts. To which Israel replied: We can’t help ourselves. We love them, and we’ll continue to pursue them!”  
  • v 27: ‘…who say to a tree, “You are my father,” and to a stone, “You gave me birth”’ This ‘wood’ and ‘tree,’ of course, are the dead materials their dead ‘gods’ are made from. And yet they – all of them – will be shamed by their trust in their trees and stone they are worshipping. Their shame will like that of a thief when he is caught red-handed with the stolen property in his hands. Look at how proudly they are expressing their disdain for Yahweh, who is, in truth, their ‘Father’ and who ‘gave them birth.’ And they are doing this to His Face … intentionally! ‘For they have turned their back to Me, and not their face.’
  • v 27: ‘But in the time of their trouble they say, “Arise and save us!”’ And yet … when they fall into their trouble from the patrons of the very gods they are worshipping, they will expect Yahweh to deliver and save them! In the words of Proverbs 1.28-30: Then they will call upon Me, but I will not answer; they will seek Me diligently but will not find Me. Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of Yahweh, would have none of My counsel and despised all My reproof. Yahweh will turn them over to be saved by the ‘gods’ they have loved: But where are your gods that you made for yourself? Let them arise, if they can save you, in your time of trouble; for as many as your cities are your gods, O Judah.

V / vv 29-37 / ‘Your objections are overruled!’ Israel’s counter-suit/complaint is dismissed

1/ v 29 / The reason I’m calling this section what I am is that Yahweh repeats the same word for ‘contend’ that He introduced for Himself in v 9. His contentions, arguments, or ‘suit’ against them was well-grounded in all the evidences He has presenting. What Israel is doing here is raising objections to all that Yahweh has witnessed and testified against them. They are trying to file a ‘counter-suit’ against Yahweh, accusing Him of being unjust, unfair, or filing false charges against them. Contrarily, “‘Why do you contend with Me? You all have transgressed against Me,’ declares Yahweh.” In other words, ‘You are not the wronged party here…I am!” / See also v 4.

2/ v 30 / They had stubbornly refused to be corrected by Yahweh’s loving discipline. ‘You refused to be corrected by my disciplinary actions toward you!’

3/ v 31 / They had ungratefully abandoned the very One who had redeemed them, delivered them, and provided for them throughout all their history. ‘I have not been a deceiving and dangerous wilderness to you – I am the One who led you through your wilderness journeys and provided for you everything you needed. And yet, here you are declaring your independence from Me: “We are free, we will come no more to You!”’

4/ v 32 / They had shown their disdain for Yahweh by forgetting their very bridal attire on the day of their marriage ceremony. That is unthinkable! ‘Can a virgin forget…? A virgin does not forget her bridal ornaments, and a bride does not forget her wedding-day attire! And yet, My people have forgotten Me more days than can be numbered!’ Back in the late 60s and early 70s, when we were much younger, we had a slang expression we used to show our disdain for someone: we would say, “Forget you!” which meant, “You’re not worth my even remembering you exist!” Which is precisely what they wanted Yahweh to know what they thought of Him!

5/ v 33 / They had become so expert, so well-versed and practiced, so ‘professional’ in their debaucheries that they even became ‘teachers’ to the more pagan nations than they how to conduct their illicit and immoral activities. How well you direct your course to seek love! So that even to wicked women you have taught your ways. I had one of my elderly caregiving recipients to his doctor recently. One of the nurses in the lab had a name tag that read above her name, “Preceptor.” When I asked her what that title meant, she informed me that she had been trained to teach others how to do the procedures she performs. I looked it up on the internet, and in the medical field, their principles and how to conduct their practices are called ‘precepts,’ just like in the Bible. So, one who can teach their ‘precepts’ is called a ‘preceptor.’ Israel had moved beyond being merely ‘practitioners’ of their debaucheries to being ‘preceptors’ of their wicked ways.

6/ vv 34-35 / Adding to their spiritual idolatries and sexual perversions, they also engaged in numerous activities of social injustice. They were fabricating charges of stealing from them against the already-poor and taking them to court to extort yet more of what little they already had. Also on your skirts is found the lifeblood of the guiltless poor; you did not find them breaking in. Yet in spite of all these things [see all the above] you say, ‘I am innocent; surely His anger has turned away from me.’ And then the hammer of Yahweh’s justice falls – He pounds His holy gavel on the Heavenly Judge’s bench – Behold, I will bring you to judgment for saying, ‘I have not sinned.’

7/ vv 36-37 / And then Yahweh returns once again to their betrayals of Him – abandoning Him, not seeking Him, not trusting Him, not repenting of all their transgressions, not appealing to Him to get glory to Himself by saving them from their enemies as He had promised to do [see v 3] – by turning them over to the murderous invasions of the very ones they had gone to seek alliances against those who were threatening them / see again vv 16-18 and III, 6/. And now what do you gain by going to Egypt to drink the waters of the Nile? Or what do you gain by going to Assyria to drink the waters of the Euphrates? [BTW, both of these former super-powers of the world had just been defeated and conquered by the rising Babylon which was now the most ‘clear and present danger’ for Judah…]

8/ They will end up being betrayed by the very enemies to whom they had appealed for assistance. How much you go about, changing your way! You shall be put to shame by Egypt as you were put to shame by Assyria. From it too you will come away with your hands on your head, for Yahweh has rejected those in whom you trust, and you will not prosper by them.

AND NOW – TO US!

AND…we must take these same admonitions and warnings to our own hearts. Jesus Christ has brought us into these very same New Covenant relationships with Himself through His Gospel. We must faithfully fulfill them to Him. As Paul wrote:

‘For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one Husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ’ / 2 Corinthians 11.2.

And, ‘Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to Him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God’ / Romans 7.4.

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Yahweh Prepares His Prophet

Posted on June 3, 2023 by PastorDave

JEREMIAH | Lesson 1 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points

Read Jeremiah 1.1-19

INTRODUCTION: JEREMIAH

1/ We will begin a new course of study with this lesson. It will carry us through the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah and The Book of Lamentations – which has also been ascribed to Jeremiah as its human author.

2/ However, even though the Book of Jeremiah does contain messages that Jeremiah delivered from Yahweh, Jeremiah himself declares from the outset that ‘The words of Jeremiah’ [v 1] are actually ‘the word of Yahweh’ which He ‘put in’ Jeremiah’s mouth to deliver from Him [vv 2, 4, 9, 11, 13 – and on throughout the book]. Jeremiah will repeat this source of his words as ‘the word of Yahweh came to me’ [or similar wording] over fifty times in these messages.

3/ By word count, Jeremiah is the lengthiest book in the Bible. And so, obviously, we won’t be able to give any sort of detailed account of the book, but what we hope to do is cover the thematic sweep of the Book by delivering representative lessons from the flow of the book’s development.

4/ Jeremiah is both oratorical in that he delivers Yahweh’s messages to Judah and to all the surrounding nations; and it is also autobiographical in that Jeremiah [or the scribes who wrote down his words for him] describe many of the grievous persecutions and abuses he suffered at the hands of those he was trying to warn of Yahweh’s coming judgments against them.

5/ So, as we get started here in Jeremiah, let’s keep in mind what the purpose of the book is: Yahweh gives these words to Jeremiah to deliver to the people of Judah and all the other nations…

  • to call them back to repentance from their chronic, historical, and rebellious disobedience against Yahweh;
  • to call them back to faith, dependence, and worship of Yahweh;
  • to warn them of the impending punishment that Yahweh will bring upon them, especially with the rise of the Babylonian Empire as the reigning super-power in the region;
  • to declare Yahweh’s sovereignty over ALL the nations of the earth – ALL of their affairs and movements;
  • and to promise them that He will keep His covenant promises in the Messiah who was to come by making the New Covenant.

These are at least the main and most prominent themes we will discover and point out as we make our way through the coming lessons.

6/ We should note also here at the outset that Jeremiah is known as ‘the weeping prophet’ because of his broken-heartedness over what Yahweh had called him to declare [see especially ch 9 & Lamentations]. 7/ We should also maintain the constant awareness that Jeremiah’s tears were also Yahweh’s grief and tears because He must do what He will do. In this way, Jeremiah also pre-figures the heart of Jesus Christ Himself as He weeps over the same Jerusalem when He came / see Luke 19.41-44.

I / vv 1-3 / “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”

1/ Famous first line of Charles Dickens’s Tale of Two Cities. But they also describe the times in which Jeremiah prophesied…

2/ ‘It was the best of times’ in that Jeremiah began his prophetic ministry ‘in the thirteenth year of the reign of Judah King Josiah.’ Josiah goes down in the chronicles of the kings of Judah as being the brightest star among them all: Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses, nor did any like arise after him / 2 Kings 23.25. This is because Josiah led in the greatest reformation and revival in Judah’s history. You’ll find his history in 2 Kings 22-23 & 2 Chronicles 34-35.

3/ So Jeremiah dates the beginning of his prophetic ministry in 627 BC since Josiah reigned from 640-609 BC.

4/ ‘It was the worst of times’ because the kings who succeeded Josiah completely undid everything Josiah had done, which ultimately led to the Babylonian invasion of Jerusalem and the destruction of the city and their Temple. These would be the kings who are named after Josiah: Jehoiakim and finally Zedekiah.

5/ So, Jeremiah’s prophetic ministry continued for at least forty+ years. He began declaring Yahweh’s words ‘in the thirteenth year of Josiah’s reign’ [627 BC] through ‘until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the captivity of Jerusalem in the fifth month’ [587 BC]. See 2 Chronicles 36.11-21 & 2 Kings 24.18 – 25.21 for the details of this year and event.

II / vv 4-5 / “You did not choose Me, but I chose you…” [John 15.16]

1/ These verses will describe Yahweh’s call on Jeremiah’s life and the prophetic commission he received to carry out…

2/ Now the word of Yahweh came to me… meaning that Jeremiah didn’t step forward or volunteer for this prophetic mission. Yahweh came to him and confronted him with His purposes and call He wanted Jeremiah to fulfill at His command.

3/ Yahweh had laid claim to Jeremiah’s life and what he would do with his life from before Jeremiah was even born. God’s purposes are the same for our lives, too / see Romans 8.28-30 & Ephesians 1.1-14, et. al. Jeremiah was not only called, but he was created to serve Yahweh this way.

4/ We must also note that the ‘unborn’ who are being formed in their mothers’ wombs are persons, being ‘formed’ and ‘knitted together’ by the creative powers of God / see Psalm 139.13-16.

5/ Yahweh not only ‘knew’ [chose] Jeremiah for his prophetic ministry from before his birth, but He also ‘consecrated’ him, and ‘appointed’ him for the purpose and mission to which He was now calling him. So all the purpose and activities of Jeremiah’s life were under the Lordship, ownership, and purview of Yahweh’s sovereignty and pleasure. So with everyone of us. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body / 1 Corinthians 6.19-20.  

6/ I appointed you a prophet… A prophet is, first of all, one who forth-tells, that is, speaks for God – says and tells from God what God wants those to whom He sends him to know from Him. A prophet will also fore-tell events that will happen in the future. God gives all the words, and Jeremiah fulfilled both aspects of this calling.

7/ …to the nations. Yahweh declares His absolute sovereignty over ALL nations – to raise them up and bring them down, to change the times and seasons of their power and very existence. This truth will be established and declared all throughout the Book of Jeremiah. It is also established and declared in all the Scriptures, Old and New Testaments. We must remember this in these times in which we live also. Yes, as far as decency and order is concerned, the world seems to be ‘out of control.’ And it is out of our control. But God is in control of ALL things that are happening in ALL the nations!

8/ And, it must be noted here: that even though Judah was the ‘chosen nation,’ they had not lived up to their calling. Judah is actually lumped in with ‘to the nations’ here in Yahweh’s commission to Jeremiah. Yahweh will have scathing messages and reports for Jeremiah to deliver to the other Gentile nations [see especially chapters 46-51], but He will also repeatedly tell Judah that they had acted no differently than the ‘heathen’ and ‘pagan’ nations [see chapters 2-11].

III / vv 6-10 / “…LORD, I can’t…” “Yes, you can – and you will!”

1/ Jeremiah immediately objects and protests. In fact, as we go through this whole book, we will see that Jeremiah repeatedly protests to Yahweh / see, for example, ch 20. Jeremiah was not only ‘the weeping prophet,’ but he was also for his whole ministry ‘the reluctant prophet.’ Jeremiah shoots back to Yahweh, Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth. Jeremiah may have been only in late teens or early twenties when Yahweh laid this claim and call on his life. And this commission means speaking and going against ALL the ‘powers that be’ of his day – both domestic and international. This was a distasteful and dangerous mission Yahweh was calling and sending him to.

2/ I can give you personal testimony to how I agonized in these very words over my own first pastoral calling. I was twenty-two years when my first church called me to pastor them on 4 July 1973. Even though preaching and pastoring was all I have ever wanted to do, and even though I sensed God’s call on my life to preach and pastor, still I was so aware and sensitive to my weaknesses, inabilities, and even incompetencies to undertake such a solemn and weighty responsibility to speak for God and shepherd people. Many, many times, I prayed and cried this same prayer to God – and not only in the beginning of my ministry, but many times since then.  

3/ “The weaknesses of such a minister are the preferred instruments of a powerful God to work out His plan in redeeming His people.” Jerry Whang | ESV Expository Commentary. Isn’t this the lesson that Jesus Christ taught Paul through his own agonies and prayers over his ‘thorn in the flesh’? See 2 Corinthians 12.1-10.

4/ Yahweh responds to Jeremiah, not just forcefully, but sternly, scoldingly, maybe even harshly – with this unmistakable rebuke: ‘Do not say…Do not be afraid…’ Poor Jeremiah had ‘crossed a line’ with his pitiful protest. After Yahweh had assured him that ‘I knew you,” then Jeremiah contradicts Yahweh with ‘I do not know…’ [same word]. Yahweh rebukes Jeremiah’s lack of faith and confidence in Him by telling him: ‘Do not say…Do not be afraid…’ ‘For to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak … for I AM with you to deliver you,’ declares Yahweh. 5/ God not only knows what He is doing when He calls, commissions, and sends us, but He always promises ‘And behold, I AM with you always…’ God will be faithful to supply everything we will need to fulfill the service He gives us to do for Him. “Have you been holding back from a risky, costly course to which you know in your heart God has called you? Hold back no longer. Your God is faithful to you, and adequate for you. You will never need more than He can supply, and what He supplies, both materially and spiritually, will always be enough for the present.” ~J. I. Packer  

6/ Then Yahweh proceeds to visibly [and maybe in some way physically] to give Jeremiah the faith, confidence in Yahweh, and courage he so lacked to commit himself to this calling and mission from Yahweh. Remember: Jeremiah keeps repeating ‘to whom the word of Yahweh came,’ ‘then the word of Yahweh came to me’ … now Yahweh ‘put out His hand and touched my mouth…Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.’ There should be no doubt in Jeremiah’s mind that Yahweh would enable, strengthen, embolden, encourage, and protect him for this mission He was giving and sending him to fulfill.

7/ See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms… We come back again to all ‘the powers that be’ to whom Yahweh was sending Jeremiah – whom Jeremiah must confront with Yahweh’s words. There are six verbs that will characterize Jeremiah’s ministry over the next forty or so years: [1] pluck up; [2] break down; [3] destroy; [4] overthrow; [5] build; [6] plant. These are weighty and powerful ‘job descriptions’ to give a young man – but Yahweh promises Jeremiah that he will fulfill all these activities by the word of Yahweh and because ‘for I AM with you…’

8/ So, what we can call these instructions is ‘The content of this monumental, momentous mission.’ What will follow are two visions which will serve as ‘The confirmation of this monumental, momentous mission.’  Jeremiah will need to carry these confirming and affirming visions with him until the mission has been completed as Yahweh is giving it to him…

IV / vv 11-16 / “…Jeremiah, what do you see?”

1/ vv 11-12 / VISION ONE: AN ALMOND BRANCH. ‘Jeremiah, what do you see?’ And I said, ‘I see an almond branch.’ Then Yahweh said to me, ‘You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it.’ There are two significances here we need to see. One is emblematic, the other is linguistic. They both have to do with Yahweh’s own oversight of His word – to make it happen and come to pass as He says it will.

2/ What is the significance of an almond branch? [1] The almond in that culture was emblematic of the ‘watch’ for spring to come. The almond tree was the very first to bloom and blossom, sometimes as early as January. So it was called ‘the wakeful tree’ because it was ‘watching’ and first ‘awakened’ to the coming of spring. [2] Also [for the linguistic significance], in the Hebrew language, ‘almond’ [shaqed] sounds like ‘watch’ [shoqed]. So this vision of the almond branch would always remind Jeremiah that Yahweh was watching over His own words to make them happen as He had said.

3/ vv 13-15 / VISION TWO: THE OVERTURNED BOILING POT/CAULDRON. The word of Yahweh came to me a second time, saying, ‘What do you see?’ And I said, ‘I see a boiling pot, facing away from the north.’ So follow the vision now, because this is the way the history of the next few years will develop.

  • Which direction from Jerusalem is this overturned boiling cauldron? It is north.
  • Who is north of Jerusalem? It is the super-power nations and kingdoms that had perennially been antagonists and threats against Israel and Judah.
  • Which direction will this northern kingdom, facing away from the north, spill its boiling contents? Toward the south where Judah and Jerusalem are!

4/ A little over 100 years before [722 BC], Assyria had come down from the north and destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel and taken them off into captivity. But now, Assyria’s power and dominance was waning. Then, in 605 BC, during the reign of Jehoiakim [remember him from v 3?], Babylon dealt the final crushing blow and defeat to Assyria’s power and became the dominant super-power over the entire ancient Near Eastern world. This was at the famous Battle of Carchemish.

5/ All these developments occurred during the 4th year of Jehoiakim’s reign / see Jeremiah 25. From the time Nebuchadnezzar came to sole power, he set his sights on invading, conquering, and subjugating the whole region of Israel/Judah. This would eventually lead to three separate invasions and, at first, partial deportations of the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem: 605, 598, and 587 BC. This last invasion would be when he destroyed the city of Jerusalem and their Temple – and give occasion to the prophecy and fulfillment of the ’70 years of captivity’ / see Jeremiah 25.8-14.

6/ So this vision of a boiling pot, facing away from the north is a prophecy of the traumas that were coming upon the nation of Judah from Babylon as Yahweh explains in prophetic detail in vv 14-16.

V / vv 17-19 / “But you, dress yourself for work…”

1/ This is Yahweh’s final charge to Jeremiah to ‘arise, and say to them everything that I command you.’ No more time for objecting, protesting, complaining, or whining. He had been called by Yahweh, he had received his clear and specific commission, and now it was time to get to work!

2/ However, Yahweh once again reiterates His promises to strengthen and sustain Jeremiah: Do not be dismayed [discouraged, intimidated] by them, lest I dismay you before them / go back and re-read vv 6-8.

3/ v 18 / Jeremiah himself would become and serve as an emblem of how the beloved city, Jerusalem, would be attacked and assaulted. They would try to arm, reinforce, and fortify themselves against their intruders. They would fight back. And they would fight against Jeremiah for his words he would deliver against them from Yahweh … just like they fought against Yahweh’s words by the prophets who had come before Jeremiah. But, they will fail and fall – Yahweh had said they would.   

4/ But as for Jeremiah, ‘They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I AM with you,’ declares Yahweh, ‘to deliver you.’    

5/ You don’t have to think hard or far to draw distinct similarities between Jeremiah’s commission to the unbelieving culture of his day … and ours in this day. But Christ’s promises are just as sure…

‘And behold, I AM with you always … and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against you!’

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FOLLOWING JESUS: through death into life

Posted on May 27, 2023 by PastorDave

JOHN | Lesson 21 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points

Read John 12.20-33

INTRODUCTION

1/ This lesson will serve two purposes:

[1] it will conclude this summary survey/study of John we’ve been in for the past six months;

[2] and it will serve as a companion lesson and follow up on our last study from John 21, “YOU…Follow Me!”

2/ Both of these last two lessons are intensely personal and autobiographical for me. The John 21 lesson is one that was deeply impressed upon me years ago when I learned that Jesus Christ, as my Lord, Savior, and Master, has absolute and sovereign ownership of me and my life’s service to Him. I learned to see myself and my service as my ‘assignment’ from Him. He only commands me: “YOU…follow Me!” He reserves the right to assign to me the place where He wants me to serve Him, assign to me the roles He wants me to fulfill as I serve Him there, and assign to me the responsibility to be content with His assignments and follow Him by faithfully fulfilling them.

3/ THIS lesson also is very personal to me. In fact, this is the text and the substance of the message I preached on 21 May 2017 as I announced to the church I formerly pastored that I would be resigning as pastor the next Lord’s Day. Yes, I gave them a full one-week’s notice that the next Lord’s Day would fulfill the ministry of the past 35 years Debbie and I had served there. It was so short notice because the events of the previous few months had escalated and accelerated quickly. As 2 Chronicles 29.36 says about the haste with which the Judah king Hezekiah cleansed the Temple and restored the sacrifices and worship services, “…for the thing came about suddenly.” So did my resignation.

4/ But the message that I wanted to deliver that day – and the same message I want to communicate now in this lesson – is that wherever Jesus leads us and ‘plants’ us as we follow Him, we must be willing to simply follow Him, ‘die’ in that place and service by giving Him our all, and serve Him faithfully there … leaving to Him the bearing of whatever fruit He is willing to give.

5/ We believed we had followed Jesus to where we were then … and we trusted Him to lead us to where He wanted us to go and serve Him on His next assignment. At that time, we had no idea where that next assignment was or what our roles of service would be. But, we were committed to FOLLOWING JESUS. And that is why we are here where we are now.

“My LORD knows the way through the wilderness…all I have to do is FOLLOW!”

“He leadeth me! O blessed thought! O word with heavenly comfort fraught! What e’er I do, where e’er I be…still ‘tis God’s hand that leadeth me!”

6/ So I want to re-offer this message with personal applications for each one of us to commit and continue the living and giving of our lives to FOLLOWING JESUS: through death into life.   

I / v 24 / A PARABLE TO LEARN [a PARABLE about FOLLOWING]

v 24 / Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

Death is the only way to spiritual life, fruitfulness, pleasing God, and ultimate, final Glory!

1/ When Jesus employs this short parable in verse 24, He is actually using it to illustrate two examples of FOLLOWING – His and ours:

[1]  First of all – this parable is His own personal testimony of FOLLOWING His own Father’s will and instructions to come to our earth – be planted in death in our earth by dying on His Cross – and then being raised again in resurrection to save us from our sins.

2/ If He had just come and lived a perfectly sinless life of obedience to His Father – but had not died – He would have just remained alone in His sinlessness. Just like the natural grain seed, before it can germinate and bear fruit, it must be planted in the ground…and ‘die.’ But it is in the ‘dying’ that it brings forth fruit, much fruit, more fruit!

3/ But, the Father had sent Him here to us – and commanded Him – to die on the Cross as punishment for our sins. Jesus says in verse 23, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” This “hour” – this event had been appointed to Him by His Father [see also John 17.1-4]. He had FOLLOWED His Father’s will to come from Heaven’s Glory to our earth and take upon Himself the form of a Servant and the likeness of man [see Hebrews 10.5-10]. And the time has come for Him to FOLLOW His Father’s will and wishes to His Cross. Philippians 2.8 He became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross

4/ And so – He FOLLOWED the Father’s commands and will and purpose –and FOLLOWED the Father’s will all the way to the Cross. He will explain this parable as it applies to His FOLLOWING in

verses 27 & 32-33: (v 27) “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour … (vv 32-33) And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.

5/ And so, this grain of wheat seed that falls into the ground and dies is, first of all, Jesus Himself dying on His Cross – to bear the guilt of our sins upon Himself – to be punished for the guilt of our sins – and then to be raised again from death to show that our sins had been actually forgiven and taken away.

6/ This “much fruit” that He bears is all of us whom He saves when we believe upon Him for the forgiveness of our sins – and the free gift of eternal life And, He did this to FOLLOW His Father’s will and commandment. 

II / v 25 / A PRIORITY TO APPLY TO OUR LIVES

1/ But, there is also another reason why Jesus employed this parable.

[2] This parable also illustrates how He is calling each of us to FOLLOW Him and give Him the service of our lives. He is calling each one of us to FOLLOW Him and be willing to be ‘planted’ and ‘die’ – give our lives in service to Him wherever He wants to plant us to live for Him and serve Him.

2/ He explains how we FOLLOW HIM in the very next verse, verse 25:

[read verse 24 again… Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.] verse 25 – Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 

Do you see it? The ‘parable’ illustrates the ‘priority’ He is teaching us to apply to our lives – just as He did to His own Life.

3/ To “love your life” means that you want to keep your life to yourself – and live it the way you want to live it. You are NOT following Jesus Christ – you are following yourself. You are keeping the ‘seed’ of your life to yourself. You are retaining ownership of your own life. You are reserving all the rights to your own life to yourself. “I’ll do it my way!” You don’t want to confess that Jesus is Lord – and give your life to Him to serve Him – and follow Him and obey Him in everything you do.

4/ “Whoever loves his life loses it…” If you insist on keeping your life for yourself – then you will lose it … you will lose your life during this lifetime – and you will lose your life forever separated from God

5/ On the other hand, if you “hate your life” – that means that you don’t consider your life as belonging to you…you turn over the title and ownership of your life to Jesus Christ – to belong to Him, to obey Him, to serve Him. You FOLLOW Jesus. When you do that, Jesus promises you will keep your life to life eternal. Jesus will explain what He means by that … and how you and I need to implement that

III / v 26 / A LIFE-PLAN TO FOLLOW WITH OUR LIVES

So, Jesus gives us three simple rules for living a life worth living: You’ll find them in verse 26… And these three rules are so simple that everyone of us can understand them and apply them to our own personal lives and service – but they will require us to ‘die’ to our own self-centeredness, self-governance, self-will, and self-serving. But, if we do, we will ‘bear much fruit’! Jesus promises that and guarantees it by His own death and resurrection to life again!

1. FOLLOW JESUS: “If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me.”

1/ To serve Jesus means that you confess that He is Lord – and Lord of your life, and you obey Him. You read His Word – you commune with Him in prayer – you learn His will…what pleases Him…what He wants from you and for you … you learn from Him what He commands you to do, and you do it. You must FOLLOW JESUS first by believing and trusting in Him to be saved from your sins. Then you continue FOLLOWING JESUS by your daily obeying Him in all things for the rest of your life. See Matthew 11.25-30.

2/ And, in so doing, you FOLLOW JESUS. When you FOLLOW JESUS, you do what He commands you to do. You go where He wants you to go – Jesus gives all life assignments. We just follow…

2. SERVE WHERE JESUS WANTS TO WORK THROUGH YOU

1/ His next words are: “…and where I am, there will My servant be also…” “But, wait…” you say, “I thought Jesus was everywhere!” He is. But, when Jesus says “…and where I am, there will My servant be also…” – He means to say that when we are FOLLOWING HIM, we will be there with Him – wherever He is working through us. This is much of what Jesus was saying in John 5.17 about The Father being with Him where He was … The Father doing His will and works through Jesus.

2/ Yes! Jesus can be everywhere at the same time – but we cannot. We can be in only one place at a time – so we want to be in that place wherever Jesus has led us…and we have followed Him there.

3/ And, we cannot do – not even one thing – on our own. We cannot do anything – except what Jesus Himself is doing through us. He tells us in John 15.5: I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

4/ So, if we are going to do anything in our service to Christ, it must be where He Himself is…living and working through us. And so, we just want to be where Jesus wants us to be…so we can be doing whatever He has given us to do…so He can be working through us…to accomplish what He wants to do through us.

5/ And He promises to do just that! This is the promise that is given to us by the Power of the Holy Spirit and the Blood of the New Covenant. Hebrews 13.20-21: Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the Great Shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

6/ And so, FOLLOW JESUS to be sure you are where He wants you to be – and where He wants to be working through you to do what is pleasing to Him.

7/ This brings every one of us to a point of self-examination: Where are you now? Where has Jesus Christ led you and ‘planted’ you to serve Him? What has He given you, gifted you, equipped you that you can do? Are you willing to ‘die’ and give your life to that service? If it is only in your faithfully attending and worshiping Him studying His Word and fellowshipping with fellow servants, serve Him in doing that. Whatever opportunities Christ gives us to love and serve one another, build up one another, support and encourage one another, do good to one another, take care of one another, minister to one another’s needs – let us each commit and give ourselves to serve Him this way. [See John 13.31-35]

8/ 1 Peter 4.7-11 bears repeating and re-affirming here:

The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. 8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

9/ I do need to add here, that when Jesus promises ‘…and where I am, there will my servant be also,” He is also promising us that after our life of service here is fulfilled, and we ‘die’ physically from here, that ‘…if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also’ – that is, with Him in the Father’s House, to share His Glory with Him forever! [See John 14.1-3 & 17.24]  

And then, that brings us to the third step in FOLLOWING JESUS…

3. YOU WILL PLEASE THE FATHER WHEN YOU FOLLOW JESUS

1/ Jesus gives this blessing on whoever FOLLOWS Him: “If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him” That is strange language, isn’t it? You mean: “God, our Heavenly Father, will HONOR us when we serve Jesus?” That’s what Jesus says.

2/ How does the Father HONOR us when we serve Jesus? The Father honors us by BEING PLEASED WITH US – He honors us with HIS PLEASURE. The greatest honor our Heavenly Father could ever confer upon any one of us is to say to us:

  • “Well done, good and faithful servant!”
  • “You did good!”
  • “I’m happy with you! Enter into the joy of your Lord! [Matthew 25.21 & 23]”
  • “It wasn’t perfect – but you did what I gave you to do – and you did it the best you could with the gifts I gave you to use!”
  • “You followed Me where I led you to go – you ‘planted’ your life and ‘died’ there – giving it your all!”

3/ You want to please the Father, don’t you? Nobody pleases the Father like His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus said in John 8.29: “And He who sent Me is with Me. He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him” Three times, the Father audibly spoke and thundered from Heaven and said: “This is my much-beloved Son – in whom I am well-pleased! HEAR HIM [listen to Him, obey Him, serve Him, FOLLOW HIM!]” See Matthew 3.17; Mark 1.11; Luke 3.22

4/ And so, the Son PERFECTLY pleases the Father, and everyone who follows the Son pleases the Father also. “If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him!”

5/ I want the Father to honor me by just giving me the assurance that He is pleased by my serving His Son, Jesus Christ – and FOLLOWING JESUS where I believe Jesus is leading me – and being where Jesus wants me to be and doing what Jesus wants me to be doing…by His working through me.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” | Jesus Christ, John 12.24

Death is the only way to spiritual life, fruitfulness, pleasing God, and ultimate, final Glory!

“And He said to all, ‘If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.’” | Jesus Christ, Luke 9.23

ARE YOU A FOLLOWER OF JESUS CHRIST?

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I used to call them ‘interruptions’

Posted on May 26, 2023 by PastorDave

Interruptions.

We all have them…constantly…every day…of all kinds…

Interruptions to what we are doing and working on at the moment. Interruptions to the agenda of the whole day. Interruptions sometimes to the very direction and course of our lives from then on.

A phone call…a text…an email…a conversation…a ‘chance’ encounter…a medical report…a chronic illness…a debilitating injury…or a life-altering event – didn’t plan for it, didn’t expect it, didn’t see it coming, no way to brace yourself or prepare for it – but there it is, and you have to deal with it.

Our first knee-jerk response is to chafe at it, complain, fret – be annoyed, irritated, impatient…even resentful or rude…

As I say, I used to call them ‘interruptions.’

But over the years I have learned to recognize and appreciate them as “Sovereign impositions and interventions of the Divine purpose, pleasure, and Providence on my personal agenda because God, in His infinite wisdom, knows better than I do that I need to develop and grow in some Godly virtue or Grace through this experience.”

And, it always works out to be ‘far better’ – for His Glory and my good.

Romans 5.1-5 & 8.28

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A loving and personal tribute to my Mom

Posted on May 22, 2023 by PastorDave

MEMORIAL SERVICE TRIBUTE TO LOUISE PARKS – OUR MOM

12 April 2023

[My personal remarks]

NOTE: Our Mom departed this earthly life and entered the Presence of Christ on Wednesday evening, 5 April 2023. We conducted her Memorial Service on 12 April. Speaking in her service were: Bobby Smith, her church’s Pastor; Daniel Parks, Dave Parks, Philip Parks – all her sons.

We all agreed and prayed together that we would dedicate her service to…

  • Proclaim the Gospel of Christ
  • Honor our Mother in obedience to God’s command
  • Glorify the Grace of God that made her what she was in life … and certainly who she is now

We continue to pray that God was pleased to grant these desires.

As I will note in my remarks below, we, Mom’s six adult children, have a cumulative 417 years of lifetime among us. Even if we could and would say everything we would like to, we still couldn’t fully express her worthiness of the love and honor we could give her. But, we will hold her in our hearts for the rest of our lives – and then continue to share her love for us and our love for her…forever!  

Here is my personal tribute during her service:

I know we brothers want to give our thanks to our sisters who have so lovingly cared for our Mother for all these years since our Dad died, and especially over the past year as she has required such personal and intensive care. You have suspended your own lives to faithfully be with her … and you have given her everything she has ever needed or wanted.

Also, as a family, we want to offer special thanks to sweet Betsy, and for Maryann, who have cared for her as well. And for the physicians who have treated our Mother with personal and professional care:

  • Dr Rubery [who cared for both Dad and Mom for decades]
  • Dr Abbott & Dr Potti [and all the staff at their office – who also cared for both Dad and Mom for decades]
  • The staff at Abbotts Creek Center
  • And for Hospice who were so kind to her during her final days here

>>>>>>>>>> † <<<<<<<<<<

Our Mom not only gave us our lives through physical birth …but she continued to live her life for us … she gave us her life – all of her life … as long as she lived.

So, you have to know that, just in the lives of us Mom’s six children, we have hundreds of years of collective memories we could tell and share with you.

We don’t have opportunity to do that on this occasion. But what we do want to do is leave a testimony with you about what is most important…and where all our hope is grounded:

  • our hope in life and death
  • our hope in eternal life
  • our hope in the resurrection
  • our hope of Heaven
  • our hope of Glory 

I know it is customary to call a service like this ‘A Celebration of Life.’ Well, this is a ‘Celebration of Life’ … but while we are honoring Mom’s life as a gift of God to us – and her witness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to us – the Life we are celebrating is the Life of Jesus Christ who lived in her!

Today’s service is a testimony to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures…” / 1 Corinthians 15.3-4.  

And Jesus promised again in John 14.19: “Because I live, you also shall live!”

Mom’s life-confession while she lived among us could be summed up in the apostle Paul’s words in the epistle to the Galatians, chapter 2.20:

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

And that is certainly her life-confession now in the Presence of Christ Himself!

She is rejoicing (again in the words of the apostle Paul in the epistle to the Philippians, chapter 1):

“…as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain … My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.”

>>>>>>>>>> † <<<<<<<<<<

The fruit of Mom’s life will continue to live on in our lives as long as we live … and more, if God is pleased to bless our lives with Gospel-life fruit through our testimony and influence, that, too, will be 2nd and 3rd generation ‘fruit’ that will be springing up into eternal life from the roots that Mom planted in our lives.

It is so common for elderly saints to become discouraged … and even despondent … in their old age and weakness. They have been engaged in active service all their lives – ‘up and at it.’ Then when they become weak and even homebound, they feel like they have been ‘laid aside’ and are no longer useful. Then they begin to start thinking that their ‘fruit-bearing’ years are over.

They wonder out loud why they are even still living, why they are even still here. I know our Mom did.

So, only a month ago, Mom’s church family and friends came into her home for what we older folks used to call a ‘cottage prayer meeting.’ This was their midweek service night, so they all gathered at Mom’s to meet and worship. Pastor Bobby Smith led us as we sang and prayed, and then he had asked me to deliver a message from the Word of God.

I chose to do a brief exposition of Psalm 92, especially focusing on the concluding blessing in verses 12-15:

The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree,
He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 Those who are planted in the house of the LORD
Shall flourish in the courts of our God.
14 They shall still bear fruit in old age;
They shall be fresh and flourishing,
15 To declare that the LORD is upright;
He is my Rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.  

Without giving more details of my remarks, I told those in attendance that I wanted to direct these Scriptures and my words of encouragement to Mom, but that they were welcome to eavesdrop and overhear ;).

Mom was lying in her hospital bed at my left hand, so I turned to spoke lovingly to her.

What I wanted Mom to know is that even then – even in her extreme weakness and affliction – she was still flourishing and bearing fruit in her old age.

All the years of her life [she was 93 years old] –

  • faithful service to Christ,
  • pastor’s wife and mother,
  • witness and testimony to the Gospel both in word and deed

– all of that lifetime of service had not been ‘spent,’ as in ‘gone’ … rather, all the years of her life had been “‘planted’ in the house of the LORD” and was still bearing fruit, even here and then and now in her old age … still ‘flourishing in the courts of our God!’

I further reminded her that we six kids of hers are ‘the fruit of your womb,’ and we are still bearing fruit in our own lives and service to Christ. All of us, Mom’s ‘kids,’ are now old ourselves, and so I had counted up all our ages together: 417 collective years … and still counting!

We, too, are the ‘still-bearing fruit’ of her life.

Psalm 128.3 gives this enduring promise to the faithful husband and his faithful wife:

“Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house, your children like olive plants all around your table.”

Our Mom was our ‘fruitful vine’ … and we will continue to proliferate her legacy as her ‘fruitful branches.’

And that is besides all the hundreds of others in whose lives Mom has ‘planted’ hers.

And her Gospel witness and influence will continue to bear fruit on to the 2nd and 3rd generations … and beyond!

I just wanted her to know that even then in her present physical weakness, she was still strong and flourishing, still bearing fruit in her old age.

What we are doing right now is Mom’s ‘still bearing fruit in old age … still being fresh and flourishing … to declare that the LORD is upright – He is our Rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.’

 >>>>>>>>>> † <<<<<<<<<<

Christ and Christ alone is our only hope in life and death!

As Jesus said to Martha and Mary at Lazarus’s grave-tomb just before He raised him back to life again:

“I AM the Resurrection and the Life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. […and then speaking directly to Martha and Mary, He asked]  Do you believe this?” / John 11.25-26.

We pray to God you do … and will.

This we believe … therefore we have hope, peace, comfort – and even joy!

>>>>>>>>>> † <<<<<<<<<<

Here is her obituary: https://www.hayworth-miller.com/obituaries/louise-parks

I want to include the full picture we cropped for her obituary profile. This is our Mom in the element, environment, and context of her life’s calling [while also being our Mom]…

The bulletin for her service:

LINK TO THE FACEBOOK VIDEO OF HER MEMORIAL SERVICE:

https://www.facebook.com/1670083269/videos/753574906265674/

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“You…FOLLOW ME!”

Posted on May 20, 2023 by PastorDave

JOHN | Lesson 20 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points

Read John 21.1-25

I / INTRODUCTION: MAKING THE CONNECTIONS / SETTING THE CONTEXT

1/ We have come now to the concluding chapter of John’s Gospel account and also the last lesson of this brief summary/survey we have been in for these past weeks. As always, there is so much more here than we can even point out and note – much less delve into and dwell on. This chapter is so deep and so rich with instructive lessons and personal encouragements – it being Jesus’ last and final appearance [at least that John records for his purposes] before Jesus physically departs from them and ascends back to the Glory of the Father that He had with Him before the world began [see ch 17.4-5].

2/ So all we can hope to do here in this brief lesson is to point out what we believe are John’s main, specific, and most prominent purposes for recording this encounter and the acts and conversations that transpired during it…

[1] What we do know is that John is continuing with his accounting of several appearances Jesus made to His disciples following His resurrection and before His ascension [see Lesson 19].

[2] Jesus is giving undeniable and incontrovertible evidences and proofs of His real resurrection [see 1 Corinthians 15.1-7; Acts 1.3]. In fact, Peter must have referred to this specific encounter when he testified at the house of Cornelius: …but God raised Him on the third day and made Him to appear, not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead [Acts 10.40-41].

[3] Jesus specifically arranged this encounter for Peter’s sake – to restore him, recall him, reset him for the work He had planned and given him to do in the days following for the rest of his life [see vv 15-19].

[4] Jesus also will give to Peter, the other disciples who were present, and to all of His followers in the succeeding ages and generations His charge for the work we all must faithfully discharge as we await His coming again – which will be summed up in the words I have chosen for the focus of this lesson: “You…follow Me!” [v 22].

[5] There are also numerous practical lessons which Jesus teaches these disciples – and continue to apply to us: how we must depend upon Him for the work He has called and given us to do … and how that we cannot fail and must succeed in it if we will but follow, obey, and trust Him in all we do.    

II / vv 1-2 / “…Jesus revealed Himself again…”

1/ John is obviously following up on yet more appearances Jesus made to His disciples following His resurrection – not only to give them undeniable evidence and proof that He had risen from the dead, but also to give them essential instructions and training for the work He would commission them to do after His ascension. John writes ‘After this Jesus revealed Himself again to the disciples’ to follow up on all the visual appearances he chronicled in ch 20.

2/ John will come back to this purpose and theme in v 14: This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after He was raised from the dead. Not that this was only the ‘third’ appearance that Jesus made to them [He made several appearances more than just three on that first day of His resurrection], but that this was the ‘third’ day of Jesus’ making appearances that John records.

3/ AND the fact that He made this appearance in the presence of these seven disciples [five others besides the principals of the event, Peter and John], shows us that He wanted witnesses there to corroborate the important lessons He wanted to teach them. They would be fellow eyewitnesses that these events really happened as John will record them.

4/ What Jesus revealed about Himself was not only His living, physical Presence, but also His Glory. He will reveal His Glory in the miraculous acts He performed in their sight during this encounter.

5/ This appearance was pre-planned and intentional. See Matthew 28.7, 10 and Mark 16.7.

6/ …by the Sea of Tiberias. This is the same Sea of Galilee or Lake Gennesaret, as it is sometimes called by the other Gospelers. Just by being here in this place, the minds of the disciples would be flooded and refreshed with all the memories they had of what Jesus had done at this very site: He had called several of them in this company at the first to follow Him; He had fed the 5000 on these shores; He had walked on these same waters to come to them during another storm; He had stilled the waves and shut down the storm here; He had miraculously provided for them a huge catch of fish on another occasion like this one; on the high grounds surrounding these same waters, He had cast out demons and allowed them to enter the herd of swine; He had delivered messages and parables while sitting in a boat here – and on and on. You have to know these disciples were remembering and rehearsing all these memories as they went to fish that night.

7/ There were yet more lessons to be learned here this day also … and memories that would encourage and empower them to follow, obey, and trust Jesus in the days ahead. In their writings that would follow, we can find numerous references to this encounter and revelation of Jesus’ Glory.   

III / vv 3-8 / “It is the LORD!”

1/ “I am going fishing…We will go with you.” We may not need to blame or fault them for going fishing. They were poor. While they had walked with Jesus, they were largely dependent upon the good-will offerings from other followers to provide for their needs [see Luke 8.1-3]. Jesus had told them to wait in Jerusalem until they were endued with His Promised Power before they went out to witness for Him. So they had to provide for themselves. They knew how to fish. Andrew and Peter, and James and John had been partners in the fishing business when Jesus first called them to leave their nets and come to follow Him.

2/ …but that night, they caught nothing. This was a lesson they needed to learn…they must learn. This was a reiteration and real-life re-enactment of what Jesus had preached to them in His Farewell Discourse in ch 15.5: …for apart from Me you can do nothing. Regardless of what you do, or how long you have done it, or how many times you have done it, or how skilled, learned, expert, or experienced you are at doing it, or even how well you can teach and train someone else to do the same thing – if Jesus Christ is not doing it through you and making it work, you can’t do it and it won’t work through your own wisdom, strength, and experience.

3/ ‘Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.’ More than all the other experiences they had had with Jesus on this Sea of Galilee, none were so powerful, pointed, and poignant as the event recorded in Luke 5.4-8. It happened exactly like it just did here. Same cast of characters. Same instructions. Jesus evidenced and demonstrated His Deity, Glory, omniscience, omnipotence, and Grace. They were struck with awe and faith in that instance – and they are this time also. If we ever enjoy any success at all in whatever Jesus calls and gives us to do, it will be because we are willing to listen to His every word and act on it with humble faith and simple obedience.

4/ ‘It is the LORD!’ John immediately recognized Him first. Peter then heard, recognized, and responded by throwing his outer garment clothing back on and jumping into the water to get to the shore. The other disciples followed suit, bringing in the fishing boat as close as they could get it, and perhaps even off-loading the net full of fish into a smaller skiff to drag their generous catch to land.

IV / vv 9-14 / “Come and have breakfast”

1/ Surely there are some miracles going on here: first, the sudden ‘appearance’ of Jesus on the shore [does this not sound like His appearances He made in ch 20 inside the locked and bolted rooms where they were hiding out in fear?]; and now, Jesus has already prepared a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. Yes, we know, He could have walked there from wherever He was before, brought these things with Him, and get them laid out before He called out to them. But, He also could have used His powers of creation to bring them into being with His will and word of command. [He had done this before when He created enough fish and bread to feed 5000+ people / ch 6.]

2/ BTW, this word for ‘charcoal fire’ [or ‘fire of coals’ KJV] is found in the NT only two times: here and can you guess where the other reference is? ch 18.18: Now the servants and officers had made a charcoal fire, because it was cold, and they were standing and warming themselves. Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself. More memories, especially for Simon Peter. And not so pleasant ones. You can see where this is going… more to come… Kinda like a restorative deja vu.

3/ Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” Jesus doesn’t ‘need’ us to do anything … as in ‘He couldn’t do it without us.’ [Sometimes we think…] He has just demonstrated that singular creative power of Deity and omnipotence. But He graciously brings us into His Kingdom work by telling us what we need to do, how to do it, giving us the needed strength, power, and resources to do it [as we obey Him], and then He asks us to bring the contribution of our labors to His table!

4/ Surely this is at least something of what Paul meant when he said: For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building. It ought to humble us, and at the same time, fill us with hope and joy, that Christ will work in [us], both to will and to work for His good pleasure / Philippians 2.13.

5/ So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. I don’t think any one of us knows the significance of being so specific with the exact number of ‘large fish’ [‘keepers’], except to point out that God ‘sweats the details.’ He who knows the number of all the stars and calls them all by name; He who counts and knows the numbers of the hairs on our heads; He who keeps track of the lighting and flying off of the sparrows – He knows and cares for and provides for our every need. We can trust Him, confide in Him, and cast all our burdens and cares on Him. He will care for and provide for us.

6/ Jesus not only provided this breakfast meal for them, not only asked them to contribute to it [‘potluck by Galilee’?], but He sat down with them and ate and drank with them in their presence. They enjoyed a good social meal of fellowship and conversation together. He gives us an example and permission to do the same with one another! [see Acts 2.44-46]

V / vv 15-19 / “Do you love Me?”

1/ And now we come to the main event of this post-resurrection encounter: Jesus wants to have a word with Simon Peter. Keep in mind that Jesus had not only pre-planned this encounter [see again Matthew 28.7, 10 & Mark 16.7], but in those same instructions to the women witnesses, the angel specifically said [from Jesus Himself] ‘…but go, tell His disciples and Peter that He is going before you to Galilee. There you will see Him, just as He told you.’ And so we know that Jesus had future and further plans for Peter following his denials of the Lord that Peter knew nothing about. Wonder what he thought about this ‘heads-up’ when he was told that Jesus specifically wanted to see him?

2/ But of course, we know that Jesus’ plan was not only to show His forgiveness of Peter’s failure, but also to restore him to the place of leadership He had given him among the disciples. We should be so glad that Jesus’ Grace is not only saving…but restorative also! We all need it.

3/ I want to bring this home to our own consciences and experiences. Every one of us can identify with Simon Peter. We have all failed, disappointed, and grieved our Lord on multiple occasions and in many ways [see Luke 22.60-62]. Jesus is calling Peter back into His service and usefulness to Him – and He is calling you and me as well!

4/ So let’s see how Jesus restores Simon Peter, not only in His usefulness to Christ, but also in Peter’s own conscience…

[1] Jesus probes Peter’s heart and soul with this ‘bottom-line’ question: Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these? Three times, Jesus will ask Peter: Do you love Me? We think that the reason Jesus asked Peter ‘more than these’ this first time is because Peter had arrogantly boasted in the upper room, ‘Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you!’ [John 13.37] and ‘Even though they all fall away, I will not … If I must die with you, I will not deny you’ [Mark 14.27-31]. So now, Jesus graciously confronts and gently reminds Peter of his self-confident boasting. The truest test of our devotion and faithfulness to Jesus Christ is whether we truly love Him. “‘Lovest thou Me?’ may seem at first sight a simple question. In one sense it is so. Even a child can understand love, and can say whether he loves another or not. Yet ‘Lovest thou Me?’ is, in reality, a very searching question. We may know much, and do much, and profess much, and talk much, and work much, and give much, and go through much, and make much show in our religion, and yet be dead before God from want of love, and at last go down to the pit. Do we love Christ? That is the great question. Without this there is no vitality about our Christianity. We are no better than painted wax figures, lifeless stuffed beasts in a museum, sounding brass and tinkling cymbals. There is no life where there is no love.” ~Pastor J. C. Ryle

[2] Peter responds sincerely and truly that ‘Yes!’ he does love Jesus! Even with all his faults, flaws, foibles, and failures, he does love Jesus! And, Jesus, who knows all things, knows that he does! Again, Pastor Ryle: “The answer that the humbled Apostle gave is the one account that the true servant of Christ in every age can give of his religion [true faith in Christ]. Such an one may be weak, and fearful, and ignorant, and unstable, and failing in many things, but at any rate he is real and sincere … Our knowledge of doctrines may be defective. Our ability to defend our views in argument may be small. But we cannot be prevented feeling. And our feeling will be like that of the Apostle Peter: ‘Thou, Lord, who knowest all things, Thou knowest my heart; and Thou knowest that I love Thee.’”

[3] Then Jesus recalls Peter back to service – re-commissions him to return to Christ with all his heart and commit himself to serving Christ the ways He gives him to serve: ‘Feed My lambs … Shepherd My sheep … Feed My sheep.’ Pastor Ryle one more time: “…usefulness to others is the grand test of love, and working for Christ the great proof of really loving Christ. It is not loud talk and high profession; it is not even impetuous, spasmodic zeal, and readiness to draw the sword and fight – it is steady, patient, laborious effort to do good to Christ’s sheep scattered throughout this sinful world, which is the best evidence of being a true-hearted disciple. This is the real secret of Christian greatness … It is not for nothing we may be sure, that we find these things recorded for our learning just before He left the world. Let us aim at a loving, doing, useful, hard-working, unselfish, kind, unpretentious religion. Let it be our daily desire to think of others, care for others, do good to others, and lessen the sorrow, and increase the joy of this sinful world.”

5/ Jesus concludes this restorative intervention session with an announcement to Peter concerning how he would serve and glorify Christ to the end of his life – and even by the death of martyrdom he would suffer for the cause of Christ / vv 18-19.

6/ And with this final charge, “Follow Me!” we come to the final lesson we all must learn…

VI / vv 20-25 / “YOU…FOLLOW ME!”

1/ It would appear that perhaps Jesus had begun to move away, and Peter had begun moving with Him to follow Him … when Peter then turned to see that John was still standing there, and Jesus had not personally addressed him: ‘Lord, what about this man?’

2/ At this point, I want to ask every one of us three probing questions: [1] Where have you been in your walk with Christ [over your lifetime and  recent experiences]? [2] Where are you now? [3] Where do you go from here?

3/ Let us all learn: [1] Jesus Christ has the sole and exclusive authority, control, and Lordship over your life; [2] Jesus Christ ‘assigns’ to each of us where He wants us to go and what He wants us to do wherever He leads us to serve Him … and that role and the place where we fulfill it can and will change at His discretion – wherever and however He chooses for us to serve His purposes and pleasure; [3] Our only response and responsibility is “YOU…FOLLOW ME!” We want to choose our own places. roles, and ways to serve Christ. He not only knows what He wants for us, but He knows what’s best for us. [4] Whatever He chooses for someone else to be or do is not our responsibility nor the measure by which we judge the value or worth of our service – “YOU [place your name here], FOLLOW ME!”

DO YOU BELIEVE? AND ARE YOU FOLLOWING JESUS?

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“WE HAVE SEEN THE LORD!”

Posted on May 13, 2023 by PastorDave

JOHN | Lesson 19 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points

Read John 20.1-31

I / INTRODUCTION: MAKING THE CONNECTIONS / SETTING THE CONTEXT

1/ I have always been interested in how Paul includes Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances when he articulates the essential elements of the Gospel in 1 Corinthians 15.1-8. We’re all familiar with ‘that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,’ and ‘that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.’ But Paul also includes that after Christ died, ‘that He was buried,’ and then following His resurrection, ‘and that He appeared….’ Paul then goes on to list six specific, personal appearances Jesus made to various disciples or groups of disciples.

2/ Luke bears out the same testimony in Acts 1.3: He presented Himself alive to them after His suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the Kingdom of God.

3/ When you harmonize the four Gospel accounts, “Five appearances are given as occurring on the day of His resurrection and five subsequently during the forty days. The five appearances on this day [of His resurrection] were (1) to Mary Magdalene (John and Mark); (2) to other women (Matthew); (3) to the two going to Emmaus; (4) to Simon Peter (Luke 24.34); (5) to ten apostles and others.” / A. T. Robertson, A Harmony of the Gospels.

4/ So, why all this highlighting and recording Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances? Because … just like His burial attested and gave eye-witness testimony to the fact that Jesus really did die, so also His post-resurrection appearances attest and give eye-witness testimony to the fact that He really did rise from the dead! Jesus’ burial and post-resurrection appearances may not be efficacious to the saving and redemptive work of the Gospel [like His death and resurrection], but they offer credible and historical evidence that He both died and resurrected.

5/ So now we come to our lesson text, John 20. John has already made the point to give us an intentional and specific testimony concerning the events of Jesus’ crucifixion: He who saw it has borne witness – his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth – that you also may believe / ch 19.35. NOTE how John uses the verb ‘saw.’ Because when we segue into ch 20, John will use this eye-witness verb ‘see/saw’ no fewer than thirteen times as he gives testimony after testimony of those who ‘saw’ Jesus following His resurrection. Kinda summed up in v 25: “We have seen the LORD!”

6/ And not only did they ‘see’ the resurrected Christ, but ‘they believed’ – His post-resurrection appearances validated, affirmed, confirmed their faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God … leading John to write his purpose statement for writing this Gospel account to which we have referred as the guiding light and connecting theme throughout our survey of The Gospel of John: Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His 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 life in His Name / ch 20.30-31.

7/ You and I must receive their eye-witness testimonies, accept them as historical, true, and credible … and believe also – that we, too, may have eternal life by believing His Gospel.

II / vv  1-2  / The eyewitness testimony of Mary Magdalene [and other women]: what she ‘saw’

1/ This eye-witness testimony is significant because of both what they didn’t see … and then who they did see! John records here that Mary saw that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb. Mark records how they wondered among themselves how they were going to roll the huge and heavy stone ‘door’ from the sepulchre when they got there / Mark 16.1-4.

2/ However, their visit to the tomb was significant also because of what they didn’t see: …but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus / Luke 24.3.

3/ They did also see angels who announced to them that they were looking for Someone who was not there; He had risen; but that they should go and tell His disciples that He had risen from the dead and would go before them into Galilee and see them there / Mark 16.5-7; Matthew 28.5-7.

III / vv 2-9  / The eyewitness testimonies of John and Simon Peter: what they ‘saw’

1/ Mary Magdalene ran to tell the disciples about what she saw at the tomb. She first met Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. We assume this is John’s humble way of identifying himself. [Not ‘whom Jesus loved’ as in ‘more than the others – but as a signature of his amazement at Jesus’ grace and love toward him.]

2/ Both John and Peter began a footrace to the sepulchre. John outran Peter and got there first, but stopped short of going in. And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. These are the same linen cloths the dead body of Jesus had been wrapped in / ch 19.40. His body had been wrapped in them – but no more! They were neatly folded on the stone shelf or ledge where His body had been lain.

3/ Simon Peter caught up with John, but he didn’t hesitate at the open door of the sepulchre. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. John repeatedly tells us about the linen cloths so neatly and carefully folded…

4/ NOTE how the eye-witness testimonies of both Peter and John verify ‘seeing’ the same thing. NOTE also the effect it had on John especially. It affirmed and confirmed his faith in Jesus’ resurrection. He didn’t grasp the full impact and significance of what all it meant, but seeing was believing!

IV / vv 11-18  / The eyewitness testimony of Mary Magdalene again: what she ‘saw’

1/ Mary’s experience here raises some questions we can’t get into here: did she have this encounter with Jesus before or after she had gone to tell the disciples the tomb was empty? Or did the other women go to tell the disciples, and she hung back and stayed there, not able to leave? Or did she make her own personal visit there alone? Why did she not immediately recognize that it was Jesus who was speaking to her – mistaking Him to be the caretaker of the garden?

2/ Regardless of how confusing some of these questions may be to us, what John wants to emphasize is that Jesus had a very personal encounter with Mary Magdalene, and she recognized that it was really Jesus!

3/ John marks Mary’s personal experiences and eye-witness testimony with several visual testimonies: [1] …she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. [2] Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. [3] Then, finally, Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the LORD!”

4/ NOTE also how tenderly and lovingly Jesus revealed Himself to her just by calling her name: Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to Him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).

5/ Mary’s personal encounter with Jesus was an unmistakable reunion with the Lord, Savior, Master, Teacher who had saved her from her demonic possession and self-wasted life in sin. She knew the Voice! And she knew that it was the same Jesus she had known and followed all during His ministry.

V / vv 19-23  / The eyewitness testimonies of the disciples on that first Resurrection-Day evening: what they ‘saw’

1/ This was now the evening of that day after Jesus had risen from the dead early in the morning. The disciples have been receiving reports from the women about the empty tomb. Mary Magdalene had personally told them about her encounter with Jesus. Peter and John had been to the tomb, and it was exactly as the women had reported / see Luke 24.13-24. And they had locked themselves inside the upper room where they had gathered for fear of the Jews who had crucified their Messiah. If the Jewish religious leaders had crucified Christ, would they not also come after them to do away with them also? And especially now, with all the reports swirling around Jerusalem that Jesus had risen from the dead!

2/ On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you!” Jesus didn’t have to open the door. He just suddenly materialized and appeared there before them, in His glorified physical body – in their physical sight! They ‘saw’ Him!

3/ Jesus wanted them to know it was really Him. They were not seeing some sort of ghost, specter, or apparition. It was really Him!

4/ Luke 24.36-43 also records that they were sharing an evening meal when Jesus appeared among them [see Mark 16.14], and that Jesus not only showed them the healed wounds in His side, hands, and feet, but that He also asked them if they had anything to eat – and He took a piece of broiled fish and ate it in their presence. They also saw Him eating!

5/ Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Their visibly, physically seeing Him not only made them eyewitnesses, but it also made them glad – filled them with joy!

6/ Remember also that just about three evenings ago, as He was delivering to them His Farewell Discourse, He had told them that in just a little while they would see Him no longer [during the days of His burial], and then they would see Him again [after His resurrection when He would appear to them again and talk with them]. “So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you” / ch 16.22.

7/ To further confirm their faith and their hopes for future ministry and usefulness, He repeated His peace blessing: Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you!” It was at this juncture that He began to commission them for the mission He would send them to continue and accomplish in His Name. [He had prayed this in ch 17.18.] As the Father has sent Me, even so I am sending you. He will repeat this same commissioning mandate in Matthew 28.18-20 when He meets with them later in Galilee.

8/ AND not only would He send them out into all the world to preach the Gospel and make disciples [see Mark 16.15], but He also promises them [and us] the accompanying Presence and Power of the Holy Spirit to give us the authority, power, strength, and ability to fulfill that mission. And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” This does not mean they didn’t have the Holy Spirit before; they had already been ‘born again’ and regenerated by the life of the Holy Spirit when they believed in Him [see ch 3.3-8]. No one has ever been saved and justified from their sins without also being regenerated by the life and power of the Holy Spirit. This is true in the Old Testament and the New.

9/ This act of breathing on them was the beginning of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit which would be consummated on the Day of Pentecost. They didn’t have the innate power in themselves [and neither do we] to perform and fulfill the work of preaching and witnessing the Gospel apart from the immediate Presence, Power, and working of the Holy Spirit in the moment and place where the work of Gospel transformation is being performed. Jesus reiterated this necessity of the power of the Holy Spirit in Luke 24.48-49: You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of My Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on High.

10/ So, what this mean? “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld”? Does this mean that the apostles, or you and me, has the power to actually forgive sins or withhold forgiveness of sins? NO! It simply means that the only way forgiveness of sins will be granted to anyone is by their believing the Gospel witness that we proclaim. By the same token, if they reject the Gospel message and do not believe in Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection – then their forgiveness will be withheld. Here is the indispensable necessity of believing the witness about Christ’s death and resurrection in order to receive forgiveness of sins and have eternal life!

VI / vv 24-31 / The eyewitness testimony of Thomas: what he ‘saw’

1/ Thomas famously was not present on that first Resurrection Day evening appearance that Jesus made to His disciples. When they told Thomas, We have seen the LORD!, Thomas again famously replied with some degree of either skepticism or ‘it’s too good to be true.’ But he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into His side, I will never believe.” Real, true faith is never ‘blind,’ that is, without credible evidence. Thomas was receiving their testimony of credible evidence. THEY had seen the LORD. They could believe them and their real experiences. But Thomas demanded his own experience of the evidence before he would believe.

2/ Look at the amazing compassion and sensitivity Jesus demonstrated toward Thomas’s skepticism. One week later, on the evening of the very next Lord’s Day [first day of the week], Jesus appeared to the gathered disciples the same way He had appeared the week before – when the disciples were meeting together inside locked and bolted doors. Let’s just re-set the scene: Eight days later, His disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then He said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.”

3/ The story doesn’t tell us that Thomas even had to reach out as Jesus had told him to do, to touch and feel the physical evidence he had so adamantly demanded. Thomas’s sight of Jesus was sufficient to overturn his most doubtful skepticism. He had seen … and he believed! “My LORD and my God!”

4/ So now listen to the blessing Jesus pronounces on us who have believed this credible testimony that John and the other disciples have seen with their own eyes and are proclaiming to us … so we, too, will believe! Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen Me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed!”

5/ You and I have never had the visual experience of seeing the resurrected Christ with our own physical eyes. But John and the other eyewitnesses have! And they have faithfully recorded their visual encounters with Jesus to us. And they have done so that we, too, may believe that that they actually did see what they have truthfully and faithfully told us they saw!

6/ Which brings us now to the ‘purpose statement’ of this Gospel we have fore-‘seen’ and quoted many times as we have made our way through this Gospel: Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His 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.

The express purpose for which John has written everything he’s written here is so that we may know it really happened – everything was recorded by credible and verifiable eyewitnesses. They have told us the Truth! NOT to believe their word is to call God and Christ Himself a liar.

“Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has born concerning His Son. And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life” / 1 John 5.10-12     

DO YOU BELIEVE?

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“IT IS FINISHED!”

Posted on May 6, 2023 by PastorDave

JOHN | Lesson 18 | John 19.1-41 | Lesson Notes & Talking Points

Read John 19.1-41

I / INTRODUCTION: MAKING THE CONNECTIONS

1 / This lesson is a continuation of Lesson 17 from John 18. In fact, the opening paragraph of chapter 19 is a continuation of Jesus’ appearance before the Roman governor Pilate / ch 18.28-40. I am going to continue reiterating the main point that John is making all throughout his Gospel: that Jesus Christ is the Christ, the Son of God / see ch 20.31-31.

2 / So again, to reiterate, the reason why John includes what he does in his accounts, and why he doesn’t include what he doesn’t is because John is accentuating the events he does describe to give specific emphases to Jesus’ testimony to His Deity. Refer back to Lesson 17 for those emphases.

3 / Although Jesus made specific references and performed specific works to demonstrate His Deity to the arresting party and in His appearances before the religious leaders and their councils [see Matthew 26.62-66 & Mark 14.60-64], perhaps He gave no clearer testimony to His Deity than when He made His appearances before Pilate [see, for example, ch 18.33-37].

4 / Those testimonies will continue here in chapter 19–and on throughout the ordeals of His crucifixion.  

II / vv 1-16 / “Behold the Man!” … “Behold your King!”

1 / Jesus actually made two appearances before Pilate. If you read Luke 23.5-12, you’ll see how that the whole religious council [Sanhedrin], had convened in the wee morning hours to formally accuse and charge Jesus with blasphemy, charging Him with claiming to be the Son of God – and therefore, God [see Luke 22.66-71]. Jesus also gave some clear and unmistakable testimony to His Deity in that hearing by citing His identity with Daniel 7.13-14.

2 / Then when the high-court religious council came before Pilate to seek a capital indictment and sentence against Jesus, and Pilate kept insisting “I find no guilt in this Man,” they let it drop: “But they were urgent, saying, ‘He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee even to this place.’ When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the Man was a Galilean. And when he learned that He belonged to Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent Him over to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time.” / Luke 23.4-7. Jesus was further mocked, beaten, and abused by Herod and his soldiers before being sent back to Pilate for His final sentencing / Luke 23.8-12.

3 / But John ‘compresses’ both of Jesus’ appearances before Pilate into one account. Some of John’s narrative would have taken place during the first accusation and hearing, and some would have occurred during the second appearance. But, we will consider them as John relates them…

4 / Pilate agrees to ‘flog’ Jesus and release Him back to the Jews. This ‘flogging’ was not just a whipping, but rather a total laceration of His body with a scourge, or ‘cat o’ nine tails.’ This was a handle that had numerous strands of leather attached to it. Woven or braided into the strands of leather were pieces of metal, glass, and bone. They were lashed across the back and abdomen of the victim, imbedded into the flesh, and then forcefully jerked back, deeply lacerating and separating the flesh – even until the internal organs would have been exposed. This is what the Psalmist prophesied in Psalm 129.3: The plowers plowed upon my back; they made long their furrows.

5 / “Behold the Man!” Pilate hoped to elicit some human sympathy from the religious leaders and the people who had begun to gather to watch the spectacle [remember: this was the well-attended Passover Feast and national holiday]. Or that the mob would be satisfied with this brutal scourging. But they would not be appeased with anything short of killing Jesus: “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”

6 / “…He has made Himself the Son of God!” This terrified Pilate even more. Could Jesus actually be the Son of God? Was he killing the Son of God? [Remember also that, at this juncture, Pilate’s wife came to him to warn him with the dream she had just dreamed / Matthew 27.19.]

7 / Pilate begged Jesus to clearly identify Himself to him, reminding Jesus that he had authority to either release Him to His freedom or crucify Him. Jesus reminded Pilate again of His own ultimate authority as Deity: You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above / 19.11.

8 / “Behold your King!” When Pilate presented Jesus again with this appeal, he was hoping to release himself from any part and involvement in Jesus’ crucifixion … by offering to release their own King back to them. Look at Him! He is your King! Let me give Him back to you! But then, the Jewish leaders made this ridiculous, pandering, hypocritical pledge of allegiance to Pilate, Caesar, and the Roman government: “If you release this Man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar … We have no king but Caesar!” It was also a threat to Pilate, who was already on shaky ground with Caesar’s approval and favor.

9 / So Pilate ‘washed his hands’ [or so he thought and hoped] to release and absolve himself of any involvement in Jesus’ death / Matthew 27.24. “So he delivered Him over to them to be crucified.”

III / vv 16-27 / “There they crucified Him…”

1 / Jesus was led out to a place called ‘The Place of a Skull,’ or ‘Golgotha’ [which means, ‘The Skull’ in Aramaic, their spoken language]. Jesus was crucified between two criminals who were already on death row and sentenced to be executed. Barabbas had been one of them sentenced for crucifixion, but he had been released at the mob’s insistence / see ch 18.39-40 & Luke 23.18-19. Jesus took his place.

2 / The inscription over Jesus’ head. This inscription was usually in the form of some kind of crude placard. The purpose was to identify the criminal who was being executed and the crimes he had committed to add to his shame and humiliation. Pilate had written in three languages so anyone from anywhere who was attending the Passover could read it. The placard itself was an expression of mockery of the Jews, an insult to them, a sort of gloating over them. ‘Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.’ OK, you forced my hand to do this, so I’m going to dunk on you. I’m gloating over my mockery of you by crucifying your King! The Jews protested this also: He’s not our King! We don’t claim Him! We are crucifying Him for this very reason that He claimed to be our King! So, change it, Pilate! Make it say, This Man said, I am King of the Jews.Pilate responded with this cryptic, snarling retort: ‘What I have written, I have written.’ He repeated the same two past perfect tense verbs. As if to say, ‘No! I have made my last concession to your demands. I’m changing nothing! It stands as I have written it!’

3 / But do you know what charges against Jesus was really on that placard…in the Father’s judgment? It was our sins! Jesus had no sins of His own, and He had certainly committed no crimes or transgressions worthy of punishment – and certainly not death by crucifixion! Colossians 2.13-14: And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to His Cross.  See also 1 Peter 2.22-25.

4 / The soldiers took what few articles of clothing Jesus wore and divided them up among themselves – as their tokens and souvenirs to have been assigned to crucify the King of some of those whom they had subjugated. But when they looked at His outer tunic, they could see that someone had lovingly, painstakingly, and carefully woven it in one piece from top to bottom instead of sewing pieces together at the seams]. So they gambled on it to see which one of them should get it. This, too, was to fulfill the Scripture of Psalm 22.18: They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. Another testimony to Jesus’ Deity.

5 / “Woman, behold your son … Behold your mother.” With this committal, Jesus gave Mary, His mother, over to John’s care. And John received the honorable responsibility. From that moment on, John took Mary to his own home to care and provide for Mary until she died.  

IV / vv 28-30 / “IT IS FINISHED!”

1 / After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture)… John is careful and precise to continue giving us testimonies to Jesus’ Deity. Jesus is not only dying His death of crucifixion of His own willingness and voluntary volition, but He is dying with full and comprehensive knowledge of the ages-old Scriptures He had come to fulfill. Numerous times throughout this Gospel, John [and all the other Gospelers] has reminded us how Jesus was fulfilling all the ancient prophetic writings that had foretold His coming – and the death He would die. See again Luke 24.25-27. NOTE that John uses the same word here for all of Jesus’ fulfillment of Scriptures that Jesus will utter when He has completed the work the Father had sent Him to do: After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst!” See Psalm 22.15: …my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws… and Psalm 69.3: I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched.

2 / A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to His mouth. This, too, fulfilled Psalm 69.21: They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink. Yet another testimony to Jesus’ being the promised Christ and Deity. Some historians have written that this ‘sour wine’ potion may have been provided by some of the more sympathetic women of Jerusalem to help sedate and therefore alleviate the end-of-life sufferings of those being crucified. Luke 23.36-37 tells us that they had offered this same ‘vinegar’ or ‘sour wine’ earlier to mock and taunt Him – maybe to offer it and then deny giving it to Him – but Jesus had refused it at that time. This time, He took it because He knew the final moments of His life’s mission had come, and He was fulfilling it to the last breath, word, and deed.

3 / “IT IS FINISHED!” This declaration was the climax, the crescendo, the victory cry of His mission [see ch 17.1-4]. ‘Finished” means: It has all been done! It has been completed! It has been fulfilled! With that word, Jesus pronounced and announced that He had just successfully ‘FINISHED!’ the Father’s promised salvation of His people, the Father’s commission and commandment to come and die for our redemption, the New Covenant that in His Blood, all that was required and sufficiently supplied to save us from our sins and reconcile us back to God … to be with Him forever! “It has been done!”

4 / “Tetelestai!” This is the English pronunciation of the past perfect tense of the verb Jesus exclaimed [teleo]. “Definition: to end, i.e. complete, execute, conclude, discharge (a debt)” It means ‘to reach the end, the completion, the full and final conclusion of the work that was being done.’ Notice that last part of the definition: ‘discharge (a debt).’ THIS is the word that was used on a debt contract or document to signify that the debt had been ‘PAID IN FULL’! And so it was with our debt of sin and unrighteousness before God. “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” [Romans 3.23]. But when Jesus Christ died and offered up His life of perfect, sinless obedience to the Father, He paid a double-debt that everyone of us owed: [1] He offered His life as a substitutionary sin-payment for the sins we have committed against God, and [2] He offered His life as a substitute for the life of obedience that we did not and could not have offered. THIS is the Gospel! And it is the ONLY Gospel there is! And God Himself provided it for us when He sent Christ into our world to die for us! And Jesus Christ was willing to give Himself as the ONLY payment for sin that God the Father will accept!

5 / AND He didn’t cry “IT IS FINISHED!” with a weak voice, either. Matthew 27.50, Mark 15.37, and Luke 23.46 all declare: And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice… Jesus didn’t ‘succumb’ to His own death. He didn’t die as a ‘victim’ to any hands who delivered Him over to Pilate or those who physically impaled Him to His Cross. He died strong! “…and He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.” Jesus gave up His own life! Remember how He foretold in John 10.17-18: For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from My Father.

6 / And it was with this last, final, victory cry that He gave Himself and His life to the Father as the once-for-all sufficient offering for our sins: Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit!” And having said this He breathed His last / Luke 23.46.

7 / Hebrews 7.27: He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since He did this once for all when He offered up Himself.  

V / vv 31-37 / “They did not break His legs”

1 / It was a scandal among the Jews for a dead body to be hanging exposed for public view on a holy day. The next day was a Sabbath and also the Passover, and they didn’t dare ‘desecrate’ their ‘holy’ day and their planned ‘holy’ ceremonies. Why, they were going to be offering Passover sacrifices to God for the ‘passing over’ of their sins! They couldn’t have these dead bodies hanging on their crosses, and thus render their ‘holy’ activities ‘unclean’ and ‘unacceptable to God!

2 / So they came to Pilate again to ask him to break their legs, and thus hasten their deaths. Death by crucifixion was a death from physical trauma, shock, dehydration, loss of blood, even infections – but most of all a death by asphyxiation. When the body is impaled on the cross and the weight of the body is hanging from the suspended arms, the effect is to compress the diaphragm and abdomen, constricting the lungs. And often, death by crucifixion could linger on for 2-3 days before death occurred. By breaking the legs, the crucified one couldn’t ‘push up’ with his legs, making more room for his lungs to inhale.

3 / The soldiers broke the legs of the other two evil-doers. But when they came to Jesus, they discovered He was already dead [voluntarily, of His own will and volition]. Another fulfillment of Scripture, John is careful to note: Not one of His bones will be broken [Exodus 12.46], speaking of the Passover lamb from Yahweh’s first prescription in the first Passover! So it must be with this, The Passover Lamb of God!

4 / So, in their resentment and spite against Jesus because they couldn’t further abuse Him by breaking His legs, ‘but one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.’ This was from the fluid that had gathered around His heart and lungs from the trauma He had suffered during the crucifixion agonies. Yet another fulfillment of the ancient Scriptures! Zechariah 12.10: …when they look on Me, on Him whom they have pierced…

5 / John himself is amazed at all this fulfillment of the ancient Scripture prophecies [especially after having had the past seventy years to reflect upon it]. Lest anyone think he is making any of it up, John affirms the truth of it all as an eye-witness: ‘He who saw it has borne witness – his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth – that you also may believe.’ DO YOU BELIEVE? For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled…    

VI / vv 38-42 / “…they laid Jesus there”

1 / Enter two friends, both believers and followers of Jesus – though both of them were just now publicly confessing their faith in Him: [1] Joseph of Arimathea. He was apparently a well-known, wealthy citizen of Jerusalem. He asked Pilate for permission to take possession of Jesus’ body to give Him a respectable burial, rather than having His body dumped in the ‘landfill’ of the Valley of Hinnom. Joseph had prepared a burial sepulcher for himself. No one had ever lain in it. And Jesus wouldn’t for long! Joseph would have it back after three days! Isaiah 53.9: And they made His grave with the wicked and with a rich man in His death… [2] Nicodemus. Yes! That same Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night [ch 3]. We have seen Nicodemus speak up in Jesus’ defense another time before / ch 7.50-51.

2 / Both of them are now fully-committed, whole-hearted confessors of their faith in the Deity, Lordship, and Gospel of their Lord Jesus Christ. They, at the risk of their own lives and public reputations, and at their own expense, come to prepare Jesus’ body for burial – because they believe in their hearts and confess with their mouths that ‘Jesus is LORD’!

DO YOU BELIEVE?

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“AS YOUR DAY IS…SO SHALL YOUR STRENGTH BE!”

Posted on May 5, 2023 by PastorDave

“Your sandals shall be iron and bronze; as your days, so shall your strength be.” ~Deuteronomy 33.25 NKJV

“…for you have not passed this way before.” ~Joshua 3.4 ESV

“…for you do not know what a day may bring forth.” ~Proverbs 27.1 / James 4.14 LSB

“No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man, but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.” ~1 Corinthians 10.13 LSB

“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, Yahweh, the Creator of the ends of the earth, does not become weary or tired. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weary and tired, and to him who lacks vigor He increases might. Though youths grow weary and tired, and choice young men stumble badly – Yet those who hope in Yahweh will gain new power; they will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and not get tired; they will walk and not become weary.” ~Isaiah 40.28-31

I’ve never walked in this way before,

and I cannot tell what the day holds in store…

but God has a promise that is sufficient for me:

He says, “As your day is…so shall your strength be!”

“As your day is, so shall your strength be!”

Give me the wisdom to walk, LORD, with Thee…

Give me the power to live faithfully,

and, as my day is, so let my strength be.

Troubles all around me, and fears rage within,

so prone to wander, so tempted by sin –

but when I’m at my weakest, Your promise I see!

“As your day is…so shall your strength be!”

“As your day is, so shall your strength be!”

Give me the wisdom to walk, LORD, with Thee…

Give me the power to live faithfully,

and, as my day is, so let my strength be.

Run, and not be weary…walk, and not faint –

live with thanksgiving, and without complaint –

soar like the eagle…from earth’s chains be free,

and “As your day is…so shall your strength be!”

“As your day is, so shall your strength be!”

Give me the wisdom to walk, LORD, with Thee…

Give me the power to live faithfully,

and, as my day is, so let my strength be.

~Dave Parks | October 1987

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“I AM…HE!”

Posted on April 29, 2023 by PastorDave

JOHN | Lesson 17 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points

Read John 18.1-40

I / INTRODUCTION: MAKING THE CONNECTIONS

1 / We are now coming to the end of John’s Gospel account. The next three chapters [18, 19, 20] will be John’s account of Jesus’ arrest, trials, crucifixion, and resurrection.

2 / There is a thing called “A Harmony of the Gospels,’ in which all four Gospel accounts are written out side by side in four columns on the page. Where the Gospel accounts include the same narrative, they will be written out side-by-side. Where one Gospel account includes details the others don’t, those column spaces will be blank for those Gospels that don’t have them.

3 / I’ve added this note because John doesn’t include a lot of details the other Gospels do: like Jesus’ agony prayers in Gethsemane, much of the accusations made against Him before the chief priest and Herod, etc…

4 / However, John also includes many details of events and conversations that the other three Gospelers don’t: like, for example, in His two appearances before Pilate.

5 / Which leads me to say that John especially focuses on his primary purpose he has been following all throughout his Gospel: Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 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 20.30-31.

6 / So when John includes what he does write, and doesn’t include what he doesn’t, he is keeping to his main purpose and focus for writing this whole Gospel: 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.

7 / Which brings us to the main point of this lesson…

II / “I AM…HE!”

1 / When Jesus identified Himself to the band of enemies who had come to arrest Him, He simply said, “I AM…HE!” [see vv 5-8] This is not just His saying, ‘That’s who I am.’ Jesus is using the same self-identification He has used at least seven other times that John records in this Gospel [see Lesson 10]. We call these expressions: “The ‘I AM(s)’ of Jesus.” [He also used another form of this same self-identification in Jn 4.26.]

2 / “I AM” is the Name of Yahweh that He revealed to Moses at the burning bush / see Exodus 3.14. In other words, this is the Name that God gives Himself. So when Jesus said all of His “I AM”(s), He was saying “I AM God!” … And this goes back to the main purpose for John’s writing his whole Gospel as we discussed above.

3 / So what we will do here in this lesson is simply show how John weaves this evidence of the Deity of Jesus Christ throughout every description of every event he records here in chapter 18 … and on to the end of his Gospel.

III / vv 1-11 / “I AM…HE!” BEFORE HIS TRAITOR & THOSE WHO CAME TO ARREST HIM

1 / After Jesus had finished the words of His Farewell Discourse and His prayer He prayed to the Father, they crossed the Brook Kidron on the east of Jerusalem and began their ascent up the Mount of Olives. There was a garden there, Gethsemane [olive press], and Jesus entered the garden with His disciples. Though John doesn’t record it, this is where and when Jesus prayed His agony prayers to commit Himself to the death He had come to die [see Matthew 26.36-46; Mark 14.32-42; Luke 22.39-46].

2 / John gives us an all-inclusive description of Jesus’ Deity in that phrase in v 4: ‘Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to Him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?”’ This is another demonstration of Jesus’ Deity – His knowing of everything that was going to happen. How did He know? Because it had been pre-planned from eternity and prophesied for 4000 years in the Old Testament Scriptures.

3 / Speaking of OT prophecies, we must add here also that just like this moment of time and history is what Jesus has been calling ‘My hour’ [ch 2.4; 13.1; 17.1], so also Satan is acting and working in his ‘hour.’ This goes back to the very first Gospel promise in the Bible, Genesis 3.15. This is the ‘hour’ when the Promised Savior will crush the serpent’s head. But it is also the ‘hour’ of ‘the power of darkness’ when Satan will bruise Messiah’s heel. See John 13.27; Mark 14.41; Luke22.53.

4 / Jesus, of course, knew Judas would betray Him because He is the “I AM” see ch 13.21-30. Judas had earlier left the Passover meal to go out into the night to conspire with the religious leaders to betray Jesus over to them. They now have made their way to the garden where Judas has told them they will find Him. There is a mixed band in this arresting party: leaders from among the chief priests and Pharisees [these are the main antagonists and accusers who have dogged Jesus all of His ministry; members of the Temple ‘police’ who enforced compliance with their civil, religious, social laws; and Roman Soldiers. There may have been as many as 200-600 soldiers [that’s what the word ‘band’ indicates], and they are all carrying lanterns, torches – and are armed with weapons.

5 / John doesn’t record it, but Judas had given the soldiers a signal: he would kiss the One they were after. He did.

6 / Whether it was before or after Judas’s betrayal kiss, we don’t know; but Jesus takes the initiative to ask them who they are seeking. When they answer, “Jesus of Nazareth,” Jesus then declares: “I AM…HE!” Once again, He declares His Deity. He claims to be, not only Jesus of Nazareth, but God Himself.

7 / The effect is that all the arresting party fell backward and to the ground. Was this just surprise, shock, or astonishment that Jesus would so voluntarily identify Himself? No! It was His Glory that confronted them. It was His Deity that knocked them backward. As John has told us earlier: “And we have seen His Glory, Glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” [ch 1.14]; and “This, the first of His signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested His Glory. And His disciples believed in Him” [ch 2.11]. There was a supernatural manifestation and emanation of Glory that burst and proceeded forth from Jesus when He announced Himself as ‘I AM…HE!’ It produced this physical effect on His enemies. Kind of like a shock-wave of Deity and Glory.

8 / When Jesus repeated this same ‘I AM…HE!’ the second time – after they stumbled back onto their feet – what He is demonstrating is that even though He was surrendering Himself to His enemies, He knew that He was the One who was in charge of the situation.

9 / When Simon Peter drew his dagger-sword from under his cloak and slashed at the high priest’s servant, he didn’t intend to take off just his ear. Most likely, he made a horizontal slashing stroke, intending to slash his throat or take off his head. Malchus probably ducked his head sideways, and Peter cut off his ear. Jesus again demonstrated His “I AM” power by instantaneously healing the wound / Luke 22.51.   

IV / vv 12-27 / “I AM…HE!” BEFORE THE COUNCILS OF THE CHIEF PRIESTS AND RELIGIOUS LEADERS

1 / The arresting party and soldiers take Jesus first to the house of Annas. John is the only Gospeler who includes this detail. Annas was not in the high priest office that year; but Annas was the ‘godfather’ of this high-priestly family and father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was the high priest. So Annas has to sanction everything that the high priest’s office does. So, when John calls Annas ‘the high priest’ [v 19], it means ‘high priest emeritus’ or even ‘high priest de-facto’ even though his son-in-law, Caiaphas, was actually holding the office that year.

2 / John 18.24 states that Annas then sent Him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.  

3 / Again, John doesn’t include the details of the accusations, mockery, and charges they came up with against Jesus. But you can find those accounts in Matthew 26.57-68; Mark 14.53-65; Luke 22.54-65.

4 / What they charge Jesus with here in their Jewish religious courts is different than the charges they will bring against Him when they present Him to Pilate. You will find the most pointed account in Matthew 26.63-66. They specifically asked Jesus whether He claimed to be ‘the Christ, the Son of God’?

5 / When Jesus replied that the day would come when would see Him, the Son of Man [Daniel 7.13-14], sitting at the right hand of power, and coming on the clouds of heaven, they understood very clearly that Jesus was claiming what He had been claiming all along during His ministry: that He, Himself, is the Messianic ‘Son of Man’ prophesied in Daniel, and that He, Himself, is the Christ, the Son of God. In other words, Jesus was proclaiming: ‘I AM…HE!’ That He is God.

6 / So there! The crime was committed in the eyes and judgment of the Jewish leadership: BLASPHEMY! This is their echoing charge that they explicitly expressed in ch 5.16-18.

7 / After hearing this ‘I AM…HE!’ declaration, the high priest put on a fake show of righteous indignation … being offended on God’s behalf at Jesus’ usurpation of God’s Deity. Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has uttered blasphemy. What further witnesses do we need? You have now heard his blasphemy. 66 What is your judgment?” They answered, “He deserves death.”  

8 / It was during this series of mock hearings before the Jewish religious council that Simon Peter denied three times that he even knew Jesus … much less had any association with Him. This, too, was an I AM…HE! moment because Jesus had foretold and warned Peter just a few hours before this that he would deny Him [ch 13.36-38]. After Peter denies Christ for the third time and the rooster crowed as Jesus had warned him, Peter is stricken, crushed, devastated at what he has just done. And Jesus had warned him just a while ago that he would. That’s when Luke records in Luke 22.60-62: But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. 61 And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how He had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” 62 And he went out and wept bitterly.

V / vv 28-40 / “I AM…HE!” BEFORE THE ROMAN GOVERNOR PILATE  

1 / It is here in this section, when Jesus appears for the first time before the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, that Jesus makes some very remarkable statements regarding His Deity. He will proclaim “I AM…HE!” especially about His being the King of the Jews…

2 / Keep in mind that Jesus had two appearances before Pilate. John here compresses both hearings into one account because he has one point to make: that Jesus Christ, as God in the flesh, is the true Son of God and King of the Jews.

3 / This first appearance before Pilate is described here in ch 18.28-38. [Then Jesus will be shuffled off to make an appearance before Herod Antipas, Tetrarch of Galilee (Luke 23.6-12)]. Herod will send Jesus back to Pilate for the second appearance and Pilate’s final concession to the Jews to crucify Jesus [John 18.39 – 19.16].

4 / It is most interesting to note in ch 18.28 that the Jews, here on the eve of Passover, didn’t dare step onto the Gentile Pilate’s property because doing so would make them ‘ceremonially defiled and impure’ and they wouldn’t be permitted to partake of the Passover festivities and services. BUT they have no conscience against calling into Pilate, requiring him to get up from his bed and sleep, and come out to pass judgment against the Lamb of God who would be offered later that morning as God’s Divinely-appointed Passover! What two-faced hypocrisy! And yet, here again, we see the activity of Satan and his ‘hour’ and ‘power of darkness’ blinding their hearts and minds to prevent them from seeing the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ! see 2 Corinthians 4.3-6. We still face the same power of Satan working in the hearts and consciences of unbelievers as we proclaim the Gospel to them.

5 / Pilate asks them what charges they are bringing against Jesus – so serious enough as to warrant this middle of the night impromptu trial? The Jews answer: “If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.”

6 / Pilate then scolds them for bringing to him a case of internal Jewish law. “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.” ‘Why are you bothering me with your internal religious squabbles?”

7 / In their internal councils, they had charged Jesus with the capital offense of blasphemy. But blasphemy means nothing to Pilate. That is not in his jurisdiction.

8 / Their response to Pilate gets to the root of the evil and murderous intentions in their hearts – conspiracies and plots to kill Jesus that had been festering and stewing for at least the last two years. Listen to them! The Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death!” There it is! They must have Jesus killed … and the Roman law did not permit them to execute capital punishment. Yes, they would occasionally stone someone for breaking their ‘laws,’ and the Romans would look the other way just to appease the Jews and keep the peace.

9 / BUT, again, Jesus could not be killed by stoning! Why? Because the plan of God all along was that Jesus would be crucified! All the prophecies of the Old Testament are prophecies that are descriptive of crucifixion. And the Jews didn’t crucify their capital offenders – they stoned them to death.

10 / And besides, Jesus had prophesied Himself that He would be crucified! Matthew 20.17-19: And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way He said to them, 18 “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death 19 and deliver Him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and He will be raised on the third day.” So Jesus must not only die for our salvation, but He must be crucified … and at the hands of the Gentiles [Romans]. And here He is! This is yet another illustration of Jesus’ Deity – His fulfillment of the Old Testament Scriptures and His own predictions that it would be this way!

11 / The Jews had made charges against Jesus in Pilate’s hearing that Jesus claimed to be ‘The King of the Jews.’ Imbedded in these accusations presented to Pilate are charges of treason against the occupying Romans. Now that involves Pilate big-time. Pilate’s responsibility as governor of Judea was to keep them subject to Caesar and the Roman rule. [More on this in the next lesson, ch 19.12-16.

12 / In fact, Barabbas and his comrades were in prison for execution at some later time precisely for this crime of treason and insurrection [see Luke 23.18-19].  

13 / This accusation prompted Pilate to question Jesus: “Are you the King of the Jews?” It was at this juncture that Jesus began to expound to Pilate that true nature of His Kingdom and Kingship. This was Jesus’ way of saying to Pilate: “I AM…HE!” Yes! I am a King. But my Kingdom is not like your-all’s. For now, my Kingdom is not earthly, political, military, and composed of a civil society. My Kingdom is spiritual. I rule people’s hearts and lives. If my Kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my Kingdom is not from this world. [This also gives us some clearer understanding why Jesus rebuked Peter in Gethsemane for retaliating with physical force when he cut off Malchus’s ear – and then healed Malchus.]

14 / Jesus delivered His “I AM…HE!” to Pilate with these words: Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”   

15 / So, to everyone who encountered Jesus, not only during these last events, but all throughout His lifetime and ministry – Jesus’ unvarying and unwavering proclamation was: “I AM…HE! I AM God, the Son of God, the promised Christ and Messiah – the Savior of the world! The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is here in Me! Repent and believe in the Gospel!”

DO YOU BELIEVE?

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