We've seen the spiritual life is God choosing us, God's coming to us and our receiving His Spirit. Are we aware of this? Our is our activity and religious knowledge and desire to escape a fallen world nothing but flattening the world?
It may be no wonder Paul prays that the eyes of our heart may be enlightened. Jesus warned that--the lamp of the body is the eye; if your eye is clear your whole body will be full of light.
Elisha prayed God would open the eyes of his servant to see--the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. We don't always see the angels and Spirit of God surrounding us, so we pray.
In John 12 Jesus is heading toward His crucifixion. He tells a multitude that He will not be with them much longer. He says--While you have the light believe in the light, that you may become sons of light. Jesus is preparing His disciples for the time when they will no longer be followers but sons. Through the Spirit they will be to Jesus what Jesus was at that time to His Father. He was the Son of God, they will be sons of light.
Jesus then gives in a few words the method of spirituality. When the crowd mumbled and gossiped about Him, Jesus cried out over their entangling voices--He who believes in Me does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me. It is as if the belief rose to heaven, straight from the Father. We can just about see the outlines of the ascension. The disciples believe in Jesus; their belief ascends to the Father because Jesus as the Son of God goes to the Father.
In the next verse Jesus says the same thing, intensifying His thought--And he who beholds Me beholds the One who sent Me. I have come as light into the world that everyone who believes in Me may not remain in darkness.
What Jesus did, the disciples will do. They will speak the word of God, they will heal, they will show the love of God, they will live in the fellowship of the Spirit when it is given at Pentecost. Jesus summarizes this 'passing along the baton' when He says--For I have given you an example that you also should do as I did to you.
He then washes the feet of the disciples. In chapter 14 Jesus elaborates on what He's been saying. First, He tells Philip--If you've seen Me you've seen the Father. Then He tells all the disciples of the power they will receive from Him--if you ask anything in My name, I will do it.
Finally in John 15 Jesus speaks the culmination of what He has been saying. For the last 3 chapters He has been pencilling in what it means to be in Christ. The Father sends the Son, so Jesus sends His disciples; the Father gives Jesus glory so Jesus gives glory to His followers. And as Jesus will ascend to heaven,so will we--Abide in Me, and I in you.
The entire chapter 15 is the unity of the believer in Christ. When we have tried to see the union with Christ from the outside, we notice the grafting in, the putting on of Christ, the covering, and theological terms like sanctification. But when we read the Scriptures depending on the Holy Spirit to lead us in the way of union with Christ, He does.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Sunday, December 18, 2011
HIGH SPIRITED--2
We've seen in Ephesians the great spirituality of God choosing us even before the foundations of the world. Now let's look at what God has done in and for us here.
We know from Paul we have been called and chosen; we have been justified and sanctified; and finally redeemed. Do we have any way to think of these spiritually rare acts of God?
Let's begin with Moses. He was called by God out in the wilderness to lead Israel out of Egypt and into the kingdom of God. He didn't always want to be called but he was. When we think of being chosen we can think of Isaac or Jacob. Jacob was the younger brother, but chosen by God even to the point of having his name changed to Israel. When we think of being justified we can think of David. He said in his prayer of 2 Sam. 7.8 God had acted according to God's own heart and word. When we think of standing before the Lord, we can think of Isaiah 6.1, where Isaiah saw God's train fill the temple.
These are men whose lives reveal the acts of God in being chosen, called, justified and sanctified to stand before the Lord. And now, what about us? We've seen that the spirituality described in Ephesians 1.22 always finds its purpose in the church. In 1 Peter 2.4 the apostle gives us an image we can contemplate. He says--And coming to Him as a living stone...choice and precious in the sight of God...you also as living stones are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
What this means is the Word of God has been building a picture of our souls in Christ, from Genesis to the NT. These pictures are for us to contemplate. When we look at a stained-glass pictures in churches, we see the light coming through them to illuminate scenes from the Bible. As clear stones, our souls have a strength yet they are transparent, clear.
That Peter calls us clear stones, living stones means that God's presence is in us, through Christ. Being close to God is having Jesus seen in us. He tells the Samaritan woman that God wishes to be worshiped--neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem, John 4.21. Where her soul is, the Spirit of God is. She might not have been seeking God, but God found her. Can we seek God and find Him?
David was in the wilderness of Judah when he said--I shall earnestly seek Thee...my soul thirsts for Thee... Psalm 119 says those who seek for God are blessed. Isaiah says in Is.55.6 to seek Him. Jesus, in Matt. 6.3, Luke 11.10 said to--Seek ye first the kingdom of God...and he who seeks finds.
Some have gone out into the desert because the emptiness of the desert corresponds to the emptiness of their souls. Some have withdrawn in an attempt to wall off the world. Some have filled their minds with Scripture, some have filled their lives with activity.
But when we seek God, at the center of that seeking is God coming to us. The Pharisees say--Who are You?
God said--This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.
Peter said--Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
At the heart of Christian spirituality are two questions: Who do you say that I am? Do you love Me?
We know from Paul we have been called and chosen; we have been justified and sanctified; and finally redeemed. Do we have any way to think of these spiritually rare acts of God?
Let's begin with Moses. He was called by God out in the wilderness to lead Israel out of Egypt and into the kingdom of God. He didn't always want to be called but he was. When we think of being chosen we can think of Isaac or Jacob. Jacob was the younger brother, but chosen by God even to the point of having his name changed to Israel. When we think of being justified we can think of David. He said in his prayer of 2 Sam. 7.8 God had acted according to God's own heart and word. When we think of standing before the Lord, we can think of Isaiah 6.1, where Isaiah saw God's train fill the temple.
These are men whose lives reveal the acts of God in being chosen, called, justified and sanctified to stand before the Lord. And now, what about us? We've seen that the spirituality described in Ephesians 1.22 always finds its purpose in the church. In 1 Peter 2.4 the apostle gives us an image we can contemplate. He says--And coming to Him as a living stone...choice and precious in the sight of God...you also as living stones are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
What this means is the Word of God has been building a picture of our souls in Christ, from Genesis to the NT. These pictures are for us to contemplate. When we look at a stained-glass pictures in churches, we see the light coming through them to illuminate scenes from the Bible. As clear stones, our souls have a strength yet they are transparent, clear.
That Peter calls us clear stones, living stones means that God's presence is in us, through Christ. Being close to God is having Jesus seen in us. He tells the Samaritan woman that God wishes to be worshiped--neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem, John 4.21. Where her soul is, the Spirit of God is. She might not have been seeking God, but God found her. Can we seek God and find Him?
David was in the wilderness of Judah when he said--I shall earnestly seek Thee...my soul thirsts for Thee... Psalm 119 says those who seek for God are blessed. Isaiah says in Is.55.6 to seek Him. Jesus, in Matt. 6.3, Luke 11.10 said to--Seek ye first the kingdom of God...and he who seeks finds.
Some have gone out into the desert because the emptiness of the desert corresponds to the emptiness of their souls. Some have withdrawn in an attempt to wall off the world. Some have filled their minds with Scripture, some have filled their lives with activity.
But when we seek God, at the center of that seeking is God coming to us. The Pharisees say--Who are You?
God said--This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.
Peter said--Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
At the heart of Christian spirituality are two questions: Who do you say that I am? Do you love Me?
Saturday, December 10, 2011
HIGH SPIRITED--1
When Christians have thought about the spiritual life, we have thought it to be one of moderating our emotions or developing our knowledge. In the middle ages, spirituality was a human trait in response to God. That trait might have been to be silent, to fast, to manage rituals, or to help others. In the Reformation, spirituality was the knowledge of God.
What we notice about the spiritual life is that it is the life of God in us. As Richard Hooker said, The cause of life spiritual in us is Christ, not carnally or corporally inhabiting, but dwelling in the soul of man. Normally we call that union with Christ. Yet, Jesus says--Where I am you cannot come. He may have been referring to the cross, certainly we cannot go there. But can we exert ourselves to be like Him?
To the Ephesians Paul writes about what was before time:
He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself according to the kind intention of His will to the praise of the glory of His grace--Eph. 1.4ff
Now all of that happened before the foundation of the world; there was no place, no act, no object to see. We cannot appropriate it in any way but to ask for the Holy Spirit. Our spiritual life begins when se start as we are, seeking a way to receive such glorious insight as told by Paul. We are not seeking a transaction, a rite, or a duty but a presence.
We ask--Who am I? We are chosen before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless
We ask--What is my purpose in life? We are to be adopted as sons and daughters through Christ
We ask--What does life mean? We are to the praise of the glory of his grace.
To comprehend that we were chosen; to comprehend gthat we were chosen by God before time and space; to comprehend that were were chosen before God--now this can be received by the Holy Spirit.
To believe that we are not vagrant souls adrift; to believe that we are adopted by God; to believe that we are sons and daughters through the Son of God--now this takes nothing less than faith. Yet faith is not a slight wishing, but the desire that the invisibility of God would withdraw like a wave falling from a slanted shore. In our desire to see God is God's desire to be known by us.
How do we bring such contemplation into our souls? Paul prays that--a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him...that you may know what is the hope of His calling in the saints and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe--Eph 1.17. Now that's a prayer. A spirit of wisdom and revelation. The knowledge of Him. The hope of His calling of us. All of these things Paul wishes us to comprehend through a--spirit of wisdom and revelation. Paul finishes the chapter by saying all of this is revealed in the church, Christ's body. We can imagine what it means that this happens in Christ's body by the thought that the revelation of Him is within Him. It is as if we were in a room of a church admiring the paintings on the walls. It is in Him that the revelation of Him comes, and through Him we see ourselves as His image.
Teh spiritual life is the act of receiving. An interesting passage is Luke 8.46-48. A woman touches Jesus--for I was aware that power had gone out of Me. The woman then, knowing she was known by Him, falls down before him. When the power went out of Him, here is the--surpassing greatness of the power to us who believe--when she came to Him for healing, here is the knowledge--that you may know what is the hope of His calling--here is the faith as she--declared in the presence of all the people the reason why she had touched Him.
Through her faith she has received. Her faith was her desire to see God and be seen by Him. For this Job cried out(Job30.26); for this Mses stuttered(Exodus 4.10); for this the Greeks sought Him(John 12.20); for this Paul was chosen(Acts 9.15); for this we receive by faith to enter His presence.
What we notice about the spiritual life is that it is the life of God in us. As Richard Hooker said, The cause of life spiritual in us is Christ, not carnally or corporally inhabiting, but dwelling in the soul of man. Normally we call that union with Christ. Yet, Jesus says--Where I am you cannot come. He may have been referring to the cross, certainly we cannot go there. But can we exert ourselves to be like Him?
To the Ephesians Paul writes about what was before time:
He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself according to the kind intention of His will to the praise of the glory of His grace--Eph. 1.4ff
Now all of that happened before the foundation of the world; there was no place, no act, no object to see. We cannot appropriate it in any way but to ask for the Holy Spirit. Our spiritual life begins when se start as we are, seeking a way to receive such glorious insight as told by Paul. We are not seeking a transaction, a rite, or a duty but a presence.
We ask--Who am I? We are chosen before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless
We ask--What is my purpose in life? We are to be adopted as sons and daughters through Christ
We ask--What does life mean? We are to the praise of the glory of his grace.
To comprehend that we were chosen; to comprehend gthat we were chosen by God before time and space; to comprehend that were were chosen before God--now this can be received by the Holy Spirit.
To believe that we are not vagrant souls adrift; to believe that we are adopted by God; to believe that we are sons and daughters through the Son of God--now this takes nothing less than faith. Yet faith is not a slight wishing, but the desire that the invisibility of God would withdraw like a wave falling from a slanted shore. In our desire to see God is God's desire to be known by us.
How do we bring such contemplation into our souls? Paul prays that--a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him...that you may know what is the hope of His calling in the saints and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe--Eph 1.17. Now that's a prayer. A spirit of wisdom and revelation. The knowledge of Him. The hope of His calling of us. All of these things Paul wishes us to comprehend through a--spirit of wisdom and revelation. Paul finishes the chapter by saying all of this is revealed in the church, Christ's body. We can imagine what it means that this happens in Christ's body by the thought that the revelation of Him is within Him. It is as if we were in a room of a church admiring the paintings on the walls. It is in Him that the revelation of Him comes, and through Him we see ourselves as His image.
Teh spiritual life is the act of receiving. An interesting passage is Luke 8.46-48. A woman touches Jesus--for I was aware that power had gone out of Me. The woman then, knowing she was known by Him, falls down before him. When the power went out of Him, here is the--surpassing greatness of the power to us who believe--when she came to Him for healing, here is the knowledge--that you may know what is the hope of His calling--here is the faith as she--declared in the presence of all the people the reason why she had touched Him.
Through her faith she has received. Her faith was her desire to see God and be seen by Him. For this Job cried out(Job30.26); for this Mses stuttered(Exodus 4.10); for this the Greeks sought Him(John 12.20); for this Paul was chosen(Acts 9.15); for this we receive by faith to enter His presence.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
INNERMOST GOD--2
To finish off our last blog, here in v.23-26 Jesus comes to the end of His prayer. In v.23 He reminds His disciples that He is in them, just as the Father is in the Son. This is the glory of the church. Then Jesus links them with the kingdom of God. He says--that they may be perfected in unity, that the world may know Thou did send Me and did love them even as Thou did love Me.
There are three thoughts here.
First, His followers are perfected in unity. We can remember Matthew 5.48--you are to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. Now we see this perfection is given by the sanctifying word of truth. But also notice the perfection is in unity.
The second thought is--that they world may know that Thou did send Me... This is the message of Matt. 28.19. It is the city set on a hill, to be salt and light to the world, that those who live in darkness may see a great light.
The third thought is--Thou did love them even as Thou did love Me.
The innermost EL of God is that He is love. The great commandment given to Moses was to love God. No one but Jesus would know that the Father loves the Son's followers just as He loves the Son.
Then in v.24 Jesus reveals His own heart, His own love. He says--I desire that they also whom Thou has given Me, be with Me where I am. Why is this the desire of the heart of Jesus--That they may behold My glory which Thou has given Me before the foundation of the world.. Paul will say to the Ephesians--He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.
How could His followers even stand before God in His glory--That the love wherewith Thou did love Me may be in them and I in them.
Pretty cool stuff.
There are three thoughts here.
First, His followers are perfected in unity. We can remember Matthew 5.48--you are to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. Now we see this perfection is given by the sanctifying word of truth. But also notice the perfection is in unity.
The second thought is--that they world may know that Thou did send Me... This is the message of Matt. 28.19. It is the city set on a hill, to be salt and light to the world, that those who live in darkness may see a great light.
The third thought is--Thou did love them even as Thou did love Me.
The innermost EL of God is that He is love. The great commandment given to Moses was to love God. No one but Jesus would know that the Father loves the Son's followers just as He loves the Son.
Then in v.24 Jesus reveals His own heart, His own love. He says--I desire that they also whom Thou has given Me, be with Me where I am. Why is this the desire of the heart of Jesus--That they may behold My glory which Thou has given Me before the foundation of the world.. Paul will say to the Ephesians--He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.
How could His followers even stand before God in His glory--That the love wherewith Thou did love Me may be in them and I in them.
Pretty cool stuff.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
THE INNERMOST GOD
Verses in John 17 are called the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus. Here we are in the enclosure of the Trinity. And yet these verses are about us.
The first 6 verses are addressed to all men, everywhere. The background of these verses is the truth that the Father has come down in the Son, John 5.19-20. These passages are culminated in 17.7,8. So Jesus begins His prayer with His Father.
First, He addresses His prayer to the whole world, 17.1-6. In v.2 Jesus prays--Thou gavest Him authority over all mankind that to all whom Thou has given Him, He may give eternal life. The words, all mankind, are pasns sarkos, all flesh. There is nothing in the words which would determine one meaning or another. We have to look at other passages such as John 6.37--All that the Father gives to Me shall come to Me. So to all men everywhere whom the Father has given to the Son, the Son gives eternal life.
Jesus then explains the qualification, whom the Father has given to the Son, by explaining eternal life. He says in v.3--And this is eternal life, that they may kow Thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom Thou has sent.
What is it to know Thee? It is knowing that the Father has sent the Son, and given to Him the authority to save. This is the great culmination of 3.16,17--God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world but that the world might be saved through Him. That eternal life comes from knowing the Father sent the Son.
Then in v.5 Jesus asks the Father to glorify Him with the glory which He had before the world began. This is the glory of the ascension after the resurrection. So when Jesus has been resurrected He has to say to Mary in John 20.17--Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. All of this is for the world to believe that Jesus will be resurrected from the dead. We live because He lives.
HIS OWN
But now in v.6-19 Jesus will speak about His own disciples. He says--I manifested Thy name to the men whom Thou gave Me out of the world. They were Thine and Thou gave them to Me and they have kept Thy word.
For the next 14 verses what Jesus will say will be for them, not for the world. These men were chosen by God. This is in John 6.65, Luke 6.13. What the world needed to understand in 5.26, the disciples know in v.7. Then Jesus elaborates on this in v.8--the words which Thou gave Me I have given to them and they received them and truly understand that I came forth from Thee and they believed that Thou did send Me.
These are stronger words than what Jesus had said before. He is taking us into the will of the Father. He is saying the Word of God which He was given--John 5.24--has now been given to the disciples. The verification of this are the NT letters penned by the disciples and Paul, 1 Peter 1.23-25.
In v.9 Jesus says He asks on behalf of the disciples, not the world. He is establishing the covenant relationship with those whom--Thou has given Me. He does so in order to bring force to what He then says in v.10--all things that are Mine are Thine. This is the same as 16.15 when Jesus says He will disclose all things to His disciples.
Then in v.11,12 Jesus asks the Father to keep His disciples in--Thy name. What this means is explained by two phrases--that they may be one even as We are one...I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
He says in v.13--But now I come to Thee and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy made full in themselves. Jesus is speaking personally to His men that His joy is now given to them. He has said they are to be one, they are to receive His word, and they are to have His joy. What was given to the disciples, they will give to believers everywhere, John 15.11, 16.14. Jesus had said in 16.13 that the Spirit of God will guide the disciples as to what 'these things' means, and this is true for the church.
Now in v.14 Jesus finishes the thought of what the disciples are given. He says--I have given them Thy word. Jesus says the world will hate the disciples but the Word which He gives will sanctify them, 17.17, 19. When we think of--sanctify--we might think of the word, cleanse. In 17.19 Jesus will sanctify Himself so that when His disciples depend on His word, they will know His word is pure.
Here Jesus enhances His prayer for His men. He prays the Father will protect His disciples from the evil one. His disciples will not be removed from danger, they will be sanctified, set apart for the use of the Father only. Jesus is praying that the glory of God will be given from the Father to the Son, and from the Son to the disciples--that they may be one just as We are one.
PART 2 NEXT WEEK
The first 6 verses are addressed to all men, everywhere. The background of these verses is the truth that the Father has come down in the Son, John 5.19-20. These passages are culminated in 17.7,8. So Jesus begins His prayer with His Father.
First, He addresses His prayer to the whole world, 17.1-6. In v.2 Jesus prays--Thou gavest Him authority over all mankind that to all whom Thou has given Him, He may give eternal life. The words, all mankind, are pasns sarkos, all flesh. There is nothing in the words which would determine one meaning or another. We have to look at other passages such as John 6.37--All that the Father gives to Me shall come to Me. So to all men everywhere whom the Father has given to the Son, the Son gives eternal life.
Jesus then explains the qualification, whom the Father has given to the Son, by explaining eternal life. He says in v.3--And this is eternal life, that they may kow Thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom Thou has sent.
What is it to know Thee? It is knowing that the Father has sent the Son, and given to Him the authority to save. This is the great culmination of 3.16,17--God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world but that the world might be saved through Him. That eternal life comes from knowing the Father sent the Son.
Then in v.5 Jesus asks the Father to glorify Him with the glory which He had before the world began. This is the glory of the ascension after the resurrection. So when Jesus has been resurrected He has to say to Mary in John 20.17--Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. All of this is for the world to believe that Jesus will be resurrected from the dead. We live because He lives.
HIS OWN
But now in v.6-19 Jesus will speak about His own disciples. He says--I manifested Thy name to the men whom Thou gave Me out of the world. They were Thine and Thou gave them to Me and they have kept Thy word.
For the next 14 verses what Jesus will say will be for them, not for the world. These men were chosen by God. This is in John 6.65, Luke 6.13. What the world needed to understand in 5.26, the disciples know in v.7. Then Jesus elaborates on this in v.8--the words which Thou gave Me I have given to them and they received them and truly understand that I came forth from Thee and they believed that Thou did send Me.
These are stronger words than what Jesus had said before. He is taking us into the will of the Father. He is saying the Word of God which He was given--John 5.24--has now been given to the disciples. The verification of this are the NT letters penned by the disciples and Paul, 1 Peter 1.23-25.
In v.9 Jesus says He asks on behalf of the disciples, not the world. He is establishing the covenant relationship with those whom--Thou has given Me. He does so in order to bring force to what He then says in v.10--all things that are Mine are Thine. This is the same as 16.15 when Jesus says He will disclose all things to His disciples.
Then in v.11,12 Jesus asks the Father to keep His disciples in--Thy name. What this means is explained by two phrases--that they may be one even as We are one...I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
He says in v.13--But now I come to Thee and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy made full in themselves. Jesus is speaking personally to His men that His joy is now given to them. He has said they are to be one, they are to receive His word, and they are to have His joy. What was given to the disciples, they will give to believers everywhere, John 15.11, 16.14. Jesus had said in 16.13 that the Spirit of God will guide the disciples as to what 'these things' means, and this is true for the church.
Now in v.14 Jesus finishes the thought of what the disciples are given. He says--I have given them Thy word. Jesus says the world will hate the disciples but the Word which He gives will sanctify them, 17.17, 19. When we think of--sanctify--we might think of the word, cleanse. In 17.19 Jesus will sanctify Himself so that when His disciples depend on His word, they will know His word is pure.
Here Jesus enhances His prayer for His men. He prays the Father will protect His disciples from the evil one. His disciples will not be removed from danger, they will be sanctified, set apart for the use of the Father only. Jesus is praying that the glory of God will be given from the Father to the Son, and from the Son to the disciples--that they may be one just as We are one.
PART 2 NEXT WEEK
Monday, November 14, 2011
WRITING IN THE DIRT
John 8 is as well-known a passage as it is disputed. It is not in the oldest manuscripts, yet it has stood the test of time. Several themes weave through it, so that it is included in most translations. It provides a great viewpoint on the Law and the new covenant.
It begins in 8.1 where Jesus goes to the Mount of Olives, where He often prayed. He spent the night there. His frequent practice was to pray in the night, so He may have done so here. Early the next morning He comes back to Jerusalem, toward the temple followed by a crowd to hear Him teach.
At the temple, the scribes and Pharisees are dragging a woman caught in adultery out to a dirt space on the temple grounds. They bring her to Jesus saying, Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act, 8.4. They remind Jesus the Law says punishment for adultery is stoning, What do you say? They were testing Him.
John uses three words meaning, 'going down'--
katw--from kuptw, to bend down
kategraphen--to write down
Jesus is going down and down to write on the ground, He is going down to her level as an adulterer. But then in the next verse He uses the prefix for 'up', ana--
anekupsen--stand up
anamarthtos--without sin
Now He stands up, saying--The one who iswithout sin throw the first stone, 8.7. Here He takes the scribes and Pharisees back to Deuteronomy17.5, 7 where God gave Israel permission to stone the one caught in adultery. But notice 17.7 which says, The hand of witnesses shall be first against him. That God sanctioned stoning to purge Israel of the sin of adultery meant the witness and the peoplewho stoned the adulterer were not guilty of murder,they were obeying God.
But that was the old covenant with God; here when Jesus says, The one who is without sin..He is saying they cannot stone her without committing sin. Jesus is accusing them of playing God, Matt. 7.5. He may be intimatig they have committed sin with her, which is how they are witnesses, Matt. 23.27. That may explain what He wrote, Gen. 38.20-23.
As they cannot stone her without sinning themselves, right there they leave, one by one. Now Jesus is left with the woman. John returns to a word using kata, or 'going down. again--
kateleiphthn--left alone
but then He immediately uses in 8.10 the prefix, ana, meaning 'go up'--
anakupsas--he stood up
Jesus has gone down and down to her level,writing in the sand. She is dust and to dust she will return, if Jesus had not stooped down to save her from stoning. Now He lifts her up. He stands first so that she can, since He is, the first born of many brethren, Romans 8.29.
We can notice these two words, kata and ana. Katw is used in 8.6 to mean stoop down, but it is also used in Matt. 27.5 at the time when Jesus died. The veil of the temple is torn from 'top to bottom'--anwthen ews katw. Here in John 8 Jesus pulls the curtain open for the woman to see Jesus as God, as He has not come to condemn her but to save her.
The next day Jesus returns. Now in the temple, He sits down to teach. In John 8.23 Jesus uses both words, katw and ana when He says,
You are from below (katw) I am from above (anw), you are of this world, I am not of this world.
When Jesus came to be baptized by John, who said, Behold the Lamb of God, John said, I have beheld the Spirit descending (katabainon) as a dove, John 1.32.
In John 1.51 Jesus is calling His disciples. Philip calls Nathaniel to come to Jesus. When he does, Nathaniel witnesses to Jesus standing there by saying, You are the Son of God, you are the king of Israel. It's a pretty amazing thing to say upon seeing someone for the first time. So Jesus says to Nathaniel, You shall see the heavens opened up and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.
The word 'ascending' is anabainontes,the word descending is katabainontes. Here we have our two prefixes,ana and katw. In Genesis 28.11 Jacob has a dream in which he sees, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven,with the angels ascending and descending on it. The place where this happened is called in Hebrew, the place, and Jacob translated into Greek is Jesus.
In John 6.51 when the disciples cannot accept what Jesus said about Himself as bread and wine, He says, Does this cause you to stumble? What then if you behold the Son of Manascending where He was before?
Evidently when someone believes that Jesus is sent from the Father to redeem men and women, they are given a glimpse of the heavenly relationship of Son to Father. The invisibility of God is peeled back so that Jacob and Nathaniel could see the ascending and descending. That Jesus descended so that we might ascend is revealed to Paul, for him to write in Ephesians 2.6 that, we were raised up with Him and seated in the heavenly places in Christ.
It begins in 8.1 where Jesus goes to the Mount of Olives, where He often prayed. He spent the night there. His frequent practice was to pray in the night, so He may have done so here. Early the next morning He comes back to Jerusalem, toward the temple followed by a crowd to hear Him teach.
At the temple, the scribes and Pharisees are dragging a woman caught in adultery out to a dirt space on the temple grounds. They bring her to Jesus saying, Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act, 8.4. They remind Jesus the Law says punishment for adultery is stoning, What do you say? They were testing Him.
John uses three words meaning, 'going down'--
katw--from kuptw, to bend down
kategraphen--to write down
Jesus is going down and down to write on the ground, He is going down to her level as an adulterer. But then in the next verse He uses the prefix for 'up', ana--
anekupsen--stand up
anamarthtos--without sin
Now He stands up, saying--The one who iswithout sin throw the first stone, 8.7. Here He takes the scribes and Pharisees back to Deuteronomy17.5, 7 where God gave Israel permission to stone the one caught in adultery. But notice 17.7 which says, The hand of witnesses shall be first against him. That God sanctioned stoning to purge Israel of the sin of adultery meant the witness and the peoplewho stoned the adulterer were not guilty of murder,they were obeying God.
But that was the old covenant with God; here when Jesus says, The one who is without sin..He is saying they cannot stone her without committing sin. Jesus is accusing them of playing God, Matt. 7.5. He may be intimatig they have committed sin with her, which is how they are witnesses, Matt. 23.27. That may explain what He wrote, Gen. 38.20-23.
As they cannot stone her without sinning themselves, right there they leave, one by one. Now Jesus is left with the woman. John returns to a word using kata, or 'going down. again--
kateleiphthn--left alone
but then He immediately uses in 8.10 the prefix, ana, meaning 'go up'--
anakupsas--he stood up
Jesus has gone down and down to her level,writing in the sand. She is dust and to dust she will return, if Jesus had not stooped down to save her from stoning. Now He lifts her up. He stands first so that she can, since He is, the first born of many brethren, Romans 8.29.
We can notice these two words, kata and ana. Katw is used in 8.6 to mean stoop down, but it is also used in Matt. 27.5 at the time when Jesus died. The veil of the temple is torn from 'top to bottom'--anwthen ews katw. Here in John 8 Jesus pulls the curtain open for the woman to see Jesus as God, as He has not come to condemn her but to save her.
The next day Jesus returns. Now in the temple, He sits down to teach. In John 8.23 Jesus uses both words, katw and ana when He says,
You are from below (katw) I am from above (anw), you are of this world, I am not of this world.
When Jesus came to be baptized by John, who said, Behold the Lamb of God, John said, I have beheld the Spirit descending (katabainon) as a dove, John 1.32.
In John 1.51 Jesus is calling His disciples. Philip calls Nathaniel to come to Jesus. When he does, Nathaniel witnesses to Jesus standing there by saying, You are the Son of God, you are the king of Israel. It's a pretty amazing thing to say upon seeing someone for the first time. So Jesus says to Nathaniel, You shall see the heavens opened up and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.
The word 'ascending' is anabainontes,the word descending is katabainontes. Here we have our two prefixes,ana and katw. In Genesis 28.11 Jacob has a dream in which he sees, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven,with the angels ascending and descending on it. The place where this happened is called in Hebrew, the place, and Jacob translated into Greek is Jesus.
In John 6.51 when the disciples cannot accept what Jesus said about Himself as bread and wine, He says, Does this cause you to stumble? What then if you behold the Son of Manascending where He was before?
Evidently when someone believes that Jesus is sent from the Father to redeem men and women, they are given a glimpse of the heavenly relationship of Son to Father. The invisibility of God is peeled back so that Jacob and Nathaniel could see the ascending and descending. That Jesus descended so that we might ascend is revealed to Paul, for him to write in Ephesians 2.6 that, we were raised up with Him and seated in the heavenly places in Christ.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
SEEING THROUGH
In John 14.1-24 Jesus is speaking to His own disciples about Himself and His Father. It is a special relationship. Finally Philip says in 14.8, Lord show us the Father and it will be enough for us. A bit exasperated, Jesus says, Have I been so long with you and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father.
Jesus is asking Philip to see through Himself to the Father. Jesus had said,
He who sent Me is true and the things which I have heard from Him, these I speak to the world--John 8.26
Then there are other passages: John 8.28, 10.14
In these passages Jesus is showing the Father to His disciples through His words. He is giving them glimpses of the enclosure of the Trinity, Father and Son and Holy Spirit. In John 17.1 Jesus will give an even more intimate glimpse of His love for the Father and the Father's love for the Son:
The Wise Men see Jesus, they call Him King of Israel, Matt.2.2. They're looking at an infant in a manger but by the power of the spirit of prophecy they see a king like David. When Joseph and Mary bring the baby Jesus to the temple in Luke 2, Simeon looks at the child and says: For my eyes have seen Thy salvation which Thou has prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light of revelation unto the Gentiles and the glory of Thy people Israel.
Simon and Andrew were fishing when Jesus sees in them that they will be fishers of men, Matt. 4.19. In John 1.47 Jesus sees Nathaniel saying, Behold an Israelite in whom there is no guile. Nathaniel looks at Jesus, seeing through Him to say, Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel, John 1.49. Jesus had said of His own cousin, John the Baptist: ..and if you accept it, he himself is Elijah who was to come--Matt. 11.14
But not everyone sees through Jesus to God. At the time Jesus comes to the temple as a young boy, Mary and Joseph do not realize He must be about His Father's business. What they saw was their own boy, away from them in Jerusalem for three days. After Jesus heals a blind man in Luke 9, the blind man knows Jesus is a prophet, 9.17. The Pharisees, upon questioning the blind man says Jesus cannot be from God because He healed the blind man on the Sabbath, 9.16. Some there say Jesus is no more than a sinner. The blind man knows and can see Jesus, the Pharisees turn away as they do not see Jesus as the Son of God. After the religious leaders reject the man's claim that Jesus restored his sight, Jesus finds the man a second time. He ask the formerly blind man, Do you believer in the Son of Man? The man said, Lord I believe.
This brings us up against Nicodemus in John 3. As a pharisee Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night, when no one else will see he is there. He knows certain things about Jesus, as everyone around Jerusalem did. He says that God must be with Him. Jesus then answers as if Nicodemus had asked for sight: ..unless one is born anew he cannot see the kingdom of God. Jesus had come preaching the kingdom of God. As seeing is from some distance, Nicodemus is out of the kingdom. Jesus then says concerning stepping int the kingdom, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
To be born from above (anwthev) means to believe in the One who came down from heaven. Jesus will say this in John 3.13,15. Whoever believes in Him will inherit eternal life, John 3.16. Nicodemus will have to see as everyone has to see that Jesus came down from heaven, that the world should be saved through Him.
How does Nicodemus go from darkness to seeing? Jesus says, Everyone who practices the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God. This expression, having been wrought in God, brings us to two verses. One is that being born anew is all of God--He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, Eph. 1.4. This is the work of God; our work is 1 John 2.3, And by this we know that we have come to know Hm, if we keep His commandments, and 1 John 2.5, whoever keeps His word in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him. It is by the love of God that God will see us.
How do we experience this seeing through? Mother Teresa said she sees Jesus in everyone. That is a simple statement with much in it. To do this we must forgive, we must receive the Holy Spirit for the power to see, we must humble ourselves as if we were in the presence of God--God seeing us.
Jesus is asking Philip to see through Himself to the Father. Jesus had said,
I am He who bears witness to Himself and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me--John 8.18
..if you knew Me you would know My Father--John 8.19He who sent Me is true and the things which I have heard from Him, these I speak to the world--John 8.26
Then there are other passages: John 8.28, 10.14
In these passages Jesus is showing the Father to His disciples through His words. He is giving them glimpses of the enclosure of the Trinity, Father and Son and Holy Spirit. In John 17.1 Jesus will give an even more intimate glimpse of His love for the Father and the Father's love for the Son:
Father..glorify Thy Son that the Son may glorify Thee, even as Thou gavest Him authority over all mankind, that to all Thou has given Him, He may give them eternal life.
So we see that the glory the Father gave to the Son, He now has given to us. God sent Jesus to us that we might come to the Father through the Son. This is the seeing through by the Holy Spirit which is given to us. It is a gift which comes with eternal life. One might say that eternal life enables us to see God just as the pure in heart see God, Matt. 5.8.The Wise Men see Jesus, they call Him King of Israel, Matt.2.2. They're looking at an infant in a manger but by the power of the spirit of prophecy they see a king like David. When Joseph and Mary bring the baby Jesus to the temple in Luke 2, Simeon looks at the child and says: For my eyes have seen Thy salvation which Thou has prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light of revelation unto the Gentiles and the glory of Thy people Israel.
Simon and Andrew were fishing when Jesus sees in them that they will be fishers of men, Matt. 4.19. In John 1.47 Jesus sees Nathaniel saying, Behold an Israelite in whom there is no guile. Nathaniel looks at Jesus, seeing through Him to say, Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel, John 1.49. Jesus had said of His own cousin, John the Baptist: ..and if you accept it, he himself is Elijah who was to come--Matt. 11.14
But not everyone sees through Jesus to God. At the time Jesus comes to the temple as a young boy, Mary and Joseph do not realize He must be about His Father's business. What they saw was their own boy, away from them in Jerusalem for three days. After Jesus heals a blind man in Luke 9, the blind man knows Jesus is a prophet, 9.17. The Pharisees, upon questioning the blind man says Jesus cannot be from God because He healed the blind man on the Sabbath, 9.16. Some there say Jesus is no more than a sinner. The blind man knows and can see Jesus, the Pharisees turn away as they do not see Jesus as the Son of God. After the religious leaders reject the man's claim that Jesus restored his sight, Jesus finds the man a second time. He ask the formerly blind man, Do you believer in the Son of Man? The man said, Lord I believe.
This brings us up against Nicodemus in John 3. As a pharisee Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night, when no one else will see he is there. He knows certain things about Jesus, as everyone around Jerusalem did. He says that God must be with Him. Jesus then answers as if Nicodemus had asked for sight: ..unless one is born anew he cannot see the kingdom of God. Jesus had come preaching the kingdom of God. As seeing is from some distance, Nicodemus is out of the kingdom. Jesus then says concerning stepping int the kingdom, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
To be born from above (anwthev) means to believe in the One who came down from heaven. Jesus will say this in John 3.13,15. Whoever believes in Him will inherit eternal life, John 3.16. Nicodemus will have to see as everyone has to see that Jesus came down from heaven, that the world should be saved through Him.
How does Nicodemus go from darkness to seeing? Jesus says, Everyone who practices the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God. This expression, having been wrought in God, brings us to two verses. One is that being born anew is all of God--He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, Eph. 1.4. This is the work of God; our work is 1 John 2.3, And by this we know that we have come to know Hm, if we keep His commandments, and 1 John 2.5, whoever keeps His word in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him. It is by the love of God that God will see us.
How do we experience this seeing through? Mother Teresa said she sees Jesus in everyone. That is a simple statement with much in it. To do this we must forgive, we must receive the Holy Spirit for the power to see, we must humble ourselves as if we were in the presence of God--God seeing us.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)