Thoughts from 1st chapter of John

The revelation of God's glory is an important theme in the gospel. Jesus revealed God's glory in his person, his works, and his words. John recorded seven wonderful signs (miracles) that openly declared the glory of God (2:11)

• The glory of the old covenant of law was a fading glory, but the glory of the new covenant in Christ is an increasing glory (2 Cor 3)
• The law could reveal sin, but it could never remove sin,.
• Jesus Christ came with the fullness of grace and truth, and this fullness is available to all who will trust him (John 1:16)

The word 'Son' is used for the first time in John's gospel as a title for Jesus Christ. He is the 'one and only' - Jesus is unique, the only of of his kind. Some translations have 'only begotten' which as caused some confusion. It does not suggest that there was a time when the Son was not, before the Father brought him into being., Jesus Christ is eternal God, he has always existed.



Jesus Christ has fullness of grace and truth.
Grace is god's favor and kindness bestowed on those who do not deserve it and cannot earn it.
If God dealt with us only according to truth, none of us would survive, but he deals with us on the basis of grace and truth.
Jesus Christ, in his life, and death, and resurrection, met all the demands of the law; now God is free to share fullness of grace with those who trust Jesus Christ. Grace without truth would be deceitful, and truth without grace would be condemning.

Thoughts from John Gospel first chapter

John Chapter 1: verse 5 "the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it."

Light and darkness are recurring themes in John's gospel.

• God is light (1 John 1:5) where as
• Satan is the 'power of darkness' (Luke 22:53)

People love either the light or the darkness, and this love controls their actions as given in I John 3:16-19.
Those who believe on Christ Jesus are the 'Children of the light (John 12:35-36). Just as the first creation began with 'Let there be light' so the new creation began with the entrance of light into the heart of the believer (2 Cor 4:3-6).
The coming of Jesus Christ into the world was dawning of a new day for sinful man (Luke 1:78-79)

John Chapter 1: Verse 10 "He came into the very world he created, but the world didn't recognize him."

• Why did the world reject Jesus Christ? 
• Because they 'didn't recognize him'.

They were spiritually ignorant. Jesus is the 'true light (v 9)
the original of which every other light is a copy - but the Jews were content with the copies.
They had Moses and the law, the Temple and the sacrifices, but they did not comprehend that these lights pointed to the true light who was the fulfillment, the completion of the Old Testament religion.

John Chapter 1: Verse 12 and 13 
But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. 
They are reborn - not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but with a birth that comes from God. 

Whenever Jesus taught a spiritual truth, his listeners interpreted it in a material or physical way. The light was unable to penetrate the darkness in their minds. This was true when he spoke about

• the temple of his body (2:19-21) 
• the new birth (3:4)
• the living water (4:11)
• eating his flesh (6:51)
• spiritual freedom (8:31-36)
• death as sleep (11:11-13)
• and many other spiritual truths. 

Satan strives to keep people in darkness, because darkness means death and hell, while light means life and heaven!!!

Story from 2 Kings chapter 3

This incident happened during the time of Israel and Judah. Ahab's son, Joram began to rule over Israel, and King Jehoshaphat ruled over Judah. One day, the king of Moab rebelled against Joram and he went to war with the nation of Israel. King Joram asked Jehoshaphat's help, as these two kings marched towards the nation of Moab, the king of Edom also joined them.

The three kings of the nations of Israel, Judah and Edom were marching against the fortified cities of Moab. As they went along, they had to take a longer route and after walking for 7 days, they emptied all their supplies, especially water. They had no water to drink, they and their animals were very thirsty. They now wanted to inquire of the Lord, suddenly, they remembered that Elisha, the prophet belongs to that part of the nation. The three kings go to the prophet and ask him for a sign...

Elisha, out of respect for the king Jehoshaphat, foretells the future to the three kings. He invites a person to play a harp, and as the harp was being played, he prophesied about Moab.

The exact story is mentioned in 2 Kings chapter 3: 1-27. The prophet Elisha tells that the Lord will do two miracles:
1. The valley what they see after Edom will be filled with water, but there will be no rain or wind...
2. The moabites will be utterly defeated.

Both these instances looked impossible for the three kings, but they had to put their trust in the Lord's doing. They had no other chance.

They returned to their tents; and the next morning, the first miracle started taking place.
Water came from  nowhere and started filling the valley of Edom. It was indeed surprising for all of them to see that without rain and wind, the water just filled the valley of Edom.

As this was happening on one side, the Moabites rose up early in the morning and watched the water and the sun rays sparkling over the waters. As per their knowledge, there was no water the night before and no rain or wind happened in the night, so there is no chance of water logging in the valley of Edom.

They thought among themselves that the three kings of Israel, Judah and Edom fought against each other and it is the blood of the army of these three kings. Assuming such a turn of events, they ran to see it with their own eyes, without taking any arms or horses along with them.

This was the right opportunity for the three kings, they slaughtered the Moabites and won victory over the enemy. The credit belongs to the Lord who performed a miracle and gave the three kings victory.

From this event, we can learn that 'nothing is impossible with God.'

He who created the heavens and the earth with his word, can create anything. All creation listens and obeys to His command. It is only us that are disobedient to His will.

We need to focus on God and His word and place our faith in Him.

Flowing against the current

Sparkling as it crashes against boulders along its banks, the river swiftly cascades toward the sea. The current grabs, pushes, and tugs at leaves and logs, carrying them along for the ride.
Here and there a sportsman is spotted in a kayak or a canoe, going with the flow. Gravity pulls the water, and the river pulls the rest.... downward.

Suddenly, a silver missile breaks the surface and darts upstream, and then another. Oblivious to the swirling opposition, the shining salmon swim against the stream. They must go upstream, and nothing will stop them from reaching their destination.

The current of society's river is flowing fast and furious, pulling downward everything in its way. It would be easy to float along with the current. But God calls us to swim against the flow. It will not be easy and we may be along, but it will be the right thing to do.

We need to be cautious not to flow with the current, but be strong and go upstream. Remember, only dead fish flow with the current. Anything, that has life, will go against the current!!!

Miracle in Mark - our reaction

In the book of Mark, 2nd chapter, this event is recorded.

It starts like this "Several days later, Jesus returned to Capernaum, and the news of his arrival spread quickly through the city. Soon the house where he was staying was so paced with visitors that there wasn't room for a single person more, not even outside the door. And Jesus preached the Word to them. Four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a stretcher. They couldn't get to Jesus through the crowd, so they dug through the clay roof above his head and lowered the sick man on his stretcher, right down in front of Jesus.
When Jesus saw how strongly they believed that he would help, he said to the sick man, "Son, your sins are forgiven." ... .and this goes on and Jesus heals the paralyzed man and he goes home walking.

In this passage, I would like to highlight one point, though there might be several important points, for this blog post, I'd like to post only one thought.

The men were deeply concerned about their friend and wanted to see him helped. They had the faith to believe that Jesus could and would meet his need. They did not simply 'pray about it', but they put some feet to their prayers and they did not permit the difficult circumstances to discourage them. they worked together and dared to do something different, and Jesus rewarded their efforts.  How easy it would have been for them to say, "Well, there is no sense trying to get to Jesus today?" Maybe we can come back sometime tomorrow.". But they persisted and their faith also stood the test.

When we recognize someone's need, do we act?
Many people have physical and spiritual needs we can meet, either  by ourselves or with others who are also concerned.
Human need moved these four men, let it also move you to compassionate action.

Meaning of the name JESUS

Jesus means 'Savior'. Jesus came to earth to save us because we cannot save ourselves from sin's consequences. No matter how good we are, we can't eliminate the sinful nature present in all of us. Only Jesus can do that.
Jesus didn't come to help people save themselves; he came to be their savior from the power and penalty of sin.
Thank Jesus for his death on the cross for your sin, and then ask him to take control of your life.
Your new life begins the moment you do that.

Temptation of Jesus

Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness. Three specific parts of the temptation are listed by Matthew in chapter 4: 1-10. They are familiar because we face the same kinds of temptations. Temptation is often the combination of a real need and a possible doubt that create an inappropriate desire. Jesus demonstrates both the importance and effectiveness of knowing and applying Scripture to combat temptation.

We need to remember that Jesus wasn't tempted in the Temple or at his baptism, but in the wilderness, where he was tired, alone and hungry, and thus most vulnerable. Satan often tempts us when we are vulnerable - when we are tired, lonely, weighing big decisions, or faced with uncertainty. But Satan also likes to tempt  us through our strengths where we are susceptible to pride. We must be on guard at all times against his attacks.
 

Jesus was hungry and weak after fasting for 40 days, but he chose to to use his divine power to satisfy his natural desire for food. Food, hunger and eating are good, but the timing was wrong. He had given up the unlimited, independent use of his divine power in order to fully experience humanity.
We also may be tempted to satisfy a perfectly normal desire in a wrong way or at the wrong time. If we indulge in sex before marriage or if we steal to get food, we are trying to satisfy God-given desire in ways God disapproves. We need to remember that many of our desires are normal and good, but they must be satisfied in the right way at the right time.