John chose to highlight particular signs or miracles to help us believe that Jesus is who He says He is, and find life in His name and no other. One of the miracles is the event of the multiplication of loaves and fish in John 6.
Continue readingJohn’s gospel has a stated purpose: “these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31). In this fourth sign, Jesus reaches out to a man who had an infirmity in the legs for 38 years. What can we gather from this sign to lead us to a fuller understanding of the Son and find reasons to plant our faith in Him?
Continue readingThis is Jesus’ second sign He did in Galilee (John 4:54), though He had performed other miracles (John 2:23) after the first sign performed in Cana of Galilee. This second sign was that of a boy who was close to death (John 4:47) healed merely by a spoken word from afar (John 4:50). The event was brief; the lessons plentiful.
Continue readingJesus disrupted the Jews’ lucrative commerce system in the outer court of the temple, which had been disturbing the worship of the godly non-Jews there (John 2:15-16). For this action, the Jews asked for a sign, for verification from God for His authority to do what He did (John 2:18). Jesus’ response was, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). John helpfully clarifies: “But He was speaking of the temple of His body” (John 2:21). Jesus and His union with the Father through the Spirit was the sign.
Continue readingThis is the first article of a series focusing on the seven signs in the Gospel of John. It’s not often that a book states a purpose, but John’s gospel does: “these [accounts of miracles] are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:30). John highlighted seven miracles to help us see that knowing Jesus Christ as the Son of God will bring about a spiritual life known only to those who have put their trust in Him. We can certainly affirm with doctrinal correctness that Jesus is the Son of God, but it isn’t the same as Jesus revealing Himself to us in such as way that we place our faith in Him as the Son.
The Gospel of John is unique among the gospels in that the Father plays a major role. In John’s gospel, we get a better sense of who Jesus is to the Father, of the relationship and communion of the Father and the Son. When we grasp this relationship and believe in Him with this understanding, then we will be oriented toward Christ in a deeper way, a life-affirming way. An abiding communion with the Father and the Son should heavily define the Christian life, which John’s first epistle covers in more detail.
Continue reading“Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father” (1 John 2:24). We need three facts about Jesus to “abide,” or make its home in us, so we can progress in our faith and grasp of the Word. Jesus is God. Jesus is Savior. Jesus is Lord. These are facts we received when we heard and believed the gospel of salvation “from the beginning” of our faith journey. If these facts are not settled in you, then you will have doubts and fears and anxieties. How can we read the Bible with hope and progress with those feelings holding us back?
Continue readingWhen we consider the Our Father prayer (Matthew 6:9-13) from the standpoint of God’s promise to Abraham, “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3), it adds a new dimension to this prayer. This prayer furthers a vision that the Lord has today, to bless all nations.
Continue readingIn his brief letter, positioned just before the last book of the Bible, Jude writes a lot about apostates (those who fall away from the Lord Jesus) in the past (vv. 4-11) and in the present (vv. 12-16). Jude writes of “ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness…” (v. 4). These ungodly people mischaracterized God’s grace as approval for doing immoral things. There are many ways we can be drawn away from the Lord. In this epistle, Jude focuses on straying because of listening to misleading ministers.
Jude gives us a four-dosage prescription (vv. 20-21) to keep our spiritual lives healthy and strong, so that we may not be led astray and meet the same doom as the errant instructors.
“Christ died for my sins on the cross.” These words roll off our lips with ease. Did you ever think about what salvation means, and how extensive it really is? I want to introduce four long Bible words that are packed with meaning, and that help us appreciate more powerfully what Christ accomplished when He died on the cross. Most of this material comes from the book, The Cross of Christ, by John R. Stott.
Continue readingIn the Old Testament through Isaiah the prophet, the Lord had given a sign to king Ahaz, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (Matthew 1:23, referencing Isaiah 7:14). Immanuel means “God with us.”
Hundreds of years later, an angel visited Joseph and told him that Mary, his betrothed, “will bear a son, and you shall call his name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). Jesus means “God Saves.”
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