43rd Post Jesus Relationship with His Father Con't.

John 14: 9 - 11. This passage takes place late in Jesus earthly ministry, Jesus is talking to Philip and Philip asks to see the Father. To understand why Jesus seems to be troubled with Philip's request to see the Father you need to remember how Philip became a disciple, you will find that story John 1: 43. Philip is with Nathanael when Jesus called him. Nathanael says nothing good comes out of Nazareth, to which Philip says "come and see". Jesus had told the people over and over again that "If you have seen Me you have seen the Father". Now late in Jesus' ministry one of His own asks to see the Father. Jesus expected this from the people, but not one of His Own Followers. Jesus corrects Philip gently, by reminding him that Jesus has been teaching "I and the Father are one". If the Father were not in me I could not do the works you have been watching me do all this time. If you do not believe in Me at least believe the works that you have seen as a sign that I am who I say I am. If you are a new believer, or still trying to make up your mind, understand that the disciples were not completely on board with His teaching until Pentecost. The transformation started for many of them after the events of Easter Sunday. We are still very early in this book so have a lot of material to cover before we teach on Jesus' Passion and Resurrection. If you are looking for the truth, the truth is in the Bible continue to read it. If this blog helps you to understand, then keep reading it as well.

42nd Post Jesus Relationship with His Father - Con't

We will be discussing two passages in this post; John 10: 30, and John 14: 7.
John 10:30 says: "I and the Father are one." This was spoken toward the middle of His ministry, you notice that Jesus is still reminding the people that He (Jesus) and the Father (God) are one. Meaning that they both think the same way on everything. In order to grasp what was going on in Jesus mind in Gethsemane (posts 36 & 37), you need to remember this. Jesus supposed reluctance to drink the cup was not in disobedience to His Father, but just as the Father hated sin so did the Son. Jesus. The Father told the Son that He must drink the cup of wrath and sin in order for His earthly body to become sin for us. Jesus knew this was the only way He could save us so He became sin on our account in order to pay the price we needed to pay because the sin was ours. This occurred during the three hours Jesus was on the cross, from noon to three when the earth turned black or dark as night. God the Father DID NOT LEAVE JESUS DURING THIS TIME,
He (the Father) turned His back on Jesus, because He could not look at sin.(2 Corinthians 5: 21).

John 14: 7 talks about Jesus saying to the people, you rejected Me and in doing so rejected the Father who sent Me. He goes on to say that all you will know about the Father will be shown by Me. Look at Me and the way I live My life to get to know the ways of the Father.

41st Post Holy Week - Comments

We will NOT have class next Sunday because of Easter, spend that day after church with your family. We will re-connect with you the following Sunday. Continue to check the blog this week as I am still behind on posting what we have already covered. Hopefully I will get caught up this week.

Yesterday was Palm Sunday, if you do not know the significance of this day or why it is different from all other Sundays keep reading. Palm Sunday happened a week after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. This Lazarus is not the Lazarus in the parable of "The Rich Man and Lazarus", Lazarus in the parable was poor and sick. This Lazarus was rich and living in Bethany a short distance from Jerusalem. This is very close to the end of Jesus' earthly ministry, the Sadducees and the Pharisees both wanted to kill Jesus. Right after Jesus raised Lazarus, He (Jesus) left Jerusalem and went into Trans-Jordan to escape the plots to kill Him. I will go into more detail regarding this when we cover this in our lesson. This is just a brief explanation of what happened. Palm Sunday was foretold by Daniel in his book in the later part of chapter 9. Daniel said that He would come into Jerusalem and present Himself at the Temple and that they would reject Him and He would leave. Jesus left through the Golden Gate. Jesus ride through Jerusalem on a donkey fulfilled Old Testament prophecy. On Good Friday during your quiet time read Psalms 22, 23 & 24, and the words from the cross. Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34; Luke 23:34; Luke 23: 46; John 19: 26; John 19: 27; John 19:28; and John 19: 30.

40th Post Jesus Relationship with His Father Con't - John 8: 54- 55.

In this passage Jesus is still explaining that He is honoring His Father by doing His will. Jesus keeps telling the people that He (Jesus) has been sent from the Father (God) and He (Jesus) knows Him (God). You don't know Him (God); if you did you would recognize Me as being from Him (God). Jesus says "It is My Father who honors Me." Jesus is reminding them that when He (Jesus) performs a miracle, God the Father is allowing Him to do it. It is interesting that the people for the most part, do not think Jesus is telling them the truth. They come to listen for whatever reason, but don't really take what Jesus is saying seriously. Are you in that group? All roads lead to the Cross, we have not yet in this study followed Jesus to the cross. At some point in your life, you will have to make a decision of where you stand about Jesus. Is Jesus the Son of God? Or is He a liar. No one can answer that question for you but you. You need to do business with God at some point and before you die. If you die and have not accepted Jesus as your Savior, then you will spend eternity away from God. That is the choice.

39th Post Jesus Relationship to His Father Con't - John 8:28-29

John 8: 28 -29, this passage deals with Jesus preparing his followers for His up coming suffering and death. The phrase lifted up has several meanings. It has a clear reference to the Old Testament where Moses lifted up a bronze image of a serpent on a pole in the wilderness (Numbers 21: 4 - 9.) In the Old Testament passage, God had Moses make a bronze image of a serpent, something they hated and they had to look to it for life. Now God again in the form of Jesus will use something they hate and they have to look and understand the meaning in order to have eternal life. Jesus used this image to foretell His up coming crucifixion. Not only is the word lifted up in this passage but also these words "then you will know that I AM HE". If you know the story of the crucifixion, you will remember a lot of things happened on that day that were unusual. Most had to do with nature, on that day, things were not normal. If you don't know the story you can find it in Matthew 27: 32- 56. Jesus is telling the people to listen to what He says and what He does, for these words and deeds point back to the Father (God) who sent Him. If the people just listened and remembered what Jesus said and did, they would become believers after Easter. It is hard not to take some one serious after they have risen from the dead. Many people did come to believe after Easter. What will it take for you to become a believer? Do you still question if Jesus really did die and rise again? These are the same questions we all have to answer ourselves. No one can believe for you, you have to make the decision all on your own. If this blog has helped you share it with others. I hope you continue to read this blog, but more important, that you keep studying The Bible His Word, to make sure I am telling you the truth.

38th Post Jesus" Relationship with His Father "- John 5: 19 - 23

John 5: 19 - 23, were said before the passages discussed in posts 36 and 37. This passage comes after Jesus has healed a paralytic man at the pool of Bethesda by the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem, on the Sabbath. The Jews were outraged by the fact that Jesus healed this man on the Sabbath. This is toward the beginning of Jesus' ministry and the two previous posts were toward the end of Jesus' ministry. The people are plotting to kill Jesus at this time, and are asking by whose authority do you do these things? Jesus tells the people that the Son can do nothing on His own, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him (Jesus) all the things that He Himself (Father) does; and He (Father) will show Him (Jesus) greater works than these, that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father (God) who sent Him (Jesus). Jesus is again here, telling the people that everything He does and says, comes from the Father (God). Then He adds judgment to the list. The Old Testament is clear that God the Father is the one Who will judge. Now Jesus says here that God the Father has passed that right onto Jesus. This is new, this goes completely against what the Jews taught in their Temple and in the Synagogues of Israel. YHWH, were the consonances only used in the spelling of their word for God. YHWH means YAHWEH He creates. YHWH seems to be singular in form so they thought of God in the singular here. This is one of the problems the Jews had in accepting Jesus as Son of God. The people of Nazareth thought they knew Jesus' parents, but they really knew only half of the union, Mary. Joseph was not the father of Jesus, he was Jesus step-father, earthly father. God was Jesus Father as Jesus has been stating.

37th Post Jesus Relationship with His Father - Con't.

Mark 14:36; Matthew 26: 39; and Luke 22:42, continued from previous blog post. We have been looking at Jesus in the Garden and His struggle with the cup. Jesus as God, knows that He has no choice in this matter. He (Jesus) must prevail in order to satisfy His Father's wishes. Now the Father is asking Jesus to become sin on our behalf to accomplish this. God the Father is asking Jesus to become something He can not even bear to look at. That is a tall request to ask let alone your own Son. Jesus also being God and feeling the same way about sin as His Father, has to actually become what His Father can not even look at!! Think about that. Jesus' love for us, is what gave Him the will to obey His Father's wishes. If Jesus did not drink of this cup, we would not be saved, and would still live under the consequences of the Law. Grace does not give us the power to turn completely away from the Law. The purpose of the Law was to point out sin, it still has that purpose today. The difference between believers and nonbelievers is that believers are forgiven!
John 3:16 says that God so loved the world that He gave his only Son... That passage does not say only believers at the beginning, it says the world; in order to claim everlasting life you have to make a decision to believe or not. If you have been struggling with making a decision, or need further information on this, please leave me a comment and I will get back to you.