Feeding or Floundering Faith?

John 6:1-21

Feeding the Five Thousand

1 After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. 2 Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased. 3 And Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples.

4 Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near. 5 Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?" 6 But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.

7 Philip answered Him, "Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little."

8 One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Him, 9 "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?"

10 Then Jesus said, "Make the people sit down." Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. 11 And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, "Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost." 13 Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. 14 Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, "This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world."

Jesus Walks on the Sea

15 Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.

16 Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, 17 got into the boat, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was already dark, and Jesus had not come to them. 18 Then the sea arose because a great wind was blowing. 19 So when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the boat; and they were afraid. 20 But He said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid." 21 Then they willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going.

Are we feeding faith or is it floundering after we start trusting our Lord Jesus Christ?  Here Jesus tested His disciples when a large crowd came to listen to His teaching about the kingdom of heaven on a mountain down below on earth.  He asked them where they should buy bread to feed the masses to test whether they understood that He could provide for them.  He was testing their faith as Philip answered about the material lack of enough funds to buy the required amount of food to meet the needs of such a crowd.  Do we doubt He can provide everything we need (Philippians 4:19)?  Do we look to what is in our own hands which we possess or do we lift our eyes up higher to find what we need for our daily provision (Luke 11:3) and providence?  Andrew looked only at what the disciples had at hand that amounted to five barley loaves and two small fish, but he could not see the provision of the Lord to stretch that small amount to feed so many hungry mouths.  What did Jesus do?  He told them to seat the crowd as He gave the example of thanking the Father in heaven above and then breaking bread to distribute enough for everyone.  The source of the food was like the manna of olden days (John 6:31) when the LORD fed the entire number of Israel on their desert journey and which pointed figuratively to Himself as the bread of life (John 6:58).  He fed them daily and faithfully without fail to build their faith to trust Him to provide all they needed day by day.  There was even enough left over for each of the twelve disciples!  Immediately, Jesus left because the crowd saw the miraculous provision and wanted to make Him king (supposedly to drive the Romans out instead of ruling in a spiritual kingdom).  The disciples waited a bit then got into the boat to row to Capernaum.  The wind howled and they grew afraid with doubt about their safety until Jesus came walking on the water towards them.  Their faith floundered with the circumstances of the wind and waves and fear overwhelmed them until Jesus identified Himself and told them the oft repeated assurance, “do not be afraid.”  We must remember when He says “it is I” and shows Himself mighty on our behalf (2 Chronicles 16:9) according to our faith in His work with a complete and whole heart of trust in His ability, power, and grace to supply all our needs in the words and work of Jesus Christ.  Are we feeding our faith or floundering in doubts?  That is the question we need to answer with assurance according to His unshakable and eternally reliable word. 

Will We Believe His Words of Life?

John 5:24-47

Life and Judgment Are Through the Son

24 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. 25 Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, 27 and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29 and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. 30 I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.

The Fourfold Witness

31 "If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true. 32 There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true. 33 You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. 34 Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved. 35 He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light. 36 But I have a greater witness than John's; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish—the very works that I do—bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me. 37 And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. 38 But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. 39 You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. 40 But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.

41 "I do not receive honor from men. 42 But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you. 43 I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. 44 How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God? 45 Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you—Moses, in whom you trust. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?"

Jesus made it perfectly clear that to believe in and receive Him according to His words (which we call the gospel of the kingdom of God) will result in release from the judgment we are all due (Romans 3:23, 6:23) and eternal life in place of eternal death and torment.  When we are led by Him as called and chosen (Matthew 20:16, 1 Peter 2:9, Revelation 17:14) to believe His word and receive Him for who He is (John 5:24), we move from already dead in spirit (Ephesians 2:1, 5) to being truly alive (Colossians 2:13) in Christ.  He forgives our sin and the justice of its consequences to make us new creations (Galatians 2:20) as reborn men and women!  We then die in these bodies but will arise in new and incorruptible heavenly ones because we have heard and will then also hear the voice of the Master and truly live.  What a certain hope according to His promise (Galatians 3:22) that results in His Spirit sealing us (Ephesians 1:13) forever as God’s only own children!  We can trust in this absolute and unshakable hope of the kingdom (Hebrews 12:27-28) we have been brought into by the authority and life of the Son of God given to Him by the Father.  Yes, everyone will one day hear His voice from the grave and rise to either eternal life with Him or everlasting torment apart from Him based on our being in Christ or not.  Doing good to inherit this kingdom means hearing and heeding His voice in the gospel (John 6:29) for unmerited deliverance from judgment, while doing evil means rejecting the Son of God and His gospel (John 5:24).  Evidence of this change is a new heart to do all God says (Jeremiah 31:33-34, 2 Corinthians 3:3, Hebrews 10:16-17) and love for others (1 John 3:14), both those who love us and our enemies set against us.  The judgment of Jesus Christ is completely right and righteous and we find our righteousness in Him alone, never in our own efforts apart from His work for and in us (Philippians 1:6) which He never stops working until we are as we should be in eternity.  Jesus told us that His witness of these things is true and reliable.  He was testified to by John the Baptist but more importantly by God the Father Himself according to His word from the beginning (Luke 24:26-27, Acts 17:2-3, 1 John 1:1-2).  The works Jesus has done in word and deed leading to the cross and out of the grave all bear this witness to His power and authority to give life and eternal hope in peace with God, reconciled.  If we search the scriptures from beginning to end we will see this to be true and turn from sin to Him in repentance and faith.  Unfortunately, many will continue to reject Him and not receive this eternal life in acceptance and belief in Him.  He told us these things.  Many will honor themselves or another instead of Jesus and suffer the consequences which they are already condemned under (John 3:19-20).  How can we believe if we seek our own honor and glory in place of Him and His?  We stand accused and guilty apart from the reconciling atoning work of the Son of God for us in our place of judgment.  Who do we trust?  We should rather trust His word according to the writings given us already and choose to live instead of choosing the wide path (Matthew 7:13-14) to destruction.  Will we believe His words of life?  That is the most important question for us all. 

Honoring the Son as the Father

John 5:1-23

A Man Healed at the Pool of Bethesda

1 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. 3 In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. 4 For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had. 5 Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, "Do you want to be made well?"

7 The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me."

8 Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your bed and walk." 9 And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.

And that day was the Sabbath. 10 The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, "It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed."

11 He answered them, "He who made me well said to me, 'Take up your bed and walk.'"

12 Then they asked him, "Who is the Man who said to you, 'Take up your bed and walk'?" 13 But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place. 14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, "See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you."

15 The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.

Honor the Father and the Son

16 For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working."

18 Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God. 19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. 20 For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel. 21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. 22 For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, 23 that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.

Jesus healed on the Jewish Sabbath which required those following the Law to not do any work on the seventh day of the week (Exodus 20:10, ) as the way to remember how God rested on the seventh day of creation (Genesis 2:2-3) when He had finished all His work.  The man the Lord healed from paralysis was thirty-eight years old, an old man to be respected in those days.  He could not get to the healing waters when an angel was sent to heal those who entered and he told Jesus these things.  Jesus asked him if he wanted to be made well and the man of course answered yes but explained how he could not make it to the water before another got there first every time.  What was the answer?  Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.”  He commanded the man to step out in faith because God willed it (Matthew 26:39, John 14:14, 15:7, 16:23, 1 John 5:14-15) and not because he claimed it in the name of Jesus apart from knowing what God’s will is as many errantly do today.  The man heard God’s clear command of His will to be well and rose up to walk home as a whole man in God’s will.  The religious were incensed at the man for breaking the Sabbath rule and demanded to know who told him it was alright to do work on that day, not knowing Jesus as the rest from their works as we later discover in Heb 4:4-5, 9-10 as the true intent of the commandment.  We also are to rest in Christ’s work to make our bodies and souls well for eternity and cease working to please God to be saved or keep our place in heaven once admitted by sovereign and unbreakable grace.  Even so, the warning of accountability should ring in our ears as the words of Jesus here, “You have been made well.  Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.” Yes, since we have been made well in body and soul, we are to live accordingly in holiness (1 Peter 1:16, 2 Peter 3:11) and righteous willing obedience (Matthew 12:36, John 14:23-24, 2 Corinthians 5:10, 1 John 2:1-2, 1 Corinthians 3:14-15, 16-17), knowing our eternal standing in our salvation never is lessened, only our rewards which honor or dishonor our Lord whom we follow and serve.  

Jesus was persecuted for healing a man on His Sabbath but He wisely told all who were listening that God’s work was being done by the Son just as by the Father in heaven.  The Jews were even more enraged and were out to murder Jesus for making Himself equal with God (John 10:30, 33, Philippians 2:6), which He was.  Jesus the Son of God worked on every day in the authority of His Father and in the same way.  It is no wonder that He could heal on the Sabbath to save the lives He created (Colossians 1:15-16) that we might enter into the rest from our works on that day to rest in Him who always is working.  He raises the dead to life as proven by His resurrection and so also gives life to those He calls and has chosen.  He is our judge and our righteousness, and only God can forgive our sin (Mark 2:7, 10), so Jesus is God as much as His Father to be able to forgive sin and heal us within from now to eternity.  Since Jesus is our judge we must so honor the Son as we honor our Father and His in Heaven.  Do we then linger at the pool for our deliverance from sin’s penalty or do we hear and trust Jesus the Son of God with the authority and power to give us eternal life with healing in His wings (Malachi 4:2) as promised according to His illuminating Word (John 1:4, 12-13)? 

God’s Honor Should not be Defined By Miracles

John 4:43-54

Welcome at Galilee

43 Now after the two days He departed from there and went to Galilee. 44 For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. 45 So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast.

A Nobleman's Son Healed

46 So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48 Then Jesus said to him, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe."

49 The nobleman said to Him, "Sir, come down before my child dies!"

50 Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your son lives." So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. 51 And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, "Your son lives!"

52 Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him." 53 So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son lives." And he himself believed, and his whole household.

54 This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.

Jesus left His own area of His childhood and went to Galilee because they refused to accept and honor who He is even after witnessing the miraculous works He did to prove His divine nature (John:1, 14, 2:23, 3:2) to them.  He truly had no honor in His own country just as all the prophets before Him of which He was the final and far superior one (Hebrews 1:1-3) because He is God’s own Son as the final messenger bringing God’s word in the gospel of absolute deliverance from the penalty of sin.  The Galileans gladly welcomed Jesus to Cana once more and listened to Him, but they also wanted further signs and wonders as when He turned the water into wedding wine.  The Lord chastised them for requiring the miraculous to be able and willing to believe.  Their faith was based on what they received for themselves and not in receiving Him (John 1:12) by taking Him at His word alone (1 Corinthians 1:22-23, Galatians 3:22, Hebrews 11:6) by faith and trust.  Jesus healed the man’s son anyway and the father and that household all saw God’s mighty hand at work and trusted His word by faith as a result.  The sign proved Jesus was whom he claimed and once they accepted He was the Messiah, they entrusted themselves to Him in that faith in both Him and His work they had personally witnessed.  Do we wait for a sign or miracle to take good at His word and rely on His word, or do we take these things on faith borne out of an inner conviction of His Spirit demonstrating the truth we rely on for salvation, life, and godliness (2 Peter 1:3)?  Honoring God should not be based on or defined by the expectation of miracles of signs and wonders, but by the belief that everything we need is in His word and that leads us to rely on and trust His good providence and provision in all things.  Do we rely on or demand these or do we walk by faith?  When the Son comes, will He really find faith (Luke 18:8, Hebrews 10:38) on earth?  

Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of the World

John 4:27-42

The Whitened Harvest

27 And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, "What do You seek?" or, "Why are You talking with her?"

28 The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, 29 "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" 30 Then they went out of the city and came to Him.

31 In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat."
32 But He said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know."
33 Therefore the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?"

34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. 35 Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! 36 And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37 For in this the saying is true: 'One sows and another reaps.' 38 I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors."

The Savior of the World

39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all that I ever did." 40 So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of His own word.

42 Then they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world."

Jesus is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world!  The disciples did not consider this as they came back from thero grocery shopping in town and returned to find their Lord conversing alone with a woman, and a Samaritan one at that.  Both these were socially not acceptable to the Jews for all the wrong reasons.  They dared not ask Jesus how about what she was looking for there or why Jesus was talking with her.  The woman, however, left her water behind that she had come for and hurriedly left to give her testimony about meeting the one who had to be the long expected Messiah, the anointed Christ of God who proved Himself by knowing and telling her things about her life which were impossible for Him to know unless He had lived in her Samaritan town, a highly unlikely possibility for a Jewish man who would shun every conceivable contact with them.  When she had told them all these stories and asked if Jesus by the well offering living water as the scriptures promised could be the Christ, they came to Him to hear for themselves if these things were so (Acts 17:11).  Meanwhile, the disciples urged their Master to eat something after their long journey, but He told them that He had food to eat that they did not know about.  They asked each other if someone had slipped some food to Him that the others may have not seen, but Jesus clarified what He meant by those words.  He made it clear that the food He was talking about was His Father’s work and not physical sustenance.  He was speaking spiritually-minded while they were focusing on the outward needs.  Jesus spoke of the need to be about His Father’s business of the message and work of the kingdom of God and heaven which is the work of the gospel of deliverance from sin’s punishment.  He pointed to the world as a field full of souls ready to be harvested for eternal life and that they should be concerned with that work and consume and be consumed by that instead.  He pointed out that others had cleared a path in the hearts of people (1 Corinthians 3:6-8) and they should harvest that work for those in whom the seed of God’s word had germinated and had grown to the point of bearing fruit at last.  When the Samaritans from town came and heard Jesus speak they also believed and the harvest of the scriptures bore fruit in many of them as they believed in Jesus as the Christ while hearing His word to them.  They did not just believe to salvation by the verbal testimony of the woman but by hearing God’s word themselves and gaining faith by God’s work in them as they listened.  Even now we can give personal testimony to God’s work of saving us but that alone will not lead to the salvation of others apart from hearing the words of the gospel from scripture as well.  We lead and plant seeds but God’s Spirit works to bring the word preached to the hearts and minds to fruition.  We then are appeared to be reaping our harvest but is is God in Christ who saves by His work of His word which we tell them as He harves them and we are seen with the sheaves (Psalm 126:6) He brings in.  Hearing the scripture (Romans 10:16-17) of the Bible leads others prepared to hear to conviction and transformation as they understand in heart, soul, and mind that Jesus is the Son of God come to take away their sin on that cross of sacrifice by His substitutionary suffering and death on their behalf.  This is God’s work of the gospel which we preach with willing feet to tell others (Romans 10:14-15) that they may hear and believe to trust Him to salvation (Romans 10:9-10).  May we be about our Father’s business at every well we stop at to explain that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of the world to all He calls to harvest. 

I Who Speak to you am He!

John 4:1-26

A Samaritan Woman Meets Her Messiah

1 Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John 2 (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), 3 He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. 4 But He needed to go through Samaria.

5 So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink." 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.

9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?" For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.

10 Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water."

11 The woman said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12 Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?"

13 Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."

15 The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw."

16 Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here."
17 The woman answered and said, "I have no husband."
Jesus said to her, "You have well said, 'I have no husband,' 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly."

19 The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship."

21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

25 The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ). "When He comes, He will tell us all things."

26 Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He."

Jesus left Judea for Galilee when the opposition grew from the Pharisees against Him due to Jesus becoming more popular and gaining more followers than John the Baptist.  On the way there the Lord had to travel through Samaria, the former capital of the northern kingdom of Israel which was considered tainted by intermarriage with non-Jews and who had their own temple like in Jerusalem and who had the Law of the scriptures as well.  The Samaritans were not considered to be part of God’s people by Israel which evolved from the southern kingdom and Judah, so when Jesus stopped at Jacob’s well to rest and a local woman came to draw water where He sat and Jesus dared to speak with this woman of a despised land, it demonstrated the compassion of the supreme peacemaker to do so.  It was peace on earth with goodwill to people (Luke 2:14) spoken of at His birth which He came to accomplish.  Since the disciples all had gone into town to do grocery shopping, Jesus asked the woman for a drink because He was thirsty after a long trip in the middle of a hot day.  This began the evangelical dialog.  First of all the Samaritan woman asked how he could even talk with her, let alone ask for a drink because of the animosity of the Jews against Samaritans.  They just did not speak or have any dealings with one another.  Jesus did.  Jesus used that moment to tell her that if she knew whom he was that she would be scrambling to beg a drink from Him instead.  But the Lord was offering “living” water and not just a splash from the well there between them.  The woman was confused how He could offer her any water since He did not have any way to get it out of the well (we assume she had a rope and bucket she had brought with her to forget the water).  She further argued that Jesus was not greater than her ancestor Jacob (Israel) who gave them that well.  Jesus proved He was indeed greater by pointing out that drinking from the ancestral well was dead people’s water while He alone could provide living water as a metaphor for the Spirit of God (Isaiah 12:3, 44:3, Jeremiah 2:13) given in salvation and regeneration with a new heart and the same Law of Samaria and Israel then written on the heart by that life-giving gift and never thirst again (John 6:35).  Indeed, the living water offered by Jesus was a spring of eternal life to quench a thirst for God which He alone offered and was able to draw out and provide to satisfy forever.  Then the woman was more than interested in getting this gift of living water and asked for it from the Lord before her as He offered it to her so she would never have to work to get it herself any longer.  Jesus then asked her to bring her husband with her and He would give it to her as a way to prompt her to confess her sin before receiving His gift of everlasting life.  As Jesus exposed her sin she tried to redirect the conversation to the method of worship instead of confession and repentance being asked for.  Jesus responded how God was looking for true worshipers who would worship the Father in spirit and truth as a necessary condition for humble confession to repentance through faith in His working of grace being offered.  Then the woman remembered the scriptures and confessed that that the long-awaited Messiah would tell His people all things, including what Jesus had been saying to her.  Then the Lord revealed Himself to her by saying plainly, “I who speak to you am He,” as confessing His divine identity as the Christ-Messiah of whom she spoke!  What a conversational explanation of the gospel message given with authority and compassion!  May we point others in this way so they may understand who Jesus is when He says, “I am He” as the word made flesh, God among us bringing hope of salvation and living water to forever satisfy the longing for reconciliation and redemption from sin to spend eternity with Him! 

Christmas: Receiving Jesus’s Proving Testimony

 John 3:22-36

John the Baptist Exalts Christ

22 After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He remained with them and baptized. 23 Now John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there. And they came and were baptized. 24 For John had not yet been thrown into prison.

25 Then there arose a dispute between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purification. 26 And they came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified—behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!"

27 John answered and said, "A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. 28 You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, 'I am not the Christ,' but, I have been sent before Him.' 29 He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease. 31 He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. 32 And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony. 33 He who has received His testimony has certified that God is true. 34 For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure. 35 The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. 36 He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."

The exaltation of Jesus the Christ by John points us to the fact that receiving the testimony of Jesus the Christ proves good is true by believing His word and works.  John had been baptizing people for repentance as a promise of cleansing to come in the soul by the One he was sent to announce to the world.  John paved the way by making a straight path to faith in God’s word made flesh and His works to be seen as further proof demonstrating His divine power and (2 Peter 1:2-3) ability to offer life and godliness in His righteousness.  When Jesus began baptizing (John 4:2) and others brought the news to John, he was not threatened but was exceedingly glad that everyone had begun flocking to Him instead of John to find the complete baptism by the one he was sent to point everyone to follow in the first place.  He reminded those around him that he was not the Messiah but was sent before Him to clear the path in the sinful hearts of His people as he made them ready for the Christ by repentance which would then lead to faith in the Christ to be immersed in Him and His Spirit as planned God.  He was filled with joy as he heard the voice of the bridegroom and knew that his time to fade back in the picture of God’s salvation had come that the Lord’s increase could begin at this time at last!  He exalted Jesus as the Christ by testifying to His heavenly origin and sovereign position of power and authority over all.  He also testified that many would not listen and accept the testimony of this Christ who proved God and His word true.  Jesus spoke God’s words as Je was sent to do and His own did not receive Him (John 1:10-11) and those who did receive (John 1:12) would become children of God through this act of faith and trust in His testimony.  The Son of God was to be heard and exalted, believed and received as true for this to be made true in those with ears to hear.  The promise is that all who believe and receive have everlasting life with Him in His presence forevermore (Psalm 16:11)!  How, those who disbelieve and reject the Son remain under God’s wrath (Romans 1:18, John 3:18, 1 John 5:11-12) of retribution on their sin which they were born and continue in.  Receiving the testimony of Jesus Christ is proof of believing God’s own testimony of Himself and His atoning work of salvation.  This is why Jesus was born into this world which we celebrate at Christmas in remembrance of the hope of the grace in His good will towards men and women, that we might be immersed in Him by repentance through faith for a certain hope of eternal life with Him in the kingdom of God in heaven on earth to come!  Christmas is Receiving Jesus’s Proving Testimony that brings true peace and joy by faith through faith that believes and receives Him.  Rejoice and be exceedingly glad!  

Believe and Receive to be Born Again!

John 3:1-21

1 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."

3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

4 Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"

5 Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."

9 Nicodemus answered and said to Him, "How can these things be?"

10 Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? 11 Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

18 "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God."

The Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, came secretly to Jesus in the night to avoid being ostracized from the religious community for daring to sincerely approach Jesus and confess that He was a teacher sent by God with the testimony that no one could do those signs that Jesus did unless God was with him.  Jesus answered with a seemingly confusing statement of fact to answer the real burning unspoken question of how someone can enter God’s kingdom.  He made it clear that nobody can enter unless they are completely changed by God which was described as being born again, a phrase often overused and not grasped even today by many who say it.  Nicodemus reacted as many do today when they hear this condition to be saved from sin’s consequence of eternal punishment and enter that kingdom of God through God’s work in Christ.  The religious man used rational reasoning to declare such a thing was impossible.  How could a man be born a second time?  Could he reenter the womb and come back out?  How could he even fit!  Jesus explained that this was a matter of spiritual regeneration that made a man as new as if he was born all over again minus the sin that caused him to be rejected from the heavenly kingdom.  He made it clear that this rebirth  was an act of God’s work of power and grace because it was done inwardly as unseen by man looking for the change to happen.  This work of God Spirit was like the unseen wind (Job 9:11) that is heard but not observed in action.  Those born of God’s Spirit are reborn in such an internal act by the change God makes in the moving action of His unseen Spirit in a man or woman to change them inside as if a new creation (Galatians 2:20).  This rebirth is accomplished by His word (1 Peter 1:23) working by His Spirit’s awakening of the dead soul (Ephesians 2:5-6) to a new life as a baby coming into the world of the unseen out of the darkness this present evil age (Galatians 1:4, 1 John 5:18-19) into such wondrous light (1 Peter 2:9-10, Acts 26:18) of the kingdom of God come within us.  Nicodemus responded as many still would as he asked how this was even possible.  Jesus pointed him to search the scriptures which told of Him (John 5:39, Luke 24:26-27, 1 Peter 1:10-11) and this transformation of the hear and soul (Ezekiel 11:19-20, 36:26, 2 Corinthians 3:3).  He had come down from that heaven to bear witness that all who look on Him with trust in His word and work will be saved from punishment and granted free access into the kingdom.  Jesus came down into the lower parts of creation which is the earth which we live and breathe and have our existence in and ascended back there once the work was finished.  Those who act in faith to believe the word of the gospel and His work on the cross as proven by the resurrection from death to life are saved from death just as the rebellious and unbelieving people of God did in the desert (Numbers 21:8-9) until they looked upon a snake set on a pole in obedience and lived.  This symbolism pointed to the Lord lifted up on a cross (1 Peter 2:24) of a cursed tree (Deuteronomy 21:22-23, Galatians 3:13) in our place which begs us to believe that work saves us from the bite of that serpent of old, the devil (Revelation 12:9, 20:2), by trust in receiving God’s work (John 5:24) who suffered the bite of sin for us on that pole, which bite brings us all eternal death and suffering from the poison of sin in our souls.  The only cure is faith in the work of Jesus Christ on the cross and the resulting rebirth according to His Word, living and powerful (John 1:1, Hebrews 4:12).  For God loved the world of His creation enough to send His Son that we might believe and receive Him to obtain eternal life by faith.  Not all will hear and believe, however, as this is no magic formula whose words are simply mouthed without conviction or recited in front of a congregation as a sinner’s prayer but by the blowing wind of His Spirit able to convict and change a person to be born again.  Those not being drawn by Him are condemned because they reject Him and refuse repentance as they continue to pursue darkness without desiring the light.  Only those so moved to honor God to be able to do what is right inside are changed by God in this way.  Only such an act of repentance and faith is the proof of God’s work in us and results in a new person (Galatians 2:20) being born.  Believe and receive to be born again! 

Signs and Wonderings

John 2:1-25 

Water Turned to Wine

1 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. 3 And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine."

4 Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come."  5 His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it."

6 Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. 7 Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots with water." And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And He said to them, "Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast." And they took it. 9 When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. 10 And he said to him, "Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!"

11 This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.

12 After this He went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples; and they did not stay there many days.

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

13 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. 15 When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables. 16 And He said to those who sold doves, "Take these things away! Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!" 17 Then His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up."

18 So the Jews answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?"  19 Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."  20 Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?"

21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body. 22 Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.

The Discerner of Hearts

23 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. 24 But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, 25 and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.

Jesus performed signs and left the onlookers wondering.  They watched Jesus first take water out of barrels meant for purification and make it into fine wine for wedding guests to celebrate with the best when there was no more before as it ran out.  Only His mother and the servants drawing the water knew at first what had happened and they wondered how this could be nd then who this could be who was able to turn ritual water into delicious wine.  Mark 7:3-4 describes how ritual washing was a religious requirement for those assuming it made them more holy and yet it did not wash the inside of the pompous ones making it mandatory before eating every time.  Jesus turned their empty works into a miraculous work with only a word to have the servants fill the sacred waterpots with their brand of holy water and then take it out and serve it to the guests as fine wine.  Though the wine likely had nothing to do with the later wine symbolizing His blood shed in atonement of His sacrifice on the cross, it makes us wonder if that was somehow hinted at here.  This was the beginning of the miraculous signs and wonder of them which Jesus worked and the disciples were in awe and wonder as He so demonstrated His glory (John 1:14), and they believed in Him with more certainty because of these signs.  We then see Jesus outraged when He suddenly and without warning entered the temple (Malachi 3:1) of worship and prayer only to witness the merchandizing of offerings having replaced the hearts of sacricial offerings from the hearts of the people.  Such zeal for His and His Father’s house (Psalm 69:9) filled Jesus with anger at those perverting the worship and prayer of His people.  The Jews who were making a profit from this perversion asked Him to prove His right and authority to do this by some miracle or sign instead of believing the word of the scriptures which He just quoted to them.  Therefore, Jesus gave them an answer in a hidden message like a parable that if they would destroy “this temple” that He would raise it back to stand up in just three days!  They could not understand how what took forty-six years could be redone in three and disbelieved.  They could not understand what miracle He was offering them in the destruction of the temple of His own body which He would raise from the grave after three days dead as we see in Acts 6:14, 10:40 as told earlier in Mark 14:58 and explained to the disciples here in John 2:21-22 as  the sign wondered about but not comprehended (John 1:5).  The disciples were convinced without this sign yet happening because they trusted Jesus by faith in His word as later proven after His resu according to Scripture.  Jesus then is shown to have known what is in the hearts of all who doubted and rejected the signs and refused to wonder at His work and therefore did not explain further what He was doing except in veiled parables (Mark 4:33-34).  In Luke 24:26-27 we see how he had to reveal the depth of these things according to what was already written about Him in the Old Testament.  Until then there were signs and wonderings as Jesus worked and taught to fulfill the Scriptures.