John 3:22-30

After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he remained there with them and was baptizing.    John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there, and people were coming and being baptized    (for John had not yet been put in prison).
   Now a discussion arose between some of John's disciples and a Jew over purification.    And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him.”    John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven.    You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’    The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete.    He must increase, but I must decrease.”

John 3:22-30

Moving on to the second half of John 3 we enter into a new scene.  Jesus and his disciples go to the Judean countryside and are baptizing there.  John the Baptist is also baptizing there.  Suddenly, a discussion arises between John the Baptist's disciples and  Jew.  They are talking about "purification" or "ceremonial cleansing" (NLT).  They begin to ask John the Baptist about Jesus and how "all are going to him".  It's as if they were concerned how nobody is coming to John the Baptist anymore and suddenly this new person in town is gaining all the popularity.  Once again, we see John the Baptist point away from himself and toward Jesus.

In his response John the Baptist makes some very interesting points.  First, he points out that "A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven".  What is happening right now with Jesus falls within this category; it can only be something that is given from heaven.

Next, John the Baptist reminds them of what he had said previously.  He said, "I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him".  Though his disciples are followers of him and obviously think well enough of him to be his disciples, we must remember that he clearly stated that he is not the Christ.  John the Baptist is merely one who has been sent before him.  With reference to this, John the Baptist paints a picture of a wedding.  At a wedding, the bride and the groom are the center of attention.  It is the groom who marries the bride, not anyone else.  So, what is the job of the friend of the groom?  The friend of the groom is happy and rejoices.  John the Baptist is describing himself as the friend of the groom and I think it's obvious that Jesus is the groom in this picture.

The last point that John the Baptist makes is a wonderful phrase.  He says, "He must increase, but I must decrease".  I love that verse and it is one that I had memorized long ago.  It reminds me who is the one who is supposed to get the glory and what my job is.  John the Baptist had the right attitude.  He always pointed away from himself and towards Christ.  Jesus gets the glory and John the Baptist simply rejoices.

John 3:16-21

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.  And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.  For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.  But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

John 3:16-21

We have arrived at the famous John 3:16.  First of all, what is "for" in reference to?  Jesus has just referenced the lifting on the bronze snake and related it to himself being lifted up.  I guess verse 16 fills in some details that were missing in verse 14 and 15.  Not only is Jesus to be lifted up for eternal life for those who believe in him, but this is done by God because of his love for the world.  Moreover, his love is expressed in the giving of his only son.  This isn't just about saving and it isn't just about eternal life, this is motivated by love.  With regards to this love, we are told about the act of the giving of one's only son.  As humans who live on this earth and experience family and love and loss, we can try to somewhat understand the degree of God's love knowing what it might mean to give up one's only son.  God really did love the world.

Now the idea of condemnation is brought into play.  Yes, we just read about God's love for the world, but we see that God's purpose of sending his son was to be saved through him and not condemnation.  God's love is the motivation and saving through the son is the purpose.  I guess you could say that they're one in the same or at least connected.  So, why condemnation?  We read that believers are not condemned, but unbelievers have already been condemned.  This is because they have not believed.  This in itself seems a bit circular.  Perhaps there is a point in what is specified as the reason.  Specifically, we are told that the one who is condemned already because of not believing is because "he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God".  Earlier we read of believing "in his name".  What is Jesus' name?  He is Immanuel, which means God with us (Matthew 1:23).  To not believe that Jesus really is "God with us" is to be condemned already.

Now the judgment is described.  What is this judgment in reference to?  Well, this is in reference to those who are condemned.  Those who are condemned are those who will receive this judgment that is being described here.  So, what is the judgment?  The judgment is "the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil".  The judgment is that Jesus came and he is the light.  The judgment is that in spite of Jesus coming, people did not love Jesus as they should.  Instead, they loved the darkness rather than the light.  The judgment sounds like what is described in Romans 1, when God gives people over to their sin.  Jesus goes on further to explain this.  Why does this even happen?  this is because "everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed".  It makes sense, doesn't it?  People who do wicked things hate the light.  This is because they don't want their deeds to be exposed.  In contrast to this are those who do what is true and come to the light.  This is the judgement.  The light has come into the world and exposed those who do wicked things and hate the light and it exposes those who do what is true and come to the light.

John 3:9-15

Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?”  Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?  Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony.  If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?  No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,  that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

John 3:9-15

John remains quite deep and I feel like I am only wading in the shallow end of the ocean.

Nicodemus still doesn't get it and Jesus finds it interesting that a teacher of Israel cannot understand these things.  Jesus even asks, "If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?".  Nicodemus cannot move on to heavenly things because he cannot understand earthly things.  Jesus testifies to what he knows and has seen.  With regards to earthly and heavenly things, Jesus states plainly that "No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man".  He is the only one and he testifies to what he has seen and what he knows.  Unfortunately, Nicodemus does not receive Jesus' testimony.

Jesus refers to an incident that happened back in Numbers 21.

From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way.  And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.”  Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.  And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.  And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.”  So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

Numbers 21:4-9

What does this story tell us?  Well, it tells us of a time when the Israelites sinned and spoke against the Lord.  As a result, they were punished with fiery serpents sent by God.  When they repented and asked Moses to pray for them, Moses prayed for them and God provided a solution.  The solution was to make a serpent and set it on a pole.  The purpose of this serpent on a pole was so that whenever someone was bitten, they could look at the serpent on a pole and they would not die.

Coming back to John 3, Jesus describes himself like that serpent on a pole.  Similar to the serpent on a pole, Jesus would be lifted up.  The purpose was so that "whoever believes in him may have eternal life".  I really like this picture.  Though a fairly short story back in the book of Numbers, we see it describing what will happen to Jesus.  Believe in him like those Israelites believed in God and looked at the serpent.  For the Israelites, I think it took belief.  It sounds ridiculous that merely looking at a serpent on a pole would cure you from a snake bite.  So, why would anyone do it?  Well, God said it and you'd have to believe God.  We need to believe Jesus that looking to him would result in eternal life.

John 5:46-47

I just wanted to share something that I came across in my homework last week.  Reading through John 5, I found it very interesting.  In fact, it addressed something that I had never seen when I had read John 5 in the past.  So, Jesus heals this guy on the Sabbath and some people were upset with that.  Jesus then talks about the son being granted to have life in him self and authority to execute judgment.  In the last part of this chapter, Jesus talks about those who bear witness and testify on his behalf: John the Baptist, Jesus' works, the Father, the scriptures and Moses.

In the past little while, I have found it interesting to learn that there are some people who accept the words of Jesus in the New Testament and do not accept the rest of the bible.  I always thought it was the other way around.  According to what I had learned about the criticism of the bible, it had been mostly about the New Testament.  However, apparently there are quite a number of people who have difficulty believing in some of the miracles found in the Old Testament.  I guess I can kinda understand, I just didn't realize.

Now, I don't plan on making a full out argument for or against any of this.  However, I am merely pointing to what is written here in John 5 that my eyes were opened to.  In particular, the last two verses of the chapter.

For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”

John 5:46-47

For those who cling closely to Jesus' words found in the gospels and perhaps write off the rest of the bible, I find this hard to believe.  In particular, we see Jesus himself describing the importance of believing in the writings of Moses.  Sure, maybe one may doubt the actual authenticity of the Old Testament writings that we have today, but I was under the impression that the authenticity of the Old Testament writings weren't as highly contested as the writings of the New Testament writings.  If that's the case, why would one cling so closely to the gospels (or the words of Jesus found in the New Testament) but deny the Old Testament when the New Testament has more criticism than the Old Testament?  Is it the fact that they are Jesus' words?  Isn't all scripture "God-breathed" according to 2 Timothy 3:16?  Now, to be fair, I haven't done a significant amount of research into the authenticity of scripture.  But, I thought what was revealed in scripture here in John 5 was really cool.

John 3:1-8

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.  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.”  Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  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?”  Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

John 3:1-8

At long last we finally arrive at the famous John 3.  John 3 itself is not necessarily famous, but it is the verse, John 3:16 that is famous.  It is perhaps the most well known verse in the entire bible.  However, we're not there yet...

The chapter begins as a Pharisee named Nicodemus enters the scene.  It is night and he is meeting Jesus in secret so that others wouldn't know.  Though the pharisees may not have been on board with Jesus, we see Nicodemus acknowledge him saying “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".  He calls him "Rabbi" and acknowledges that Jesus is a teacher come from God.  Now, one might object saying that Jesus is not "from God" but he is God.  Well, they're both true.  Jesus is God as you may already know from John 1:1.  We read in 1 John 4 that Jesus was sent by God.  Perhaps there's a better verse for this, but that's the one that came to my mind.  In any case, they're both true.

I find it interesting that in response to this, Jesus says something that seems irrelevant: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God”.  I don't really understand how the conversation went there, but as the conversation progresses we see Nicodemus having a hard time understanding what Jesus is saying.  He doesn't understand what it means to be born again and he can't understand how things can be the way Jesus is explaining them.  To be fair, being born again is probably a difficult concept to grasp or understand to those who don't know already.

As it is with the book of John, things are quite complex and deep, yet it is at the same time simple.  Jesus is merely having a conversation with Nicodemus and Nicodemus isn't quite getting what Jesus is saying.  However, looking into it more, we read about being born again and the spirit.  These things in the book of John can be very complex.

Followers of Jesus can be referred to as being born again.  It makes me think of Romans 6 which talks about being buried with Christ and being raised with him.  Perhaps not the best place, but it's what came to mind.  Maybe Romans 8 which talks about the spirit and the flesh.  In any case, what Jesus says is that being born again is a requirement of seeing and entering the kingdom of God.  We are born of the flesh, but to be born again is to be born of the spirit.  Jesus even uses the wind to explain it.  You may not know where the wind comes from or goes, but you can hear its sound.  Similarly, we may not understand all there is to know about being born of the spirit, but you can see evidence of it.  Perhaps with something so key to the kingdom of God, it is important to be born again.

John 2

As part of my homework this past week, a chapter of John had been given for each day.  That's pretty interesting because that's where I'm at in my own readings.  In any case, looking back at my homework and looking over John 2, we see two main stories.  First, we read about the first sign that Jesus performs, which is turning water into wine.  The second is of Jesus cleansing the temple.  Thinking about these two I ask, how do these stories fit with the main purpose of this book?  As a reminder, we look ahead to chapter 20.

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

John 20:30-31

So, how does John chapter 2 fit in with this purpose?  How do these two stories help the reader to "believe that Jesus is the Christ"?  Well, the first is a sign and at first it may not seem that relevant.  All he does is change water into wine.  Yes, this is a miracle and it's not something I can do like Jesus.  However, what does this have to do with believing in Jesus?  He turned water into wine.  If that's all there is to it, how is he any different from some magician you might find performing at a birthday party or in Las Vegas?  Well, this is a sign and it points to Jesus.  The wine helped save face for the bridegroom and it was the best wine so far.  The custom was to serve the good wine first, but then to serve the lesser wine later.  However, the surprise was that the good wine was saved until now.  Like the wine, Jesus is the best that has been saved until now.  He is the greater wine.  I don't know if that makes any sense, but it is a sign pointing to himself.  Sure, he did something miraculous and that does point to belief in Jesus.  But Jesus did many signs and how is this one different?  He is the greater wine that has been saved until now.

What about the cleansing of the temple?  Jesus had zeal for the temple and spoke about destroying the temple and raising it in three days.  He was obviously speaking about his body and it is a reference to his dying and resurrection.  Jesus referring to this beforehand is something that even the disciples remember.  Jesus' foreshadowing helps point his disciples towards belief in him.  Not only that, but Jesus is referring to and talking about the temple.  This holy place of worship was a big deal for the Jews.  And Jesus and the temple of his body and the destroying and raising up of it is greater than the temple building that the Jews were concerned about and that the Jews had "destroyed" by making it into a house of trade.  Jesus is the greater temple.

Jesus is the greater wine and Jesus is the greater temple.  Wine may not be anything special and we may not understand the significance of the temple nowadays in our western culture.  However, Jesus in these illustrations and stories that we read is shown to be something greater than the shadow of these things.  He really is something else and he is someone we are to believe in.  And by believing, we may have life in his name.

John 2:18-25

So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?”  Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”  The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?”  But he was speaking about the temple of his body.  When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing.  But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people  and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

John 2:18-25

Jesus drives them all out of the temple saying “Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade”.  In response to this, the Jews ask him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?”.  Apparently, they weren't quick to write him off as someone crazy.  Instead, they gave him a chance to explain himself.  Actually, it's kinda weird putting it that way.  How could mere men dare give God himself a chance to explain himself?  That itself sounds crazy.  In any case, Jesus' response is, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up”.  To which, the Jews were confused, thinking it impossible to destroy the temple that had taken 46 years to build.  However, they had misunderstood Jesus.  Jesus was talking about the temple of his body.  Jesus' sign to them is that his body will be destroyed and raised in three days.

I heard a sermon a while back about this passage and the pastor said something very interesting.  He spoke about the clear understanding of how Jesus was referring to the temple of his body.  However, the pastor also related it to the temple building as well.  Though Jesus was talking about the temple of his body, he was also referring to the temple building.  They had made the temple into a house of trade and were using their religion as a means of material gain.  Instead of a house of worship, it had become something else.  As a result, they had destroyed the temple and it's original purpose.  This would grow into a hostility toward Jesus and eventually lead to his death on a cross in a way.  And so, Jesus would not only raise up the temple of his body, but also the temple building and all that it stood for.  Anyway, I thought that was really cool.

We read that what Jesus says here is remembered by his disciples.  Perhaps the purpose (or one of the purposes) of him saying these things was so that his disciples would remember afterward.  It says "When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken".

This chapter ends with many believing in his name.  However, John writes that "Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them".  We read the reason for this, which is "because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man".  Though a reason is given, I still find it a bit weird.  Perhaps he didn't entrust himself to their acceptance of him because he knew in the end they would crucify him.  Maybe they wanted to make him king like we read about in another chapter and this is how he did not entrust himself to them.  I'm not too sure...