Jesus Tells Priests Of An Authoritativre Sign (J10)

The priests were angry with Him for His deed
Of routing the money-cheats like He’d done;
“A miraculous sign is what we need,
They demanded, “to prove you are God’s Son!”
Jesus told them of a sign they would see;
They were so dulled, they could not understand:
“Destroy this temple, and in days just three,
I will raise it up again, and it’ll stand!”
They thought it was Herod’s temple He meant,
But it was His body He talked about,
Crucified and dead; three days’ interment;
Resurrected; from the tomb, He walked out!
That was sign enough to give Him the right,
To do what He willed, any time He might!
“The Jews replied [to Jesus’ description of the authoritative miraculous sign demanded above], ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?’ But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words Jesus had spoken. Now while he was at Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men. He did not need man’s testimony about men, for he knew what was in a man.” (John 2:17-25) [Brackets added] (The complete text of poem and commentary is John 2:12-25.)

Keep in mind throughout this series on the book of John the Apostle that his purpose is selective; John has chosen only seven of Jesus’ miracles, and only certain of His ministry events, to prove to the readers (particularly the early churches and we believers to follow)) that Jesus was in reality more than a mere man; more even than the Son of God; but that He was God Himself. In the aftermath of His routing of the temple money-cheats, Jewish priests demanded that He give them a “miraculous sign” (as John called Jesus’ miracles) that would prove He had authority to “clean up” the temple; in plain words, they wanted Him to prove He was the Messiah by a miracle. Well, Jesus gave them a sign that would prove He was God Himself: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it again!” They didn’t understand, since their spiritual insights had been dulled by God in Isaiah 6:9-10; they thought He meant He could rebuild the huge temple in just three days. Well, He could do that, too, but that’s not the miracle He meant. If they had not been dulled, they would have understood what Jeremiah the prophet said to them in Jeremiah 31:31 and following—that there would be a new covenant of grace, and the Lord would dwell in men’s hearts, not in a temple. Jesus was talking about raising His dead body (the temple of God) from death in three days. Of course, the resurrection of Jesus was not to occur for at least one more year, and combined with their misunderstanding that Herod’s temple was what Jesus meant, they were unsatisfied with His answer.

The temple as a building was already outdated, because the new Kingdom of God was already launched, and grace was the means of salvation with the coming of Jesus (and before). Why did He tell them something He knew they would misunderstand? It was because His mission on earth was to be crucified in payment of men’s sins; as He told His disciples in Matthew 13:11, the secrets of the Kingdom of God (that is, the new covenant) was not for the Jews to understand; had they done so, His death might not occur. Notice that Jesus said “I” will raise my body in three days. Who but God has the power of resurrecting from the dead?

Jesus did not entrust Himself to men, for He knew that Judas Iscariot was already contemplating His betrayal, and Judas was one of the trusted apostles. Since Adam’s sin, the hearts of all men are untrustworthy.

“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved,” (Romans 10:9)

Jesus Routs The Temple Money-Cheats (J9)

Of all the brave things our Savior did,
The bravest was routing the money-cheats,
A plague of whom the temple ought be rid;
Likely, all the priests shared in the receipts!
The guards stood fixed in place, as if in shock;
Jesus upturned tables; coins scattered round;
Owners shrieked and scampered, to retrieve stock;
Doves cooed and flew away, new freedom found!
He used a makeshift coil of ropes as whip,
Stampeded away freed cattle and sheep;
The temple market He meant to unship,
Showing how holy His Father’s house keep!
I wonder why the guards let Him do it;
Did divine pow’r blind their senses to it?

“When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, ‘Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market?’ “ (John 2:13-16)

Continuing in John’s gospel, the next event he selected to describe in the life of Jesus is on a trip to Jerusalem to celebris Father’s house; He was willing to risk arrest and possible punishment in order to demonstrate how holy the temple should be maintained. No other man had demonstrated such zealousness for the temple in the hundreds of years it (or its predecessor) had existed. For some very strange reason, though, the temple guards, always on duty, had not intervened in the havoc, nor did they afterward. Jesus had divine power; He was able to make Himself invisible among crowds, as He showed several times. Divine power or not, on this particular day, Jesus acted like God would be expected to behave at the sight of such profanation of His house!

“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)

Jesus Changes Cleansing Water Into Wine (J8)

Mary knew her Son possessed divine pow’r,
She went straight to Him when the wine ran out;
“Woman, why come to me? It’s not my hour!”
He thought, Is it wise, my power to flout?
Then He recalled, Nathanael did believe
Because I know all things, seen and unseen;
New faith could my disciples here receive,
If I make wine from water used to clean!
To show them He had pow’r to make ALL things,
He turned the cleansing water into wine;
Tasted by the host, its praises he sings;
Compared to the first, the last is more fine!
His disciples saw the glory of God
In the signs done by He with whom they trod!

“On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, ‘They have no more wine.’ ‘Dear woman, why do you involve me?’ Jesus replied. ‘My time has not yet come.’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews in ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, ‘Fill the jars with water,’ so they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, ‘Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.’ They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, ‘Everyone brings out the choice wine first, and then the cheaper wine, after the guests have had too much to drink, but you have saved the best till now.’ This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.” (John 2:1-11)

John the apostle wrote this account of the gospel of Jesus Christ very selectively. He did not write it in chronological order, and he selected only seven of His miracles, which he called signs. He was making his book in such a way that it would prove that Jesus was divine; that He was not just the Son of God, but was God Himself. Then why did John choose this seemingly trivial use of divine power, changing water into wine to save embarrassment for the bridegroom at a wedding? He tells us in the last verse, number 11: To reveal His glory as Creator (See John 1:3) to His disciples, and to the millions who have read His part of the Bible since!.

Roman Catholics have used this miracle to vastly overrate Mary’s status. Her coming to Jesus, her Son who was also God of the universe, with the problem of no more wine, together with His eventual response, has signified to Catholic theologians that Mary in heaven is a great Mediatrix for Christians living on earth. We only have to pray to her with our problems, such as shortage of wine at a wedding, and she will intercede for us with God, her earthly son. But if you re-read the interchange between her and Jesus in the passage above, you cannot fail to feel His exasperation with her for involving Him before He was ready to reveal Himself to the world. He eventually did solve the problem, but not because Mary asked Him to do so; He performed the miracle because doing so revealed His glory to His disciples, who, in turn, revealed His glory to the world. John used the miracle as a sign that helped to prove his statement in John 1:3, which was that Jesus was the Creator. If He could turn dirty wash-water into the best-tasting wine ever, how small is the step from that visible feat to His invisible creation of the world? Another reason for His acceding to Mary's request is that doing so strengthened the disciples' faith in Him (v. 2:11).

“That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord', and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)

Philip Brings Nathanael, A Righteous Jew (J7)

"Greater things by far than this will you see,
Than that I saw you under the fig tree,”
Jesus told Nathanael when he first came,
Astonished, that he was known, and his name!
“Then you are the Son of God, and the King!”
Jesus is God, Who knows every thing—
All the thoughts, and acts, and what’s in the heart,
Of ev’ry one living on earth, in ev’ry part!
“You shall see heav’n open her pearly gate,
And angels descending, early and late,
Ascending to and fro the Son of Man!”
This Jesus said as Nathanael began.
Philip brought Nathanael, a righteous Jew,
Of whom there were only a precious few!

“Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was born in the town of Bethsaida. Philip found Nathanael and told him, ‘We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.’ ‘Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?’ Nathanael asked. ‘Come and see,’ said Philip. When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said to him, ‘Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false.’ ‘How do you know me?’ Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, ‘I saw you while you were under the fig tree before Philip called you.’ Then Nathanael declared, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.’ Jesus said, ‘You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than this.’ “ (John 1:44-50) (The complete text of this poem is John 1:43-51.)

So Philip and Andrew began as disciples of John the Baptist, but switched to Jesus upon His starting His public ministry; the first thing each of them did was to go and bring another disciple to Jesus—Andrew brought his brother Peter, and Philip brought Nathanael, a righteous Jew, who would have been saved to heaven anyway, even if he had never met Jesus. That is exactly what each one of us who is a believer is commanded to do—go and bring Jesus another disciple. Notice that Jesus made no secret of His miraculous power from the beginning; He revealed to His disciples His ability to “see” and “know” everything, without being present. He knew which disciples He would call ahead of time, because He knows whose names are already written into the Final or Lamb’s Book of Life. He also knew which disciples would become apostles. A “disciple” means “a student of”; also a “believer” or “follower”. An “apostle” was a very special disciple, appointed by Jesus to carry the gospel to the ends of the earth. They didn’t choose Jesus, so much as He chose them. An apostle also is a follower who has seen Jesus Himself. Nathanael believed Jesus to be the Son of God when he saw that Jesus had divine power to see him under the fig tree before Nathanael had ever been in His presence. That power is a “sign”, as Jesus called His miracles; He told the Jews (and everyone else, too) that they ought to believe by the signs or miracles that He did, if they would not believe by what He said. So should we believe because of the miracles (See John 10:38)

In the scripture quoted above, the reference to “the one Moses wrote about in the Law” refers to the prophecy found in Deuteronomy 18:14-22. This is one of the 340 or more prophecies about the coming of the Messiah in the Old Testament, every one of which was fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth. That very fact means the Jews who reject Jesus as Messiah have no excuse.

“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)

Andrew Brings Peter To Christ (J6)

Oh, John Baptist, great was the help you gave,
Not only the Lamb of God to reveal,
But also His path to ministry pave,
And gave your workers when His need was real!
Had Andrew not left John for Jesus first,
Peter might never have left fishers’ rope;
The Pentecost harvest could have been worse;
And the church bereft her initial Pope!
The world is better for these two brothers,
Who followed Jesus’ call with no delay,
Bringing salvation to countless others,
Losing their lives working to show the way!
No scholars were they, nor leaders of men,
But Jesus made them champions who win!

“The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God!’ When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. … Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, ‘You are Simon, son of John. You will be called Cephas (which, when translated, is Peter).' ” (John 1:35-42)

So Peter left his boat and quit fishing on the Sea of Galilee to follow Jesus. He was known to his family as Simon; as soon as Jesus saw him, He changed his name to “Cephas”, which translated into Peter. Jesus and His disciples spoke Aramaic, which was used instead of the more formal Hebrew or Greek. The latter language was common in Israel, dating back to Alexander the Great, who had conquered this land during the fourth century B/C. During Jesus’ time it was a part of the Roman Empire.

A man or woman who became a believer in Jesus as the Messiah is said to be His “disciple”. Many disciples returned to their homes, but approximately 120 men and women were with Him in Jerusalem when He was crucified, buried, and resurrected on the third day. However, Jesus chose 12 men to be His “apostles”; they were chosen specifically to spread the gospel around the world, and to establish His church. Peter and Andrew both became apostles, and Peter was the chief of the apostles. He took the lead, preaching the first sermon after the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. On that day 3000 souls were added to the 120, establishing the first church in Jerusalem. By 100 A.D. there were several hundred churches, large and small, scattered throughout the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, and Asia Minor. The Roman Catholic church has named Peter the first Pope, or Bishop of Rome, although it is not historically confirmed that Peter ever went to Rome.

“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)

God Is Too Precious To Eliminate

Once upon a time, not so long ago,
A new nation was born, through blood and steel;
By, for, and of, the people, high and low,
With freedom under God its chief ideal!
Row upon row, thousands of crosses stand,
Each marking bones of a young man who served
His nation, lying fore’er in alien land;
Mutely they scream: “Freedom and God preserve!”
Are we now to give up God? Has He failed?
Is Allah’s rule to take freedom’s place?
Must the most be mute to that we once hailed,
Because the latecomers howl disgrace?
No! No! No! God, who made this nation great,
Is much too precious to eliminate!

“Political correctness” is a term that carries within it seeds of destruction for the United States of America. Our media, print and electronic, have unpublished rules that scrupulously suppress truths and publish selectively that which promotes distortions of truth; they justify this to themselves for several motives, such as fear of retaliation and promotion of leftist ideals they choose to boost. Does one or more elected federal politicians have the long-term interests of America as their highest and most inviolate priority, or does each make reelection his primary goal? In such circumstances, patriotism and preservation of values lose every battle with political correctness.

All 37 states that came last into the union that is our nation did so after willingly, yes, eagerly, accepting the U. S. Constitution, plus they were perfectly willing to adopt the foundational documents, such as the Declaration of Independence, and traditions of the founding fathers of the original 13 states, as their own. They did not expect to abolish what already existed and eliminate the wellspring of loyalty and patriotism that led this nation to become the greatest in the history of the world. Neither did the millions of legal immigrants, of whatever origin and religion, come into our welcoming embrace with a motive of abolishing what was here and instituting the religion and laws they were abandoning where they came from. They were glad to join a nation where they were free to practice their religious faith, and to uphold the form of government that welcomed them here. Can we allow immigration of people whose religious faith would replace and abolish Christianity, and whose theological commands force them to take control of our government, substituting harsh laws based on fear and that replace our values with their own, that are repulsive to us?

A religion has come into the U. S. whose published objectives are to suppress and abolish Christianity, Judaism, and all others but their own, and whose Qur’an (their version of the Bible) proclaims that they are to change the government from the one that welcomed them to the one spelled out in their religion, and to do it by terror and by force and by fear that ignores any sort of decency; employs deceit and sedition; glorifies suicide bombers that kill helpless civilians; all this, while enjoying the rights and protection guaranteed for all religions by our Constitution. I am speaking of Islam, which is not here to practice their faith in peace under our Constitution and support our republican form of government, but to mute Christianity first, then abolish it; and who want to change our Constitution for their own shar’ia law with their imams running the government; and to do it by their unabashed use of fear. And it has started; they are winning so far, because of political correctness—our federal officials and media are doing exactly what the Islamic planners want them to do: Remain doggedly politically correct. Political correctness allows them to win the world’s support, yet allows them to commit deeds of terror against us without criticism. The world says: after all, it’s only a few radicals; the majority are peaceful. Still, the active radicals has the full support of the “peaceable majority. They want us to say just what our leaders say, which is: Don’t we all worship the same god? The truth is that Jehovah God is as different from their Allah as Mother Teresa is from Adolf Hitler. The want to abolish God, equating Him with their Satan-invented Allah. How could seven million Muslims in America so terrify 400,000,000 other citizens into muteness about the God that created the world and that our founders worshiped? Only because our elected officials collectively let them do it, by saying trite platitudes that aid their avid desires to be reelected. To them, Muslim votes and media approval are more important than God and long-term preservation of our nation. I don’t see our President or anyone in Washington speaking plain truth about Islamically-trained and financed radicals on the battlefields or inside our borders; what I see is their cringing behind a wall of politeness to the few, that is likely to end in disaster for the many.

Can’t something be done that will expose religious sedition, outlawry and treasonable speaking within houses of worship? Must a religion with the published intention of controlling our nation’s government be permitted to continue with no supervision or sanction? The Qur’an is much like Mein Kampf of Hitler in 1924—they both explicitly state their ultimate goals, all antagonistic to the ideals of the founders of nations in which they operate. Nobody in Germany stopped the Nazis; is the USA to be next? All Muslims may not be radical terrorists, but at least some of the Islamic “non-radicals” around the world exchanged gifts when 3000 Americans were killed in New York on 9/11/01. They seem to be far more influenced by the Qur’an’s commandments than Christians are of the Bible’s. If you are doubtful of the truth of this blog, read the Qur’an for yourself. In WW2 there was a popular song hit named "Praise the Lord, And Pass the Ammunition". That song typifies what America has been since its founding. Are we going to let those values vanish? If so, get ready for a vastly different nation based on fear, in which "Every man does what is right in his own eyes."

“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)

Jesus, The Lamb Of God (J5)

Jesus began His ministry next day
By asking John if he would baptize Him;
As He came forward, John had this to say:
“The Lamb of God, Who takes men’s sin from them!
I would not know Him, but God, Who sent me,
Told me this was His One and Only Son,
For perched on His shoulder the dove you see,
The Holy Spirit, marks Him as the One!
I baptize with water, and tell you all,
The Savior of men is about to call;
To those who respond, the Spirit will give
New life on earth, and with the Father live!”
Jesus is the Christ*, proclaimed John to men;
The Lamb of God, Who paid for the world’s sin!

*Messiah

Jesus is called the “Lamb” of God quite frequently in the New Testament. This is because His death on the cross was the climactic act of sacrifice that for all time satisfied His code of justice and permitted Him to accept justification for the sins of mankind. In Romans 4:23 we find that “the wages of sin is death”. That is a law of God, and to be just, He must enforce it. When Adam and Eve sinned, death was brought into the world; not only for Adam’s sin were men condemned, but also for their own sins. As a forerunner to God’s coming into the world, living as Jesus a sinless life, and shedding His blood on the cross, the Jews of Israel were required to sacrifice a perfect little lamb every year on the Day of Atonement; the High Priest would sprinkle the lamb’s blood on the Ark of the Covenant, and God’s law was temporarily set aside, looking forward to the super Day of Atonement when Jesus (Who was God Himself) gave His innocent blood on the cross. No more sacrifice is required; our sin-wage of death is paid by our acceptance of Jesus as Lord of our own lives and of the whole world. Those who do not accept or believe in Jesus remain condemned.

“The next day [after the Pharisees’ questions in John 1:24-28] John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world! … I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.’ “ (John 1:29-31)

This incident in John 1:29-34 is the occasion when Jesus began His 3+ years of ministry on earth. He came to be baptized by John Baptist, not because He had sinned and was repenting, but so His act would be an example to His followers. John demurred when He asked to be baptized, saying, “I have need of being baptized by you!” Jesus said, “Let it be so now.” It was symbolic of His being lowered into the grave in death and arising from the water to show He would be resurrected. John’s baptism of men had no saving power, nor did it result in receiving the Holy Spirit, as we learn from apostle Paul in Acts 19:4.

The book of John is not synoptic (parallel) to the books of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. The incidents from the life of Jesus will not be chronological as in the other gospels; also, the teachings of Jesus and miracles (called “signs”) will not be as numerous. The apostle John emphasized the theme of Christian love and proofs of the deity of Jesus. This book infuriated the Jewish leaders of Judaism more than any other, because they found it impossible or difficult to discredit the believers’ claims of Jesus’ being the Messiah. This book may have been the last straw for the Sanhedrin (the ruling council of Judaism), for soon after it appeared in about 90 A.D., Judaism officially detached itself from any Jewish groups that believed in Jesus’ Messiahship.

“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved,” (Romans 10:9)

John Baptist Denies Being The Christ (J4)

“If you’re not the Messiah, who are you?”
“A voice of one in the desert, crying out,
‘Make the path of the Savior straight and true;
Level all the hills, making smooth His route!’
I’m not the Christ; with water I baptize,
Am unworthy to untie His shoe lace;
With pow’r and fire, His great Kingdom will rise,
The Holy Spirit spreading truth and grace!
He now stands among you; you know Him not;
When His fame rises, I, John, must decline.”
The Sanhedrin’s spies thought John they had got—
That he would falsely claim to be divine!
Jesus was among them, though still unknown;
John named Him the Christ, when that day had gone!

“The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only [Son], who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John [the Baptist] testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, ‘This was he of whom I said, From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given by Moses; grace and truth come through Jesus Christ.’ “ (John 1:14-17) [Brackets added]

This poem and commentary are based upon the gospel Book of John, the apostle, Chapter 1, verses 14-28. Remember that the scripture was written by John, the apostle, and he is reporting on the testimony of another man named John, called the Baptist or Baptizer, who attracted great crowds just before the Messiah, who was Jesus of Nazareth, appeared. Try not to confuse John Apostle, the author, with John Baptist, about whom he is writing.

The comment made by John, the apostle, in verse 1:14: “We have seen his glory”, must refer to his own experience, with his brother, James, and Peter had when invited by Jesus; they went with Him up the Mount of Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-13). There, in great astonishment, they saw their leader Jesus in His heavenly attire:

"His face shone like the sun and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus.” (Matthew 17:2-3)

Can you see why John (the author) is so dogmatic about Jesus really being the divine Son of God? Three men, like us, like all men, seeing a sight like that!!! It would convince me about who Jesus was and is.

The ruling council of priests was called the Sanhedrin. They were very accustomed to dealing with the many imposters of the Messiah that appeared in Israel; they would send “investigators” to the spot, who would get the imposter to claim to be God, and since that was blasphemy, he was usually dragged off to jail. They expected no difference with John the Baptist. But he steadfastly denied being the Christ; instead he referred to Isaiah 40:3, where there was a well-known prophecy about “A voice crying in the wilderness”. The priestly spies could not accuse him of blasphemy, because, for all they knew, John was the legitimate forerunner of Messiah. John did not even claim to be Elijah (Malachi 4:5-6), although Jesus said he was Elijah in Matthew 17:11-13.

“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)

Jesus Came For Us (J3)

The true light of the world came after John—
Jesus was, is, and will be that true light;
For each that takes the gift, He is the bond;
He gave His life ev’ry man to invite!
He came to that which was His very own,
Living as a man, just like one of us;
He lived outdoors, when He should’ve had a throne;
We received Him not, nor gave Him our trust!
Yet, to believers, He gives eternal life,
And the right to become children of God;
Not by human wills of husband and wife,
But born of God, they’ll heavenly streets trod!
He loved us so, while we were yet sinners,
He suffered and died, to make us winners!

“ ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him.’ “ (1 Corinthians 2:9)

“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)

Continuing our series of poems and commentaries in the gospel of John, the apostle “whom Jesus loved”, we are discussing here John 1:9-13. Jesus is called “the light of the world” in the spiritual sense that by coming to live 33+ years among us, He brought the gospel of salvation by grace into a world that was in darkness; people did not know God, or that every person who lived was condemned to live forever in a place of torment. Jesus Himself was God; He had created the earth and everything and everyone in it; He loved all persons so much, He was willing to suffer and die Himself, so we would have a means of saving ourselves from the awful fate awaiting after our deaths. That means of “saving” ourselves is called the gospel, and Jesus came to tell us the good news, then pay for it with His death.
Salvation is a free gift—it cannot be earned or bought; it comes to a person when he or she believes that Jesus is Lord and is willing to love and honor Him for what He has done and is going to do for him or her. It is really tragic that so few people accepted the gift of salvation while Jesus was here; His own people, the Jews, had a Bible (the Old Testament) with 340 prophecies in it about Jesus, every one of which they could have easily verified which were fulfilled while He lived, yet they rejected and crucified Him. As prophesied, He rose from the dead in 3 days, and still lives today, proving that we, too, can be resurrected and will live forever. The “saved” will live in beauty and happiness; the condemnation is erased immediately when you believe.

Even more tragically, Christians of today are far outnumbered by non-believers; furthermore we can feel the growing hostility toward Christianity from society’s leadership in America today. Did you know that 54 of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence were Christians who believed in Jesus as Lord? Look around yourself today, at the store you’re in, the bus you are riding in, or the class you attend: How many believe in Jesus? What about you? Are you condemned or saved?

John The Baptist (J2)

John Baptist came first, to announce the light;
He was not the light; he prepared the way,
Calling men to repent, turning their hearts right,
That when the light came, each would seize the day!
God sent John to witness the coming light,
Elijah’s advent to herald the King,
To Jews so dulled in spiritual insight,
They’d not recognize him or the Real Thing!
Jesus went to John as a spur to us,
Not that John’s baptism He or we need,
But He and we show God our love and trust,
For non-lovers to witness a loving deed!
John the Baptist was faithful to his call,
And martyred like many others or all!

“ ‘See, [God] will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.’ “ (Malachi 4:5-6) [Brackets added] (This is the last verse in the Old Testament.)

John the Baptist was Jesus’ cousin, also of divine birth. Zechariah was a priest in Jerusalem; he an his wife Elizabeth were childless and too old to expect to have one. The angel Gabriel spoke to Zechariah in the temple one day, telling him they would have a child, and to name him John. He didn’t believe it at first, so the angel made him mute for the months until the baby was born (Luke Chapter 1). Later, Gabriel appeared to young virgin Mary in Nazareth and told her God had chosen her to bear His Son Jesus. At the same time, he told her her cousin Elizabeth was six months with child. When Mary visited Elizabeth, John jumped in her womb at the presence of his Savior in Mary’s womb.

Jesus confirmed that John the Baptist was the fulfillment of the prophecy about Elijah’s coming described in Malachi above (See Matthew 17:12). John the Baptist baptized many Jews who repented (meaning “changed their minds”) of their sins, and they became his disciples. Jesus Himself came to John for baptism; it had no divine necessity, but it showed that Jesus wanted His followers to show their love for God by performing things that honored Him. John announced to the onlookers at Jesus’ baptism that He was the promised Messiah or Christ that was coming to Israel. Two of John’s disciples, Phillip and Andrew, immediately followed Jesus and became apostles.

John’s baptism did not have the same power as baptism later in the name of Jesus. This was illustrated in Acts 19:1-4 when Paul came upon 12 men in Ephesus who believed in Jesus but who were not indwelled by the Holy Spirit. When they told him they had been baptized by John, he explained that they needed to be baptized in the name of Jesus. Since they were believers in Jesus already, Paul laid his hands on them in the name of Jesus, and they received the Spirit/

Jesus commended the work of John the Baptist, saying none was greater. King Herod had John beheaded at the request of his wife who hated John for exposing her adultery in marrying Herod when Herod had murdered her husband, his brother. Herod didn’t want to kill John, but he was so sexually inflamed by an erotic dance before him by Salome, his wife’s daughter, he promised her anything. She asked for John's head on a platter, having been previously instructed by her mother.

“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)

Jesus Was God In Flesh (J1)

In the beginning was unending void,
Inhabited by God, completely unawed;
Yet, of Himself, three equals He employed;
The Word was with God, and the Word was God!
Nothing was made that was made but through Him;
The Word released it all, in One Big Bang;
In it was energy, mass, all of them—
The sun, moon, stars, planets—the rest that hang!
In the Word was the life and light for men;
His light shone in the darkness of the earth;
So very few that see it comprehend,
Though He brought and taught it Himself by birth!
Before Time was, was Spirit, Word, and God;
The Word was Jesus, and with us He trod!

John the apostle’s gospel begins with the Bible’s strongest affirmation that the man known as Jesus of Nazareth was God Himself who spent more than 33 years in the flesh of a man, and the rest of forever running the world.

“ ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life and life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.’ “ (John 1:1-5)

The Word (logos in Greek) is universally understood as the Son of God, a deity equal with God, and as Jesus, “God with us”. John writes that He was with God in the beginning—that is, before the creation of the universe, before the beginning of time—and that He was God. Here we brush up to the mystery of the Trinity; the word “three” is therefore used in the poem. The use of the word “employed” merely signifies that in carrying out the various divine tasks necessary to God’s master plan, He has the power to make use of three equal divinities, yet is but One God.

The author of the fourth gospel in the New Testament is John, the youngest of the original 12 apostles of our Lord Jesus. He never uses his name “John”, employing only the phrase, “the one whom Jesus loved”. He was the one who “leaned on the breast of Jesus at the Last Supper on Thursday before His crucifiction on Friday. He was the only apostle at the crucifiction; Jesus turned His morther, the virgin Mary, over to John to care for, and from that hour he did so.

He wrote his gospel in about 90 A.D., and it was the last straw for Judaism with respect to Christianity. There had been much conflict between the Old Testament religion of the Jews and several of the various sects that to one degree or another had followed Jesus of Nazareth as the long-promised “Moshiach” or Messiah, but it was not until John’s gospel was published that Judaism cut its last tie to Christianity, officially rejecting Jesus as Moshiach and outlawing any group that said He was. Their anger was kindled finally and forever by John’s book, because unlike the first three synoptic gospels that were more biographical, John emphasized the deity of Jesus, by his selection of miracles or “signs” (which pointed to miracles or healing possible only to God); by his emphasis upon spiritual interpretation, for which Jews were too dull to present counter arguments that carried credibility, etc. Every paragraph of the Gospel of John cut Judaism to the quick and left them defenseless to discredit. John emphasized the impossibility of salvation for any other than belief in Jesus, which not only obliterated Judaism’s chances for eternal life, but in the modern world destroys the diversity that postmodernism has popularized in today’s culture. Every proposition of truth in John’s gospel allows of no watered-down alternative so popular in the world of celebrity today. John 14:6 allows for the acceptance of no religion except fundamental Christianity. Heaven’s populace is going to worship Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, and absolutely none other, no matter how few in number!

“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)

Blotted Out Of God's Book Of Life

Six billion live today; how many more,
Conceived, since the first two gamboled about;
These great sums plus all the unborns in store,
Fill God’s Book of Life; not one name’s left out!
All written, too, ere God made the first star;
The Lamb makes sure all the worthy stays in;
Blotted out, yes! The unworthy names are!
None blotted before death, when chances end!
The Book Evolves, so long as one yet lives,
Becomes Final, when last livers expire;
If one calls out for Jesus, He forgives;
His name stays; the blotted go to the fire!
If you believe in Jesus, your name’s there;
If you lived without Jesus, your name’s not there!

Before the universe was created, before the Big Bang, God made a Book of Life in which the name of every human being ever conceived would have his or her name written in it. That Book is kept in heaven and is evolving continually so long as humans are being conceived, born, live, and die; it will become final and be called the Lamb’s Book of Life at the physical death of the last human being. No new name will ever be added, because it contained all names before creation. A name is blotted out of the Book after the physical death of any person who lived his or her entire life without ever believing in the name of Jesus as Lord. If a living person confesses his or her belief in Jesus as Lord, his or her name is never blotted from the Book of Life.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believed in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” (John 3:16-18)

At the physical death of each conceived person, his or her name in the Book of Life is either blotted out or not. If during his or her lifetime, he or she ignored Jesus and did not confess belief in Him, his or her name is blotted out and can never be written back in. If, however, he or she professed belief in Jesus during life, his or her name is never blotted out of the Book.

“If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:15)

This is written in the section of the Bible describing the final judgment. No person can be conceived whose name was not written into the Book of Life before the foundation of the world. Unborn babies and those who die before the age of accountability are not ever blotted from the Book. The same is true for those with mental handicaps so severe that they never reach an age of accountability. All, however, who do reach the age of accountability are either saved or condemned, according to their decision during life concerning Jesus.

“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)

A Sign Missed By Pharisees

Jonah took passage on a ship to Spain,
Running from God wha wanted him to go
Warn Ninevites from sinning to refrain,
Else their city faced divine anger’s blow!
God sent a fierce storm that held the ship back,
Threatened to sink it if Jonah kept on;
The crew knew Jonah caused the storm’s attack;
Threw him over to enter a quiet zone!
God had Jonah swallowed by a great fish,
Ere he died, he promised to follow God’s wish;
So the fish swam to land and spewed him out;
Resurrected, to Nineveh his route!
Jonah died in the fish, but God raised him;
Pharisees had their sign, but were too dim

“Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, ‘Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you.’ He answered, ‘A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! [They had just seen him return a blind man’s sight and his power of speech.] But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment of this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here,’ “ (Matthew 12:38-40) [Brackets added]

Jesus had performed miracle ater miracle in front of thousands of people, including Pharisees and teachers of the law, yet they had the gall to ask Him to perform a miracle! They were speaking nonsense only to be heard by the people, attempting to discredit Jesus from being the Messiah. The prophet Jonah, about 800 years befoe the the birth of Jesus, and with whose words they were very familiar, had been told by God to go from his home in northern Israel to Nineveh, the capital city of Assyria, and preach to them repentance from sin. If they didn’t repent and change from evil practices, God would destroy the city. Jonah didn’t want to do it; he was a Jew, and he hated Gentiles. It would please him if the city was destroyed. So he went west, the opposite direction, and at Joppa took a ship sailing to Tarshish, Spain, a city at the western end of the Mediterranean Sea. Remember, too, the Jews were so pompous about God’s choosing them, that they believed He was exclusively for Jews. God is a worldwide deity; if Nineveh repented, their city would be spared destruction. So Jonah ran from God.

God brought a great storm that threatened to sink the ship. Jonah had told the captain he was running away from God. The crew worshiped idols; they called on Jonah to pray to his God to stop the storm. They tried to row back to shore, but nothing helped, so they determined to throw Jonah overboard. They did, and the sea became calm. They turned to Jehovah then when they realized how powerful He was. Meanwhile, Jonah had five minutes or so before he drowned or was swallowed by the fish, so he prayed to God, repenting and promising to follow His command to go to Ninevah. He was swallowed by a special fish God prepared, who swam back to land and vomited Jonah out on shore. God restored his life, and he immediately started his trip to Ninevah. Jesus used Jonah’s three days in the belly of the fish and his resurrection as the only sign the Pharisees would have, for they would see Him crucified and spend three days in the tomb before His resurrection.

“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)

Why Jesus Taught In Parables

“Why do you teach the people in stories
That make it difficult to understand?
If you wanted them to grasp the glories
Of the Kingdom, speak as plainly as you can!”
Cried the disciples to Jesus one day.
“It is not given to Judah to know
Kingdom secrets, but you’re giv’n the way,”
He answered, “that to heaven you may go!”
The use of parables was meant to fog
Calloused minds of Jews, made that way by God;
Also, to guide seekers of a righteous fate
Through earth’s evils to heaven’s pearly gate!
Parables were used not to better teach,
But to put heaven out of Judah’s reach*!

*Until Christ’s Second Coming

“The disciples came to him and asked, ‘Why do you teach in parables? He replied,’The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. … This is why I speak to them in parables: In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah*…’ “ (Mattew 12:10-17)
*Isaiah 6:9-10

Jesus had just finished teaching a Jewish crowd, in which He had told the parable of the sower of seed. Even His disciples had difficulty relating the story of the sower whose seed fell on various types of ground. Since they knew the poor Jews of Galilee would also not understand Jesus’ lesson in this and other parables, they asked Him why He taught in this manner. He reminded them of the judgment God had placed on Israel as told them by Isaiah during his ministry. God had become so hurt by Israel’s repeated disobedience, that He dulled their spiritual insight. Of course, God had known before creation that the Chosen People could not keep their responsibilities under their covenant with Him; He had planned from the very beginning to send Jesus, His Son, to earth in human flesh to be sacrificed for the sins of all men. That is the reason He dulled their insight---had they accepted Jesus as their King and Lord, where would be the atonement for sin? The Jews had to reject Jesus and crucify Him, so that God’s plan would unfold as planned. Therefore, Jesus taught in parables for two reasons: 1. To befuddle the Jews; and 2. So that His disciples and Gentiles with insight would be saved.

It might be that some people will consider God unjust to the Jews. In effect, they were denied equal opportunity for salvation with the Gentiles for the 2000 or more years from the birth of Jesus until today and beyond (until Christ returns); but consider this: The Gentiles were denied salvation for more than 2000 years as well from the creation of Adam until the apostles’ spreading the gospel to them after Jesus arose to heaven; plus, when He returns, He will pour out so much grace on the Jews that most of the remnant will be saved. You can read about this in Zechariah 12:10-11.

“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)

Posted June 1, 2010

Why Jesus Taught In Parables

"Why do you teach the people in stories
That make it difficult to understand?
If you wanted them to grasp the glories
Of the Kingdom, speak as plainly as you can!”
Cried the disciples to Jesus one day.
“It is not given to Judah to know
Kingdom secrets, but you’re giv’n the way,”
He answered, “that to heaven you may go!”
The use of parables was meant to fog
Calloused minds of Jews, made that way by God;
Also, to guide seekers of a righteous fate
Through earth’s evils to heaven’s pearly gate!
Parables were used not to better teach,
But to put heaven out of Judah’s reach*!

*Until Christ’s Second Coming

“The disciples came to him and asked, ‘Why do you teach in parables? He replied,’The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. … This is why I speak to them in parables: In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah*…’ “ (Mattew 12:10-17)
*Isaiah 6:9-10

Jesus had just finished teaching a Jewish crowd, in which He had told the parable of the sower of seed. Even His disciples had difficulty relating the story of the sower whose seed fell on various types of ground. Since they knew the poor Jews of Galilee would also not understand Jesus’ lesson in this and other parables, they asked Him why He taught in this manner. He reminded them of the judgment God had placed on Israel as told them by Isaiah during his ministry. God had become so hurt by Israel’s repeated disobedience, that He dulled their spiritual insight. Of course, God had known before creation that the Chosen People could not keep their responsibilities under their covenant with Him; He had planned from the very beginning to send Jesus, His Son, to earth in human flesh to be sacrificed for the sins of all men. That is the reason He dulled their insight---had they accepted Jesus as their King and Lord, where would be the atonement for sin? The Jews had to reject Jesus and crucify Him, so that God’s plan would unfold as planned. Therefore, Jesus taught in parables for two reasons: 1. To befuddle the Jews; and 2. So that His disciples and Gentiles with insight would be saved.

It might be that some people will consider God unjust to the Jews. In effect, they were denied equal opportunity for salvation with the Gentiles for the 2000 or more years from the birth of Jesus until today and beyond (until Christ returns); but consider this: The Gentiles were denied salvation from the creation of Adam until the apostles’ spreading the gospel to them after Jesus arose to heaven; plus, when He returns, He will pour out so much grace on the Jews that most of the remnant will be saved. You can read about this in Zechariah 12:10-11.

“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)