3. John 1

(This is the eighth in a series of ten posts counting down my ten favorite chapters in the New Testament. My friend David is also counting down his ten favorite chapters in the New Testament. You can find the corresponding post on his blog by clicking here.)

The gospel of John reveals Jesus Christ as God, so it's appropriate that the first chapter in John spans eternity past to eternity future. There are six key phrases in six different verses that cover six major steps along this pathway:

1. The Word - divinity
• "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (v. 1)
• Chronologically, this verse precedes the creation of the world in Genesis 1:1. This verse also shows Jesus Christ's divinity. Jesus Christ has been God since eternity past.
2. Flesh - incarnation
• "And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us...full of grace and reality." (v. 14)
• This verse reveals the incarnation of Christ. God came to dwell in a man, bringing divinity into humanity for the first time.
3. Lamb - redemption
• "The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (v. 29)
• Jesus shed His blood as the fulfillment of the sacrificial lambs in the Old Testament in order to redeem us of all our sins and trespasses.
4. Dove - the Spirit
• "And John testified, saying, I beheld the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He abode upon Him." (v. 32)
• Just as the Spirit was with Jesus Christ on the earth, today we have the life-giving Spirit with us and inside us at all times to meet every need.
5. Cephas - the stone
• "Jesus said, You are Simon...you shall be called Cephas (which is interpreted, Peter)." (v. 42)
• Peter means stone in Greek. Jesus here indicated that He would transform Peter into a living stone for God's building (see 1 Peter 2). This is the major work of the Spirit in all the believers.
6. Heaven opened - the house of God
• "You shall see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man." (v. 51)
• The last verse in the chapter hearkens back to Jacob's dream in Genesis 28. There Jacob saw a ladder joining heaven and earth and called that place Bethel (the house of God). The ultimate issue of God's work will be the building of the house of God in which heaven and earth, as well as God and man, are joined by Christ for all eternity! 

 John 1 also contains some great verses for preaching the gospel, including verses 17: 

"For the law was given through Moses; grace and reality came through Jesus Christ." 

So many religious people focus on the law, but the purpose of the law was merely to lead us to Jesus Christ, who is grace and reality! Jesus was even the fulfillment of the law (Matthew 5:17).
 You also have verses 12-13:

"But as many as received Him, to them He gave authority to become children of God, to those who believe into His name, who were begotten not of blood nor of the will of man, but of God."

Wow! To receive the Lord is simply to believe into His name, and anyone who does so is begotten of God as a legitimate child with the same life and genetics (not just an adopted child). I'm so happy that this one chapter reveals the plan of God from eternity past to eternity future, and also how we can participate in this wonderful plan, simply by receiving Him!

8. John 4

(This is the third in a series of ten posts counting down my ten favorite chapters in the New Testament. My friend David is also counting down his ten favorite chapters in the New Testament. You can find the corresponding post on his blog by clicking here.)

On my preliminary list of top ten chapters from the first half of the New Testament, John chapter 4 was ranked behind five other chapters. Since then, John 4 has leapfrogged over some of those chapters to #8. Of course, it doesn't hurt that the name of the blog comes from verse 29:

"Come, see a man who told me all that I have done. Is this not the Christ?"

This verse is the response of a Samaritan woman after her encounter with Jesus at the well. The story of the woman at the well is only found in the gospel of John, but it is my favorite story among all those in the gospels. The Samaritan woman was a typical person living in the world, thirsty for satisfaction. However, she could never find what she desired. She tried five different husbands, and by the time she met Jesus, she was on her sixth (verses 16-18). Just like this woman, we all have many different husbands we turn to for satisfaction: education, wealth, entertainment, sports, relationships, food, etc. However, none of these things can satisfy us.

But once the woman met Jesus, she met someone that could satisfy her thirst! We need to meet Jesus in the same way! Jesus told the woman in verses 13-14:

"Everyone who drinks of this water [the wordly water] shall thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall by no means thirst forever; but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life."

The water that Jesus gives us, which is just Himself as life, not only quenches our thirst eternally, but also wells up and overflows from us like a fountain! At this point in the story, the woman was amazed enough to realize that Jesus was a prophet (verse 19), but she still thought she had to go to Jerusalem to find the living water and worship the Father. Jesus' response in verse 24 is crucial to our Christians life:

"God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness."

We don't have to go to Jerusalem or any specific place to worship God and receive the water of life. We just have to turn inward to our human spirit, where the water of life is springing up! Finally, the woman was convinced that Jesus was not just a prophet, but rather the Christ. All she could do was to go tell her friends and all the people in her city to come see Jesus (verse 29). When we meet Jesus Christ as the water of life, we will also spontaneously tell people to "come, see a man."

The previous paragraphs explain John 4 from the view of the woman's need as a thirsty sinner. However, we can also examine this chapter from the view of God's need as the thirsty Savior. Actually, Jesus was the first person to indicate his thirst, before the woman, in verse 7:

"There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, Give Me something to drink."

But at the end of the chapter, Jesus is no longer thirsty or hungry. When the disciples offer him food, he refuses, saying in verses 32 and 34.

"...I have food to eat that you do not know about...my food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work."

In between these two verses, what happened? Jesus met the woman's need by giving her the living water! God's need is to meet our need. He is satisfied when we allow Him to satisfy us.

What an awesome chapter! I have written three previous posts about John chapter 4, which just underscores how much I like this chapter. How can there possibly be seven chapters that I like more? Those chapters must be pretty good...

The Seventh Man in John 4

I haven't wrote on the blog in a while, since I have been very busy moving back to Austin and getting ready for the semester to start. Well, the semester started yesterday and this evening was an enjoyable beginning with a welcome dinner for Christians on Campus. I have to blog about the dinner tonight because afterward, brother Cary Ard gave a short message on John 4, including the title verse of this blog.

One new thing impressed me very much about the passage. Jesus was actually the seventh man met by the Samaritan woman at the well. The first five were husbands and the sixth was not her husband (v. 18), but perhaps a man she was living with at the time. What is the significance of these first six men? Each one represents something in the physical realm that she went to for satisfaction, but could not satisfy her. That's why she kept searching for a new man to satisfy her! For those of us in college, our "husbands" could be many different things. Some of us may seek satisfaction from new clothes, from new electronics, or from new friends. But in the end, none of these things in the physical realm will satisfy.

The only thing that will satisfy us is the seventh man, Jesus! When the woman met Jesus, she met the living water which quenched her thirst forever (v. 13-14). In the same way, I beseech the Lord that we would each meet him in such a personal way as the one who satisfies our thirst.

Then we can truly say, "Come, see man."

The Third Day

In my Bible reading today, I read John chapter 2, a chapter that I have probably read at least 10 times in my life. But this time I noticed something new.

The transition between chapters 1 and 2 of John is extremely awkward. Chapter 1 ends with Jesus speaking to Nathanael, a newly met disciple. Chapter 2 begins, "And the third day a wedding took place in Cana..."

The third day of what!?!

John gives no clue what the third day means. The third day of the week? The third day of the month? The third day of his brand new job? He doesn't say. I don't think he cares, because for him the third day had a deeper significance.

Of course, Jesus was resurrected on the third day after his death. In the context of John chapter 2, the third day also signifies resurrection! The next several verses talk about Jesus changing the water into wine, a sign (verse 11) for changing death into life, which is resurrection.

John's gospel is a gospel all about life, and from the first verse of chapter 2, he sets forth this principle of resurrection.