"Now the apostles and the brethren who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, those who were circumcised took issue with him, saying, 'You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.' But Peter began speaking and proceeded to explain to them in orderly sequence" (Acts 11:1-3). Peter did something that appeared to the apostles and other Jewish believers to be a blatant contradiction of the Torah (Lev 20:25–26), and most certainly against well-established Jewish customs (see Acts 10:28). If ever someone had an opportunity to justify his actions by saying, "God told me," it was Peter (see Acts 10:20). Peter was not at all offended by the question, and did not simply wave the "Holy Spirit" card by saying, "God told me! That settles it!" Rather, Peter takes the time carefully explain and defend his actions with all the supporting evidence: his vision (11:4-10); the perfectly timed arrival of the messengers (11:11); the Spirit's command to go without misgivings (11:12); the angel's message to Cornelius to send for Peter (11:13-14); the Spirit-baptism of the Gentiles before Peter finished his sermon in the presence of six other Messianic Jewish witnesses (11:12, 15); and Jesus' own word that Spirit baptism is greater than water baptism (11:16-17). Does God still speak to his people today? Of course he does! But because of the deceitfulness of the human heart (Jer 17:9), the devil's ability to masquerade as an angel of light (2 Cor 11:14) and to misquote Scripture (Matt 4:6), and our own struggles sometimes to discern between the voice of God and our own personal feelings, we must follow Peter's lead and joyfully accept the accountability that has to come with the claim that "God told me." For if we don't, we may find ourselves alienated from those who truly love us, and inadvertently accusing God for decisions sincerely made in violation of Scripture and according to our own flesh. "And the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets; for God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints" (1 Cor 14:32-33).

"While Peter was reflecting on the vision, the Spirit said to him, 'Behold, three men are looking for you. But get up, go downstairs and accompany them without misgivings, for I have sent them Myself.' ... The Spirit told me to go with them without misgivings" (Acts 10:19-20; 11:12). I remember as a new believer wondering if I had been deemed worthy enough to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Because of my personal struggles, I had assumed there was more I needed to do before I could receive the Spirit: special prayers I needed to pray, personal changes I needed to make. Luke's description of the Holy Spirit in Acts 10-11, however, gives us an entirely different perspective. It was the Spirit of God who urges Peter to go to Caesarea without misgivings or delay. It was the Holy Spirit who cuts Peter off mid-sermon to fall upon the Gentiles (Acts 10:44; 11:15). While it would be inappropriate to describe the Holy Spirit as impatient, in this narrative Luke describes the Spirit as someone who can no longer contain his excitement to make someone God's brand new child. While we have a tendency to conceive of Holy Spirit as a building inspector searching for every possible flaw, Luke's narrative reminds us that he is the Spirit of Adoption who graciously and excitedly desires to grow God's spiritual family! "For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, 'Abba! Father!'" (Rom 8:15).
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"Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins" (Acts 10:43). It's verses like these that make me want to spend the rest of my life studying the Old Testament. While the relationship between the Old Testament and Jesus is obvious to me in some cases, Peter's use of the word "all" (i.e., "all the prophets bear witness") make me realize many more yet-to-be-discovered treasures await me if only I will spend more time pouring over and meditating upon the Bible of Yeshua! "Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law" (Ps 119:18). "Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures" (Luke 24:27). "Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so" (Acts 17:11).
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​"While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message" (Acts 10:44). Many a preacher (myself included), and many more of those who are forced to listen to them every week from the pews, wish the Holy Spirit would interrupt sermons far more frequently. I suspect people would be a lot more excited to come to church if they came to the service knowing God, and not the preacher, is the speaker! "And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God" (1 Cor 2:1-5).

"Yea, He saith, 'It is too light a thing for you to be My servant, to establish the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the scions of Israel, and I shall submit you as a light unto the nations, to be My salvation until the end of the earth' Isaiah 49:6.

God’s makes himself known as Lord through divine revelation, which is given to all people through creation and human nature and to specific people through events, inspired human words recorded as Scripture, and Jesus Christ himself.

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​Kabbalah for Today?

That hidden wisdom is the revelation of Jesus Christ, Christ in you, unity with the divine through the Holy Spirit revealed in The New Testament and Word of God. Through the Holy Spirit, divine spiritual truths and hidden knowledge can be revealed and interpreted. Jesus Christ, light to the nations, redeemer of the world... for ALL is fulfilled in the law and prophets, both old and new. 

COLOSSIANS 1:19–20For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. 

Christ’s death is the beginning of the redemption and renewal of every part of fallen creation, as he powerfully directs all things for his own glory and creation’s good. 
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​“When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’” -John 8:12

“I am the light of the world,” is rooted in Jesus’ relationship with His Father. John Piper states, “Jesus speaks from God and for God and as God.” Apart from Jesus, we live in darkness. We have limited capacity to understand who we are or what we see in the world. “The beauty of our humanity is still evident,” writes Aimee Joseph,“but ugliness abounds.” 

“The light of Christ,” writes John Piper, “is the brightness of God shining on the retina of the human soul.” Life can be wonderful on earth, but not fully complete without Jesus. We are all created to crave the Creator, our Father, and only through a relationship with our Savior Jesus can the dark parts of our hearts brighten. “When I admit I am not enough, I’m freed to run and cling to the God who is.” -Aimee Joseph 
The Light of the world paid for our freedom on the cross.

The Biblical Context of the Verse "I Am the Light of the World”Jesus consistently focused on linking Himself to the Father. The Greek word for light in this verse is phos, defined as the light; anything emitting light; light, i.e. brightness. God profoundly states, “I am.” Light is part of who He is. Subtle but powerful.

Each day, the sun rises to warm, illuminate, and provide growth on earth. The moon and stars light the night, serving as navigators long before smartphones. We reach for the light-switch when we enter a dark room, and we depend on our accumulation of knowledge to shed light on our lives. Light permeates into every crack and crevice of our lives and beings, whether visible, tangible in regard to warmth, or metaphorically enlightening. The origin of phos describes how light makes manifest, evident, exposed or clear.

Light is required for any vegetation to grow, and the light clarifies the human spirit. Christ was present at the creation of the world. The Author of Light has the authority to illuminate His creation in its truest form. Jesus saying He is the Light of the world is the outer recognition of His Father’s creation and presence, and the inward dwelling of the Holy Spirit, by which we know our Father and walk with Jesus. Jesus is the Light of the world, our world, and in the world. Like God is omnipresent, so Jesus is Light. Through Him and His sacrificial death on the cross, we are exposed to the light and of our sins. 

Christ is the Light of the world. God is light, and Christ is the image of the invisible God. One sun enlightens the whole world; so does one Christ, and there needs no more. -Matthew Henry Commentary, Concise

A boat needs navigational lights to avoid running into the shore, aground or into other vessels at night. Light prevents aimless drifting. Captains follow blinking channel markers and lighthouses at night. Now, GPS coordinates steer ships, but the Captain and crew still need to know how to navigate by the stars, buoys and lights in case of an electrical malfunction. A lack of preparation could be deadly.

Just as ships follow lights to ensure safe passage, so we rely on the Light. Jesus’s death broke through the darkness, lighting the way for us. God’s Word, through the enlightening of the Holy Spirit, helps us understand and remember when we need His wisdom to steer us. Prayer, which serves dually as life boat and lighthouse throughout our everyday lives is an open line of communication not available to Old Testament believers. We learn from the beginning of the book of Genesis and John’s Gospel that Jesus was present, and that He is the Word. Everything the light touches, He is a part of.

“While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” -John 9:5Darkness, in John 8:12, is the Greek word skotia, defined as the darkness due to the want of light and used to describe ignorance of divine things. It’s associated with wickedness, and the resultant misery in hell. Genesis 1:4 says, “God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.” Jesus is the Light of the world, and all who are separate or far from Him live in darkness. Being separate, ignorant, or unaware of the dark leaves us wanting for something we cannot produce on our own. We come to the end of ourselves in frustration, hopelessness, or an aloof sense of happiness and joy, when we traverse through life in darkness. With Christ, we have the absolute fullness of life. 

What Happened Before and After?John was Jesus’ best friend on this earth, referring to himself as “the one Jesus loved.” He was the only one of the twelve at the cross when Jesus died. How we begin our stories says a lot about what we understand and believe most. John undoubtedly knew who Jesus was, both on earth as his friend and as His God made flesh.

“The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.” -John 1:9-10

The phrase we are studying today is part of Jesus’ long debate with the Pharisees (John 2:19; John 3:3). This string of preaching, miracles, and conversion resulted in increased persecution from the Jewish leaders. Before Jesus’ testimonial declaration as the Light of the World, John recorded Jesus writing on the ground to scatter a woman’s accusers, further fueling the debate. Jesus then heals a blind man, which in turn is investigated by the Pharisees, striking a conversation not just about physical blindness, but spiritual.

Who is Jesus Talking To?Jesus was talking to a group of Jewish leaders prominently referred to as Pharisees. It’s suspected the title originates from a Hebrew word meaning separate or detached. They separated themselves from anything that didn’t align with the way they interpreted Levitical (Old Testament covenant) Law. As Jesus spoke, people started to believe Him. Their claims didn’t diminish His confidence. 

“Notice, it was Jesus’s words that God used to bring about the faith. He wasn’t doing miracles at this point. He was speaking. In fact, he was going back and forth with the Pharisees and the crowd — those who were blind to what he was saying. And as people listened to his words, they believed. Faith comes by hearing — the word of Christ (Romans 10:17)."  -“I Am the Light of the Word,” John Piper
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More Bible References about Light

• John 1:4 - "In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.”
• 1 John 1:5 - "This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.”
• Matthew 5:14 - "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.”
• 2 Corinthians 4:6 - "For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”amade his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.”
• Philippians 2:15 - “so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appearas lights in the world,"
• Daniel 12:9 - "He said, ‘Go your way, Daniel, for these words are concealed and sealed up until the end time.”
• 1 Thessalonians 5:5 - "You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.”
• 1 John 1:7 - "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
• Psalm 119:105 - "Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.”

For more verses about light, click here.
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How Jesus is the Light of the World“For all the positive thinking around us, there sure is a lot of hardship and pain,” says Owen Strachan.

Through Christ, we have access to the Father. Our perspective brightens when touched by the Light. Illumined by the Creator, we are able to hang onto the shreds of light that permeate the darkness. “Jesus’s works made who he was manifestly clear,” writes Jon Bloom, “His works shone, and they still shine.” Jesus shines light into the cracks of our hearts that harbor sin. Once revealed, the conviction of the Holy Spirit instructs and guides us to repent. We grow wiser as He sanctifies our hearts to reflect His light. 

What was Jesus Trying to Get Across to His Listeners?“An entire system of spiritual darkness - spearheaded by Satan himself, carried out by hordes of demons, and influencing every corner of earth- rages right below the surface of our everyday lives,” writes Marshal Legal in God’s Not Afraid of the Dark, “How do we live with any hope while we drown in all of this darkness?”

We are self-centered and self-driven without Jesus. We come to the end of ourselves and our efforts and become overwhelmed by the natural darkness in our hearts. No one has “a good heart” in a natural state. "We all fall short". Jesus came so we would experience the power of the Holy Spirit. God’s loving embrace through the wisdom of His word and our relationship with Him shed His light on others living in darkness.

“One reason the darkness around us is so terrifying is that we see so much of ourselves in it - our weaknesses, our fears, our brokenness, our sin,” writes Segal,“for many of us, no darkness is more intimidating than our own.”
What Does it Mean for Christians to View Jesus as the Light of the World?“In Adam, things to do get better. But in Christ, the future is impossibly bright.” -Owen Strachan

Jesus gives us the vision to see who we are in Him. Only the light of the world can show us who we are and guide us responsibly through life. “Following Jesus is more than tagging along behind him. It means following him for who he is. Being so taken with him that you join yourself to Him.” -John Piper

Light is akin to freedom. We’re wide open to the world when we walk with our Creator. Walking in the light means embracing our individuality when we release our self-centered methods for His definition of love. Consider how He knows all of us before we breathe our first breath on earth. Let the fact that He took each of our names to the cross permeate. The Light of the World knows what we do not. We can be so focused on getting to where we are going that we miss many turns along the road to a full and abundantly bright life.

“His light doesn’t make the darkness any less dark; it just conquers every shadow with something stronger.” -Marshall Segal

Are Christians Also Called to Be the Light of World?“What makes us shine?” writes Jon Bloom, “Our outward, observable, public works make clear who we are and whose we are manifestly clear.”

Jesus brings light to the far corners of our communities and our world. Matthew 5:14says, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.” When we live our lives reflecting the Light, it allows others to see His love. We are called to share the gospel, but more importantly than what we say is how we live. “It’s not merely what the shining people do, but why they do it and how they do it,” writes Bloom, “and we’ve found ourselves both drawn totem and unnerved by them, because the light of their humble, word-and-deed love has both warmed our hearts and exposed our selfishness and pride.” Light affects everything. It permeates truth into every situation. It’s true Love, on earth. Anne Graham-Lotz wrote, “Praise God! The Light of the World is the Light of Heaven!” Only He can empower us to love the people He purposefully places in our lives well, and His love lights up the world. “You are a light in the darkness - a servant of God who is being watched, who gives off light …a very distinct message with hardly a word being said,” 


KABBALAH. The mere mention of the word conjures up images of magical and mysterious otherworldly dimensions, of spiritual secrets that are profoundly miraculous and deeply inspiring. Nowadays it seems everyone-Jew or non-Jew, famous or nameless-is discovering and uncovering the divine truths of Kabbalah. Or are they?

That question raises three, more pointed ones: What is the essence of Kabbalah? Will opening the exploration of Kabbalah to the masses demean and distort this extremely difficult and highly spiritual subject, reducing it to the level of pop culture? If Kabbalah is not appropriate for popular study, is it somehow still relevant to our lives?

Kabbalah literally means “receiving”; in Israel today, the receipt you get when making a purchase is called a kabbalah. The Bible, or Written Law, is given by God and is available to anyone who can read it. The Oral Law-which includes the Kabbalah-is received, passed directly from teacher to pupil.

Most of Torah is considered Torah haniglet-revealed Torah, to be studied by all Jews. Kabbalah, however, was designated chochmah nisteret-hidden wisdom. In truth, Kabbalah was never literally hidden, but was not widely, or even publicly, studied.

The reason for restricting the study of Kabbalah relates to its subject matter. Kabbalah encompasses two general themes: ma’aseh bereshit-the theory or description of creation-and ma’aseh merkavah-Ezekiel’s description of the Heavenly Chariot, which teaches us about the relationship between humans and the Almighty.

When I discuss matters that are tangible and open for all to see and appreciate, things that are already “revealed,” it is simple for others to verify the truth of what I say. But if I am talking about angels, for example, I must be very careful. If I speculate from ignorance, what I say will be nonsense. And it may become dangerous nonsense if I fail to realize the power and meaning of what I am saying and end up defiling the Majesty of God.

Equally as esoteric as its subject matter is the language of Kabbalah. It is presented as a stream of abstract formulas, conveyed in Kabbalah’s own unique jargon, understood only by a select cadre of scholars trained to decipher it. To avoid misunderstanding, Kabbalah had to be taught one-on-one by a master teacher singularly attuned to the capabilities and receptivity of each student. One cannot simply open the classic Kabbalistic texts and glean their truths in a vacuum.

Unfortunately, today Kabbalah has been commercialized by those who pretend to grasp its innermost secrets. These pretenders purport to teach-and to sell-what they do not understand, to people who are not equipped to receive it. Kabbalah’s mystifying formulas become nothing more than intoxicating mantras to those who mindlessly repeat them. This is like trying to cure an illness by chanting the chemical formula of the remedy.

This is not to say that Kabbalah should not be studied and learned. In fact, it is incumbent upon Jewish scholars to understand the whole map of Torah from beginning to end, the Hidden Law no less than the Revealed Law. Throughout history, there have been those who, very quietly, achieved extensive knowledge of the Hidden Law.

But today, most of us are simply incapable of comprehending Kabbalah. For us the question is, “Is there some way we, too, can ‘receive’ the remarkable teachings of Kabbalah in a meaningful way, without treading upon its divine essence?”

One answer lies in the Hasidic approach to Kabbalah.

It is a basic Kabbalistic concept that the human soul is, in a manner of speaking, a spark of Divine revelation within the world and that each human being is a microcosm of the entire universe. Hasidism shows how the rarified teachings of Kabbalah, which speak to the macro-universe, can be adapted into a structure with ethical and practical meaning for our individual lives.
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In this way, Hasidism is a form of applied Kabbalah. Just as the Revealed Law frames the behavior of our bodies, the internalization of Kabbalistic notions of the Hidden Law can attune us to our soul, educating it to connect with the Divine. In this model, the power of Kabbalah is harnessed not to serve our own desires but to align them with the wishes of the Almighty.

One of the most important Hasidic books is called Zohar Chai, “the living Zohar.” That is what Hasidism does: It gives the Kabbalah life by translating it into something meaningful in one’s relationships with others and, most important, something that can quell the strife within one’s own soul and calm the struggle of one’s inner being.
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In order to properly understand the meaning of exile and redemption from a Jewish perspective, one must go back to the deepest roots of history, specifically to the second verse of the creation story:


The earth was null and void and there was darkness upon the face of the deep, and the spirit of God hovered above the water. (Genesis 1:2)
For, with respect to this seemingly uninformative verse, the rabbis have written a very insightful explanation:

"Null" -- this refers to the Babylonian exile (423-371 BCE). "Void" refers to the Median exile (371-356 BCE.). "Darkness" -- the Greek exile (318-138 BCE). "The face of the deep" -- to the last exile of Rome (approx. 63 BCE until the present day). "And the spirit of God" -- alludes to the Messianic period at the end of days. (Genesis Rabba 2:4)

Within this single and ominous verse, there is an allusion to all four exiles that the Jewish people were destined to experience throughout their long history until the Messianic time, which has still yet to occur. And without exception, all of them have come to pass as predicted, with the final exile, the "Roman Exile" still in progress.

The question is: Why does this verse describing primordial chaos so strongly allude to the future exiles of a people which, at the time, had yet to exist? What connection is there between this dark and incomplete stage of creation and the concept of exile and redemption?


THE CONCEPT OF HOLY SPARKS

The concept of "tohu," the Hebrew word for "null," is a deeply Kabbalistic one. Even though it is mentioned in the second verse of the creation story, it is really a description of the pre-creation state (Zohar, Genesis 15a), which was a combination of a certain spiritual matter from which creation was made, and Holy Sparks (Nitzutzei Kedusha).

What is a Holy Spark? Holy Sparks are like the spiritual fuel of creation, and nothing can exist or function anywhere in the universe without a Holy Spark. These are, in a sense, spiritual packets of God's Holy Light, that actually represent the constriction and filtering of that Light. Without this constriction and filtering, physical creation could never exist, because God's Light would remain too intense for anything physical to contain It. Thus, the more Holy Sparks something possesses, the holier it is and by definition the more life it has.

These are spiritual packets of God's Holy Light, constricted and filtered.
For the sake of creation, the sparks which began on a very high spiritual level were sent down to the lowest of spiritual levels, a place of great spiritual impurity. To make creation, God drew out exactly as many sparks as He deemed necessary to make creation, and left the remainder for man to utilize as a partner in perfecting creation.

There is not an infinite amount of Holy Sparks in creation. In fact, history is measured by these sparks, and will come to a close when all sparks have been drawn out of the tohu and returned to their holy source Above. It is then -- once all the sparks that God has made available to mankind are expended -- that by definition the Messianic Period must begin.

How does one use up Holy Sparks? Through the learning of Torah and the performance of mitzvot, Holy Sparks are redeemed, purified, and ascend to Above. Indeed, transgressions also use up Holy Sparks, but in the process the sparks themselves become defiled and require "cleansing" before being able to ascend. The cleansing process comes in the form of either sincere repentance by the transgressor, or through Heavenly-ordained suffering.

LIGHT UNTO NATIONS

Since Torah and mitzvot are the most effective way to utilize Holy Sparks, the nation in possession of Torah and mitzvot becomes the most effective one to complete this process. Thus it is primarily the responsibility of the Jewish people, who accepted Torah at Mount Sinai in the year 2448 from creation (1313 BCE), to redeem the sparks of creation. This is the deeper meaning of the famous exhortation to be a "light unto the nations" (Isaiah 42:6).

During King Solomon's time, nations came from far and wide to access Jewish wisdom.

As long as the Jewish people remained committed to this process, as evidenced by their commitment to Torah and mitzvot, then God arranged for all relevant sparks to be brought to the Jewish people in the Land of Israel. For example, during King Solomon's time (9th century BCE), nations came from far and wide to witness the great wisdom of this famous Jewish king, bearing great gifts.

Within the many gifts and sacrifices that were brought to the land were Holy Sparks from different parts of the world. Used and enjoyed in the Land of Israel, these sparks were redeemed and returned to their place Above, thus furthering the cause of history. In turn, the exposure to Jewish wisdom resulted in other nations adopting Torah philosophy and practice, thus using up sparks through their actions as well.

EXILE: THE CONCEPT

However, in spite of this great success, the Jewish people eventually lost appreciation of their role in history and how easy God had made it for them. This was evident through their laxity in the learning of the Torah and performance of mitzvot, which resulted in defilement of the Holy Sparks.
Upon seeing this, God told the Jewish people: "If you don't appreciate how I’ve been bringing the sparks to you for redemption, then I will send you out to get them yourselves -- at your own peril!"

This is the essential concept of exile and its role in Jewish history. This is why the second verse of creation (which describes these sunken Holy Sparks) is also an allusion to the future exiles of the Jewish people, and to their eventual redemption.

When sparks in one location are spent, the work of the Jewish people in that area is complete.

In other words, exile of the Jewish people is God’s way of moving Torah to various parts of the world, to redeem those sparks ready to be redeemed at that stage of history. When the sparks in a particular location are spent, then the work of the Jewish people in that area of the world is complete.
Not only is it complete, but the Jewish people have no business there anymore. This is what the Torah says regarding Egypt:

[The Jewish king] must not accumulate many horses, so as not to bring the people back to Egypt to get more horses. God has told you that you must never again return on that path. (Deut.17:16)

Why not? Wouldn't it be the most realistic Passover experience to go back once again and visit the place of the slavery of our forefathers, to tread in the footprints of Moses, and make a Seder where the very first one was celebrated?!

Perhaps, says the Torah, but not necessary. The purpose of creation is to redeem Holy Sparks, and the purpose of the Jewish people is take responsibility for doing so. The purpose of exile is to facilitate our gathering the sparks from around the world, when we don't merit doing so from inside our land. And when the sparks are gone from a particular place, then so must the Jewish people be gone from that place.

Indeed, we have witnessed the fulfillment of the prophecy:

And you, I will scatter among the nations... (Leviticus 26:33)
The Jews will have gone to just about every corner of the earth to redeem those sparks, before the only place left to go is home -- to the Land of Israel. Thus is the prophetic Final Redemption.

It shall come to be on that day that the Lord will once again show His hand... And He will gather in the dispersed ones of Judah from the four corners of the earth. (Isaiah 11:11-12)

Why does life and history come down to Holy Sparks and their redemption? And even if it does, where does anti-Semitism fit into the picture? And, if it does mean going to the "four corners of the earth," does that mean we may have to one day move on to places like Antarctica (brrrr)? We will address these questions in coming installments of this series, "Exile & Redemption."
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Jesus is a Redeemer, that is his name; he came into the world on this very business, to redeem his people, to redeem them from all iniquity (Titus 2:14), from this present evil world, from our vain conversations. He hath shed his precious blood to purchase us, we are bought with a price (1 Cor. 6:20). We are none of our own, we are his, the purchase of his blood; and we may be confident that he dearly loves us, for he dearly bought us; and if he had not dearly loved us, he would never have given himself for us (Gal. 2:20). That was the highest testimony of his love; he loved us, and washed us from our sins in his blood (Rev. 1:5). He will redeem us from the wrath to come.

The dictionary defines redemption as: 1. the action of saving or being saved from sin, error, or evil. 2. the action of regaining or gaining possession of something in exchange for payment, or clearing a debt. Redemption is used in both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. The Old Testament. In the Old Testament, redemption involves deliverance from bondage based on the payment of a price by a redeemer. Fundamental to the message of the New Testament is the announcement that Jesus of Nazareth is the fulfillment of Israel's messianic hope and that, in him, the long-awaited redemption has arrived. Deliverance of humankind from its state of alienation from God has been accomplished through the death and resurrection of Christ.

Living in a fallen world as Christians means we will experience trials and tribulations and will continue to struggle with our own temptations. We are forgiven, but God is not finished with us yet (Philippians 1:6). Consequently, longing for a better world, even a perfect world, is not a form of escapism. Rather, it is the Christian’s rightful anticipation of a promise made by the One who justly pronounced a curse on this world and then lovingly took that curse upon Himself in order to redeem people for His glory. (excerpts provided by: What is Redemption? by Dr. Anthony Chute).

To learn more about what the Bible says about redemption, spend time with the following passages:

7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace

Galatians 2:20
20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Galatians 3:13
13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.”

15 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.


https://www.biblestudytools.com/topical-verses/bible-verses-about-redemption/



​Genesis 3:5

The Devil asserted that by taking of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, human eyes would be opened—implying wisdom and enlightenment—to allow a person to know good and evil as God does. Immediately, Satanplaces the emphasis on knowing, but it is contrasted with living eternally. Satan proposes that mankind should be like God in taking to himself the knowledge—the definition—of what is right and wrong, asserting that this is a good thing! In contrast, the Tree of Life represents a way of living in which the meaning of good and evil already exists, and eternal life involves submitting through the Holy Spirit to that definition and the Sovereign who is its source.
Likewise, the Gnostics are those who know—who pursue mystical knowledge that they believe holds the key to eternal life through advancing beyond the physical and into the spiritual realm. Gnostics believed the key to eternal life was contained in right interpretation—knowledge—of those esoteric sayings.

The book of Revelation expounds on the Tree of Life in two places:

· To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God. (Revelation 2:7)

· Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into [New Jerusalem]. (Revelation 22:14)

The Tree of Life, then, is associated with a way of life—one that requires overcoming (growth against a standard of righteousness) and keeping (doing) God's commandments. The only ones who are allowed to partake of the Tree of Life are those who have changed themselves (with God's help, by His Spirit) to begin living in the same manner as He does. To those who submit to His standard of righteousness, then, He grants life that is both endless and of the same quality that He enjoys.

Satan, though, in addition to casting doubt on what God plainly says, and implying that God is unfair by withholding good things, offers a shortcut. He says, "You do not need to follow God's way, for it is obviously unfair and far too stringent. You can follow your own way. You can take knowledge to yourself of what is good and what is evil. You can be just like God in determining what is right and wrong." Adam and Eve took the bait, and ever since, man has rejected God's standard of righteousness in favor of his own.


Amos 3:7
He is not out to trick us or to trip us up. Our beloved friend and elder brother Jesus Christ echoes this to His disciples: "No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you" (John 15:15).

We can have confidence in God's promise that He will not do anything significant concerning His people without informing us first in a clear, orderly, and understandable manner. If and when He chooses to send a special end-time leader to His people—whether he be a prophet, an apostle, or one of the two witnesses (Revelation 11)--God will make sure we are able to recognize the man as His true servant.

In its broad meaning, revelation is divine guidance or inspiration; it is the communication of truth and knowledge from God to His children on earth, suited to their language and understanding. It simply means to uncover something not yet known. That religion depends on revelation is nothing new. A crucial lesson of scripture is that human beings tend to neglect the patterns of the past and struggle to discern the perils of the future. People search for God and seek to understand themselves. The traditional role of revelation, given to both individuals and God’s chosen leaders, has been to fill in this picture.

God makes himself known to his creatures because he first knows himself perfectly as a personal, speaking God. Although all people suppress the knowledge of God in their sin, he has clearly communicated about himself to his creatures through the creation and through human’s being made in the image of God. On top of this general revelation, God communicates about himself to particular people in specialrevelation, which includes the events of nature and history, human words that are inspired by God and recorded for us in Scripture, and through the person of Jesus Christ, who is the ultimate image of God. In all of these different ways, God reveals himself as Lord, which is comprised of his control, presence, and authority over all things.

The God of the Bible is a personal being, in contrast with the gods of many other religions and philosophies who are abstract or impersonal forces. The doctrine of the Trinity underscores this fact, for the biblical God is not only personal but a society of persons, existing eternally in mutual love and deference (John 17).

So, whatever God does he makes known. The persons of the Trinity know one another exhaustively, and each understands the thoughts and actions of the others. In human beings, there are hidden depths in our nature so that we cannot fully understand our own actions and motives. But God is fully known to himself. Much about God is mysterious to us, but not to him.

One way Scripture describes God’s exhaustive self-knowledge is by saying that he is a speaking God or, simply, that he is Word:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)

God is not only eternal, holy, all-powerful, and so on, but he expresses and shares those qualities through something like human speech. In his eternal nature, he has the power to speak (the “Word”), and that power to speak is who he is: his Word is eternally with him, and his Word is his very nature. John identifies this Word with Jesus Christ in John 1:14. In Jesus, the Word became flesh. So the existence of the Word did not begin with Jesus’s incarnation. There are hundreds of references to the divine word in Scripture, in both testaments, as the means by which God reveals himself.

Moreover, God reveals himself to himself, each Trinitarian person to the other two, and his revelation extends beyond his own being. It comes also to the world he has created, and especially to the intelligent creatures of that world: angels and human beings. Because self-revelation is his nature, he wants all his creatures to know him.

The creatures of the world cannot know God exhaustively. One cannot know God exhaustively unless one is God. But creatures receive great benefits from knowing God; indeed, they cannot live without knowing him, for he is the author of life. This is true both of our natural lives and our spiritual lives. Adam came alive when God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (Gen. 2:7). And Jesus says that the great benefit of eternal life, his salvation from sin, is the benefit of knowing God:

And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. (John 17:3)
​
In one sense, all human beings, even the wicked, know God:
For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made (Rom. 1:18–20).

But many reject this revelation, people who, Paul says, “by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.”  (Rom. 1:18). Though God is clearly revealed to all, fallen people prefer to deny that they know him, as Adam hid from God in the Garden (Gen. 3:8). When people say they do not know God, it is not because God has failed to reveal himself, or that God’s revelation is not clear enough. Rather, their ignorance of God is something they have done to themselves. They are lying to themselves, trying to convince themselves that God does not exist or that he is obscure, while all the time God is staring them in the face.

God Reveals Himself as the LordGod’s personal name is Lord, which translates the mysterious name I AMwhich God revealed to Moses in Ex. 3:14–16. His lordship connotes particularly his control, authority, and presence in relation to the world he has made (see John Frame, The Doctrine of God, pp. 21–240, and The Doctrine of the Word of God, pp. 3–14, 47–68). Everything he does reflects his lordship in these ways, including his revelation. Scripture describes God’s word-revelation in terms of his control as a powerful force:

Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? (Jer. 23:29)

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Heb. 4:12)

It also makes clear that God’s word of revelation has supreme authority:
The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. (John 12:48)

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Tim. 3:16–17)

And God’s word, his revelation, is also his presence, the place where he meets with his people. God’s nearness to Israel is the nearness of his word (Deut. 4:7–8, 30:11–14). And God comes to be “with us,” Immanuel, in the person of his Son Jesus Christ, his living word to us (John 1:1–14).

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

It was mentioned earlier that the biblical God is personal, not an abstract force like the gods of the nations. His revelation is particularly a personal encounter between him and his people. When we hear revelation, we hear God himself. Our response to it should be a response appropriate to supreme power, to ultimate authority, and to an intimate Father.

General and Special RevelationTheologians make various distinctions among types of revelation. The most common is between general and specialrevelation. General revelation is revelation of God given to everybody. It is the kind of revelation described in Romans 1. It tells us that God exists, what kind of God he is, and his moral standards. In revealing God’s standards, it shows us that we have not measured up to them. Paul says of general revelation that it reveals God’s wrath on sinners (Rom. 1:18). General revelation comes to us through the natural world (what is called natural revelation) and through our own nature. For we ourselves are revelation, the image of God according to Genesis 1:26–27.

On the other hand, special revelation is revelation God gives to selected messengers, charging them to bring the message to others. Those messengers may be angels, prophets, or apostles. The message may be presented orally or may be consigned to writing, as when the apostles wrote authoritative letters to the churches (see 1 Cor. 14:37–38). The Bible as a whole is a special revelation of God in written form (2 Tim. 3:15–17). The messages of special revelation typically contain one or both of two different kinds of contents: threats of judgment and promises of grace. The gospel is a special revelation of grace, a message of supremely good news:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).

Media of RevelationAnother way to distinguish between types of revelation is to distinguish the different ways in which revelation comes to us, the media of revelation. There are basically three types of media: events, words, and persons. These three categories correspond roughly to our earlier distinction between control, authority, and presence. But both these threefold distinctions are perspectives on the whole of revelation. The events of revelation not only manifest God’s control, but also his authority and presence; similarly the words and persons.

EventsGod reveals himself in the events of nature and history. We learn of him from the changing seasons, from the power of nature, from the sun, moon, and stars. We also learn of him through history, the particular events that shape the fortunes of human beings. He is the one who gave to all the nations their boundaries (Acts 17:26) and brought Israel out of slavery in Egypt to possess the land of promise. In his plan, general history becomes redemptive history, the events by which God arranges to redeem his people from sin by the coming of Jesus.

WordsIn one sense, all of God’s revelation is word-revelation, because it proceeds from God’s own speech, the Word of John 1:1–14. But sometimes God gives us word-revelation in a further sense: revelation in which the medium is human words. But God does not leave us to figure out for ourselves what he is doing in history. He enters our experience and speaks to us in human words. In this way, the words of the prophets are the very words of God himself. God defines prophet to Moses in this way:

I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I commend him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the LORD has not spoken?’—when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him. (Deut. 18:18-22)

When a prophet or apostle writes down God’s words, the document is Holy Scripture, a document to be received as the Lord’s power, authority, and presence (2 Tim. 3:15–17, 2 Pet. 1:19–21).

PersonsSince God is a tri-personal being, his revelation is particularly vivid when it takes the form of persons. God made Adam and Eve in his image to be revelations of himself (Gen. 1:26–27). And it should not surprise us that the highest, deepest divine revelation is the incarnate Lord Jesus Christ, God in person. Jesus displays his Father’s control over all things (Mark 4:41), speaks his Father’s words (John 3:34), and appears as the Father’s glorified presence with his people (Matt. 17:1-8).
​
ConclusionIf we are to know God, it is important for us to seek knowledge in God’s own way. Many have tried to gain knowledge of God through their unaided reason, or through some kind of subjective intuition. But the God of the Bible has told us not only who he is but also how we should seek knowledge of him. That knowledge comes as we attend to his created world, not repressing the truth in unrighteousness, but accepting his own guidance, his special revelation in Scripture and in Jesus. Only through these appointed means can we come to know him as Lord and as our Savior from sin.

How does the story of Noah
point us toward
​
​Jesus and Grace?
​

​Noah was an obedient servant of God amidst a sinful world.

​He is most well-known for building an ark that preserved himself and his family, as well as representatives of every land animal, from a great flood that God unleashed in judgment upon the earth. 

The name Noah means “rest.” It derives from the Hebrew נוח (nuah), to rest. The name could also mean "comfort." It may seem ironic because the story of Noah involves neither of these things. After all, God floods the earth, and that doesn't seem like a whole lot of rest or comfort for its inhabitants. But perhaps this name can remind us of the feeling that Noah's family likely felt when at last the Flood waters receded and that God comforted them with a rainbow, reminding them that he would never flood the entire earth again. What does the rainbow represent? It represents God's promise to save and deliver us- the arc delivering noah to safety is a -foreshadow- of our deliverance in Jesus Christ, God's ultimate promise for mankind. 

When God saw how wicked and corrupt man had become, He regretted creating them and decided to destroy all of mankind (Genesis 6:7). However, God gave Noah favor because he saw that he was righteous (Genesis 6:8). God commanded Noah to build an ark to house and preserve his family, as well as every male and female species of land animal, from His punishment of a flood on the earth (Genesis 6:14-21).

The rain fell and the floodwaters rose around the ark for 40 days, however, Noah and the other inhabitants "remained safe" (Genesis 7:17-18).

Noah’s family consisted of eight people: Noah, his wife, three sons, and their wives. As they were the only human survivors of the flood, they became the founders of a new and second lineage of mankind that brought about our salvation in Jesus Christ.

The events leading up to the flood can be seen as a forerunner for the second coming of Jesus
​(Matthew 24:37-39).

Some lessons we can learn is that God can provide a way out to salvation. People on earth had a chance to repent and go with Noah onto the ark, but they refused. We also see lessons of God's faithfulness in this passage. He does not leave Noah's family out in the floodwaters. Instead, the waters eventually recede and they find land again.

​Archaeologists tell us that every great civilization in history had a story of a cataclysmic flood.

​But depend on Christ, who confirmed the story by saying,

​ “As the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be” (Matthew 24:37).

​
What characterized the days of Noah?

Apostasy.
Anarchy.
​Ungodly philosophy.

​ “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5).

The days of Noah have returned to us.

The wickedness reached such a level that “the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the LORD said, ‘I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.’ 

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD” (Genesis 6:6-8;)

In these dangerous days, we have the
​
​ grace of God.


​
GRACE PROVIDES A SAVIOR

Noah needed to be saved, so God told him, “Make yourself an ark” (Genesis 6:14a).

That ark pictures Jesus Christ. (Read 1 Peter 3:18-20.)

“Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch” (Genesis 6:14). Gopherwood is cypress, which will not rot, and “pitch” is tar. Interestingly, this is not the usual word for pitch—this word is translated in the rest of the Bible as atonement. The water was God’s judgment, and not one drop could come through.

​Christ is the atonement for our sin, and in Him, no judgment can get to you.

The Ark’s Sufficiency“And this is how you shall make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits” (Genesis 6:15). The ark was 3 million cubic feet.

There was room on that ark, and there is room at the cross.

Notice that God does not say the ark has a prow or stern. Archaeologists tell us these are the dimensions of a coffin. The ancients built their coffins out of cypress because it would not decay. Why is the ark a giant coffin? Because when Noah came into that ark, it pictured the way we are buried with Christ in baptism. (See Romans 6:4.)

“You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above; and set the door of the ark in its side” (Genesis 6:16a). This is the door that God sealed, and nobody could open it. (See Genesis 7:16.)

​But Noah could open the window and look up. God was saying, “From now on, you are to be Heavenly minded.”

We are sealed into Christ by the Holy Spirit.
We look into Heaven through Jesus Christ.

And you shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and for them” (Genesis 6:21). God took care of all of their needs. When you come to Jesus, you have shelter and substance. Jesus not only saves but also satisfies. The word of God is our bread and spiritual food. 

Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat” (Genesis 8:4). You might blow past this. But when the ark arrived, having been steered by God (because it also had no helm!), it was the seventh month in the Jewish calendar—April.
This is the time of Passover, when Jesus came out of the grave, having taken the floodwaters of God’s wrath upon the cross!

​


GRACE PROVIDES SALVATION
​

Why do we have a Savior?

​So we can be saved!

How? “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

​For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:8-10; emphasis added).

If you keep three prepositions in mind, you will never get confused about the relationship of faith and good works. You are saved…

1. by grace,
2. through faith,
3. for good works.

The ark shows that salvation is by grace.
​
"But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD…. ‘I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you’” (Genesis 6:8,18). God only has one plan of salvation, and that is by grace.

Grace means that God saves us apart from any effort of our own.
​
“Then the LORD said to Noah, ‘Come into the ark, you and all your household’” (Genesis 7:1a).

Noah had to take that step through faith. (See Hebrews 11:7.)

Noah was saved for good works. “So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth’” (Genesis 9:1).

We do not do good works in order to be saved; we do them because we have been saved.

​

GRACE PROVIDES SECURITY

God did not say, “Noah, go into the ark.” He said, “Come”—meaning God was in the ark.

In Christ, you are as safe as you can possibly be. About those who believe in Christ, the Bible says, “you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise” (Ephesians 1:13b). Not only did God shut the water out; God shut Noah in. Could Noah have lost his salvation? God shut the door! Noah may have fallen down inside that ark, but he couldn’t fall out of it.

Jesus said, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand” (John 10:28). If you are saved by works, you will have to be kept by works.

​But we are saved by grace, and kept by grace.

The first time, God destroyed the world by water.
​The second time, it will be by fire. 

“…The world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men…The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:6b-7,9).

Now here is the question: “Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat” (2 Peter 3:11-12)?
​
​Isaac answered and said to Esau, "Behold, I have made him lord over you, and all his brothers I have given to him for servants, and with grain and wine I have sustained him. What then can I do for you, my son?" Esau said to his father, "Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father." And Esau lifted up his voice and wept. Then Isaac his father answered and said to him: "Behold, away from the fatness of the earth shall your dwelling be, and away from the dew of heaven on high. By your sword you shall live, and you shall serve your brother; but when you grow restless you shall break his yoke from your neck." ~ Genesis 27:37-40
Read related articles about the life of Jacob and Esau:
Rebekah sends Jacob to Mesopotamia to avoid Esau's intention to kill him. In his travel, the Lord visits Jacob in a dream known as Jacob's Ladder.
In Mesopotamia, Jacob meets Haran and his daughter Rachel. Read the Bible Story of Jacob and Rachel.

Your crisis is coming. If it hasn’t already, or if you’re not in the middle of one right now, your time will come. 

And not just one crisis. In his severe mercy, God punctuates our lives in this fallen age with crisis moments of varying degrees, designed for our everlasting good. For thousands of years, God’s people have known “times of trouble” and “days of distress,” sometimes all too well. And the same continues today.

​Our Father never promised that our being his would mean we won’t have ours.
Over and over again, the Scriptures describe the faithful not as those who never saw trouble, but as those who cried out to God in their crises. The men and women we remember as models faced the greatest times of trouble and days of distress. And God heard their cries for help. He was not deaf then — nor is he today — to the voices of his people, however great or humble, especially in crisis.

In Trouble and Distress_
​Our God is not just the God who speaks — remarkable as that is — but also, wonder upon wonder, the God who listens. When James calls us to be “quick to hear” (James 1:19), he calls us to be like our heavenly Father. We have a Father “who hears prayer” (Psalm 65:2), who attends to the voice of our pleas (Psalm 66:19). Our God not only sees all people, but sees his own in a special way, as those to whom he has covenanted himself in love. He hears his people with the ear of a Husband and a Father. He is not bothered or annoyed by our petitions — especially not in trouble and distress.

The Psalms in particular celebrate God’s eagerness to hear and help his people in their “day of distress” and “time of trouble.” David testified that God had been to him “a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress” (Psalm 59:16, also 9:9; 37:39; 41:1). He knew where to turn when crisis came: “In the day of my trouble I call upon you, for you answer me” (Psalm 86:7). “He will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble” (Psalm 27:5). And David knew where to point others: “May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble!” (Psalm 20:1). “The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble” (Psalm 9:9).

And not only David, but the psalmist Asaph as well: “In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord” (Psalm 77:2). God himself says, “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me” (Psalm 50:15). Far from being bothered by our cries for help, God is honored when we turn to him with our burdens. Perhaps most striking of all is the refrain of Psalm 107 (four times): “Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress” (verses 6, 13, 19, 28). This is not just Israel’s story over and over again, but ours as well.
Our God is at his best in our crises.

This is who our God has been from the beginning. This is the God of Abraham and Isaac. And this is who Jacob, in his many ups and downs, his many strivings and wrestlings, found God to be: “the God who answers me in the day of my distress” (Genesis 35:3).

The God of Jacob is not like the false gods of the surrounding nations. He is not like the household gods of Jacob’s uncle, Laban (Genesis 31:19, 34–35). And not like the Canaanite gods Jacob’s sons would have found as they plundered Shechem (Genesis 34:29; 35:2). Other “gods” do not answer in the day of distress. They are simply made by human hands and imagination. They are baby toys. They don’t answer. They do not act. 

Jacob’s life was a succession of crisis moments, and God proved himself faithful as the God who hears and answers. Just as God saw Leah in her crisis (Genesis 29:31) and remembered Rachel in hers (Genesis 30:22), he sees, he hears, he remembers, he cares. He is the living God who wants us to turn to him, to wrestle with him (Genesis 32:22–28), not just our circumstances, in our time of crisis. This is the God of Jacob — and the God of Nahum (Nahum 1:7), Obadiah (Obadiah 12, 14), Jeremiah (Jeremiah 16:19), and Hezekiah (Isaiah 37:3).

His Perfect How and WhenIn our finitude and fallenness, it may seem to us, at times, that God is hiding himself in our moments of crisis (Psalm 10:1). But if we come before him humbly, not cherishing sin in our hearts (Psalm 66:18; also 1 Peter 3:7), we can expect that “truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer” (Psalm 66:19). And yet God hearing doesn’t mean he always — or even typically — answers how and when we expect or want.

When we remember our God as the one who answers us in our time of crisis — as he did for Jacob and the psalmists and the prophets — we don’t assume that he answers how we would do it or exactly when we would want. Jacob, for one, spent twenty years under the tyranny of Laban, and his son Joseph spent thirteen years going down, down, down — sold in slavery, falsely accused, thrown into prison, then forgotten — before God raised him up. Our God works in his “proper time” (1 Peter 5:6), in his “due season” (Galatians 6:9).
He indeed will hear us and answer — but often in ways, and in timing, we did not anticipate. His ways and thoughts are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8–9), and he does “far more abundantly,” not less, than what we ask or think (Ephesians 3:20). In Christ, we do not assume that our God isn’t seeing us, or hearing us, or answering because our lives are not unfolding according to our plans. Far from assuming he’s not answering, we want to receive his severe mercies as his continuing to do his surprising work of unfolding history, and our lives, not according to human expectations, but according to his infinitely majestic plans and purposes. Which we see so clearly in the crisis moment of God’s own Son.

His Greater Answer...
​"He took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled” (Mark 14:33). There, in that garden of crisis, Jesus “offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence” (Hebrews 5:7).

God heard his Son in his time of crisis, but he didn’t let the cup pass. He didn’t spare him death. God hearing and answering Jesus didn’t mean salvation from the cross, but salvation THROUGH the cross.

His Father “saving him from death” could have meant protection from death. But his ways were higher. He did far more abundantly than we are prone to ask or think. The rescue God gave his Son this time was not protection from death, but sustaining grace through death.

Then resurrection.
​
And unless Jesus comes back first, we all will face death soon enough, and God’s answer to us will be sustaining grace in it, and
resurrection on the other side.
​
Our God is too real, and too big, and too glorious to work according to our human expectations and convenient timetables.
​He loves us too much to regularly do just what we want when we want in our times of crisis.

But he always sees us.
He always hears us.

And in Christ, he will answer, not necessarily when and how we want, but with the answer we need, painful as it may be for now, for our ultimate good and glory.

​

''While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message" (Acts 10:44).

When we read verbs like "fell upon" to describe the Spirit's activities, we all too easily think about the Spirit of God in terms of a non-personal force or power. Surely such unbiblical thoughts must grieve the Spirit of God! Were it not for the Spirit of God personally speaking to God's people, the gospel would have never left Jerusalem. It was the Spirit who told Philip to go to the Ethiopian eunuch (8:29).

The Spirit was the one who assured Peter he sent the three Gentile men from Caesarea (10:19; 11:12). And it was the Spirit who spoke to praying believers to set Paul and Barnabas apart to preach the gospel to the nations (Acts 13:2–4). The gift of Holy Spirit, dear friends, is not a "thing" we receive.

The gift of the Spirit is a divine person who comes to live inside us, to speak with us, and who is eternally one with the Father and the Son. He who has ears to hear, therefore, let him listen! "

​The Spirit and the bride say, 'Come.' And let the one who hears say, 'Come.' And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost" (Rev 22:17).

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Most people are familiar with the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. They were given a command not to eat from a tree, which they did not follow and as the saying goes, the rest is history.

One act of disobedience put mankind on this path that has led us to where we are today. This all started with some fruit, but what was that forbidden fruit in Genesis 2 where this account takes place? While there are no specifics on the type of fruit, there are some lessons we can learn from their experience.

Do We Know What the Forbidden Fruit Was?While we don’t know what that fruit was, somehow in many pictures and imageries an apple gets portrayed as that fruit. To clear up any confusion, here is what Genesis actually says about the fruit.
“When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it” (Genesis 3:6).

Here is all we know about the forbidden fruit in Genesis. It was good for food, meaning it was edible. It was pleasing to the eye, which means it was attractive. Finally, they thought it was desirable for gaining wisdom, which means they thought they would gain something from it. By the way these are the same trappings of sin that we are faced with today (more on that later). 
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Because there are so many different types of fruit that grow on a tree, there really is no way of knowing what type of fruit it really was. (Sorry apples you have been blamed for something that you may have had nothing to do with.)

In all honesty the type of fruit doesn’t matter. When you are reading the story, your focus should not be on what the forbidden fruit in Genesis was. It should be on the act of disobedience that Adam and Eve committed.

What Does the Bible Say about the Tree of Knowledge?When you read the creation story you discover from Genesis that there were plenty of trees in the garden.

“Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground — trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:8-9).

God put them in the garden and provided them with plenty of choices of food to eat. I would imagine that every type of tree bearing fruit was probably represented in the garden. This is only my speculation, but I would say think of any fruit that grows on a tree and it was probably available in the garden. I don’t have proof of this, but it is a reasonable assumption.

There were however two important trees in the middle of the garden that were different from the rest. The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The tree of life as it states gave life, particularly eternal life. The other tree would produce death.

A question that often comes to mind is why was the tree of knowledge in the garden to begin with? For many Bible scholars the main answer is about free will. God created man for intimacy and fellowship with him, but from the very beginning this was not a forced fellowship, it is a chosen fellowship. From the beginning until today God gives every human the same free will. We can choose to follow and obey or we can choose to go our own way.

Why Did Eve Eat the Fruit?This is the question of the ages, but I don’t want to hate on Eve too much. Eve fell victim to temptation in much the same way we do. I want to show you what happened to Eve because this still plagues us today. To keep it simple, Eve rejected what God had provided in search of something else or something different.

I want you to consider the similarities between the fruit on all the trees in the garden. In Genesis 2:9 and Genesis 3:6 you see that the trees were good for food (edible) and pleasing to the eye (attractive). What was different about the fruit on the tree of knowledge? She thought she would obtain something that the other trees did not provide her. The serpent influenced her to believe that God was holding out something from her. Remember what she said that highlights the difference. The fruit was good for food, pleasing to the eye and – here’s the difference – desirable for gaining wisdom.

I don’t believe Eve ate the fruit simply because it was edible and looked good. There were plenty of other trees that had those characteristics. She ate the fruit because it promised her something she did not have and wanted to gain or experience. Often this is how sin works in our lives. God has provided everything we need for this life, just as he did with Adam and Eve. So what is it about sin that looks so attractive to us? It promises something that we have not experienced or something that we can gain from it. The problem is that this is an empty promise and the consequences never live up to the expectations.

What Was the Result of the Forbidden Fruit?The result of eating the forbidden fruit was sin entering the world and all the pain and suffering that happens as a result. As God promised, death happened. This was not physical death, but spiritual death that caused a separation between God and man because of sin.

Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden. I know Adam and Eve did not know the gravity of the action they committed when it happened. However, I think it is safe to say they came to understand quickly how bad a decision they had made. I believe they experienced remorse just like we often do when we endure the result of our sinful decisions. Remember they were the only ones in human history who ever lived on this earth in a sinless environment. I am sure they longed for the days when they could go back to Eden as it was. Unfortunately, with sin, sometimes it costs us more than we want to pay and there are some things you lose that you can’t get back.

The Silver Lining:

If the story of Adam and Eve was just about fruit and getting kicked out of the garden that would be a tragedy. Yet there was something else that happened in that garden that gives us hope. The choice of Adam and Eve set in motion God’s plan of redemption. While eating the forbidden fruit might have been a decision Adam and Eve did not know they would make, it was one that God knew they would make.

From the moment the forbidden fruit in Genesis was eaten, the promise of the savior who would redeem mankind was made. In Genesis 3:15, God made a promise about the seed of the woman crushing the head of the serpent. We know that seed is Jesus who would come and redeem us back to the Father. Through Adam we lost it all, but in Christ we gained back all that was lost.
“For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:19).

The ultimate end of our righteousness in Christ is that one day we will be able to eat from the tree of life and so be with our Lord forevermore. Never again will we have to deal with the issue of sin for all eternity. Yes, Adam and Eve set the sin wheels in motion, but thankfully Jesus has turned it all around.

“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 22:1-5).
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The writer of Hebrews informs readers that God’s Word is more than simply a historical record of events and people: “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

In this passage, Word of God refers to His revelation in a general sense, meaning any method God uses to communicate with humans. Our primary exposure is through His written Word, the Bible. We learn in Scripture that the Word of God is alive and active—it not only lives but works. Let’s explore these two characteristics of God’s revelation to humankind.

The original Greek word translated here as “living” means “to have life” or “alive.” The Word of God is alive because God is a living God (Hebrews 3:12). Jesus said, “The very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life” (John 6:63, NLT). In the parable of the sower, Jesus compared God’s Word to seed (Matthew 13:1–23). Seed, like the Word, is a living organism that, when spread and planted in fertile soil, produces abundant life.

Christians are made alive spiritually and eternally because we are “born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring Word of God” (1 Peter 1:23). Believers “enter God’s eternal rest” (receive God’s free gift of salvation by grace through faith alone and not by self-effort, Ephesians 2:8–9) through the life-giving power of God’s Word. This truth is the main point the writer of Hebrews has been driving home in the previous verses (Hebrew 4:1–11), that no one can enter God’s true rest except those in whom God’s message has taken deep root and complete control. God does the work of salvation by the power of His Word when we submit to God’s dominion and trust Him to save us through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.

The term active in Hebrews 4:12 means “effective, powerful, producing or capable of producing an intended result.” The Word of God is vibrant, dynamic, energizing, and productive. It is not static or idle in the lives of genuine believers. The apostle Paul explained that the Word of God is “at work in you who believe” (1 Thessalonians 2:13).

God’s Word is powerful, not only to give life, but also to deliver warnings and bring judgment and punishment to the disobedient: “Is not my Word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?” (Jeremiah 23:29, ESV).

God’s living Word is not something to read or listen to passively and then forget. James taught Christians to look “intently into the perfect law that gives freedom” and to focus on it by doing what it says (James 1:23–25). Paul told Timothy, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16–17, NLT). If we let God’s message do its work deep inside, it will change our character and behavior.

Astonishing, life-generating things happen when God’s Word goes forth. It is fully capable of accomplishing its purpose: “The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it” (Isaiah 55:11, NLT). On the Day of Pentecost, when Peter preached the message of salvation in Jesus Christ, those who heard it “were cut to the heart” (Acts 2:37), and about three thousand people were saved (Acts 2:41).

The author of Hebrews described the Word of God as “sharper than any double-edged sword.” Paul called it “the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God” (Ephesians 6:17). This sword imagery also appears in Isaiah 49:2, Revelation 1:16, and Revelation 2:12. As a sharp, double-bladed sword, the Word of God is our definitive offensive weapon against the assaults of a spiritual enemy. When Satan tempted our Lord in the wilderness, Jesus wielded the sword of God’s Word to counter the devil’s attacks (Matthew 4:4). His example teaches us to do the same.

The vital power of God’s message exists in its ability to pierce and penetrate the innermost depths of the human soul. It can cut through any obstacle to access and inspect our unspoken thoughts and hidden secrets (Matthew 10:26; Luke 8:17; 12:2; Mark 4:22).

​It can cross-examine and judge the attitudes of our hearts. God knows our intentions, and our hearts. 

Because the Word of God is living and active, Peter encouraged Christians to pay close attention to it (2 Peter 1:19). May we let it be a lamp to guide our feet and a light to illuminate our path through this life (Psalm 119:105).

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It has been said that a parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. The Lord Jesus frequently used parables as a means of illustrating profound, divine truths. Stories such as these are easily remembered, the characters bold, and the symbolism rich in meaning. Parables were a common form of teaching in Judaism. Before a certain point in His ministry, Jesus had employed many graphic analogies using common things that would be familiar to everyone (salt, bread, sheep, etc.) and their meaning was fairly clear in the context of His teaching. Parables required more explanation, and at one point in His ministry, Jesus began to teach using parables exclusively.

The question is why Jesus would let most people wonder about the meaning of His parables. The first instance of this is in His telling the parable of the seed and the soils. Before He interpreted this parable, He drew His disciples away from the crowd. They said to Him, "Why do You speak to them in parables?" Jesus answered them, "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says,

‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive; For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.’ But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it" (Matthew 13:10-17).

From this point on in Jesus’ ministry, when He spoke in parables, He explained them only to His disciples. But those who had continually rejected His message were left in their spiritual blindness to wonder as to His meaning. He made a clear distinction between those who had been given “ears to hear” and those who persisted in unbelief—ever hearing, but never actually perceiving and “always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7). The disciples had been given the gift of spiritual discernment by which things of the spirit were made clear to them. Because they accepted truth from Jesus, they were given more and more truth. The same is true today of believers who have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit who guides us into all truth (John 16:13). He has opened our eyes to the light of truth and our ears to the sweet words of eternal life.

Our Lord Jesus understood that truth is not sweet music to all ears. Simply put, there are those who have neither interest in nor regard for the deep things of God. So why, then, did He speak in parables? To those with a genuine hunger for God, the parable is both an effective and memorable vehicle for the conveyance of divine truths. Our Lord’s parables contain great volumes of truth in very few words—and His parables, rich in imagery, are not easily forgotten. So, then, the parable is a blessing to those with willing ears. But to those with dull hearts and ears that are slow to hear, the parable is also an instrument of both judgment and mercy.

In the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant, Jesus is presenting a new principle that is similar to the basis of the forgiveness command for believers found in Ephesians 4:32, "And be ye kind to one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you." Jesus is teaching His disciples pre-cross, and therefore in the pre-church age, but the basis for forgiveness is the same. Because God has forgiven us, we are to forgive each other. Therefore, because we have received much grace, "while we were yet sinners Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8), we are commanded to give that same grace to others. In the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant, the first servant’s debt was forgiven, and he was not required to repay until his unforgiving nature was discovered. In contrast, our sin debt was paid in full by Christ and is the only basis for God’s forgiveness. We cannot repay our debt to God or earn our salvation. It is a gift of grace (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Therefore, in the Parable of the Unforgiving / Unmerciful / Unjust Servant, Jesus is teaching His disciples, and us by extension, that forgiveness should be in like proportion to the amount forgiven. The first servant had been forgiven all, and he then should have forgiven all. In like manner, a child of God by faith through Christ has had all sins forgiven. Therefore, when someone offends or sins against us we should be willing to forgive him from a heart of gratitude for the grace to which we ourselves are debtors.

Jesus had just finished explaining to the disciples the meaning of the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares, and these two short parables are a continuance of His discussion of the “kingdom of heaven.” He expressed truths about the kingdom in three pairs of parables in Matthew 13: the seed and the sower (vv. 3-23) and the weeds in the field (vv. 24-30); the mustard seed (vv. 31-32) and the leaven (v. 33); and the hidden treasure (v. 44) and the pearl of great price (vv. 45-46). 

The similarities of these two short parables make it clear they teach the same lesson—the kingdom of heaven is of inestimable value. Both parables involve a man who sold all he had to possess the kingdom. The treasure and the pearl represent Jesus Christ and the salvation He offers. And while we cannot pay for salvation by selling all our worldly goods, once we have found the prize, we are willing to give up everything to possess it. But what is attained in exchange is so much more valuable that it is comparable to trading an ounce of trash for a ton of diamonds (Philippians 3:7-9). 

In both parables, the treasures are hidden, indicating that spiritual truth is missed by many and cannot be found by intelligence or power or worldly wisdom. Matthew 13:11-17 and 1 Corinthians 2:7-8, 14 make it clear that the mysteries of the kingdom are hidden from some who are unable to hear, see, and comprehend these truths. The disobedient reap the natural consequences of their unbelief—spiritual blindness. Those whose eyes are opened by the Spirit do discern spiritual truth, and they, like the men in the parable, understand its great value. 

Notice that the merchant stopped seeking pearls when he found the pearl of great price. Eternal life, the incorruptible inheritance, and the love of God through Christ constitute the pearl which, once found, makes further searching unnecessary. Christ fulfills our greatest needs, satisfies our longings, makes us whole and clean before God, calms and quiets our hearts, and gives us hope for the future. The “great price,” of course, is that which was paid by Christ for our redemption. He emptied Himself of His glory, came to earth in the form of a lowly man and shed His precious blood on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins.

Through the Spirit, we are connected to ultimate Truth as found in Christ (John 16:12-15).

Whatever the communication may be, it has to be connected to Christ in some way. Jesus taught that the Spirit of God would continue His work, communicate Jesus’ teachings, and convict people to return and follow Jesus.

Truth is one of the most profound forms of communication. Truth brings clarity, comfort, helps us understand what’s real and what’s not, draws us closer to God, and brings freedom. However God communicates to us, He always communicates Truth. It may not be what we want to hear, but it’s always what we need to hear.

Through the Spirit, we can understand God, the world, and who we are in Christ (1 Corinthians 2:10b-16).

The Apostle Paul makes it clear that Christians have the “mind of Christ” which is enabled by the Holy Spirit. We do not think like, seek the wisdom of, or go after the things and ways of this world. And the only reason this is possible is because we have God’s Spirit. This form of God’s communication could be discernment, wisdom, the aptitude to not participate in worldly things, or God’s communication to us to look and act differently — and all of these inevitably will help remind us of who we are in Christ through the Spirit.

Through the Spirit, scripture was written, is understood, and equips us to continue to follow Christ (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

You can only understand so much of the Bible without the Spirit of God. A person without God’s Spirit can read and get some benefit from scripture, but only a person with the Spirit can accept it, understand it, put it in to practice, and glorify God through reading it. The Spirit in your life is that impactful!
With these in mind, let’s look at how God communicates.

Ways God Communicates- Through Scripture.

We already covered this one above but, it’s worth noting that this one is the most important. For most of the world, it’s the most accessible and direct form of communication from God we can access at any time and anywhere. Scripture is the primary way God has communicated to us and still does. The Spirit inspired the writers to capture the works, words, will, warnings, and wonders of God in history. If you’re a Christian, every time you open scripture and read it with the willingness to live your life by the ways of Christ, God is communicating to you.

Through prayer.

Prayer is one of the places that we can absolutely “hear” from God. This doesn’t mean God will speak audibly to us or even say words in some other way, but we are encouraged to spend intentional time in God’s presence through prayer. Jesus often went alone to be with God, and many of the OT heroes heard from and benefitted from getting to be alone with God. In your prayer time, God could bring a scripture to mind, put someone’s name on your heart to pray for, give you profound peace, or direct you in prayer through “wordless groans.” (Romans 8:26) While prayer is certainly a time to “talk to God,” it can and is absolutely a time to hear from Him in some way as well.

Through visions, and audible or internal words and ideas.

Admittedly, this form of communication is rare, especially in the New Testament, and especially in the book of Acts, but it does happen: Jesus appears to Saul, and Ananias in a vision to set Paul on His missionary path (Acts 9). The Spirit speaks to the church in Antioch to set apart Paul and Barnabas. (Acts 13:1-3). And the Spirit directed Philip to minister to an Ethiopian official (Acts 8:26-29), just to name a few.

Today, people may be communicated to in this way in order to confirm something from God, go in a new direction they wouldn’t choose themselves, introduce us to God for the first time, keep us from something we shouldn’t do, or confirm an action we were thinking about taking. A modern-day example of visions are Muslims in the Middle East claiming to see someone resembling Jesus speaking to them in a dream or vision. It’s a dramatic way of communication for sure, but for some places without scripture, a church, or a way to learn about God, God may use this form of communication.

Through other people.

We already highlighted a few of these above, but God confirmed the calling of Paul through Ananias; and Barnabas convinces the church in Jerusalem to accept Paul despite His former past of persecution and death Paul even opposes Peter to his face about his wrongful treatment of the Gentiles.
God can and does use other people to help us if we have lost our way, to confront us of sin, to bring us back to Christ, to help us understand scripture, or simply to be a guide when we are inexperienced or new in our relationship with Christ. The Spirit working in other people can work on us as it works through them.

Would you have believed?

Sometimes you can read something a hundred times before the significance of it really sinks in. That’s exactly what happened to me when I was completely taken back by what John writes in his gospel about Jesus in John 7:5: 

Here’s why this is surprising.

The brothers of Jesus (James, Joses, Simon and Judas are all named in Matthew 13:55, and no not that Judas), had grown up with the very son of God living under the same roof:

• Some of them would have been old enough to remember their older brother Jesus, at the age of 12, going to the Temple and teaching the religious leaders (Luke 2:39-52).
• They were also likely invited guests at the same wedding when Jesus performed his first miracle of turning water into wine (John 2:1-11).
• Some of them would likely have been present, or at least would have been aware of when their older brother turned the tables in the temple, and how this act carried with it the bold messianic statement that the temple was ‘my father’s house’.
• They would also have known that Jesus healed an official’s son (John 4:46-54), healed the man on the sabbath at the pool of Bethesda (John 5:1-17), fed 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish (John 6:1-14) and walked on water (John 6:16-21).

In John’s gospel, all of these events took place before John’s statement that, ‘…not even his brothers believed in him.” 

Why didn't they believe?It’s easy to wonder how Jesus’ brothers could have been witnesses, or at least heard about all of these things, but still not believed that Jesus was the very Son of God. Our temptation would be to think that surely we would have understood it, even if they didn’t. The truth is we probably wouldn’t have.

Jesus was completely man and completely God. Just as we can’t fully understand this mystery, neither could Jesus’ brothers. Because Jesus walked among them, they would have had no trouble believing that Jesus was at least a very special man, or an incredible prophet. But they hadn’t come to the vital conclusion that sets Jesus apart from any other person who had gone before or would come after - Jesus was God incarnate. God was truly walking among them. 

It’s possible for us to call ourselves friends of Jesus, exist around the church, be witness even to miracles, but still not believe that Jesus is exactly who he said he is. If this was the case for Jesus’ own brothers, how much more true will it be for us?

Are you looking for a sign?In Luke 11:16, we read that the people had been testing Jesus, ‘seeking a sign from heaven.’ Jesus answers their test, but not how they had expected.

He speaks about the Old Testament prophet Jonah, who spent three days inside a whale. Jesus tells them that the answer to their test will be similar ; a reference to his own death and resurrection three days later. It could be for exactly this reason that Jesus said in Luke 11:29,

This generation is an evil generation. It seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.

How often do we look for signs to confirm that Jesus was who he said he was? We sometimes pray asking God to prove himself through a miracle, as though God has something to prove to us. Clearly Jesus isn’t saying that all prayer for miracles is wrong, but it is wrong, if our intention is to have God do a trick as though he was a seal with a basketball.

Having faith in Jesus Christ means believing he is exactly who he said he is. Miracles, signs and wonders can certainly help increase our faith, but they don’t take us the entire way. As Christians, we musn’t say, "I see miracles, so I believe Jesus is the Son of God". Instead, our attitude should be, “Jesus is the Son of God, and because of this truth, I believe he can perform miracles.’

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Mark 3:21....

Mark 3:21 Parallel Verses [⇓ See commentary ⇓]Mark 3:21, NIV: When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, 'He is out of his mind.'

Mark 3:21, ESV: And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”

Mark 3:21, KJV: And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself.

Mark 3:21, NASB: And when His own people heard about this, they came out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, 'He has lost His senses.'

Mark 3:21, NLT: When his family heard what was happening, they tried to take him away. 'He's out of his mind,' they said.

Mark 3:21, CSB: When his family heard this, they set out to restrain him, because they said, "He's out of his mind."

What does Mark 3:21 mean? [⇑ See verse text ⇑]The chain of events that lead Jesus' family to worry about Him is not clear. As is common for literature of the time, the Gospels tend to group passages by theme instead of chronology. As a result, we don't know if Jesus has returned to Nazareth since His ministry started. We do know that people from all over Galilee, Judea, and beyond have come to see Him, and Nazareth is only about twenty miles from Capernaum. In Mark 6:1–6, Jesus will return, just to be rudely rejected by the people in His hometown. 

So it's possible that people from Nazareth have gone to Capernaum for healing and returned, shocked to learn that the healer is Jesus. It's also possible that travelers have gone to Capernaum for healing and come back through Nazareth. Either way, the people from Nazareth refuse to believe that a man whom they have watched grow up could be an important prophet, let alone the Messiah. Whereas the scribes believe Jesus is demon-possessed (Mark 3:22), His townsmen think He's crazy. 

"Out of his mind" comes from the Greek root word existemi. It means to be mentally displaced. The same word is used when Jesus heals the paralytic (Mark 2:12) and Jairus's daughter (Mark 5:42), and when He calms the storm after walking on water (Mark 6:51). In this case, however, it means that Jesus' actions—seemingly out of control, to His family—can have a serious effect on the wellbeing of His family. So they resolve to find Him and. Most likely, to take Him back to Nazareth. 

Jesus has four brothers and at least two sisters (Matthew 13:55–56). Eventually, after the resurrection, at least two of His brothers will accept Him as their savior. James wrote the New Testament book in his name and became the leader of the church in Jerusalem. Jude, author of the New Testament book that bears his name, also became a believer. They and Mary will be with the disciples on Pentecost (Acts 1:14).
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Context Summary
Mark 3:13–21 is the third story about the reactions people had to Jesus' ministry. Here, we establish which men Jesus chooses to be in His inner circle. Jesus separates ''the twelve'' for special training so they can be equipped to heal (Matthew 10:1), cast out demons, and spread the gospel. Other than Peter's mother-in-law (Mark 1:30–31), there is no record that Jesus performed miracles of healing for them. But they have witnessed Jesus' power and authority, and are willing to dedicate themselves to His teaching. This is a stark contrast to Jesus' own family. This account is also recorded in Matthew 10:1–4 and Luke 6:12–16.

​JOHN 16 – THE DEPARTING JESUS’ FINAL TEACHING

videos  for 
John 16:John 15:12-16:4 – Prepared for Persecution
John 16:5-33 – Prepared for Advantage



A. More on the work of the Holy Spirit.1. (1-4) The reason for Jesus’ warning: certain persecution.


'These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them. And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.”


a. They will put you out of the synagogues: Jesus warned His disciples of coming opposition because He did not want them to be surprised and stumbled by it. He also did not expect that His disciples would immediately leave the synagogues, or leave them by their own choice. They would be forced out of the synagogues for Jesus’ sake.

i. Stumble: “A skandalethron was not a stumbling-block which might trip you up… It is used of the spring of a trap which might ‘go off’ when you were least expecting it.” (Tasker)

ii. “At the time when the Gospel was written these words had acquired a special relevance from the inclusion in the synagogue prayers of a curse on the Nazarenes, which was intended to ensure that the followers of Jesus could take no part in the service.” (Bruce)

b. The time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service: That time quickly came, as the life of Saul of Tarsus before his conversion showed (Acts 8:1-3, 22:3-5, 26:9-11). Since then there have been many who persecute and kill the true followers of Jesus because they think God is pleased.

i. Offers God service: “The word Jesus uses for service is lateria, which is the normal word for the service that a priest rendered at the altar in the Temple of God and is the standard word for religious service.” (Barclay)
ii. In the 20th Century most Christian martyrs were victims of the atheistic, communist state. Historically, this was unusual. Through most of history, most Christian martyrs were targets of those from other religions or even sects within Christendom.

c. When the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them: Jesus did well to forewarn, because it comes as a great shock that a gospel so glorious is hated so passionately. He did not tell His disciples these things at the beginning, but He certainly told them.

i. “During the earlier part of His ministry Jesus had spoken comparatively little to His disciples about the persecution which awaited them, because He had been in their company, and as long as He was with them the world’s hatred must inevitably be drawn to Himself.” (Tasker)

ii. “While He was with them they leant upon Him and could not apprehend a time of weakness and persecution.” (Dods)

2. (5-7) Jesus explains the benefits of His departure.“But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.”

a. None of you asks Me, “Where are You going”: Peter had asked this question earlier (John 13:36) and Thomas asked a similar question (John 14:5). Therefore Jesus must mean not only the words of the question, but the heart of it. Their previous asking was in the sense, what will happen to us when You leave, not in the sense Jesus meant here – what will happen to You when You leave.

i. “A difficulty is posed by His statement that nobody asks, ‘Whither goest thou?’ in the light of Simon Peter’s earlier question, ‘Lord, wither goest thou?’ (John 13:36). But that question had not really indicated a serious inquiry as to Jesus’ destination. Peter was diverted immediately and he made no real attempt to find out where Jesus was going. He had been concerned with the thought of parting with Jesus, not with that of the Master’s destination. He had in mind only the consequences for himself and his fellows.” (Morris)

b. But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart: Jesus excused their lack of interest in His fate, knowing their great sorrow. They had sorrow at the moment, but their future was brighter. The disciples could only see the sorrow of Jesus leaving; but Jesus’ departure was an essential step in their growth as disciples.

c. It is to your advantage that I go away: This had to be difficult for the disciples to believe. When a loved one is near death we often think it is the best to let death take its course. We say, “It will be better for them to go, and to stop the suffering. It is to their advantage to go away.” But when someone we love is near death, we usually don’t think that it is to our advantage that they go. Yet Jesus here said that it wasn’t for His advantage, but to your advantage that I go away.

i. If the disciples really understood what was about to happen, it would be even more difficult for them to believe.


· To your advantage that Jesus is arrested?
· To your advantage that Jesus’ ministry of teaching and miracles is stopped?
· To your advantage that Jesus is beaten?
· To your advantage that Jesus is mocked?
· To your advantage that Jesus is sentenced for execution?
· To your advantage that Jesus is nailed to a cross?
· To your advantage that Jesus dies in the company of notorious criminals?
· To your advantage that His lifeless body is laid in a cold grave?


d. Nevertheless: This word meant a challenge to their sorrow and even their unbelief. Nevertheless is one of the great words of the Bible, meaning despite all of that. Jesus knew they were filled with sorrow because of what He told them. But, despite all of that He wanted them to know that it was to their advantage.

i. “It is expedient for you, implies that the dispensation of the Spirit is a more blessed manifestation of God than was even the bodily presence of the risen Saviour.” (Alford)

e. I tell you the truth: Jesus didn’t say this because He lied most of the time. He said this because He wanted them to make a concerted effort to trust Him at this point. Jesus knew this was difficult to believe.

f. For if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you: Jesus had a plan, but they couldn’t understand it. With 2,000 years of hindsight we see that when Jesus went away He then sent the Spirit of God, which had and has a broader and more effective ministry in the entire world.

i. “The withdrawal of the bodily presence of Christ was the essential condition of His universal spiritual presence.” (Dods)

g. I will send Him to you: Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to His disciples when He departed. This is what would make it to their advantage that He departed from them. Jesus meant that the presence and work of the Holy Spirit would actually be better for believers than the physical, bodily presence of Jesus.

i. It was better because Jesus could be with every believer all the time. Jesus promised, For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them (Matthew 18:20). That was not a promise He could keep after flesh, but only after the Spirit. He had to go away for that promise to be made true. If Jesus were present bodily on this earth, there would be some Christians who would be overjoyed – those in His immediate presence. But for most Christians, they would have the overwhelming sense that Jesus was not with them. Truly, it was all to your advantage.

ii. It was better because now we can understand Jesus better. If Jesus were present bodily on this earth, there would be no end to His words for us. We wouldn’t have a Bible; we would have the library of congress. Secretaries would follow Him constantly to record His every word. It would all be written down and preserved. We would have all of it, and the mass of it would be just plain unmanageable. Truly, it was all to your advantage.

iii. It was better because now we can have a more trusting relationship with God. If Jesus were present bodily on this earth, there would be a great challenge to our walk of faith. Paul said, Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. (2 Corinthians 5:16) God wants us to walk by faith, and not by sight, and if Jesus were here bodily, there would be great temptation to walk by sight, and not by faith. Truly, it was all to your advantage.

iv. It was better because Jesus’ work is better understood as He is enthroned in the heavens. If Jesus were present bodily on this earth, it would be confusing to us. Jesus does not continue to suffer; He finished His work on the cross. Yet it might be difficult for us to see a Savior who never suffered when we are in distress; it might make us think that Jesus was unsympathetic. God didn’t want us to struggle with this dilemma, so Jesus is no longer bodily on this earth. He is enthroned in the heavens. Truly, it was all to your advantage.

v. Before Jesus left the disciples were confused, thick headed, afraid, selfish and self-centered. After Jesus left and after the Helper had come they were wise, surrendered, bold, and giving. Truly, it was to your advantage that Jesus left.

3. (8-11) The work of the Holy Spirit in the world.“And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.”

a. He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Sin is the truth about man, righteousness is the truth about God, judgment is the inevitable combination of these two truths.

i. “Each man’s conscience has some glimmering of light on each of these; some consciousness of guilt, some sense of right, some power of judgment of what is transitory and worthless; but all these are unreal and unpractical, till the convicting work of the Spirit has wrought in him.” (Alford)

b. He will convict: The ancient Greek work translated convict has a broader range of meaning than simply our word convict, especially as it is understood in a legal sense. It also carries the ideas to expose, to refute, and to convince (Bruce). This is the work of the Holy Spirit in the world and in individual hearts; to convince and convict of these truths.

i. He will convict: “Or undeceive the world, by refuting those odd conceits and erroneous opinions, that men had before drunk in, and were possessed of.” (Trapp)

ii. It is a serious thing to resist and reject this work of the Holy Spirit, which is especially prominent and powerful in seasons of great spiritual advance (sometimes called revival or spiritual awakening).

iii. Before the convicting work of the Holy Spirit one may say, I make a lot of mistakes. Nobody’s perfect. After the convicting work of the Holy Spirit one may say, I’m a lost rebel, fighting against God and His law – I must rely on Jesus to get right with God.

iv. “The Spirit does not merely accuse men of sin, he brings to them an inescapable sense of guilt so that they realize their shame and helplessness before God.” (Tenney)

v. “The Spirit is the ‘advocate’ or helper of those who believe in Jesus, their counsel for the defence. But in relation to unbelievers, to the godless world, he acts as counsel for the prosecution.” (Bruce) It’s important to have the Spirit of God to defend rather than to convict.

vi. In the great awakening of 1860-61 in Great Britain, a high-ranking army officer described the conviction of sin in his Scottish town: “Those of you who are ease have little conception of how terrifying a sight it is when the Holy Spirit is pleased to open a man’s eyes to see the real state of heart. Men who were thought to be, and who thought themselves to be good, religious people… have been led to search into the foundation upon which they were resting, and have found all rotten, that they were self-satisfied, resting on their own goodness, and not upon Christ. Many turned from open sin to lives of holiness, some weeping for joy for sins forgiven.” (J. Edwin Orr, The Second Evangelical Awakening in Britain)

c. Of sin, because they do not believe in Me: It is unbelief, the rejection of Jesus, which ultimately proves one to be guilty. The Holy Spirit will tell the world of the importance of trusting in, relying on, and clinging to Jesus to avoid this sin.

i. “The essence of sin is unbelief, which is not simply a casual incredulity nor a difference of opinion; rather, it is a total rejection of God’s messenger and message.” (Tenney)

ii. “The basic sin is the sin which puts self at the centre of things and consequently refused to believe in Him.” (Morris)
iii. “A sinner is a sacred thing: the Holy Ghost hath made him so. Your sham sinner is a horrid creature; but a man truly convinced of sin by the Spirit of God is a being to be sought after as a jewel that will adorn the crown of the Redeemer.” (Spurgeon)

d. Of righteousness, because I go to My Father: The ascension of Jesus to heaven demonstrated that He had perfectly fulfilled the Father’s will and had proven Himself righteous – and exposed the lack of righteousness in the world that rejected Him. The Holy Spirit shows the world the righteousness of Jesus and its own unrighteousness.

i. Many people today – even secular people – take the righteousness of Jesus as a given. Yet during His life Jesus was reviled as an imposter, as demon-possessed, as a wicked destroyer of the law, as a glutton, a drunk, and as illegitimate. The Holy Spirit persuades the work of the righteousness of Jesus.
ii. “Whereas righteousness had previously been defined by precepts, it now has been revealed in the incarnate Son, who exemplified it perfectly in all his relationships.” (Tenney)

e. Of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged: The judgment of Satan himself means that there will be a final reckoning between God and His rebellious creature. The Holy Spirit warns the world of this coming judgment.
i. Normally conviction is followed by judgment. When the Holy Spirit works, there is an in-between step: the revelation of the righteousness of Jesus Christ, which can satisfy the judgment for the convicted person.

ii. “The world, the prince of it, is ‘judged’. To adhere to it rather than to Christ is to cling to a doomed cause, a sinking ship.” (Dods)
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4. (12-15) The work of the Holy Spirit among the disciples.“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.”

a. I still have many things to say to you: Jesus frankly admitted that His own teaching was incomplete, and anticipated the further instruction of the church by the Holy Spirit. This statement of Jesus leads us to anticipate the formation of the New Testament.

i. Here Jesus answered those who say, “I’ll take what Jesus taught, but not what Paul or the others taught.” Paul and the other New Testament writers taught us the many things that Jesus spoke of.

· For example, they didn’t know that some of the customs and commands among the Jews would be fulfilled by the person and work of Jesus, and no longer be binding under the New Covenant.

· For example, they didn’t know that God would bring Gentiles into the New Covenant community as equal partners, without having to first become Jews.
b. He will guide you into all truth: In one sense, this was fulfilled when the New Testament writings, divinely inspired by God, were completed. In another sense the Holy Spirit continues today to personally lead us into truth, but never in opposition to the Scripture, because God’s supremely authoritative revelation is closed with the New Testament.

i. Into all truth: “The Greek means ‘all the truth’, i.e. the specific truth about the Person of Jesus and the significance of what He said and did. The New Testament is permanent evidence that the apostles were guided into truth about this.” (Tasker)

ii. He will tell you things to come: “The promise must therefore refer to the main features of the new Christian dispensation. The Spirit would guide them in that new economy in which they would no longer have the visible example and help and counsel of their Master.” (Dods)

c. He will not speak on His own authority… He will glorify Me… He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you: The Holy Spirit’s ministry is revealing Jesus to us, to bear testimony of Jesus (John 15:26). He uses many different ways and many different gifts to accomplish this, but the purpose is always the same: to reveal Jesus.

i. One may speak of dream, visions, experiences, revelations and say they came from the Holy Spirit, but many of those supposed revelations of the Spirit say nothing or almost nothing about Jesus Himself.

ii. “This verse is decisive against all additions and pretended revelations subsequent to and besides Christ; it is being the work of the Spirit to testify and to declare the THINGS OF CHRIST; not any thing new and beyond Him.” (Alford)

iii. All things that the Father has are Mine: “If Christ had not been equal to God, could he have said this without blasphemy?” (Clarke)

B. Jesus prepares the disciples for His coming challenge on the cross.1. (16-18) Jesus tells them of His immediate, brief departure.“A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father.” Then some of His disciples said among themselves, “What is this that He says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’; and, ‘because I go to the Father’?” They said therefore, “What is this that He says, ‘A little while’? We do not know what He is saying.”

a. A little while, and you will not see Me: The disciples didn’t understand that the arrest of Jesus was only an hour or two away, and then His crucifixion would follow. Yet because He must go to the Father, they would seeHim again as He rose from the dead.

i. You will not see Me: “During the interval between His death and resurrection the disciples lost their faith and spiritual vision, and no more beheld Him than did the world.” (Trench)

ii. You will see Me: “‘And again a little while shall elapse, and then ye-shall-seeMe (ὄψεσθέμε), i.e. with bodily eyes.’ When the short interval between His death and resurrection had elapsed, then they should see Him with their bodily eyes.” (Trench)

b. We do not know what He is saying: The disciples were both troubled and confused. They probably thought Jesus spoke with unnecessary mystery about where He was going and what He would do. They didn’t understand what He meant about not seeing Him and then seeing Him.

i. We do not know what He is saying: “A different word is used here in the Greek for saith from that used in the first part of the verse. Hence, RSV, rightly, ‘we do not know what he means’.” (Tasker)

ii. “The use of the imperfect tense in ‘kept asking’ [they said] (elegon) shows that they must have held a consultation among themselves about it and that the discourse did not proceed as an uninterrupted lecture.” (Tenney)
iii. “Where for us, all is clear, for them all was mysterious. If Jesus wishes to found the Messianic kingdom, why go away? If He does not wish it, why return?” (Godet, cited in Morris)

2. (19-22) Jesus explains of coming sorrow being turned into joy.  Now Jesus knew that they desired to ask Him, and He said to them, “Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’? Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.”

a. Jesus knew that they desired to ask Him: Jesus understood that the disciples wanted more clarity; but He also knew that they needed more than information. They needed their hearts and minds prepared to endure the coming crisis.

i. “Jesus, perceiving their embarrassment, and that they wished to interrogate Him, said to them: ‘Are you inquiring among yourselves?’” (Dods)
b. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy: Jesus knew they would be plunged into deep and dark sorrow in the next few hours. He also knew that God would, by His power and grace, turn their sorrow into joy.

i. The words, you will be sorrowful were certainly true.
· Sorrowful at the loss of relationship.
· Sorrowful at the humiliation of their Master and Messiah.
· Sorrowful at the seeming victory of His enemies.
· Sorrowful because all they hoped for was taken away.

ii. The crucifixion and all that went with it was not a bump in the road on the way to fulfilling God’s plan, as if it were an obstacle to overcome. It was the way the plan would be fulfilled. That sorrow would turn into joy.

iii. God’s work was not to replace their sorrow with joy, but to turn sorrow into joy, as He often does in our lives. The sorrow would be directly connected to their coming joy, even as the sorrow of a woman in childbirth is directly connected to her joy that her child has been born into the world.

iv. “It is most remarkable and instructive that the apostles do not appear in their sermons or epistles to have spoken of the death of our Lord with any kind of regret. The gospels mention their distress during the actual occurrence of the crucifixion, but after the resurrection, and especially after Pentecost, we hear of no such grief.” (Spurgeon)

c. I will see you again and your heart will rejoice: They didn’t fully understand the separation, so they could not fully understand the joy of the coming reunion. Yet when it happened, no one could deny their joy-filled testimony of the resurrection. It was testimony so sure that they endured death because of it. It was joy no one will take from you.

i. Your joy no one will take from you: “Our Lord’s meaning appears to have been this: that his resurrection should be so completely demonstrated to them, that they should never have a doubt concerning it; and consequently that their joy should be great and permanent.” (Clarke)

ii. “That he should suffer was cause for grief, but that he has now suffered all is equal cause for joy. When a champion returns from the wars bearing the scars of conflict by which he gained his honors, does anyone lament over his campaigns?” (Spurgeon)

3. (23-27) Jesus promises greater joy regarding their coming access to God after Jesus’ departure.“And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father. In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God.”

a. In that day you will ask Me nothing: Jesus probably meant that they would be so overcome with joy and relief at the resurrection that they would be speechless when it came to making requests of Jesus. Yet the pathway to audience with God and answered prayer was more open, not more closed.

i. Until now you have asked nothing in My name: “Ye have not as yet considered me the great Mediatorbetween God and man; but this is one of the truths which shall be more fully revealed to you by the Holy Spirit.” (Clarke)

b. Whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you: Because of Jesus’ great work, disciples have unlimited, undeniable access to God through Him. The disciples had yet to really pray in the name of Jesus, but He would teach them.

i. “The meaning is that the atoning death of Jesus will revolutionize the whole situation. On the basis of the Son’s atoning work men will approach God and know the answers to their prayers.” (Morris)

c. But I will tell you plainly about the Father: The disciples should trust that in this time of restored joy and open access to Jesus, they would know the Father Himself, and know about Him more than ever.

i. Figurative language: “Used here to cover the cryptic expression ‘a little while’ and the metaphor of childbirth used in verse 21.” (Tasker)
d. For the Father Himself loves you: Jesus makes it clear that the Son did not need to persuade an angry Father to be gracious; but His work would provide a righteous basis for God’s graciousness.

i. “Here Jesus is saying: ‘You can go to God, because he loves you,’ and he is saying that before the Cross. He did not die to change God into love; he died to tell us that God is love. He came, not because God so hated the world, but because he so loved the world. Jesus brought to men the love of God.” (Barclay)

ii. “The reason that Christ will not intercede for them is now given. There will be no need. The Father Himselfloves them. He does not need to be persuaded to be gracious. In this case the ground of acceptance is the relationship in which they stand to Jesus.” (Morris)

e. Because you have loved Me: The Father did not love the disciples on the basis of their love for Jesus, but their love for Jesus was evidence of the Father’s love for them.

i. A pulse doesn’t make the heart pump, but it is evidence of it. Our love for God doesn’t make Him love us, but it is evidence that He loves us.

4. (28-32) The disciples proclaim their faith; Jesus places it in perspective.“I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father.” His disciples said to Him, “See, now You are speaking plainly, and using no figure of speech! Now we are sure that You know all things, and have no need that anyone should question You. By this we believe that You came forth from God.” Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.”

a. I came forth from the Father: Jesus repeated themes from previously in this great talk with His disciples, telling them again about His departure from this world and unto His Father. John 16:28 is a remarkable summary of the work of Jesus.

· I have come forth from the Father: Jesus is God, having existed in heaven’s glory and goodness before He ever came to the earth.

· And have come into the world: Jesus was born as a man, having added humanity to deity.

· Again I leave the world: Jesus would die.

· And go to My Father: Jesus would rise from the dead and ascend to heaven.
i. “In those sentences we have a declaration of the whole redemptive progress of the Son of God. From the Father into the world; from the world unto the Father.” (Morgan)

ii. “Here is the sum of the Christian Faith in four fundamental propositions, which, with their several why and how and result, form the whole body of Christian verity.” (Trench)

b. Now we are sure that You know all things: The summary statement in the previous sentence made the disciples feel that now they understood. They seem to have been sincere, but more confident in their faith than they should have been.

i. “They declared that their belief in the Divinity of His mission was confirmed. They were perfectly sincere. They felt that they had at last passed beyond the region where it would be possible to doubt. How much better He knew them than they knew themselves!” (Morgan)

c. Do you now believe… You will be scattered: Jesus did not doubt the belief of the disciples, but warned them that their faith would be shaken before it was finally settled upon Him. They would find it much easier to believe on Him in the upper room than in the Garden of Gethsemane, where they would all flee each to his own, and would leave Jesus alone.

i. This wasn’t to make an I told you so moment. “The very fact that He had known and had foretold the course of events, would be something to hold on to, and the memory of it would help them back again to faith.” (Morgan)

ii. “The words Do you now believe? can also be taken as a statement. This is preferable, as it brings out better the emphasis laid upon now in the original. ‘You do now believe, but your belief will soon be shaken.’” (Tasker)

iii. “Jesus read their hearts better than they knew. Not only could he answer their unspoken questions: he could assess the strength of their belief in him. It was sincere and genuine, bound up with their love for him, but it was about to be exposed to a test such as they had not imagined.” (Bruce)

d. You will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone: The crisis would come soon, and when it did the disciples would think, every man for himself and abandon Jesus alone.

i. “When he did not need their friendship, they were his very good friends. When they could do nothing for him if they tried, they were his faithful followers. But the pinch has come; now might they watch with him one hour, now might they go with him amid the rabble throng, and interpose at least the vote of the minority against the masses; but they are gone.” (Spurgeon)
ii. “There he stands. They have left him alone; but there he is, still standing to his purpose. He has come to save, and he will save. He has come to redeem, and he will redeem. He has come to overcome the world, and he will overcome it.” (Spurgeon)

e. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me: Jesus relied upon His close relationship with God all the way to the cross, and even upon it. In the loneliest moments imaginable, He understood that the Father was with Him.
i. “I remember that passage about Abraham going with Isaac to mount Moriah, where Isaac was to be offered up. It is written, ‘So they went both of them together.’ So did the Eternal Father and his Well- beloved Son when God was about to give up his own Son to death. There was no divided purpose; they went both of them together.” (Spurgeon)

5. (33) The triumphant conclusion to Jesus’ farewell discourse to His disciples and to all of Jesus’ teaching before the cross.“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

a. These things I have spoken to you: In a moment Jesus would pray for His disciples. Before He did, He summarized the purpose of the long talk He had with those disciples: to bring them peace and the settled assurance of overcomers.

b. That in Me you may have peace: Jesus offered His disciples peace. He made the offer in the most unlikely circumstances. At that very minute, Judas met with Jesus’ enemies to plot His arrest. Jesus knew that He would be arrested, forsaken, rejected, mocked, humiliated, tortured and executed before the next day was over. We think that the disciples should have comforted Him – yet Jesus had peace, and enough to give to others.

i. Jesus did not promise peace; He offered it. He said, “you may have peace.” People may follow Jesus yet deny themselves this peace. We gain the peace Jesus offered by finding it in Him. Jesus said, “that in Me you may have peace.” We won’t find real peace anywhere else other than in Jesus.

ii. Jesus made the way to peace with God: Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:1)

iii. Jesus made the way to peace with others: For Jesus is our peace, who has made the both one and broken down the middle wall of division between us. (Ephesians 2:14)

iv. This word of peace is especially meaningful set in the context of conflict – tribulation and overcome both speak of battles to fight. “He promises a peace which co-exists with tribulation and disturbances, a peace which is realized in and through conflict and struggle.” (Maclaren)

v. This promise was especially powerful for those eleven disciples. “He predicted their desertion in the very saying in which He assured them of the peace He would give them. He loved them for who they were and despite their shortcomings.” (Morris)

c. In the world you will have tribulation: Jesus also made the promise of tribulation. Peace is offered to us, but tribulation is promised. When we become Christians we may bring fewer problems upon ourselves, but we definitely still have them.

i. Understanding this removes a false hope. Struggling Christians often hope for the day when they will laugh at temptation and there will be one effortless victory after another. We are promised struggle as long as we are in this world; yet there is peace in Jesus.

ii. “There is no avoiding it; it is not a paradise, but a purgatory to the saints. It may be compared to the Straits of Magellan, which is said to be a place of that nature, that which way soever a man set his course, he shall be sure to have the wind against him.” (Trapp)

d. Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world: Jesus proclaimed the truth of His victory. This was an amazing statement from a man about to be arrested, forsaken, rejected, mocked, tortured and executed. Judas, the religious authorities, Pilate, the crowd, the soldiers or even death and the grave could not overcome Him. Instead, Jesus could truly say, “I have overcome the world.” If it was true then, it’s even truer now.

i. When Jesus wanted to comfort and strengthen His disciples, He spoke of His victory, not directly theirvictory. This wasn’t “cheer up” or “try harder.” Jesus knew that His victory would be theirs.

ii. “He overcame the world in three areas: in His life, in His death, and in His resurrection.” (Boice)

iii. “This statement, spoken as it is in the shadow of the cross, is audacious… He goes to the cross not in fear or in gloom, but as a conqueror.” (Morris)

iv. “He overcame the world when nobody else had overcome it.” (Spurgeon)

v. The thought that Jesus has overcome became precious to John. “Nikeo occurs only here in the Gospel, but twenty-two times in the Johannine Epistles and Apocalypse.” (Dods)

vi. “The world conquers me when it comes between me and God, when it fills my desires, when it absorbs my energies, when it blinds my eyes to the things unseen and eternal.” (Maclaren)
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vii. Knowing that Jesus has overcome the world brings us good cheer. It is the foundation for our peace in Him. We see that Jesus is in control, we see that although He leaves He does not abandon, we see that He loves, and we see that the victory is His. We can be of good cheer indeed.