John 14:1-11 We Know The Father Right Now

Jesus calmed His disciples after telling them He was going away.  First He told them they were going to heaven.  (Remember that Judas had already left the room.)  "I am going to prepare a place for you ... I will come back and take you to be with Me so you can be where I am." 

When Thomas said, "Lord, we don't know where You are going, so how can we know the way?" Jesus answered with the verse that has become the most important one to me as I was drawn back to Him by His love for me:  "I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father but by Me."

The world will try to convince You that there are other ways -- many ways -- to God, and your intellect will snap tantalizingly at that bait, but it is only used by Satan to hook you and pull you away from your Home in heaven.

When Philip begged Jesus to show them the Father, Jesus answered, "Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father."  We know the Father right now because we know Jesus.

My commentary finished with this:  "The very Lord of Heaven and earth is our Father.  There is no need for us to have troubled hearts, for He is in control."

Thank You for caring for me and loving me so much, Father.  Thank You, Jesus, for dying so that I might live.  Continue to teach me to trust in You.

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford

John 13 -- Had To Stick With This Chapter For Awhile

It seems I've been stuck on this chapter for a week!  So I've just written down the verses that kept shouting out to me:

"Jesus answered, 'You don't understand now what I am doing, but you will understand later.'"  That was about His washing of their feet and being a servant to all.  And I think it was probably his "Good later!" to them.

"One of you will turn against me."  It says He was very troubled talking about this.  I guess we all did, huh?

"The thing you will do -- do it quickly."  Telling Judas to get on with his betrayal.

"My children, I will be with you only a little longer ... Where I am going you cannot follow now, but you will follow later."  That's when Peter said, "I'm ready to die for You," and then Jesus replied, "Are you ... ???"

Only Jesus knew what was coming, from all sides.  They had to trust Him, just as we do.

Sometimes to going gets really tough for us, but He's got this.  He knows and He cares and He loves us more than we love ourselves!  And what He went through for us was tougher than anything we'll ever face.

Thank You, Jesus!

John 12:37-49 When Belief Never Begins

A lot is said about believing in this section.  "The people would not believe ... they could not believe ... they should not believe."

My commentary said, "They had heard the message and seen the miracles, and yet would not believe."

Explaining further, it said, "When a person starts to resist the light, something begins to change within him, and he comes to the place where he cannot believe.  There is judicial blindness that God permits to come over the eyes of people who do not take the truth seriously.  It is a serious thing to treat God's truth lightly, for a person could well miss his opportunity to be saved."

Father, I pray for my friends and those I love who have shrugged off the Savior.  Please open their eyes again.  Let them have another chance to see and believe.

 

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford

John 12:20-36 The Life Of A Seed

When we plant gardens, we first prepare the soil, then carefully put the seeds into those beds, covering them like a child at night, and finally we wait expectantly for the sprouts to appear.  I don't think I have ever considered the fact that the outer shell has to actually decay to the point that moisture can enter and begin to break down the shell and begin the growth process.  The seed as we know it must effectively be destroyed to get the plants we so look forward to seeing.

"Jesus used the image of a seed to illustrate the great spiritual truth that there can be no glory without suffering, no fruitful life without death, no victory without surrender.  Of itself, a seed is weak and useless, but when it is planted, it 'dies' and becomes fruitful.  There is both beauty and bounty when a seed 'dies' and fulfills its purpose.  If a seed could talk, it would no doubt complain about being put into the cold, dark earth.  But the only way it can achieve its goal is by being planted," my commentary said.

"God's children are like seeds.  They are small and insignificant, but they have life in them, God's life.  However, that life can never e fulfilled unless we yield ourselves to God and permit Him to 'plant us'.  We must die to self so that we may live unto God ... surrendering to Christ."

Father, thank You for planting me.  Glorify Yourself through my life.

 

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford

John 12:1-19 Starting The Last Week

Jesus' enemies were now actively seeking to find Him and kill Him, yet He returned to Bethany to His friends prior to the events that would lead to His death on the cross. 

The story of Mary anointing Jesus' head and feet is often confused with the story in Luke 7:36-50 where "a former harlot anointed Jesus in the house of Simon the Pharisee.  Mary was a virtuous woman, and she anointed Jesus in the house of Simon the (former) leper.  The story in Luke 7 took place in Galilee, while this account ... occurred in Judah."

Mary's anointing was done out of pure love.  She knew He was about to endure suffering and death, because she'd listened at His feet as He told His disciples what would happen.  She was not one of the women who went to the tomb to anoint His body.  She was showing her devotion before it was too late.

"She was misunderstood and criticized, but that is what usually happens when somebody gives his or her best to the Lord," my commentary said.  It started with Judas, who served as the group's treasurer and often stole money from the group.

Mary's family serves as examples for us in how people worship Christ in different ways, my commentary added.  Martha served through work, Mary served through worship, and Lazarus served through witness.

Following this story came "the only public demonstration that our Lord allowed while He was ministering on earth" -- the triumphal entry into Jerusalem.  "His purpose was to fulfill Old Testament prophecy (Zech. 9:9) ... It was part of His obedience to the Father's will."

While the crowds were cheering Him on, probably thinking they were about to overthrow Roman oppression, Jesus was weeping!  "He saw what lay ahead for the nation -- wars, suffering, destruction, and a scattered people ... Jesus was forcing their hand so that the Sanhedrin would act during the feast.  The Lamb of God had to give His life when the Passover lambs were being slain."

Father, I don't know how Your Son, as a man, walked forward into His death.  But I'm so thankful that as Your Son, He was "obedient unto death" for my own salvation and for the salvation of everyone in the world who would accept His sacrifice on their behalf.

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford

John 11 -- A Lot To Take In For Lazarus AND Us

This chapter covers Jesus' raising Lazarus from the dead.  Thee were so many wonderful points in my commentary that I can only list part of them!

"Death is man's last enemy, but Jesus Christ has defeated this horrible enemy totally and permanently ... [citing the timing in this chapter] Lazarus had died the very day the messenger left to contact Jesus!  ... Jesus was urging them [through the message He'd sent back] to believe His word no matter how discouraging the circumstances might appear ... God's love for His own is not a pampering love; it is a perfecting love ... we must never think that love and suffering are incompatible.  Certainly they unite in Jesus Christ ... Nobody ever died in the presence of Jesus ... Jesus brought the Jewish doctrine of resurrection out of the shadows and into the light ... Jesus clearly taught the resurrection of the human body.  He has declared once and for all that death is real, that there is life after death, and that the body will one day be raised by the power of God.  He transformed this doctrine ... He took it out of a book and put it into a person, Himself.  'I am the resurrection and the life' ... We are saved by the Redeemer, Jesus Christ, and not by a doctrine written in a book ... When you face your last enemy, death, you want the Savior and not a doctrine written in a book ... He moved the doctrine of resurrection out of the future and into the present ... wherever He is, God's resurrection power is available now ..."

"Jesus wept ... revealing the humanity of the Savior.  He has entered into all of our experiences and knows how we feel.  In fact, being the perfect God-Man, Jesus experienced these things in a deeper way than we do.  His tears also assure us of His sympathy ... All believers are seated with Christ in heavenly places enjoying spiritual food and fellowship (Eph 2:6) ... Perhaps Jesus was weeping for Lazarus, as well as with the sisters, because He knew He was calling His friend from heaven and back into a wicked world where he would one day have to die again.  Jesus had come down from heaven; He knew what Lazarus was leaving behind."

Wow, Father!  So much to absorb.  Help my heart and my mind to take it all in.

 

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford

John 10: 22-42 Jesus Says He And God Are One

Jesus was in the Temple for the Feast of Dedication, and the Jewish leaders surrounded Him and challenged Him, saying, "How long will You make us wonder about You?  If You are the Christ, tell us plainly."

I remember reading years ago in some New Age book that nowhere in the Bible did Jesus ever say that He was God.  If I had known my Bible better back then, I could have refuted that statement and saved myself a lot of heartache.  

Jesus says here (and in other verses as well) that He is one with God:  "I told you already, but you did not believe.  The miracles I do in My Father's name show who I am.  But you don't believe, because you are not my sheep.  My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me.  I give them eternal life, and they will never die, and no one can steal them out of My hand.  My Father gave My sheep to Me.  He is greater than all, and no person can steal My sheep out of My Father's hand.  The Father and I are one ... So why do you say that I speak against God because I said, 'I am God's Son'?  I am the One God chose and sent into the world ... the Father is in Me and I am in the Father."

It just doesn't get any plainer.  Father, thank You for opening my eyes years ago to the deceptions Satan uses to try to get us not to believe in Your Son.  Thank You for not giving up on me!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford