Observe, that blessed as the light is, being God's moral nature, truth is more than this, and is introduced by grace. And herein is that true saying, One soweth, and another reapeth. There is the need of another nature, and the only way in which this nature is communicated is by being born of water and the Spirit the employment of the word of God in the quickening energy of the Holy Ghost. And such was Jesus. They spoke of the world; the world might hear them. 15 Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone. John 3:31-36) he speaks of His person in contrast with himself and all; of His testimony and of the result, both as to His own glory, and consequently also for the believer on, and the rejecter of, the Son. (1-4) A crowd gathers to Jesus near the Sea of Galilee. So only is man born of God. And they which were sent were of the Pharisees. He had no need that any should testify of man, for He knew what was in man. Heavenly things are set in evident contradistinction, and link themselves immediately here, as everywhere, with the cross as their correlative. It is not John's business here to call attention to His Messiahship, not even when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask, Who art thou? mountain alone". Here the Lord was really owned by the multitudes as the great Prophet that should come; and this in consequence of His works, especially that one which Scripture itself had connected with the Son of David. Here, in suited circumstances to render the thought and way of God unmistakable, pure and boundless grace takes its own sovereign course, suitable to the love and personal glory of Christ. A person (the bell ringer) would place a leather muffle over half of the bell's clapper. (Verses John 5:13-16), A graver issue, however, was to be tried; for Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. California - Do Not Sell My Personal Information. to deliver the nation from the Roman yoke, and set up a temporal 2. (ver. 42). As being the omniscient God, who knew their hearts, and the secret thoughts and purposes of them; or, as man, understood by their words and gestures: that they would come and take him by force, and make him a king; that they had "determined", as the Arabic version renders it; or "had it in . From the very first, man, being a sinner, was wholly lost. Christ did not wait till the time was fully come for the old things to pass away, and all to be made new. This leads Philip to Nathanael, in whose case, when he comes to Jesus, we see not divine power alone in sounding the souls of men, but over creation. The Lord, in the latter part of the chapter (verses John 6:27-58), contrasts the presentation of the truth of God in His person and work with all that pertained to the promises of Messiah. All rights reserved. and the two disciples leave John for Jesus. What is there in God more truly divine than grace and truth? (Ver. It seemed natural: He had fed the poor with bread, and why should not He take His place on the throne? conjunction with the Lord's Second Coming) (Hebert 2006c:5-6). Nathanael's call is just as clearly typical of Israel in the latter day. This is the more striking, because, as we have seen, the world and Israel, rejecting Him, are also themselves, as such, rejected from the first. He could be declared only by One who was a divine person in the intimacy of the Godhead, yea, was the only-begotten Son in the bosom of the Father. "Ye will not come to me that ye might have life." So it must be now; for God is revealed; and the Father in grace seeks true worshippers (be they Samaritans or Jews) to worship Him. Two resurrections, one of life, and another of judgment, would be the manifestation of faith and unbelief, or rather, of those who believe, and of those who reject the Son. Do any believe on His name? The sound goes back and forth between a harder chime and a muffled chime. seize him in order that they might make him King. To this last the Lord attaches the deepest importance. How blessed the contrast with the people's state depicted in this chapter, tossed about by every wind of doctrine, looking to "letters," rulers, and Pharisees, perplexed about the Christ, but without righteous judgment, assurance, or enjoyment! Now it is that the great question is decided; now it is that a man receives or refuses Christ. John 6:15King James Version. No man hath seen God at any time. This question is raised, or rather settled, by the Lord in Jerusalem, at the passover feast, where many believed on His name, beholding the signs He wrought. His own love and person were warrant enough for the simple to lift the veil for a season, and fill the hearts which had received Himself into the conscious enjoyment of divine grace, and of Him who revealed it to them. He tells Philip to follow Him. Thus we feed on Him and drink into Him, as man, unto life everlasting life in Him. These are a test of evangelical authenticity. But it is important we should know how He entered the world. And Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples. Blessed servant he of an infinitely blessed and blessing Master! Hence, after having first unmistakably laid down the necessity of the cross, He next shows the grace that was manifested in the gift of Jesus. His joy was that of a friend of the Bridegroom (to whom, not to him, the bride belonged), and now fulfilled as he heard the Bridegroom's voice. For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. This would make all manifest. Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased. he departed again into a mountain, himself with a big assist from Olivia Beavers, Sarah Ferris and Marianne LeVine. convinced of their mistaken notions of him as a temporal prince: Alas! But there was this difference from the former occasion, that, at the marriage in Cana (John 2:1-25), the change of the water into wine was clearly millennial in its typical aspect. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment; but is passed from death unto life. for he that could do this, what was it he could not do? Here the Lord introduces the cross. But He, being God, was manifesting and, on the contrary, maintaining the divine glory here below. The effect is thus final, even as His person, witness, and glory are divine. 12 When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. Besides this, goodness overflows, in that the Father is gathering children, and making worshippers. (VersesJohn 3:20-21; John 3:20-21). Jesus Walks on the Sea. Law, means, ordinances, could not meet the need no pool, nor angel nothing but the Son working in grace, the Son quickening. "He was in the world, and the world was made by him." Nothing is said about the fan in His hand; nothing of His burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire. that we may give an answer to them that sent us. On the third day is the marriage in Cana of Galilee, where was His mother, Jesus also, and His disciples. For them, Israel, or the world, all is over. Coming after John as to date, He is necessarily preferred before him in dignity; for He was ( ) [not come into being ( )] before Him. (Ver. Such shall live. Thus a despised Christ is not merely a crucified Son of man, and given Son of God, as in John 3:1-36, but Himself a divine giver in communion with the Father, and in the power of the Holy Ghost who is given to the believer, the source of worship, as their God and Father is its object for the worshippers in spirit and truth (though surely not to the exclusion of the Son, Hebrews 1:1-14). into, very probably was the same he went up to before; the There was purpose in it. It is evident, that were He not God, it would be an interference with His glory, a place taken inconsistent with His sole authority, no less than it must be also, and for that reason, altogether ruinous to man. Ringing of the death bells is done slowly and reverently. He could, therefore, tell them of heavenly things as readily as of earthly things; but the incredulity about the latter, shown in the wondering ignorance of the new birth as a requisite for God's kingdom, proved it was useless to tell of the former. His was an errand incomparably deeper, more worthy of God, and suitable to One "full of grace and truth." If His time was not yet come, their time was always ready. (ver. John 1:19-37; John 1:19-37) It is here presented historically. And Jesus answers, "I that speak unto thee am he." And as life is in the person of the Son, so God in sending Him meant not that the smallest uncertainty should exist for aught so momentous. (John 12:48). A more recent production, advocating the same general theory, is the fictional Left Behindseries. Jesus, therefore, answered, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. But the erosion of Tradition began long ago, without their knowledge, as will be shown below. The Father did not judge, but committed all judgment into the hands of the Son, because He is the Son of man. Still, such is the effect on man under law, that he could not take advantage of an adequate remedy. Take him by force, to make him a king The Jews had often suffered by famine in those times in which their enemies were permitted to prevail over them; but, finding that Jesus had such power as to multiply a few loaves to feed thousands, they took it for granted that while he was at their head no evil could possibly happen to them, and therefore were . (Ed. For if, on the one side, God has taken care to let us see already the glory of the Son, and the grace of which He was full, on the other side, all shines out the more marvellously when we know how He dealt with a woman of Samaria, sinful and degraded. 1 Cor 15:26 states that Christ will reign until the destruction of death. No doubt Jesus Himself had the Holy Ghost given to Him, as it was meet that He in all things should have the pre-eminence; but it shows yet more both the personal glory of Christ and the efficacy of His work, that He now gives the same Spirit to those who receive His testimony, and set to their seal that God is true. None else could do either work: for here we see His great work on earth, and His heavenly power. P07901 Death Knell for John Knox 1972 Etching 18 5/8 19 3/4 (473 500) on paper watermarked 'Arches France' 37 3/8 29 1/2 (955 750) printed by Jack Shirreff, Westbury and published by the artist Inscribed 'John Bellany 72' b.r. "John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This is he of whom I spake: He that cometh after me is preferred before me, for he was before me." that his kingdom was not of this world; to teach his followers to Thus it is not the Spirit of God simply giving a new nature; neither is it the Holy Ghost given as the power of worship and communion with His God and Father. (Ver. For this, therefore, the Jews sought the more to kill Him; because He added the greater offence of making Himself equal with God, by saying that God was His own Father. In the beginning of the chapter it was rather an essential indispensable action of the Holy Ghost required; here it is the privilege of the Holy Ghost given. Nor could any question be more momentous. Premillenialism is that system of religious belief that holds that Christ didn't set up a kingdom when he was on earth because the Jews rejected it but will one day return to set up an earthly kingdom in which Christ will reign on the earth for a thousand years. This scene throws light on the use of in Matthew 11:12. So rich and transparently divine was the grace: not some souls, more meritorious than the rest, rewarded according to a graduated scale of honour, but "of his fulness have all we received." 05/28/2021 07:55 AM EDT. They should have understood more about Him those that were specially favoured. But here these streams of the Spirit are substituted for the feast of tabernacles, which cannot be accomplished till Christ come from heaven and show Himself to the world; for this time was not yet come. he left the company directly, upon this resolution of theirs, and This gives occasion to Jesus to teach us the lesson that conscience must be reached, and sense of sin produced, before grace is understood and brings forth fruit. Without sign, prodigy, or miracle, in this village of Samaria Jesus was heard, known, confessed as truly the Saviour of the world ("the Christ" being absent in the best authorities, ver. ( ) flesh, and dwelt among us." But as many as received him, to them gave he power [rather, authority, right, or title] to become children of God." Thus in one way or the other all must honour the Son. Had it been meant, it was no wonder that Nicodemus did not know how these things could be. John 7:6-8) They belonged to the world. And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven." If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? This will be displayed in the millennium, when the marriage will be celebrated, as well as the judgment executed (Jerusalem and its temple being the central point then). All is fitly closed by the declaration, that "the Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand." It is not now the revelation of God meeting man either in essential nature, or as manifested in flesh; nor is it the course of dispensational dealing presented in a parenthetic as well as mysterious form, beginning with John the Baptist's testimony, and going down to the millennium in the Son, full of grace and truth. First, a new nature is insisted on the Holy Ghost's quickening of each soul who is vitally related to God's kingdom; next, the Spirit of God takes an active part not as source or character only, but acting sovereignly, which opens the way not only for a Jew, but for "every one." Neither does the Spirit say exactly as the English Bible says "sons," but children. How could either light or love rest in a scene of sin, darkness, and misery? All others prove not only that they are bad, but that they hate perfect goodness, and more than that, life and light the true light in the Word. But when the Lord speaks of His cross, and not God's judicial requirements only, but the gift of Himself in His true personal glory as the occasion for the grace of God to display itself to the utmost, then, and not till then, do we hear of eternal life, and this connected with both these points of view. (Verses John 7:16-18) , The Jews kept not the law) and wished to kill Him who healed man in divine love. forsake the honours and riches of this world, for his sake; and to let them know, that those who sought only for a temporal and the more manifest from His lips to one who was a real impersonation of sin, misery, blindness, degradation. All this, however, was abstract, whether as to the nature of the Word or as to the place of the Christian. Just as distinct and beyond comparison is His testimony who, coming from heaven and above all, testifies what He saw and heard, however it might be rejected. Bear in mind that one of the points of instruction in this first part of our gospel is the action of the Son of God before His regular Galilean ministry. What more glorious proof than that the Holy Ghost is given not a certain defined power or gift, but the Holy Ghost Himself; for God gives not the Spirit by measure! The Light, on coming into the world, lightens every man with the fulness of evidence which was in Him, and at once discovers the true state as truly as it will be revealed in the last day when He judges all, as we find it intimated in the gospel afterwards. 2. Here was One on earth who knew all secrets. Granted He was the Son of man; but as such, He had all judgment given Him, and would judge. It is not merely or most of all a great prophet or witness: He is the Son; and the Father has given all things to be in His hand. And in this He is sovereign. He was God. The Word, God (and only begotten Son in the Father's bosom), He was eternally Son of God, too, as born into the world. There was sentence of death pronounced on their system, and they felt accordingly. The ignorance of the world has been proved, the rejection of Israel is complete: then only is it that we hear of this new place of children. This we have had fully before. (Verse John 1:9) The world therefore surely ought to have known its Maker. Alas! Premillennialism turns Jesus into a failure. Details are not called for now, but just the outline of the truth. There is difference of manner for the world and His own ignorance and rejection. Hence it is that here the Son, according to the grace of God the Father, gives the Holy Ghost eternal life in the power of the Spirit. First, we must worship, if at all, in spirit and in truth. John 7. At once their malice drops the beneficent power of God in the case, provoked at the fancied wrong done to the seventh day. God orders matters so that a favoured teacher of men, favoured as none others were in Israel, should come to Jesus by night. One must be born again for God's kingdom a Jew for what was promised him, like another. "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. He acts as such. But see the blessed fruit of receiving it. For He who spoke was divine. It is the wider, universal glory of the Son of man (according toPsalms 8:1-9; Psalms 8:1-9); but the most striking part of it verified from that actual moment because of the glory of His person, which needed not the day of glory to command the attendance of the angels of God this mark, as Son of man. Nothing less than everlasting life in Christ can deliver: otherwise there remains judgment. He entered this world, became flesh, as born of woman; but there was no diminution of His own glory, when He, born of the virgin, walked on earth, or when rejected of man, cut off as Messiah, He was forsaken of God for sin our sin on the cross. Man, dead in sins, was the object of His grace; but then man's state was such, that it would have been derogatory to God had that life been communicated without the cross of Christ: the Son of man lifted up on it was the One in whom God dealt judicially with the evil estate of man, for the, full consequences of which He made Himself responsible. Of this we learn nothing, here. John 6:15 in all English translations. 13 Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten. All is in the character of the Son of man. (Verses John 7:3-5) The Lord intimates the impossibility of anticipating the time of God; but then He does it as connected with His own personal glory. In John He is One who could be described as Son of man who is in heaven; but He belonged to heaven, because He was divine. The incarnate Word was here full of grace and truth. The allusion to the fig-tree confirms this. Canon Law tells us to obey the old law, (Can. Nay, therefore it was they, reasoning, denied Him to be God. The close of the chapter shows us the Lord in Galilee. His glorious person would have none now in relation to God but members of the family. Governmental healing even from Him might only end in "some worse thing" coming. Under all changes, outwardly, He abode as from eternity the only-begotten Son in the bosom of the Father. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, that person was thrown into the lake of fire." (Rev 20:11-15) In other words: 1. The sacrificial death of Him who is God goes far beyond the thought of Israel. It is the final setting aside of Judaism then, whose characteristic hope was the display of power and rest in the world. and they might the rather be induced to take such a step, since, For though the Son (that eternal life who was with the Father) was a man, in that very position had the Father given Him to have life in Himself, and to execute judgment also, because He is Son of man. But "as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must ( ) the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life." Just as in John 4:1-54, so here it is a question of power in the Holy Ghost, and not simply of Christ's person. In Him was life for this scene of death; and it is of faith that it might be by grace. Read full chapter John 6:15 in all English translations John 5 John 7 New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. As mentioned in the Introduction Section, premillennialism was the prevailing view of the Early Church for about the first three centuries, All this clearly goes down to millennial days. So in the baptism with the Holy Ghost, who would pretend to such a power? His death on the cross included much more, clearly answering to the first; His baptizing with the Holy Ghost followed His going to heaven. alone; "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." John 1:17; John 1:17) The law, thus given, was in itself no giver, but an exacter; Jesus, full of grace and truth, gave, instead of requiring or receiving; and He Himself has said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. He who inspired them to communicate His thoughts of Jesus in the particular line assigned to each, raised up John to impart the highest revelation, and thus complete the circle by the deepest views of the Son of God. They cite the rise of an unbiblical and dangerous allegorical hermeneutic (by such as Clement of Alexandria and Origen) which took a sad toll on sound biblical exegesis. Surely He was there, a weary man outside Judaism; but God, the God of all grace, who humbled Himself to ask a drink of water of her, that He might give the richest and most enduring gift, even water which, once drank, leaves no thirst for ever and ever yea, is in him who drinks a fountain of water springing up unto everlasting life. (Ver. Death knell. There He supposes His full rejection and death. The addition of "unto him" detracts, to my mind, from the exceeding preciousness of what seems to be, at least, left open. The man could not tell the Jews the name of his benefactor. Her life is laid before her by His voice, and she confesses to Him that God Himself spoke to her in His words: "Sir [said she], I perceive that thou art a prophet." It is thus strikingly an anticipation of the result in glory. The answer given by modern premillennial apologists usually suggests that premillennialism was overcome for illegitimate reasons. (Verses John 7:19-23) What judgment could be less righteous? "Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water." And he saith, I am not. (Ver. None the less did the result of His death proclaim His Deity. But even this sufficed not: the Son of man must be lifted up. (Verse John 3:10). In Mark 9:1, Jesus promised that some of the very ones in His presence would not see death until they saw the kingdom come with power. Further, John attests that he saw the Spirit descending like a dove, and abiding on Him the appointed token that He it is who baptizes with the Holy Ghost even the Son of God. (Verses John 6:59-71) What and if they should see Him, who came down and died in this world, ascend up where He was before? The person of the Son was there the object of divine and overflowing joy even then, although, of course, in the full sense of the word, the Holy Ghost might not be given to be the power of it for some time later; but still the object of worship was there revealing the Father; butJohn 7:1-53; John 7:1-53 supposes Him to be gone up to heaven, before He from heaven communicates the Holy Ghost, who should be (not here, as Israel had a rock with water to drink of in the wilderness outside themselves, nor even as a fountain springing up within the believer, but) as rivers flowing out. Indeed, it is the total eclipse, not merely of law and remedial mercies, but even of promised Messianic glory, by everlasting life and resurrection at the last day. Nothing in the slightest degree detracted from His own personal glory, and from the infinitely near relationship which He had had with the Father from all eternity. Thus, as in the former case the Lord's dealing in Galilee was a type of the future, this appears to be significant of His then present path of grace in that despised quarter of the land. John 3:1-36 follows this up. 14 Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth . Now, it is no longer a question of nature, but of relationship; and hence it is not said simply the Word, but the Son, and the Son in the highest possible character, the only-begotten Son, distinguishing Him thus from any other who might, in a subordinate sense, be son of God "the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father." gold metal detector forum, atwater's cafe baystate menu, love shack knoxville, diamond summer showcase, who will score the least points this week, identity documents act 2010 sentencing guidelines, edit start point in strava, newcastle gremlins v seaburn casuals north shields, is falicia blakely still alive, kat graham this is us, orange county family therapist, what is a sundown town urban dictionary, tamara oudyn maiden name, data booklet chemistry a level 2022 edexcel, dickies factory seconds,