The Church of Divine Guidance Sunday morning Adult Bible Study is embarking on an exhaustive study of the book of John. Of the four gospels, John’s gospel presents Jesus as God most forcefully. John explicitly declared Jesus to be God who brought all things into existence. John’s gospel confirmed that Jesus was YHVH of the Jews . He is light and life . These are the notes of that study along with the recorded audio of the session.
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| "In My Father's house are many mansions..." |
Last week we talked about what happened at the Passover Feast with Jesus and His 12 closest companions. The first surprising thing that happened during the traditional Passover meal was that Jesus got up and as a humble servant would do washed their feet.
John 13:4-5 (NLT)4 So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist,5 and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him.
Although Peter objected to Jesus doing it Jesus was giving them an example of how they should serve each other.
A servant would wash the feet of the guest whose feet would have been dusty because there weren’t a lot of paved street so the walked in the dust and they wore sandals. Jesus did it during the meal to emphasize a point. It was a lesson in humility.
He wanted to show his disciples how to behave towards each other. He wanted to show them that they must serve each other. He did not just tell them what to do. He was serving them as he knelt down to wash their feet. He was their leader. But he did what a slave would do on their behalf. That is what Jesus wants Christians to do. He wants us to serve each other. It is very important that leaders serve, too. We should be humble. We should not be too proud to serve other people. Jesus, God’s Son, did the job of a slave on behalf of his disciples. We should always be willing to serve each other in any way.
In dealing with Peter’s objection He told him that because He and the others had been with Him they were spiritually clean but not all of them. He was referring to something that He would reveal later. He told them that one of them was going to betray him. We all know that it was Judas because John had alerted us earlier in his book, but only Jesus and Judas knew at this time.
John 13:18 (NLT) “I am not saying these things to all of you; I know the ones I have chosen. But this fulfills the Scripture that says, ‘The one who eats my food has turned against me.’
John 13:21 (NLT) Now Jesus was deeply troubled, and he exclaimed, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me!”
You can imagine they were shocked so at Peter’s urging, we believe that it was John who asked Him it was. Jesus responded
John 13:26-27 (NLT)26 Jesus responded, “It is the one to whom I give the bread I dip in the bowl.” And when he had dipped it, he gave it to Judas, son of Simon Iscariot.27 When Judas had eaten the bread, Satan entered into him. Then Jesus told him, “Hurry and do what you’re going to do.”
The others obviously didn’t catch on because when Judus left they just thought he was going on an errand.
John 13:28-30 (NLT)28 None of the others at the table knew what Jesus meant.29 Since Judas was their treasurer, some thought Jesus was telling him to go and pay for the food or to give some money to the poor.30 So Judas left at once, going out into the night.
We ended with Peter declaring his loyalty and then Jesus telling him that with all his big talk he was going to deny even knowing Him.
Today
You can imagine how the guys that were left in that room felt. Their leader had told them that one of their own was going to betray Him and that He was going somewhere they couldn’t go now but that they would follow Him later.
John 13:33-36 (NLT)33 Dear children, I will be with you only a little longer. And as I told the Jewish leaders, you will search for me, but you can’t come where I am going.34 So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”36 Simon Peter asked, “Lord, where are you going?” And Jesus replied, “You can’t go with me now, but you will follow me later.”
I can imagine that all kinds of things were going through their heads. What’s going to happen to Him? Why can’t He take us where He’s going? What’s going to happen to the movement? All kinds of things. So He now has to get them to settle down.
John 14:1-4 (NLT)1 “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me.2 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.4 And you know the way to where I am going.”
In your opinion, how would the promises Jesus makes in bring comfort to his disciples?
He had told them that He was going to His Father but they couldn’t go but He was also going to prepare a place for them. They couldn’t go because He had to die before He went to His Father. The house and rooms statement indicate that wherever this place was it was going to be permanent. There will be room for everybody who believes in Jesus. And he will prepare a place for each one of us.
He is talking about His second advent when He says He will come and get them and us too.
John 14:5-7 (NLT)5 “No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?”6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.7 If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him!”
Thomas spoke up but chances are that the others, at least most of them, didn’t really understand even though He had talked about His Father and preparing a place for them where His Father is, which is back to heaven. .
What did Jesus tell Thomas that He was?
Jesus told Thomas that He was the way to where He was going to prepare for them and us.
Jesus himself is the way to reach God. In other words, He is the only way that we can come to God. There is no other way.
Acts 4:12 (NLT)12 There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”
Christianity was called the way
Acts 9:2 (NLT)2 He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them—both men and women—back to Jerusalem in chains.
This way is available to every person on the earth. But each person is free to choose it or to reject it.
He also said that He was the truth and the life. This statement likely means “I am the way (to the Father) in that I am the truth and the life.
The wording of verse 7 (If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him!”) suggests that the disciples still didn’t really know who Christ was, that He was God. Now there can be no excuse for failure to know the Father as well as the Son. Some manuscripts have a different reading—"If ye have come to know me (as ye have), ye shall know my Father also." - The Wycliffe Bible Commentary.
The disciples had lived with Jesus for three years. They had heard him teach in public many times. Also he had taught them many things in private. They had seen him do many miracles. They had seen his power over death, when Lazarus became alive again.
But Philip still asked;
John 14:8-14 (NLT)8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”9 Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you?10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me.11 Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or at least believe because of the work you have seen me do.12 “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.13 You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father.14 Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!
After being with Jesus for over three years, what have both Thomas and Phillip failed to realize about him?
But still Philip asked to see God the Father.
God the Father is invisible, but Jesus showed us exactly what God the Father is really like. This does not mean in a physical way, because God is Spirit. Jesus showed us what God’s character is like. Everything about Jesus was like his Father. Jesus’ words and his acts were God the Father’s own words and acts.
The Son had been revealing the Father all along.
John 10:30 (NLT) The Father and I are one.”
That lay at the root of his mission
John 1:18 (NLT)18 No one has ever seen God. But the one and only Son is himself God and is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.
Surely Philip must believe that there was community of life between Father and Son. Out of the union of the Son with the Father came the words that Jesus spoke. - The Wycliffe Bible Commentary.
If the disciples could not believe Jesus’ words, they had the evidence of the miracles. Only God’s power could do such miracles.
Anybody who wants to know God just has to look at Jesus. When we know Jesus, we know God.
Let’s talk about verse 12 a little bit.
John 14:12 (NLT)12 “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.
Jesus had raised people from the dead. No miracle is greater than that. But Jesus did these miracles during a short period of three years. While he was a man on the earth, his body could be only in one place at a particular time. But after he had returned to heaven, he would send the Holy Spirit to his disciples. Then they would all be able to do the same things that Jesus himself had done. And all Christians, from that time to today, would be able to do these things, too. So ‘greater things’ refers to the quantity, not the quality, of the things that Christians would do. And the good news about Jesus would spread across the whole world.
The works could not be greater in quality than his, but greater in extent. Because I go unto my Father. This is the reason for the greater works. The restrictions imposed on Jesus by incarnation would be removed. His position with the Father would be related to the greater works in two ways: answering the prayers of his own, and sending the Paraclete as the unfailing source of wisdom and strength. The works, then, would not be done in independence of Christ. He would answer prayer; he would send the Spirit. - The Wycliffe Bible Commentary.
Jesus promised to do anything that Christians ask. But he would do it only if it was in his name, meaning we can’t do anything absent of that name. We need to understand what ‘in his name’ really means. It means to know what Jesus wants us to do in a situation. So then we can ask for what Jesus would want to happen in that situation. Then we are asking with Jesus’ authority, as if we were Jesus himself. God will not grant our selfish requests. Jesus never made selfish requests. He asked only for what his Father wanted.
When we ask for things in Jesus’ name we need to know what His will is. If we know that then when we as in Jesus’ name God will grant our requests. I’ve talked and preached about knowing God’s will or finding God’s will for us. If we ask in Jesus name and it’s in His will He will grant our requests even if they seem to be difficult or impossible! But he wants us to ask him.
Jesus Talks About Sending Someone Who Will Be With Them After He’s Gone
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| "He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth" |
John 14:15-21 (NLT)15 “If you love me, obey my commandments.16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you.17 He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.18 No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you.19 Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Since I live, you also will live.20 When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.
Another source of comfort for these troubled disciples would be the Holy Spirit. What does the title Counselor tell us about the Spirit's ministry?
According to Jesus, how will the Spirit bring comfort and help to his followers?
It is easy to say that we love Jesus. But there is only one way to prove that we love him. We must obey his commands. Love like faith can’t be separated from obedience. This is not always easy. For example, it can be very difficult to love our enemies. Which Jesus said we should do.
But we do not have to use only our own strength because God sent the Holy Spirit to help us.
The word translated as Advocate, or Counselor, or Helper is a legal term. This Counselor, Advocate, Helper, refers to any person who helped someone in trouble with the law. It means more than somebody who assists us to do God’s work. The Holy Spirit actually gives us the strength and the power to do things that we could not do alone, and He will be with you forever.
The world is governed by the senses. Since the Spirit cannot be seen nor comprehended by reason, he remains outside the world's conscious experience
1 Corinthians 2:9-14 (NLT)9 That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.”10 But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets.11 No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit.12 And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.13 When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths.14 But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means.
Now Jesus was talking with His disciples and He was telling them that although He would not be physically with them the Holy Spirit would be there compensating for His physical presence. He meant not just with them as a group but dwelling or living in each one of them. In all Christians.
In order to have the Holy Spirit dwell in you you have to believe in Jesus who had said just a few verses ago He was the way. So if you don’t believe in Jesus you won’t know the Holy Spirit either.
For only a limited time would the people of the world, those who did not believe in Him, see Him. Then He would be crucified and they wouldn’t see Him anymore. Because the disciples did believe in Him they would see Him. He’s talking about physically here. When they saw Him they would finally be able to understand what Jesus had been trying to tell them about his life with the Father, which was a life of interpenetration. That’s a big word but what it means is to penetrate mutually : to penetrate between, within, or throughout. That refers to the mutual inter-penetration and indwelling within the threefold nature of the Trinity, God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit
Christians are united with Jesus and therefore with the Father, too. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit join with us. And therefore we join with God. We live in him by means of our faith.
This may be difficult for us to understand because words cannot really explain such a wonderful mystery but we can be confident that it is true. It happens when we believe in Jesus.
Now Jesus’ comment that “you are in me and I am in you doesn’t mean that we the believer can say that we are God or the Son of God. But that we have that type of union with The Father and Son because of the Holy Spirit who indwells us. That’s how all these scriptures make sense.
Romans 8:10 (NLT)10 And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God.
Galatians 2:20 (NLT)20 My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
John 14:23 (NLT)23 Jesus replied, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them.
Again, Jesus emphasised how to prove that our love for him is real and that’ by obeying His commands. If we do that He said that He will love us and if He loves us so will His Father.
John 14:22-31 (NLT)”22 Judas (not Judas Iscariot, but the other disciple with that name) said to him, “Lord, why are you going to reveal yourself only to us and not to the world at large?”23 Jesus replied, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them.24 Anyone who doesn’t love me will not obey me. And remember, my words are not my own. What I am telling you is from the Father who sent me.25 I am telling you these things now while I am still with you.26 But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.27 “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.28 Remember what I told you: I am going away, but I will come back to you again. If you really loved me, you would be happy that I am going to the Father, who is greater than I am.29 I have told you these things before they happen so that when they do happen, you will believe.30 “I don’t have much more time to talk to you, because the ruler of this world approaches. He has no power over me,31 but I will do what the Father requires of me, so that the world will know that I love the Father. Come, let’s be going.
This other Judas, the good one, said well since you are the Messiah why are you not going to do what the Messiah is supposed to do and that is to free them from the authority of the Roman rulers. Then everybody in the world would know that He was the Messiah.
Again He said the way to prove our love for Him is to obey him. And then we are also doing what God the Father wants. We can be sure about this because Jesus’ commands are God’s commands. The Father and the Son want exactly the same things. Jesus’ message is God’s message.
After his death and resurrection, the disciples understood what Jesus meant especially when He sent the Holy Spirit.
Again Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would remind the disciples of Jesus’ own words. The disciples had lived with Jesus during three years. He had taught them many things. And we know much about what he taught. We can read Jesus’ own words in the Gospels. This is because of the Holy Spirit’s help. He helped the disciples (and other people who were with Jesus) to remember. The Holy Spirit then helped the authors of the *Gospels to record only what was true.
The Holy Spirit can help us, too. When we read the Bible, he will help us. He will help us to understand it. In our daily lives, he will remind us of the things that we have learned.
How does the peace Christ offers differ from that which the world offers?
The peace that Jesus gives to all Christians is the only real peace. To have this peace does not mean that we will not have trouble. But we have this peace even when bad things happen. We have this peace when we are ill or in pain. We have this peace when people reject us. This peace comforts us. It makes us remain calm when we have problems. We know that God is looking after us. So this peace will stop our fears. Nothing and nobody else in the world can give this peace to us. Only Jesus can give it to us. He offers it to everybody who believes in him. But we have to want it. And we have to receive it from him. We must not put our trust just in ourselves when we are in difficulties.
A distinctive brand of peace, different from that of the world, which would be panic-stricken at such an hour as this, with death so near. The gift of his peace would make his followers unafraid, as he was . -The Wycliffe Bible Commentary.
When Jesus was on the earth as a man He was limited by time and space but Ho would soon be with his Father again. Then He would not have physical limits. He was very happy to go back to his Father. And Jesus wanted his disciples to be happy on his behalf.
The statement “for the Father is greater than I” has nothing to do with His essential being as being One with His Father. We talked about that earlier. So this does not contradict what He said at
John 10:30 (NLT) The Father and I are one.”
The Father was in position to reward the Son for obedience unto death. There is a hint here that blessings would come from Christ's return to the Father that would benefit his followers; so they should be glad.
‘The ruler of this world’ means the devil. He has some authority in the world because of Adam’s sin. But the devil has no authority over Jesus, because Jesus has never sinned and consequently is victorious over Satan and evil. The very thing that Satan was about to try to orchestrate namely, the death of Christ on the cross, was the thing which the Saviour was pressing forward to do. But he did it not as the helpless victim of Satan but out of love for the Father, knowing it was the Father's commandment (his expressed will). - The Wycliffe Bible Commentary.
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