Jesus saw the man, and knowing that he was long thus, prompts the desire of healing, but brings out the despondency of unbelief. If he receives Him, it is everlasting life, and Christ is thus honoured by him; if not, judgment remains which will compel the honour of Christ, but to his own ruin for ever. To the Pharisees, indeed, his words as to the Lord are curt: nor does he tell them of the divine ground of His glory, as he had before and does after. But they learn that it was his divine Physician who had not only healed, but so directed him. 42). He is ever God; He is the Son; He quickens and raises from the dead. Till then the Holy Ghost could not be so given only when Jesus was glorified, after redemption was a fact. Why this is so hard for Traditionalists to comprehend is baffling; all they need to do is to follow TRADITION. and the two disciples leave John for Jesus. Thus former things pass away; the old man is judged, dead, and clean gone. Of course they are just as truly inspired as John's; but for that very reason they were not inspired to give the same testimony. Salem Media Group. Still the eternal day alone will show out the full virtue of that which belongs to Jesus as the Lamb of God, who takes away the world's sin. (VersesJohn 3:7-8; John 3:7-8), It is hardly necessary to furnish detailed disproof of the crude, ill-considered notion (originated by the fathers), that baptism is in question. The allusion to the fig-tree confirms this. Ringing of the death bells is done slowly and reverently. , to snatch suddenly and forcibly (derived from the swoop of the falcon, the ; hence, the Harpies). Sons they might have been in bare title; but these had the right of children. For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that himself doeth: and he will show him greater works than these, that ye may marvel. It was much, yet was it little of the glory that was His; but at least it was real; and to the one that has shall be given. for he that could do this, what was it he could not do? And such was Jesus. They were on the way to Jerusalem, and they were thirsting to throw off the yoke of Rome and of . 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 . But what we learn is, that our Lord (viewed as having entered into heaven as man on the ground of redemption, i.e., ascended, after having passed through death, into glory) from that glory confers meanwhile the Holy Ghost on him that believes, instead of bringing in at once the final feast of gladness for the Jews and the world, as He will do by-and-by when the anti-typical harvest and vintage has been fulfilled. So does his confession: Rabbi, thou art the Son of God: thou art the King of Israel. What a witness all this to His person! This brings in the great counterpart truth, that even God present on earth and made flesh is not enough. Man is morally judged. Grace begins, glory descends; "Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink." John 7:37) It is not a question of eating the bread of God, or, when Christ died, of eating His flesh and drinking His blood. To this last the Lord attaches the deepest importance. 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. Nothing is said about the fan in His hand; nothing of His burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire. His exaltation there is not without notice in the gospel, but exceptionally. 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." And they asked him, What then? The contrasts are as strong, at least, as the resemblance with the healing of the centurion's servant in Matthew 13:1-58 and Luke 7:1-50, which some ancients and moderns have confounded with this, as they did Mary's anointing of Jesus with the sinful woman's in Luke 7:1-50. 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. 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. If His time was not yet come, their time was always ready. However, we know that Jesus sat down at the right hand of the Father shortly after His resurrection and ascension (Hebrews 8:1; Revelation 4:2). A more recent production, advocating the same general theory, is the fictional Left Behindseries. John 7:25-31) He is going where they cannot come, and never guessed (for unbelief thinks of the dispersed among the Greeks of anything rather than of God). Nathanael's call is just as clearly typical of Israel in the latter day. Here we see Him accepting, not as fellow-servant, but as Lord, those souls who had been under the training of the predicted messenger of Jehovah that was to prepare His way before, His face. Not only is there no healing to be extracted from the law by a sinner, but the law makes more evident the disease, if it does not also aggravate the symptoms. (Verses John 5:1-7), On the other hand, the Lord speaks but the word: "Rise, take up thy couch and walk." "He that believeth on him is not judged: but he that believeth not is judged already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." 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! The premillennial concept is the result of literalizing a few symbolic verses in the book of Revelation, coupled with a considerable disregard for scores of Bible passages of clearest import. He speaks of Himself as the Son of man in death; for there could be no eating of His flesh, no drinking of His blood, as a living man. 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. C. Death knell for "Good Pope John" . John 6:15 in all English translations. "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." What is there in God more truly divine than grace and truth? Flesh and world are judged morally. John 7:38; John 7:38) And then we have the comment of the Holy Ghost: "(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified)" There is, first, the thirsty soul coming to Jesus and drinking; then there is the power of the Spirit flowing forth from the inner man of the believer in refreshment to others. 2. , , . In the Word was life, and the life was the light of men. A person (the bell ringer) would place a leather muffle over half of the bell's clapper. 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. The first four chapters of John precede in point of time the notices of His ministry in the other gospels. They could not deny Him to be man Son of man. Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? The sound goes back and forth between a harder chime and a muffled chime. All rights reserved. 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. 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. There is the nicest care to maintain His personal glory, no matter what the subject may be. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? He was God. Beholding Him as He walked, he says, Behold the Lamb of God! Judgment is the alternative for man: for God it is the resource to make good the glory of the Son, and in that nature, in and for which man blind to his own highest dignity dares to despise Him. [whose?] Rev 20:7, 14 states death is thrown into into the lake of fire after the thousand year period. 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? There is difference of manner for the world and His own ignorance and rejection. Nevertheless the Son had taken the place of being the sent One, the place of subordination in the earth, in which He would say, "My Father is greater than I." Accordingly there is a four-fold testimony to Jesus: the testimony of John the Baptist; the Lord's own works; the voice of the Father from heaven; and finally, the written word which the Jews had in their own hands. John 5:19-29), It is evident, then, that the Lord presents life in Himself as the true want of man, who was not merely infirm but dead. Verse John 1:29 opens John's testimony to his disciples. The chapter pursues this subject, showing that it is not only God who thus deals first, with the necessity of man before His own immutable nature; next, blessing according to the riches of His grace but, further, that man's state morally is detected yet more awfully in presence of such grace as well as holiness in Christ. Still, such is the effect on man under law, that he could not take advantage of an adequate remedy. John 3:1-36 follows this up. Also one of the two thus drawn to Him first finds his own brother Simon (with the words, We have found the Messiah), and led him to Jesus, who forthwith gave him his new name in terms which surveyed, with equal ease and certainty, past, present, and future. Nor was it from any indistinctness in the record, or in him who gave it. Indeed, He was the great Prophet, as He was the great King, and as He is now the great Priest on high. (Verses John 5:17-18). The refusal of His precious blood will, on the contrary, make their case incomparably worse than that of the heathen who never heard the good news. Do they receive Him not? There was purpose in it. Here there could not be more, and He would not give less: even "grace upon grace." man, and seize him in a violent manner, whether he would or not; At once their malice drops the beneficent power of God in the case, provoked at the fancied wrong done to the seventh day. John gives us this point of contact with them, though in an incident peculiar to himself. This would make all manifest. Nor was it yet complete. Nay, "the world knew him not." One must be born again for God's kingdom a Jew for what was promised him, like another. to deliver the nation from the Roman yoke, and set up a temporal But how precious the grace, in presence of their hatred and proud self-complacency! Nevertheless, Christ did come to His own things, His proper, peculiar possession; for there were special relationships. The Father and the Son were at work. In these two points of view, more particularly, John gives testimony to Christ; He is the lamb as the taker away of the world's sin; the same is He who baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. Hence, then, we have the Lord Jesus alluding to this fresh necessity, if man was to be blessed according to God. As to Himself, He does not go at that time to the feast of tabernacles; but later on He goes up "not openly, but as it were in secret" (verseJohn 7:10; John 7:10), and taught. 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. some copies add, "and he prayed there"; the Syriac, Ethiopic, and Proud member On the third day is the marriage in Cana of Galilee, where was His mother, Jesus also, and His disciples. They knew what they worshipped, but not the Father, nor were they "true." It is not that He denies the truth of what they were thus desiring and attached to. But all that is historically related of the Lord Jesus inJohn 1:1-51; John 1:1-51; John 2:1-25; John 3:1-36; John 4:1-54. was before the imprisonment of the Baptist. How withering the words! He bows to, as he explains, the sovereign will of God. Details are not called for now, but just the outline of the truth. 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." and proclaim him the King Messiah; place him at the head of them, As there is an absolute necessity on God's part that man should be thus born anew, so He lets him know there is an active grace of the Spirit, as the wind blows where it will, unknown and uncontrolled by man, for every one that is born of the Spirit, who is sovereign in operation. Art thou that prophet? For Jesus perceived that they were on the point of coming and carrying Him off to make Him king. 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. It would not suit God, if it would suit man, that He, seeing all, should just pronounce on man's corruption, and then forthwith let him off with a bare pardon. How can such have relationship with God? He that comes from above from heaven is above all. Under all changes, outwardly, He abode as from eternity the only-begotten Son in the bosom of the Father. The truth is, the design of manifesting His glory governs all; place or people was a matter of no consequence. We have had his name introduced into each part of the preface of our evangelist. 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. Article Images Copyright 2023 Getty Images unless otherwise indicated. And so, in fact, it was and is. 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. Now it is that the great question is decided; now it is that a man receives or refuses Christ. The word "premillennial" itself is derived of two components-"pre" signifies before, and "millennium" denotes a period of one thousand years. he would not. 2. But the chapter does not close without a further contrast. None else could do either work: for here we see His great work on earth, and His heavenly power. The Jews wanted to force Christ to be a king like Saul, David or Solomon. It is not a message or a sign, however significant at the moment, which passes away as soon as heard or seen. Spite of the most express signs, and the manifest finger of God that wrote the ten words on tables of stone, the law sinks into comparative insignificance. After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. This Blog is really a continuation of my Previous Blog "Why Israel Has a Future in God's Plans - Romans 9-11 and the People of God" By Michael J. Vlach, Ph.D. Granted He was the Son of man; but as such, He had all judgment given Him, and would judge. 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. "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." mountain alone". forsake the honours and riches of this world, for his sake; and They would fall a prey to Antichrist, and meanwhile are accused of Moses, in whom they trusted, without believing him; else they would have believed Christ, of whom he wrote. (Ver. Scripture is, or may be, before man always. So we see in the attractive power, afterwards dealing with individual souls. The close of the chapter shows us the Lord in Galilee. and 'Death Knell for John Knox' bottom centre and '3/23' Purchased from Monika Kinley (Grant-in-Aid) 1983 The following . The rejection of Christ is the contempt of God Himself, in that of which He is most jealous, the honour of the Saviour, His Son. king; 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. The results for the believer or unbeliever are eternal in good or in evil. Rest is not the question now at all; but the flow of the Spirit's power while Jesus is on high. For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: that all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He was God. It was an extraordinary birth; of God, not man in any sort, or measure, but a new and divine nature (2 Peter 1:1-21) imparted to the believer wholly of grace. He tells Philip to follow Him. But this is not the question of grace: not what she was, but what He is who was there to win and bless her, manifesting God and the Father withal, practically and in detail. Did they charge Jesus with self-exaltation? "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." It is now eternal reality, and the name of Jesus Christ is that which puts all things to a final test. Thus, manifestly, the whole question is terminated at the very starting-point of our gospel; and this is characteristic of John all through: manifestly all is decided. As this chapter sets forth the Lord Jesus with singular fulness of glory, on the side both of His Godhead and of His manhood, so it closes with the most varied and remarkable testimonies God has given to us, that there may be no excuse. 64). Remark, too, the extent of the work involved in verse 29. Jesus explains: "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. "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." What can be more evident, or more instructive? ( ) flesh, and dwelt among us." (Verses John 4:31-38). Let them learn, then, that as Son of man (for which nature they despised Him, and denied His essential personal glory) He will judge; and this judgment will be no passing visitation, such as God has accomplished by angels or men in times past. (Psalms 132:1-18) Then they wanted to make Him a king. 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. John 1:35-40) Our Lord acts as One fully conscious of His glory, as indeed He ever was. King James Version (KJV) The thrust of Lindsey's book is two-fold: First, it espouses the premillennial theory of Christ's second coming. They spoke of the world; the world might hear them. If a man looks at the Lord Jesus as One who entered the world in a general way, and calls this the incarnation, he will surely stumble over the cross. Here (John 5:1-47) the first view given of Christ is His person in contrast with the law. But even this sufficed not: the Son of man must be lifted up. Read full chapter. 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. thinking about a temporal kingdom, as the people, and might (Ver. Though He could not, would not deny Himself (and He was the Son, and Word, and God), yet had He taken the place of a man, of a servant. 4. They were not to wonder then at what He says and does now; for an hour was coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; those that have done good to resurrection of life, and those that have done evil to resurrection of judgment. No doubt He must become a man, in order, amongst other reasons, to be a sufferer, and to die. Of this we learn nothing, here. So on the last day, that great day of the feast (the eighth day, which witnessed of a resurrection glory outside this creation, now to be made good in the power of the Spirit before anything appears to sight), the Lord stands and cries, saying, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink." (ver. "Master, eat," said they. Nor would the rejected Christ, the Son of man; for if lifted up on the cross, instead of having the throne of David, the result would be not merely earthly blessing for His people according to prophecy, but eternal life for the believer, whoever. The Father seeks worshippers. Canon Law tells us to obey the old law, (Can. John 1:11-12; John 1:11-12) It was not a question now of Jehovah and His servants. "And this is the judgment, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. No doubt there are intervening applications; but such is the ultimate result of His work as the Lamb of God. The hour was one for faith, or unbelief. But if the Spirit speaks of the Son of God, the law dwindles at once into the smallest possible proportions: everything yields to the honour the Father puts oil the Son. It is thus strikingly an anticipation of the result in glory. The death knell is recognizable by its muffled sound. Presented by. All disciplinary action, every probationary process, disappears. A death knell is the ringing of a church bell immediately after a death to announce it. The answer given by modern premillennial apologists usually suggests that premillennialism was overcome for illegitimate reasons. John 3:17; John 3:17) This decides all before the execution of judgment, Every man's lot is made manifest by his attitude toward God's testimony concerning His Son. It is here we learn in what condition of His person God was to be revealed and the work done; not what He was in nature, but what He became. * The best text omits other expressions, evidently derived from verses John 1:15; John 1:30John 1:30.
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