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." 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. Please enter your email address associated with your Salem All-Pass account, then click Continue. Beholding Him as He walked, he says, Behold the Lamb of God! How were they not enjoyed in despised Samaria those two days with the Son of God among them! 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. The Lord, it is true, could and did go farther than the prophets: even if He taught on the same theme, He could speak with conscious divine dignity and knowledge (not merely what was assigned to an instrument or messenger). By and by He will apply it to "that nation," the Jews, as to others also, and finally (always excepting the unbelieving and evil) to the entire system, the world. Here, accordingly, it is not so much the means by which life is communicated, as the revelation of the full blessing of grace and communion with the Father and His Son by the Holy Ghost, in whom we are blessed. "For God," He says, "so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life." thinking about a temporal kingdom, as the people, and might , And this very circumstance is perhaps the cause, that nowhere do we read that Jesus, whilst He teas sojourning on the earth, entered, even though that town was very close to Jerusalem. There is but one unfailing test the Son of God God's testimony to Him. He could have healed the man without the smallest outward act to shock their zeal for the law. "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God." And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time. The truth is, the design of manifesting His glory governs all; place or people was a matter of no consequence. It was worldliness in its worst shape, even to the point of turning the glory of Christ to a present account. This would make all manifest. 4. Here there is no John proclaiming Jesus as the One who was about to introduce the kingdom of heaven. But how precious the grace, in presence of their hatred and proud self-complacency! And while He does not hide the privilege of the Jews, He nevertheless proclaims that "the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. Death knell. The man could not tell the Jews the name of his benefactor. The great fact of the incarnation is brought before us "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father"). So we see in the attractive power, afterwards dealing with individual souls. And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven." Man was judged: another Man was there, the Lord from heaven, soon to stand in resurrection. The hour was one for faith, or unbelief. 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. On the third day is the marriage in Cana of Galilee, where was His mother, Jesus also, and His disciples. 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. and they might the rather be induced to take such a step, since, 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. The healing of the courtier's son, sick and ready to die, is witness of what the Lord was actually doing among the despised of Israel. 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. Nathanael's call is just as clearly typical of Israel in the latter day. And they asked him, What then? "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." 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. C. Death knell for "Good Pope John" . Therefore, it seems to me, He adds verse 24. There is difference of manner for the world and His own ignorance and rejection. But the Lord reproaches him, the master of Israel, with not knowing these things: that is, as a teacher, with Israel for his scholar, he ought to have known them objectively, at least, if not consciously. John 6:39 And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. As the new birth for the kingdom of God, so the cross is absolutely necessary for eternal life. Under all changes, outwardly, He abode as from eternity the only-begotten Son in the bosom of the Father. (VersesJohn 5:8-12; John 5:8-12), But were the Jews mistaken after all in thinking that the seal of the first covenant was virtually broken in that deliberate word and warranty of Jesus? They had eyes, but they saw not; ears had they, but they heard not, nor did they understand His glory. The one, like the other, contributes to this great end, whether the Son of man necessarily lifted up, or the only begotten Son of God given in His love. He had no need that any should testify of man, for He knew what was in man. How striking the omission! (Verses John 4:31-38). 64). But Jesus finds him in the temple, and said, "Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee." 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. Such is God's vindication of His outraged rights; and the judgment will be proportionate to the glory that has been set at nought. "Come, see a man that told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?" * He says, One was among them of whom they had no conscious knowledge, "that cometh after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to loose." 42). A greater work was in hand; and this, as the rest of the chapter shows us, not a Messiah lifted up, but the true bread given He who comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world; a dying, not a reigning, Son of man. (Verse John 3:16), Let it not be passed by, that while the new birth or regeneration is declared to be essential to a part in the kingdom of God, the Lord in urging this intimates that He had not gone beyond the earthly things of that kingdom. In vain did any come to the Baptist to report the widening circle around Christ. The Lord and the disciples are next seen in the country district, not far, it would seem, from John, who was baptizing as they were. And he answered, No. They could not deny Him to be man Son of man. John 3:14-15; John 3:14-15) It is not a question simply of the Son of God, nor is He spoken of here as the Word made flesh. support such an army of men, and to succeed in the enterprise; 12 When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. In John 6:15 we read that "when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to a mountain by Himself alone." I have often considered this verse to be the death-knell of premillennialism. So in the baptism with the Holy Ghost, who would pretend to such a power? 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. Rest is not the question now at all; but the flow of the Spirit's power while Jesus is on high. 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. On this basisJohn 7:1-53; John 7:1-53 proceeds. If His time was not yet come, their time was always ready. The Spirit of God uses that word; it is thus invariably in conversion. Lastly, closing this part, we have another most remarkable contrast. "For God sent not his Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world through him might be saved." 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 . 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. 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. 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. When Jesus therefore perceived. Not only man under law has no health, but he has no strength to avail himself of the blessing that God holds out. So only is man born of God. If He put forth His power, it was not only beyond man's measure, but unequivocally divine, however also the humblest and most dependent of men. John gives us this point of contact with them, though in an incident peculiar to himself. to let them know, that those who sought only for a temporal 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. (Ver. For "he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. From the very first, man, being a sinner, was wholly lost. It was no longer a moot-point whether God could trust man; for, indeed, He could not. 1. 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). (Ed. God the Father forms a new family in, by, and for Christ. "He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." 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. This, of course, supposes the setting aside of Jerusalem, its people and house, as they now are, and is justified by the great fact of Christ's death and resurrection, which is the key to all, though not yet intelligible even to the disciples. Truth and grace were not sought nor found in man, but began to subsist here below by Jesus Christ. Here was One on earth who knew all secrets. For He who spoke was divine. he departed again into a mountain, himself 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. Observe, that blessed as the light is, being God's moral nature, truth is more than this, and is introduced by grace. There are three kinds of fundamentals: 1) Doctrinal fundamentals (e.g., the Trinity, Deity of Christ, Sacrificial Atonement, and Resurrection). 05/28/2021 07:55 AM EDT. Second, it interprets present world political trends as signs of the imminent return of Jesus Christ. This brings all to a point; for the woman says, "I know that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things." As mentioned in verse 10, the unbeliever is calling God a liar, in that he or she refuses to believe in God's testimony, namely, that which "God has given about His Son" (vs.10). 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. Did they charge Jesus with self-exaltation? They had no common thoughts, feelings, or ways with the Father and the Son. "But He said to them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of." John then declared his own waning before Christ, as we have seen, the issues of whose testimony, believed or not, are eternal; and this founded on the revelation of His glorious person as man and to man here below. Fritzsche, p. 21). It is the revelation of God yea, of the Father and the Son, and not merely the detecter of man. 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. 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. The results for the believer or unbeliever are eternal in good or in evil. "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. "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." Still, such is the effect on man under law, that he could not take advantage of an adequate remedy. We'll send you an email with steps on how to reset your password. To report dead links, typos, or html errors or suggestions about making these resources more useful use the convenient, Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, En une ardeur de zele inconsidere et temeraire. 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. Salem Media Group. Thus former things pass away; the old man is judged, dead, and clean gone. In the Word was life, and the life was the light of men. he might be; and this, too, as the expression of the true and full grace of God in His only-begotten Son given. 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. (Verses John 4:20-30), The disciples marvelled that He spoke with the woman. He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias. Thus we feed on Him and drink into Him, as man, unto life everlasting life in Him. 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. When the crowd complains of hunger, the disciples who are mentioned each react in unique ways. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. He is ever God; He is the Son; He quickens and raises from the dead. How, indeed, could it be stayed within narrow limits? 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. 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." Nevertheless, the heavenly part is little dwelt on, as John's gospel displays our Lord more as the expression of God revealed on earth, than as Man ascended to heaven, which fell far more to the province of the apostle of the Gentiles. And they which were sent were of the Pharisees. (Ver. 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. Read full chapter. (Ver. He saw him under the fig tree. Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased. There is no other way in which the new nature is made good in a soul. Christ did not wait till the time was fully come for the old things to pass away, and all to be made new. Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment." 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. Nay, therefore it was they, reasoning, denied Him to be God. Thus in one way or the other all must honour the Son. Rev 20:7, 14 states death is thrown into into the lake of fire after the thousand year period. The Son gives life, as the Father does; and not merely to whom the Father will, but to whom He will. Verse John 1:29 opens John's testimony to his disciples. They spoke of the world; the world might hear them. As the Lamb of God (of the Father it is not said), He has to do with the world. It was not that they were better than their neighbours. for he knew He was the Christ. Nor could any question be more momentous. Thus we have here the other side of the truth: not merely what God is in life and light, in grace and truth, as revealed in Christ coming down to man; but man is now judged in the very root of his nature, and proved to be entirely incapable, in his best state, of seeing or entering the kingdom of God. Had it been meant, it was no wonder that Nicodemus did not know how these things could be. The brethren of the Lord Jesus, who could see the astonishing power that was in Him, but whose hearts were carnal, at once discerned that it might be an uncommon good thing for them, as well as for Him, in this world. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. What love! But it is important we should know how He entered the world. Thus it is a kind of transitional fact for a most important part of our gospel, though still introductory. The close of the chapter shows us the Lord in Galilee. 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. Coming after John as to date, He is necessarily preferred before him in dignity; for He was ( ) [not come into being ( )] before Him. John 1:11-12; John 1:11-12) It was not a question now of Jehovah and His servants. 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). It is not that He denies the truth of what they were thus desiring and attached to. He who owns the reality of Christ's incarnation, receives most thankfully and adoringly from God the truth of redemption; he, on the contrary, who stumbles at redemption, has not really taken in the incarnation according to God's mind. No mere man, nor angel, not the highest, the archangel, but the Son. To this last the Lord attaches the deepest importance. 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. 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." In Mark 1:14-15, Jesus told those around Him that the kingdom was as hand. No charge could be remoter from the truth. It was not the time now to demonstrate in public power these coming, yea, then present truths. 1 Cor 15:26 states that Christ will reign until the destruction of death. 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. John 3:19; John 3:19) Other things, the merest trifles, may serve to indicate a man's condition; but a new responsibility is created by this infinite display of divine goodness in Christ, and the evidence is decisive and final, that the unbeliever is already judged before God. Before the manner of His manifestation comes before us in verse 14, we have the secret explained why some, and not all, received Christ. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. 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. Nor was it from any indistinctness in the record, or in him who gave it. It is thus strikingly an anticipation of the result in glory. 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