Pastor Billington's Blog

John 14

This entire passage focuses on love and obedience (many of the following points are expressed multiple times in the passage):

• If we love Jesus, we’ll obey Him and keep His commandments.
• But they’re not just His commandments, because He speaks for the Father.
• In fact, if we’ve seen Jesus, we’ve seen the Father too!
• By loving Jesus we show our love to the Father, and the Father will love us as well.
• Even though Jesus will leave this earth, He’s doing it for a purpose. He is preparing a place for us, both by enabling us to have a community of faith to belong to, and by giving us a place to be for eternity.
• The resurrection will encourage us to believe the truth of what He said and the truth about Him.
• And we’re not going to be alone! He will be with us though the power of the Spirit, who will help us to believe and to obey.
• This knowledge, coupled with our obedience, brings us peace.

Jesus also gives us some additional guidance here:

• He reminds us that He is the only way to have a relationship with the Father with the sixth “I am” statement: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
• He says that those who believe in Him will do “the works that I do, and even greater things” (my translation). We see this happen in the book of Acts. While we don’t see everyone performing miracles today, we can all be merciful, we can all obey, and we can all be a part of the miraculous work of salvation if we’ll share the truth about Jesus.
• If we ask for anything in His name, we’ll receive it. Asking in His name means asking according to His character. We ask for what the Son wants and what glorifies the Father.

Thought for the day: Those prayers are always answered!

1 John 5:14 (WEB) “This is the boldness which we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he listens to us.”

John 13

Luke records that the disciples had just argued about who should be regarded as the greatest (Luke 22:24). Jesus responds by showing them that the greatest is the one who serves. They are to mimic him (John 13:15)!

Isn’t’ it amazing that Jesus was even willing to wash Judas’ feet (13:2)? How hard is it for us to treat those who wish us harm with that kind of grace?

When Peter questions Jesus, Jesus give us some clues about our daily walk with Him. When we believe in Him our whole body has been washed and we are clean (13:10)! But we can still sin. We can still dirty our feet, and our feet need to be cleaned. We do that through confession and repentance. John teaches us that this is something we need to do in his first letter:

1 John 1:9 (WEB) “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Judas is sometimes thought of as a misunderstood and sympathetic character. Some think that He was just a frustrated revolutionary trying to force Jesus to take action. John will have none of that. He is a thief. He was trusted with the money, and He took full advantage of that (John 12:6; Matthew 26:14-15).

Jesus lets them know that He is troubled by what is about to come (13:21). Peter is concerned, so he gestures to John to ask Jesus for clarification. Jesus then gives the bread to Judas. Now, keep in mind that they are all reclining, and that Jesus is probably handing out bread to everyone. This was also spoken quietly to John, and then Judas went out immediately in response to Jesus’ words (13:27). Even though John was the one disciple who should have understood what was happening at this point, he didn’t. Judas was still trusted (13:28-29)!

Jesus shares with them that His time has come (13:31-35) He is going to be glorified, and God will be glorified in Him. This will all happen because of the crucifixion and resurrection. They aren’t expecting it, and they can’t be a part of it. What they can do, however, is love one another, just as He has loved them (13:34-35).

Peter is confused. He loves Jesus and claims to be willing to follow Him, even to death. Jesus predicts that that, instead of sacrificing himself for Jesus, Peter will in fact deny Him three times.

Thought for the day: Did you catch what Jesus said? “You will follow me afterwards.” Is that just a reference to Peter’s willingness to proclaim the gospel after the resurrection? Or is it perhaps a reference to the legend that Peter eventually meets his end on a cross in Rome, after a lifetime of following Jesus? Either way, it’s a reminder that failure isn’t permanent!

Micah 7:8 (WEB) “Don’t rejoice against me, my enemy. When I fall, I will arise. When I sit in darkness, Yahweh will be a light to me.”

John 12

The adulation is a bit ironic, because it’s not too long after this that a crowd shouts, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!” Mary stands in contrast to that. Her worship and adoration are sincere. She takes a costly possession and offers it completely and totally to Jesus. In addition, she performs a servant’s duty by using that perfume to wash Jesus’ feet, and then she dries His feet with her hair (3). Judas complains about the cost because he is a thief and Jesus rebukes Him (6). Mary has done even better than she knew (7). It was normal to “embalm” a body after death; she has done it beforehand.

The Pharisees are a bit bloodthirsty here! They not only want to kill Jesus, but Lazarus too (10). They also see the crowds hailing Jesus as He comes to the Passover, and they worry that His popularity has already grown too much (19). As Jesus enters Jerusalem the people shout the language of Psalm 118:25-26, and the whole episode is actually a fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9. It all happens because word has gotten out about Lazarus (18). Their zeal has guaranteed His death, but it’s all a part of God’s plan.

Word has gotten out, and even non-Jews want to hear from Jesus! Jesus uses this opportunity to share the need for His upcoming death (23-24). Only His death can produce life. Those who want to live must give their lives over to Him in service, and the Father will honor them (25-26). Although the thought of what to come is extremely distressing, Jesus is going through with it, knowing it will glorify the Father (27-28). The Father speaks to Him, and everybody hears it, but only some understand (28-29). Jesus tells them that the Father has spoken for their benefit. They need to believe! Satan’s plans will be defeated, because the Son of Man will be lifted up (on the cross), and He will draw people to Him through His sacrifice (30-33).

The crowd seems to have some inkling that Jesus is talking about His death, but they don’t understand since they expect the Messiah to live forever (34):

2 Samuel 7:13 (WEB) “He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.”

Jesus cautions them to believe in the light while there is still time (35-36)! Many, however, refuse to believe, as had been foretold by the prophet Isaiah (37-41). Jesus withdrawing from them seems to be a sign of God’s judgment (36). Some however, had believed, but didn’t want anybody to know, because they feared man more than God (42-43)!

Jesus ends His public ministry by reminding us that He is the light that brings eternal life (44-50). We must believe in Him to have a relationship with God. If we don’t believe He doesn’t judge us, but the words that He spoke will, since He spoke the words of God. In order for us to have eternal life we need to accept His words, believe in His name, and obey the truth!

Thought for the day: This isn’t the first time a donkey is mentioned with reference to the coming Messiah!

Genesis 49:10-11 “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people. Binding his donkey to the vine, and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine, He washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes.”

John 11

This raising of Lazarus is an illustration for John 9:1-3. God does things in His own time, in His own way, and for His own purposes and glory! That’s why He waits…

“As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘This man didn’t sin, nor did his parents, but that the works of God might be revealed in him.’ “

Jesus is the light, and He reveals spiritual truth to His disciples. His disciples, however, are a little dense (12), so Jesus clarifies what He means. Martha is in pain and lashes out, even though she has faith in Jesus (21-22). Jesus tells her that Lazarus will live again, and she thinks that He is talking about a future resurrection:

Isaiah 26:19 (WEB) “Your dead shall live. Their dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust; for your dew is like the dew of herbs, and the earth will cast out the departed spirits.”

But Jesus is talking about now! This is the 5th “I am” statement, and Jesus identifies Himself as “the resurrection and the life” (25). He reminds us that, for believers:

• Death isn’t something to be feared (1 Corinthians 15:55)
• Death is an illusion (Psalm 23:4)
• Death can only destroy the body (Matthew 10:28)
• Death is a gain (Philippians 1:21)

Right before He calls Lazarus out of the tomb, Jesus weeps. This is often considered to be one of the most comforting verses of the Bible. But why does He weep? I believe that He weeps because of the sin that brings death. He weeps because of people’s refusal to believe in God’s promises. He weeps because people are so tied to this world. He weeps for a nation that refuses to accept their Messiah. He weeps because people refuse to believe in the one who is the resurrection and the life.

The religious leadership wasn’t too upset about Roman governance. They had the ability to worship freely and take care of many of their own matters. One of the only things that they couldn’t do is impose the death penalty. They didn’t want someone upsetting the balance, and they worried that a popular figure who could do miracles would be proclaimed the Messiah. Since the leadership and the people were thinking in terms of a political and military leader, the leadership was afraid that Rome would see a Messiah as the precursor to a rebellion and impose significant restrictions on the Jewish people. They conclude that the best thing would be to have Jesus put to death. The high priest makes such a remark, not realizing that the Holy Spirit was using him to utter a profound theological truth: “You know nothing at all, nor do you consider that it is advantageous for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish.”

Thought for the day: Thankfully, Jesus is going to go to Jerusalem for the Passover. He has a mission to fulfill. The time has come!

Hebrews 2:14-15 (WEB) “Since then the children have shared in flesh and blood, he also himself in the same way partook of the same, that through death he might bring to nothing him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might deliver all of them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”

John 10

Here are the 3rd and 4th “I am” statements in the gospel of John. Jesus is “the bread of life” (6:35), “the light of the world” (8:12), “the door of the sheep” (10:7), and “the good shepherd” (10:11). Not only do the statements remind us of Jesus’ deity, but they also tell us something about His nature and the nature of salvation. Being the door (1) means that He is the only way to be saved. He is also the shepherd (2), and as the shepherd He is the only one who can bring the sheep in and out, because the sheep recognize His voice (3). As the good shepherd (11), He lays down His life for the sheep. He does it willingly (15, 17), yet He is also able to take it back again (18). What a reference to the resurrection! Of course they don’t understand (6), nor do they understand that He is doing this not just for Israel, but for everyone (16). He is the savior of all!

Is there also a reference to the perseverance of the saints here? “They will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him; for they don’t know the voice of strangers” (5)? Perhaps John sheds some light on this in another place:

1 John 2:19 (WEB) “They went out from us, but they didn’t belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have continued with us. But they left, that they might be revealed that none of them belong to us.”

Generally speaking, those who believe in Christ will follow Christ. We may have times when we “backslide” and seem to be pulling away, but we’ll come back. The Holy Spirit won’t let us get too far away!

The “Festival of Dedication” is also the “Festival of Lights” or “Hanukkah.” It commemorates the re-dedication of the Jewish temple in 164 B.C. after its desecration by Antiochus Epiphanes. While there for the feast Jesus is confronted by the Jewish leadership. They want to know plainly if He is the Messiah. He doesn’t answer directly, but points to the works that He does and says that His followers will recognize Him by those works. They are His sheep, and they will follow Him forever because the Father gives them to Him. He then says that He and the Father are one, and the leadership wants to stone Him because He is claiming to be God!

Jesus doesn’t actually deny it, but points to a flaw in their logic. If human rulers can be called “gods” in Psalm 82:6, why couldn’t He? In truth, the designation is even more appropriate with Him. And He continues to do things that point to Him as God’s representative, as well as the Messiah, and as God Himself! They try to seize Him again, but He escapes and goes back to where it all began. It is here that we see how our ministries mimic John the Baptist. Although we don’t do the miracles that Jesus did, we can still point people to the Messiah. Then, when the Spirit does a miraculous work in their lives, they believe too!

Thought for the day: Aren’t you glad that, when we’re His, we’re His?!?!

1 Peter 1:3-5 (WEB) “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an incorruptible and undefiled inheritance that doesn’t fade away, reserved in Heaven for you, who by the power of God are guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

John 9

Apparently, the disciples were of the mindset that if something bad happened to you it was your fault! While that can be true, it’s not always true. Sometimes bad things happen and it’s so God can use them to do a work in our lives. Perhaps it’s a work of maturity (Romans 5:2-4), perhaps it’s a work of empathy (2 Corinthians 1:3-4) or perhaps it’s a way to display His glory, as it is here.

Whenever we encounter someone who has a problem we can respond in one of three ways: we can revile, we can reflect (as the disciples initially do), or we can respond.

Jesus responds to the blind man’s need with love, and reveals in a very real way that He is the light of the world! He also reveals that He is creator and God. Just as God formed man out of the dust of the earth, so Jesus takes mud and gives a man back His eyesight. But Jesus wants the man to display faith and obedience, so He has him go and wash His eyes, and it’s then that He gets His sight back (reminiscent of 2 Kings 5:1-14). The people are amazed! They drag Him before the Pharisees because it’s the Sabbath, and the Pharisees end up arguing among themselves. Some think Jesus has to be a sinner. Some think He can’t be to do such a sign, so they end up asking the man. The man, perhaps simply because of the miracle, or perhaps because of the similarity to what Elisha did in the Old Testament, calls Jesus a prophet.

Although his parents are fearful of the religious leadership, the man born blind was much more forceful and antagonistic, probably because he could now see! In fact, He throws some of the leaderships assumptions about Jesus back in their faces, and has some Biblical support to do so:

Psalm 66:18 (WEB) “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear.”

Proverbs 15:29 (WEB) “The Lord is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous.”

The leadership is so upset that they apparently excommunicate the man, which is just what his parents were afraid of (34, 22).

Jesus then comes to the man, reveals Himself as the Son of Man (which is Messianic), and the man worships Him. Jesus then says two of the most profound statements in Scripture. He first says: “I came into this world for judgment, that those who don’t see may see; and that those who see may become blind.” The Pharisees, perhaps suspecting that Jesus is talking about them, ask, “Are we also blind?” Jesus responds by saying: “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.”

They were satisfied that their darkness was light, so they were guilty. If they could admit that they were in spiritual darkness, then their guilt would be removed and they would see!

Thought for the day: Chances are you will be confronted with a situation today where you can choose to revile (like the Pharisees), reflect (like the disciples), or respond (like Jesus). What will you choose to do?

Matthew 9:36 (WEB) “But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.”

John 8

Should 7:53-8:11 be here? Consider these facts:

• It’s in about 1500 manuscripts.
• It’s also in 500 lectionary texts (daily reading manuscripts in the early church).
• It’s missing in 269 manuscripts, sometimes because they were copied off an earlier manuscript that omitted it.
• Augustine though that it was “omitted because of the prudish fear that it would encourage adultery.”
• Jerome (347-420) said, “in the Gospel according to John in many manuscripts, both Greek and Latin, is found the story.”
• Eusebius (an early historian) mentions that Papias (ca 100) seems to reference the story.

Some believe that the gospel reads better if this passage is omitted, but this is how it fits:

• 7:37 – It’s the last day of the feast
• 7:53 – “Everyone went to his own house”
• 8:1 – Jesus stays in Jerusalem
• 8:2 – Jesus goes back to the temple to teach
• 8:2 – It’s very early in the morning
• 8:3 – The woman is brought into outer court
• 8:11 – The woman leaves temple going east (into the sunrise)
• 8:12 – Jesus says “I am the light of the world…”
• 8:12 – The text says Jesus spoke to them “again”!

The main point of the passage is that grace and forgiveness are a priority! How does Jesus get the crowd to realize this? He says, “he who is without sin among you, let him throw the first stone at her,” and writes something on the ground. What does He write? Twelve manuscripts read, “the sins of each one of them.” Others think that He may have written a Scripture passage on the ground, like:

Exodus 23:1 (WEB) “You shall not spread a false report. Don’t join your hand with the wicked to be a malicious witness.”

Exodus 23:7 (WEB) “Keep far from a false charge, and don’t kill the innocent and righteous; for I will not justify the wicked.”

But, perhaps most likely, He is just scribbling in the sand to take up some time and to give His words time to sink in.

The rest of our chapter reminds us that personal belief is what saves. Your lineage, history, and heritage can give you some advantages, but it can’t save.

Jesus starts out by saying that He is the light of the world and He brings life and illumination (12). The Pharisees call Him a liar, and Jesus points out that they don’t even know Him, so they aren’t really in a position to judge Him (13-15)! Jesus says that His testimony is supported by the Father, and that the Father testifies of Him. Unfortunately, they don’t have any idea who the Father is (16-20), and they will die in their sins because they don’t believe in Jesus (21-24).

Jesus, however, knows the Father, because the Father is with Him. He does exactly what the Father wants and says what the Father says. His crucifixion will prove it, probably because of the resurrection that follows (25-30)!

Jesus continues by saying that His teaching will set them free if only they will believe. It’s not enough to be descendants of Abraham – they need to be set free from sin. They are really doing the deeds of their true father, the devil! If they truly were spiritual descendants of Abraham they would follow His teaching and believe in Him. In that way they would show that they belong to God and would never see death (31-51). The Pharisees think that He must be possessed. Everyone dies, even Abraham! Jesus says that Abraham saw His day coming and was glad. How could that be possible? Because Jesus is the fulfillment of the promise given to Abraham, the embodiment of the hope that God gave to Israel, and is God Himself (52-59). He is “I AM!”

Thought for the day: If Jesus took a moment to scribble so that others could think about what He said, we should certainly take a moment each day to dwell on His words to us.

2 Timothy 2:7 (WEB) “Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things.”

John 7

Some find a moral conundrum in this passage. How could Jesus say definitively that He wasn’t going, then turn around and go? Well, there is a variant reading that may shed some light on the passage. The vast majority of manuscripts say, “I am not yet going” (7:8). I believe that properly summarizes the intent here. Jesus is saying, “You can go up the feast now because no-one is trying to kill you. I’m not going up yet. I’ll come later.” The fact that His brothers didn’t believe in Him (7:5) explains the tone of their comments. They are trying to goad Him into going to the feast!

When Jesus does go, He teaches in the temple courts. The Jewish leaders are astonished at Him because He hasn’t had any formal teaching. Jesus points out that He’s merely teaching about God and seeking God’s glory, which they would understand if they really knew God! And if they truly knew God, they wouldn’t want to kill Him! Either they deny it or the crowd doesn’t fully understand, so Jesus explains Himself. It goes back to His healing of a man on the Sabbath. The religious authorities are willing to break the Sabbath command in order for a child to be circumcised, so how can anyone be upset when Jesus makes a man well? They don’t understand because they are judging superficially, without taking into account why Jesus did what He did when He did it.

Jesus continues to teach about His relationship with God, about His upcoming ascension into heaven, and about the future ministry of the Spirit. Some are amazed and are ready to accept Him as the Messiah, but many more are confused. They misunderstand Jesus’ own lineage and birth, and they have a different idea about the origins of the Messiah. In the midst of all the confusion Jesus manages to stay free, perhaps with some supernatural help, but certainly because the soldiers themselves are amazed at His teaching. Nicodemus attempts to defend Jesus to his contemporaries but is ridiculed by them.

This all happens during the Feast of Tabernacles/Booths. This is a seven-day feast that celebrated the fact that God led the Israelites for 40 years during their wilderness wanderings, where He sustained them with mana, quail, and water while they lived in tents. There was a tradition that, during the time of Jesus’ ministry, a golden container of water was carried from the pool of Siloam in the south side of the city up to the temple mount in the north. As the procession came into the inner court, three trumpet blasts rang out to mark the joy of the occasion and people recited a specific scripture passage:

Isaiah 12:2-3 (WEB) “Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust, and will not be afraid; for Yah, Yahweh, is my strength and song; and he has become my salvation. Therefore with joy you will draw water out of the wells of salvation.”

Thought for the day: Think of this context combined with Jesus words and be in awe!

John 7:37-38 (WEB) “Now on the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink! He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water.’ ”