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. 29) on which, as it were, Jesus speaks and acts in His grace as here shown on the earth. The Jews, with all their privileges, were strangers here. The allusion to the fig-tree confirms this. 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. For if, on the one side, God has taken care to let us see already the glory of the Son, and the grace of which He was full, on the other side, all shines out the more marvellously when we know how He dealt with a woman of Samaria, sinful and degraded. For nothing can be more observable than the way in which He becomes the centre round whom those that belong to God are gathered. John 6:16. Mark what, as such, He does declare Him. Just as in John 4:1-54, so here it is a question of power in the Holy Ghost, and not simply of Christ's person. 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. John 5. He who, living, was received for eternal life, is our meat and drink in dying, and gives us communion with His death. encourage them in this undertaking: the mountain Christ went John 6:15. It is thus strikingly an anticipation of the result in glory. 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. Sons they might have been in bare title; but these had the right of children. he left the company directly, upon this resolution of theirs, and Thus former things pass away; the old man is judged, dead, and clean gone. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. In John 6:1-71 our Lord sets aside Israel in another point of view. So we see in the attractive power, afterwards dealing with individual souls. Second, it interprets present world political trends as signs of the imminent return of Jesus Christ. 42). 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. 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. After this we have, suitably to this gospel, John's connection with the Lord Jesus. All rights reserved. He could be declared only by One who was a divine person in the intimacy of the Godhead, yea, was the only-begotten Son in the bosom of the Father. 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. Historically it was the second of three bells rung around death, the first being the passing bell to warn of impending death, and the last was the lych bell or corpse bell, which survives today as the funeral toll . Both of them were in relation to man on the earth; the one while He was here, the other from above. P07901 Death Knell for John Knox 1972 Etching 18 5/8 19 3/4 (473 500) on paper watermarked 'Arches France' 37 3/8 29 1/2 (955 750) printed by Jack Shirreff, Westbury and published by the artist Inscribed 'John Bellany 72' b.r. 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. How could either light or love rest in a scene of sin, darkness, and misery? "But He said to them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of." Premillennialists believe that Revelation does imply this because Jesus is on the throne and Satan is bound. All others prove not only that they are bad, but that they hate perfect goodness, and more than that, life and light the true light in the Word. and the two disciples leave John for Jesus. Then, resuming the strain of verse John 1:14, we are told, in verseJohn 1:16; John 1:16, that "of his fulness have all we received." 05/28/2021 07:55 AM EDT. (Ver. 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. (Ver. 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." Christ did not wait till the time was fully come for the old things to pass away, and all to be made new. By MELANIE ZANONA. , 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. 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. This question is raised, or rather settled, by the Lord in Jerusalem, at the passover feast, where many believed on His name, beholding the signs He wrought. not the Jews only; for, as far as intelligence went, it was little better with the disciples till He rose from the dead. Why this is so hard for Traditionalists to comprehend is baffling; all they need to do is to follow TRADITION. Nothing less than everlasting life in Christ can deliver: otherwise there remains judgment. 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. No charge could be remoter from the truth. The hour was one for faith, or unbelief. But the erosion of Tradition began long ago, without their knowledge, as will be shown below. This testimony differs from the rest in having a more permanent character. 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 that believes on the Son has everlasting life; and he that disobeys the Son, in the sense of not being subject to His person, "shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him" Such is the issue of the Son of God present in this world an everlasting one for every man, flowing from the glory of His person, the character of His testimony, and the Father's counsels respecting Him. 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." 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. Lastly, closing this part, we have another most remarkable contrast. (Ver. In vain did any come to the Baptist to report the widening circle around Christ. John 1:20-25) John does not even speak of Him as one who, on His rejection as Messiah, would step into a larger glory. Even now faith knows, that instead of sin being the great object before God, ever since the cross He has had before His eyes that sacrifice which put away sin. For "he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. (Verses John 4:20-30), The disciples marvelled that He spoke with the woman. 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." For if the Son (cast out, we may say, in principle from Judaism) visited Samaria, and deigned to talk with one of the most worthless of that worthless race, it could not be a mere rehearsal of what others did. 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. (VersesJohn 6:1-21; John 6:1-21). for he knew He was the Christ. He could have healed the man without the smallest outward act to shock their zeal for the law. Man might pull Him down destroy Him, as far as man could, and surely to be the basis in God's hand of better blessing; but He was God, and in three days He would raise up this temple. (VersesJohn 7:33-36; John 7:33-36) Jesus was returning to Him that sent Him, and the Holy Ghost would be given. Matthew, Mark, and Luke start, as far as regards the public labours of the Lord, with John cast into prison. For Jesus perceived that they were on the point of coming and carrying Him off to make Him king. Pharisaic jealousy had wrought; and Jesus, wearied, sat thus at the fountain of Jacob's well in Sychar. some copies add, "and he prayed there"; the Syriac, Ethiopic, and Now, it is no longer a question of nature, but of relationship; and hence it is not said simply the Word, but the Son, and the Son in the highest possible character, the only-begotten Son, distinguishing Him thus from any other who might, in a subordinate sense, be son of God "the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father." (VersesJohn 3:20-21; John 3:20-21). Man was judged: another Man was there, the Lord from heaven, soon to stand in resurrection. Isaiah 44:3; Isaiah 44:3, Isaiah 59:21, Ezekiel 36:25-27 ought to have made the Lord's meaning plain to an intelligent Jew. Beholding Him as He walked, he says, Behold the Lamb of God! (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. It passes over all question of dispensations, until it accomplishes, in all its extent, that purpose for which He thus died. Nor will the full force of this expression be witnessed till the glorious result of His blood shedding sweep away the last trace of sin in the new heavens and the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. 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. (ver. 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. It seemed natural: He had fed the poor with bread, and why should not He take His place on the throne? through "sin." Nor was it yet complete. 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. (Verses John 5:1-7), On the other hand, the Lord speaks but the word: "Rise, take up thy couch and walk." But it is important we should know how He entered the world. (Ver. But the chapter does not close without a further contrast. "He came unto his own [things], and his own [people] received him not. 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. 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? 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. that they had "determined", as the Arabic version renders it; or It was not the time now to demonstrate in public power these coming, yea, then present truths. How singularly is the glory of the Lord Jesus thus viewed, as invested with the testimony of God and its crown! Hence it is that here the Son, according to the grace of God the Father, gives the Holy Ghost eternal life in the power of the Spirit. No doubt He must become a man, in order, amongst other reasons, to be a sufferer, and to die. He will have all honour the Son, even as Himself. Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased. They could not deny Him to be man Son of man. secret thoughts and purposes of them; or, as man, understood by As mentioned in the Introduction Section, premillennialism was the prevailing view of the Early Church for about the first three centuries, support such an army of men, and to succeed in the enterprise; Glory would be displayed in its day. Man, under law, proved powerless; and the greater the need, the less the ability to avail himself of such merciful intervention as God still, from time to time, kept up throughout the legal system. 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. They wonder, as they had murmured before (John 7:12-15); but Jesus shows that the desire to do God's will is the condition of spiritual understanding. "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." "Master, eat," said they. In Mark 1:14-15, Jesus told those around Him that the kingdom was as hand. Life resurrection will display how little they had to be ashamed of, who believed the record given of His Son; the resurrection of judgment will make but too plain, to those who despised the Lord, both His honour and their sin and shame. It finds, of course, a present application, and links itself with that activity of grace in which God is now sending out the gospel to any sinner and every sinner. He entered this world, became flesh, as born of woman; but there was no diminution of His own glory, when He, born of the virgin, walked on earth, or when rejected of man, cut off as Messiah, He was forsaken of God for sin our sin on the cross. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him. The Father seeks worshippers. For evidently it is the theme of worship in its Christian fulness, the fruit of the manifestation of God, and of the Father known in grace. 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. And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven." Nay, therefore it was they, reasoning, denied Him to be God. for he that could do this, what was it he could not do? Jesus not only could go up, as He did later, but He had come down thence, and, even though man, He was the Son of man that is in heaven. Rev 20:7, 14 states death is thrown into into the lake of fire after the thousand year period. Her testimony bore the impress of what had penetrated her soul, and would make way for all the rest in due time. 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