Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure

Unbelief and Our True Hope: John 5:16-47

Published October 11, 2024 in Written Journal Entries

Focus Passage: John 5:16-47 (NIV)

¹⁶So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. ¹⁷In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” ¹⁸For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

¹⁹Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. ²⁰For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. ²¹For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. ²²Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, ²³that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.

²⁴“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. ²⁵Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. ²⁶For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. ²⁷And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.

²⁸“Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice ²⁹and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned. ³⁰By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.

³¹“If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. ³²There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is true.

³³“You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth. ³⁴Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved. ³⁵John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.

³⁶“I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to finish—the very works that I am doing—testify that the Father has sent me. ³⁷And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, ³⁸nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. ³⁹You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, ⁴⁰yet you refuse to come to me to have life.

⁴¹“I do not accept glory from human beings, ⁴²but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. ⁴³I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. ⁴⁴How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?

⁴⁵“But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. ⁴⁶If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. ⁴⁷But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?”

Read John 5:16-47 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

As Jesus finishes His counter-challenge to a group of Jewish leaders who were upset about a miracle He performed on the Sabbath, Jesus shares a powerful – and surprising – statement regarding belief, faith, and judgment.

While reading the whole counter-argument Jesus shares, some of those present may have began to think that Jesus was allying Himself against them. Some may have begun to think that Jesus would stand against them when history ends and the Father returns. But Jesus closes by saying He is not their accuser; their accuser will be someone they wouldn’t expect. Jesus tells them, “But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?” (v. 45-47)

The Jewish leaders had verbally placed their faith in Moses. However, by doing so, they missed the point of Moses’ writings and they misled themselves. In this counter-challenge, Jesus tells them that when time ends, Moses will stand up and accuse them because he will tell them plainly that he was pointing them to Someone else.

Moses never claimed to be the Messiah for the people, and nothing in his writings implied this role for him. The unbelief of these leaders in what Moses wanted them to fully realize led to their rejection of the Messiah that God ultimately sent.

Unbelief is a slippery slope. When we start rationalizing ourselves out of a belief, we can find ourselves rejecting other things we believed as being true as well. Many of those who have left Christianity began their journey when facing one or two challenging ideas they could not reconcile in their minds. When left unchecked, these doubts ultimately led to them losing all their faith.

The way to combat unbelief and/or challenging beliefs that we don’t fully understand is not by ignoring the issue. Instead, the way to face these challenges is by studying the options.

At this point in history, there are dozens of angles regarding any belief or doctrine. Rarely is any belief or doctrine a yes and no proposition anymore. Most have three, four, or even five other angles we could take on the subject. While some people might want you to believe the only choices you have are believing the way they do or rejecting “the truth”, they are lying when presenting you with this approach. The way to push through unbelief and challenges are by replacing these things with something you can believe in.

The Jewish leaders fell into a trap that we all can fall into. Anytime we place our eternal lives in the hands of someone who isn’t part of the Godhead, we are opening ourselves up for disappointment and accusation. Only the most delusional people want others to follow them when they themselves are not following anyone else.

A mature leader is really a follower who helps others move forward while pointing them ahead of themselves. This is how Jesus led, and this is how He has called us to lead as well. A mature leader in the spiritual areas of life will not challenge what you believe without pointing you towards a bigger truth about God. True spiritual leaders don’t cut down someone’s faith; they strengthen it by pointing to Jesus.

This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!

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The Greater Sin: John 19:1-16

Published October 10, 2024 in Audio Journal Entries

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As we continue moving through John’s gospel and focusing in on the events John tells us led up to Jesus being crucified, we come to a fascinating point in this story. In our last episode, we focused in on a subtle shift in wording that takes Jesus’ supposed innocence and shifts it to assumed guilt. However, I suspect that Pilate does not realize this shift in his presentation, because in our passage for this episode, we again see Pilate try to free Jesus.

It is interesting, because the only thing keeping Pilate from declaring Jesus as free is fear of a riot. This detail is powerful because on the surface, it seems as though everyone wants the same thing. However, Pilate can see through the hostility and he understands that the thing everyone wants in this setting, which is peace, can only come through the death of an innocent Man.

I wonder if Pilate could sense that Jesus was different from other people brought before him. Our last episode hints at a very unique conversation Pilate had with Jesus that would definitely make Jesus stand out as different. Our passage for this episode adds another twist into this event, and this twist comes when the religious leaders ultimately let slip their real charge against Jesus.

Let’s read what happened. Our passage is found in John’s gospel, chapter 19, and we will read it using the New International Reader’s Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 1, John tells us that:

¹Then Pilate took Jesus and had him whipped. ²The soldiers twisted thorns together to make a crown. They put it on Jesus’ head. Then they put a purple robe on him. ³They went up to him again and again. They kept saying, “We honor you, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face.

⁴Once more Pilate came out. He said to the Jews gathered there, “Look, I am bringing Jesus out to you. I want to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.” ⁵Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Then Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”

⁶As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. I myself find no basis for a charge against him.”

⁷The Jewish leaders replied, “We have a law. That law says he must die. He claimed to be the Son of God.”

⁸When Pilate heard that, he was even more afraid. ⁹He went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus. But Jesus did not answer him. ¹⁰“Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you understand? I have the power to set you free or to nail you to a cross.”

¹¹Jesus answered, “You were given power from heaven. If you weren’t, you would have no power over me. So the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”

¹²From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free. But the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are not Caesar’s friend! Anyone who claims to be a king is against Caesar!”

¹³When Pilate heard that, he brought Jesus out. Pilate sat down on the judge’s seat. It was at a place called the Stone Walkway. In the Aramaic language it was called Gabbatha. ¹⁴It was about noon on Preparation Day in Passover Week.

“Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews.

¹⁵But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”

“Should I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.

“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.

¹⁶Finally, Pilate handed Jesus over to them to be nailed to a cross.

So the soldiers took charge of Jesus.

In this final portion of Jesus’ trial and condemnation, two statements stood out to me.

The first statement is when Pilate pulls Jesus back into the palace and questions Him again. Jesus is silent, but when Pilate claims to have the power to release Jesus or to kill Him, Jesus tells Pilate in verse 11, “You were given power from heaven. If you weren’t, you would have no power over me. So the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”

Jesus shifts the focus off of Pilate and off of Himself. While acknowledging that Pilate does have power, Jesus shifts the focus onto the power that Pilate has being given to him from an outside source, and ultimately while it was Rome who put Pilate where he was, there was no doubt that God, or at least the Roman gods, had favored Pilate over the other governor options.

Unlike any other person who would have been brought before Pilate, Jesus seems to understand and accept why He is there more than the religious leaders understand why they are demanding His crucifixion. I suspect this bothered Pilate a little, because everything about Jesus was fascinating and not punishable by death.

However, it is interesting that while Pilate says He has the power to free Jesus, everything in this passage frames Pilate as trying to free Jesus and ultimately failing. Jesus rightly concluded that those who brought Him to Pilate were guilty of a greater sin.

The second statement that stood out to me was the religious leaders’ last statement in this passage and this trial. When given the choice to acknowledge who their king was, these leaders could have said God, which should have been their answer. However, instead, they give public allegiance to Caesar in verse 15 saying, “We have no king but Caesar.”

The greatest sin these religious leaders make isn’t crucifying the Messiah that God sent to them. Their greatest sin is rejecting the God they claimed to serve and replacing Him with a human emperor. Either these religious leaders are openly lying to Pilate, which wouldn’t be hard to believe, or they truly had rejected God as their King in favor of Caesar.

Looking at the actions and attitude of these religious leaders suggests that they had rejected God because they rejected Jesus. In bringing Jesus to trial and pushing for His death, these representatives of God had broken multiple laws of God, including laws against lying, laws against cheating, and laws against killing. In order to sentence Jesus to death, these leaders had to abandon all of God’s laws to bring Jesus to justice. These leaders justify their actions by claiming they are following God’s law when Moses told them that anyone who claims to be God must be put to death.

However, Moses didn’t frame this law this way. The law in question is related to blasphemy, and blasphemy is speaking out against God, or belittling God in some way. In the religious leaders’ minds, a human claiming to be God ultimately cheapens God, and this would fall under the category of blasphemy. However, nothing in this law stops God from stepping into history as a human.

Looking at Jesus’ life, everything He did pointed people to God, and everything Jesus did uplifted the perception of God those in the first century had. If people had the impression that the Old Testament God was mean, hostile, and looking for reasons to punish sinners, Jesus came to change this impression by showing us a more accurate picture of God’s love. Jesus’ life did not cheapen God in any way, and because of this, Jesus’ life was not guilty of blasphemy.

The religious leaders reject Jesus on some minor technicalities, and on Jesus not fitting their stereotypical picture of who the Messiah would be. These religious leaders openly side with Caesar against God’s Messiah showing everyone just how far they had fallen from God’s ultimate plan for their lives.

However, Jesus chose the cross. Nothing in this passage hints at Jesus wanting or desiring freedom. While Pilate tries to free Jesus because he understands Jesus is innocent, Jesus willingly walked the path of torture and death because it ultimately shows us how far God was willing to go to demonstrate His love for us.

God loves you and God loves me. Jesus died on the cross because He wants us to know just how much God loves us. When faced with God’s standard, we deserve death. However, through Jesus, God paid our debt, and He now offers us a new life with Him!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life. Choose to accept Jesus’ gift and declare your allegiance to God over any and every other ideology present in today’s world. When faced with a choice, choose the path of love, the path of forgiveness, the path that values life, and the path brings glory to God.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each and every day. Through a personal relationship with God built on the foundation of prayer and Bible study, discover how much God loves you and how much He was willing to go through to be able to bring you home with Him!

But until that happens, and as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or abandon where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

Year in John – Episode 41: After Pilate has Jesus whipped, discover a few key statements that catch Pilate off guard, and that reveal just who the religious leaders were loyal to as Jesus’ trial wraps up and He is ultimately sentenced to die on the cross.

Join the discussion. Share your thoughts on this passage.

Being The Light: Luke 11:33-36

Published October 9, 2024 in Written Journal Entries

Focus Passage: Luke 11:33-36 (NIrV)

³³“No one lights a lamp and hides it. No one puts it under a bowl. Instead, they put a lamp on its stand. Then those who come in can see the light. ³⁴Your eye is like a lamp for your body. Suppose your eyes are healthy. Then your whole body also is full of light. But suppose your eyes can’t see well. Then your body also is full of darkness. ³⁵So make sure that the light inside you is not darkness. ³⁶Suppose your whole body is full of light. And suppose no part of it is dark. Then your body will be full of light. It will be just as when a lamp shines its light on you.”

Read Luke 11:33-36 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

If you have ever walked into in a dark room, or through a pitch-black hallway, you appreciate the times you had light a little more than before.

This is even truer if you have children who have used the room or hallway to play in, and I’m sure your feet and toes agree too.

When my children were young, and not as diligent at picking up their toys before going to bed, I have similarly begun to appreciate any and all bits of light as I walk around early in the morning while getting ready for the day. There may have been a time that it was safe to walk through the room in darkness to reach the light switch, but as those who have young children know, where children’s toys are present or played with, it is wise to be aware of where you are stepping.

Having grown to appreciate light even more, I have a new perspective on the theme running through this entry’s passage – especially the first verse: “No one lights a lamp and hides it. No one puts it under a bowl. Instead, they put a lamp on its stand. Then those who come in can see the light.” (Luke 11:33)

Having light, even just a little light or a small flashlight, is better than having no light at all – especially when more than one person is present.

Looking deeper at this passage, light is a metaphor.

For a long time, I believed this passage to be primarily about witnessing (i.e. sharing your “light”), but I think the metaphor goes deeper. While it can easily start with our testimony about what God has done for us, it quickly shifts to God Himself, and sharing about Him.

The gospel of John opens with a series of metaphors comparing Jesus as being a light coming into the world. If we place that idea alongside this one, Jesus might be wrapping a truth about His life mission into a broader truth about how we share God with others.

If we shifted the wording of this verse to focus on Jesus, we might come up with something that sounds like: “God didn’t send Jesus into the world to hide Him. That would be counter-productive. Instead, God lifted Jesus up, and let His life shine as an example for the universe.”

Tucked into this verse is a picture of God. In this verse, we see one reason why He sent Jesus. After seeing God and Jesus, we see in this verse a call on our own life to be lights pointing people to the great light.

Light is a metaphor. It represents God’s character, Jesus’ ministry, and our mission to point people back to Him.

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Missing an Answer: Mark 9:2-13

Published October 8, 2024 in Written Journal Entries

Focus Passage: Mark 9:2-13 (GW)

²After six days Jesus took only Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain where they could be alone.

Jesus’ appearance changed in front of them. ³His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone on earth could bleach them. ⁴Then Elijah and Moses appeared to them and were talking with Jesus.

⁵Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it’s good that we’re here. Let’s put up three tents—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” ⁶(Peter didn’t know how to respond. He and the others were terrified.)

⁷Then a cloud overshadowed them. A voice came out of the cloud and said, “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”

⁸Suddenly, as they looked around, they saw no one with them but Jesus.

⁹On their way down the mountain, Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone what they had seen. They were to wait until the Son of Man had come back to life. ¹⁰They kept in mind what he said but argued among themselves what he meant by “come back to life.” ¹¹So they asked him, “Don’t the experts in Moses’ Teachings say that Elijah must come first?”

¹²Jesus said to them, “Elijah is coming first and will put everything in order again. But in what sense was it written that the Son of Man must suffer a lot and be treated shamefully? ¹³Indeed, I can guarantee that Elijah has come. Yet, people treated him as they pleased, as Scripture says about him.”

Read Mark 9:2-13 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

During an unforgettable event known as the Transfiguration, Jesus takes the three closest disciples up onto a mountain and gives them a sneak peak at just who He really was. During this event, which terrified all three of these men, God speaks another message of approval about Jesus.

After this event was over, as Jesus and the three disciples were starting back down the mountain, Jesus tells them something that confuses them. “On their way down the mountain, Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone what they had seen. They were to wait until the Son of Man had come back to life. They kept in mind what he said but argued among themselves what he meant by ‘come back to life.’” (v. 9-10)

When I read these two verses, I am a little surprised at both Jesus and these disciples. In Jesus’ case, He has just told these three men to keep a secret from the rest of the group – which isn’t all that great for building morale in a group. I suppose that when one of the other disciples asked what they did up on the mountain, they needed to either lie (a bad choice) or say what happened is a secret (another bad choice, but at least truthful.)

They could blame Jesus and say that He told them to keep it a secret until He had “come back to life”, and perhaps this is what they chose to do, but as Mark tells us, these disciples “kept in mind what he said but argued among themselves what he meant by ‘come back to life.’” (v. 10)

As I read this, I get the picture that Jesus kept trying to push these disciples to ask Him for more details, but they avoid asking and instead, they simply argue and speculate amongst themselves.

We are tempted to do the same. When something Jesus said or promised doesn’t add up, or even when something happens in our life that we cannot explain, are we quick to talk it over with others and speculate, or do we bring our questions to God in prayer. Sometimes God will answer our questions through other people, while other times He might simply ask us to wait for an answer at a later time.

On this side of heaven, there will be plenty of things that we don’t understand, but I wonder if Jesus wanted to open the disciples’ minds to what would happen on crucifixion weekend before it happened, and we see them miss actually asking the question. This makes me challenge myself with the similar idea on whether I miss learning from God because I am too quick to speculate or ask the wrong people the wrong questions.

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