Reflective Bible Study

On the night Jesus was betrayed and arrested, while Judas Iscariot and the religious leaders are gathering the mob to arrest Jesus, Jesus spends the first part of His remaining time with the disciples teaching them and giving them reasons for hope.

Over the past few episodes, we have looked at what John has told us about Jesus’ last message to His followers leading up to His arrest, and in this episode, we’ll continue looking at Jesus’ words, including a promise Jesus emphasizes, but that the disciples might not have fully understood until later.

With this said, let’s dive into our passage. Our passage for this episode is found in John, chapter 16, and we will read it using the New International Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 1, John records Jesus saying to the disciples:

¹ “All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. ² They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. ³ They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. ⁴ I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you,

⁵ but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ ⁶ Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things. ⁷ But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. ⁸ When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: ⁹ about sin, because people do not believe in me; ¹⁰ about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; ¹¹ and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

¹² “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. ¹³ But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. ¹⁴ He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. ¹⁵ All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

¹⁶ Jesus went on to say, “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.”

¹⁷ At this, some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by saying, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” ¹⁸ They kept asking, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand what he is saying.”

¹⁹ Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, “Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’? ²⁰ Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. ²¹ A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. ²² So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. ²³ In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. ²⁴ Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.

²⁵ “Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father. ²⁶ In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. ²⁷ No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. ²⁸ I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”

²⁹ Then Jesus’ disciples said, “Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. ³⁰ Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.”

³¹ “Do you now believe?” Jesus replied. ³² “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.

³³ “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

In this late-night message to Jesus’ disciples, two portions of this passage stand out in my mind. The first is when Jesus is sharing three primary roles for the Holy Spirit, also known as the Advocate according to this translation. Jesus promised us in verse 9 that when the Holy Spirit comes, He would “prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment”. Jesus then clarifies these three points in verses 9 through 11. The truth about sin, specifically our past sins, is that they only really matters if we do not believe in Jesus. The truth about righteousness, referring to personal integrity and having a Godly character, is found in Jesus standing in heaven as our advocate. And the truth about the judgment is that it is guaranteed to happen because the prince of this world, referring to Satan, stands as condemned.

While each of these points could be the focus of a full length sermon, before our time runs out, there is one other idea that Jesus shared in this passage I want to draw our attention to.

In some segments of Christianity today, there is the belief that God is looking at those in the world with anger and hostility, but that Jesus is holding the Father’s anger back. Whenever a prayer comes in, it might go to Jesus, who would petition for this prayer to be answered by God. However, this belief runs contrary to Jesus’ message to His followers that night. Verses 26 and 27 clearly draw out the truth about God the Father and His attitude towards us: “In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.”

Jesus tells us that God the Father loves us and that He is willing to hear and answer our prayers. We can, and should, ask our prayers in Jesus’ name, but all too often, slapping the phrase, “In Jesus’ name” at the end of our prayers is less heartfelt and more cliché than we might want to admit. When we come before God with our prayers, it is beneficial to come in Jesus’ name, because it reminds us about what Jesus accomplished for us, but we should never cheapen our prayers to God with clichés. Clichés hurt our prayers unless we intentionally mean the words that we are saying.

While there is more we could focus in on, it will need to wait for another time. With that said, 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 and choose to welcome the Holy Spirit into your heart. Understand the three primary roles the Holy Spirit has and let Him teach you the truth about sin, the truth about righteousness, and the truth about the judgment. While Satan has lies spread throughout culture about all three of these things, trust that when we lean on the Holy Spirit for God’s truth, He will lead us into God’s truth in each of these topics.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself, being intentional about inviting the Holy Spirit into your study time. Since the Holy Spirit is behind the inspiration of the Bible, there is no better Teacher for our minds when trying to understand the Bible than the Holy Spirit. Ask the Holy Spirit for help studying, and don’t be surprised when He draws your attention onto new insights you never have seen before.

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 drift away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

Picking up where we left of in our last episode, Mark continues his gospel sharing about a conversation Jesus has with several of the disciples who came to Him with a question. In our last episode, as Jesus and his disciples left the temple, Jesus makes a statement in response to a comment from one of the disciples about the temple being destroyed. As we look at how Mark frames the events in his gospel, it is likely that the disciples, on remembering Jesus’ prediction from earlier in the day, decide to ask Jesus about the event He predicted.

Let’s read the disciples’ question and Jesus’ response. Our passage is found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 13, and we will read from the God’s Word translation. Starting in verse 3, Mark tells us that:

³ As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives facing the temple buildings, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, ⁴ “Tell us, when will this happen? What will be the sign when all this will come to an end?”

Pausing briefly, I want to point out that the disciples’ question is a much bigger question than what they may have even realized. On one hand, they likely are thinking about the destruction of the temple and are asking about when that will take place, but they are also asking when the world will come to an end as well. In their minds, these two events may have been thought to be one single event, but as history has shown, the destruction of the temple happened long before the return of Jesus and the end of the world as we know it.

Let’s continue in verse 5 and read Jesus’ response:

⁵ Jesus answered them, “Be careful not to let anyone deceive you. ⁶ Many will come using my name. They will say, ‘I am he,’ and they will deceive many people.

⁷ “When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, don’t be alarmed! These things must happen, but they don’t mean that the end has come. ⁸ Nation will fight against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes and famines in various places. These are only the beginning pains of the end.

⁹ “Be on your guard! People will hand you over to the Jewish courts and whip you in their synagogues. You will stand in front of governors and kings to testify to them because of me. ¹⁰ But first, the Good News must be spread to all nations. ¹¹ When they take you away to hand you over to the authorities, don’t worry ahead of time about what you will say. Instead, say whatever is given to you to say when the time comes. Indeed, you are not the one who will be speaking, but the Holy Spirit will.

¹² “Brother will hand over brother to death; a father will hand over his child. Children will rebel against their parents and kill them. ¹³ Everyone will hate you because you are committed to me. But the person who endures to the end will be saved.

¹⁴ “When you see the disgusting thing that will cause destruction standing where it should not (let the reader take note), those of you in Judea should flee to the mountains. ¹⁵ Those who are on the roof should not come down to get anything out of their houses. ¹⁶ Those who are in the field should not turn back to get their coats.

¹⁷ “How horrible it will be for the women who are pregnant or who are nursing babies in those days. ¹⁸ Pray that it will not be in winter. ¹⁹ It will be a time of misery that has not happened from the beginning of God’s creation until now, and will certainly never happen again. ²⁰ If the Lord does not reduce that time, no one will be saved. But those days will be reduced because of those whom God has chosen.

²¹ “At that time don’t believe anyone who tells you, ‘Here is the Messiah!’ or ‘There he is!’ ²² False messiahs and false prophets will appear. They will work miraculous signs and do wonderful things to deceive, if possible, those whom God has chosen. ²³ Be on your guard! I have told you everything before it happens.

Let’s stop reading here for this episode and save the rest of Jesus’ message for our next podcast. While reading this first part of Jesus’ response to the disciples’ question, a couple things stood out in my mind that are worth drawing our attention to.

The first thing to jump out in this portion of Jesus’ response is how it opens and closes with a warning against being deceived. Jesus opens His response warning about people coming in His name and claiming to be Him, and in the last section of Jesus’ response that we read, we are warned against believing people who tell us the Messiah has arrived.

Jesus warns His followers that miraculous signs and wonderful things are not the marks of Jesus’ return. While Jesus performed miracles and did many wonderful things while He was with them, part of me sees Jesus telling all His followers that His return will be distinctly different from His first coming. Jesus’ original entrance into this world marked God coming to earth for His people.

Through Jesus and what He accomplished for us on the cross during His first coming, God opened the way for Jesus’ second coming. While Jesus’ first coming is God coming to be near His people, Jesus’ second coming will usher in God’s people leaving earth to be near God.

However, Satan is more than interested in tricking people out of realizing this truth. Jesus’ repeated warning in this end-time message is about not being deceived when another “messiah” appears. Jesus’ return will not be marked by Him staying on earth to win people over to Him. That wasn’t even part of Jesus’ original first coming goals.

Jesus’ return, also known as His second coming, is to take God’s people to be home with Him. While Mark’s gospel doesn’t include this promise, John includes in his gospel, chapter 14, verses 2 and 3 that He is going to prepare a place for us, and if He prepares a place for us, He will come again and receive us to Him, because He wants us to be where He is.

When Jesus returned to heaven, God the Father gives Jesus the honored position. When Jesus returns to earth, it will be to bring God’s people home to be with Him forever.

These details mark the first big thing I see in Jesus’ response to the disciples, which we could simply say is a warning about being deceived by Satan.

The other big phrase in Jesus’ response is in the first part of verse 13, where Jesus directly tells His followers that “Everyone will hate you because you are committed to me.”

While it isn’t pleasant to think about, if Satan can’t trick or deceive us into leaving God, he will openly have us mocked, ridiculed, and hated for choosing to stay with God. This truth is evident for God’s people throughout history and especially today as we look out across the world and culture.

However, Jesus includes a powerful promise while talking about being hated. Jesus finishes this verse off by telling us that “the person who endures to the end will be saved”.

One word in this promise stands out to me. This word is “endure”. We shouldn’t expect Satan’s hate to go away, and we see no indication that we should fight back against the world hating us. Instead, we should see the hate this world throws our way as both a distraction and as a litmus test that we might be on the right path. Satan will use hate to try to pull our focus off of God, and those who are focused on following God and Jesus can understand that hate directed their way is because Satan hates God’s people.

However, Jesus’ challenge remains: “The person who endures to the end will be saved.” This is a challenge for all of us to keep pressing forward and to stay committed to God regardless of what Satan throws our way. Look forward to Jesus’ return, the end of sin, and our trip to heaven. Don’t let Satan deceive you and stay committed to God and endure to the end!

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

Continue seeking God first in your life and choose to stay connected, dedicated, and allied to Him regardless of what Satan throws your way.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn the truth God wants to teach you first hand from the pages of His word. Don’t assume the Bible says something. Instead, study it out for yourself and let the Bible direct your understanding of truth!

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 be tricked into leaving where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As we continue focusing on Jesus’ last big teaching to His remaining disciples on the night of His arrest, we come to a promise Jesus shares that is also framed with a challenge. I suspect that this promise stays true while we are following through with Jesus’ challenge, but that when we give up on Jesus’ challenge, we fail to receive what Jesus promised to us.

With that said, let’s dive into this passage and discover what we can learn in what Jesus shared with His remaining followers. Our passage is found in John’s gospel, chapter 15, and we will read it from the New International Reader’s Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 1, John records Jesus saying:

¹ “I am the true vine. My Father is the gardener. ² He cuts off every branch joined to me that does not bear fruit. He trims every branch that does bear fruit. Then it will bear even more fruit. ³ You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. ⁴ Remain joined to me, just as I also remain joined to you. No branch can bear fruit by itself. It must remain joined to the vine. In the same way, you can’t bear fruit unless you remain joined to me.

⁵ “I am the vine. You are the branches. If you remain joined to me, and I to you, you will bear a lot of fruit. You can’t do anything without me. ⁶ If you don’t remain joined to me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and dries up. Branches like those are picked up. They are thrown into the fire and burned. ⁷ If you remain joined to me and my words remain in you, ask for anything you wish. And it will be done for you. ⁸ When you bear a lot of fruit, it brings glory to my Father. It shows that you are my disciples.

⁹ “Just as the Father has loved me, I have loved you. Now remain in my love. ¹⁰ If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love. In the same way, I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. ¹¹ I have told you this so that you will have the same joy that I have. I also want your joy to be complete. ¹² Here is my command. Love one another, just as I have loved you. ¹³ No one has greater love than the one who gives their life for their friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command. ¹⁵ I do not call you slaves anymore. Slaves do not know their master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends. I have told you everything I learned from my Father. ¹⁶ You did not choose me. Instead, I chose you. I appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit that will last. I also appointed you so that the Father will give you what you ask for. He will give you whatever you ask for in my name. ¹⁷ Here is my command. Love one another.

¹⁸ “My disciples, does the world hate you? Remember that it hated me first. ¹⁹ If you belonged to the world, it would love you like one of its own. But you do not belong to the world. I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember what I told you. I said, ‘A slave is not more important than his master.’ If people hated me and tried to hurt me, they will do the same to you. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. ²¹ They will treat you like that because of my name. They do not know the one who sent me. ²² If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin. ²³ Whoever hates me hates my Father also. ²⁴ I did works among them that no one else did. If I hadn’t, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen those works. And still they have hated both me and my Father. ²⁵ This has happened so that what is written in their Law would come true. It says, ‘They hated me without any reason.’

²⁶ “I will send the Friend to you from the Father. He is the Spirit of truth, who comes out from the Father. When the Friend comes to help you, he will be a witness about me. ²⁷ You must also be witnesses about me. That’s because you have been with me from the beginning.

In this passage, Jesus challenges His disciples with the illustration of a vine and its branches. The challenge for us in this illustration is that as branches, the only way we will have life that allows us to be fruitful is when we stay connected to the vine, and the vine in this illustration is Jesus.

Throughout this passage, we are called to be fruitful for God, to be witnesses for Him, and to let Him give us life. When we are being witnesses for God, being fruitful for Him with the life He has given to each of us, we are bringing glory to God the Father, and fulfilling the mission He has placed us on this earth to fulfill. Tucked within this passage is the powerful life mission that we are called to give glory to God by being fruitful with the things He has blessed us with.

Also within this passage is a powerful promise. In verse 15, Jesus tells us that: “I do not call you slaves anymore. Slaves do not know their master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends. I have told you everything I learned from my Father.”

If we are ever tempted to think that God created us to simply be His slaves, Jesus challenges this lie clearly in this verse. If God wanted slaves, He would have created humanity in a very different way – and if this other way allowed us fail the test of sin, God would have responded in a very different way as well. While it is not ideal to think about, slaves are treated differently than friends.

Jesus instead frames the way God sees us as friends. While one way of looking at friendship is two equals who enjoy spending time together, I suspect the friendship we have with God is more like a King being friends with those who He enjoys spending time with. It would also be like the CEO of a company being friends with someone several levels down in the organization.

In these clearly unequal examples of friendship, we discover that we are not equal friends with God, but that He desires us to be His friends, and that He blesses us, promises us, and shares with us like a friend would. Some people might be tempted to take God’s blessings, promises, and truths and run, but that is not the actions of a true friend. A true friend accepts the gifts they have been given and then wants to give back gifts that their friend wants.

If our friendship with God was equal, we could give God back equally to what He has blessed us with. However, our friendship with God is so unequal that the best we can offer is entirely unworthy of God. The best we can offer God is like dirty rags.

But God has given us another choice. In response to everything God has blessed us with, we can give God our hearts. While our hearts might be the worst part of our entire being, the only One capable of cleaning, fixing, mending, and restoring sin-stained hearts is God. Because God is the only one capable of fixing or replacing our hearts, it is the gift He desires the most.

God does not want us living forever with a sin-filled, sin-stained, sin-tainted heart. Instead, God wants us to bring our hearts to Him, and let Him transform our hearts into being like His. When we stay connected to Jesus, like a branch stays connected to the vine, we allow God to work on restoring our hearts, and we are able to be fruitful for God in ways that might even surprise us!

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 and choose to stay connected to Him and to Jesus like a branch connected with a vine. In response to everything God has blessed you with, open up your heart to Him and let Him transform your heart into His heart, and let God take your heart and use it for His glory!

Also, as I always challenge you to do, intentionally pray and study the Bible for yourself to grow your personal relationship with God each and every day. God loves you personally, and He wants a personal relationship with you starting today, and extending into eternity!

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 separate yourself away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As Mark begins winding down the events that happened in the temple during the week leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion, he shares a brief statement one of Jesus’ disciples makes, and a startling response Jesus shares with the group of disciples. It is likely that the response Jesus gives prompts the conversation that we will focus in on during the next two episodes.

With that said, while it would be easy to skim past or skip over these two opening verses, these verses set the stage for a much bigger conversation, while also being surprisingly powerful on their own. Let’s read what happened when Jesus and His disciples leave the temple.

Our passage is found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 13, and we will read it from the New American Standard Bible. Starting in verse 1, Mark tells us that:

¹ As He [and this is referring to Jesus] was going out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, “Teacher, behold what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” ² And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another which will not be torn down.”

Let’s stop reading here. The next verse transitions into a conversation Jesus has with the disciples later that evening, and while that conversation is likely directly related to this short statement and response, what Jesus has shared here is too significant, and I don’t want us to miss this significance by attaching it to a larger passage in one episode.

In this short passage and conversation, Jesus makes a direct prediction, and He also makes a subtle one. The direct prediction was the destruction of the temple and of Jerusalem which ultimately happened several decades later. The subtle prediction is that other buildings we build up will likely be torn down.

While I don’t know what the temple in Jerusalem looked like during the time Jesus and the disciples were alive, I do know that it was likely one of the most magnificent buildings in that region, and perhaps the grandest building that any of them had ever seen.

The Jews took pride in the temple they had built and decorated in Jerusalem. However, what was likely started as a project focused on giving God the best they had, over time and generations, the temple had become the focus in itself rather than simply a place designed to help those present focus on Someone else – specifically on God.

We can see that the temple was the focus in the statement this anonymous disciple makes. This unnamed disciple in verse 1 comments, “Teacher, behold what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!”

This statement has nothing to do with glorifying God, which is the only reason the temple had been originally constructed. This disciple’s statement is only focused on praising the building and those who constructed it and not on God, who it was constructed to glorify.

We could say the same thing about many of the iconic buildings in some of the most famous cities. Some of the most distinct buildings that immediately identify the city they are a part of are amazing to see, and they are engineering masterpieces. But few, if any, are constructed to glorify God. And when we look at what has been built, culture never praises God for it, but it praises itself and human ingenuity.

However, a building is simply a building. Jesus’ response, while shocking to all the disciples rings true with a huge, challenging truth: The best buildings we can construct as a human race are nothing but stones, wood, brick, and cement. The best buildings we can construct will ultimately not last past the disaster that Jesus knows is coming.

This leaves us with a question. Knowing that what we build will crumble at some point in the future, should we even try to build anything new, grand, or spectacular?

I would answer this question with a yes. In Jesus’ response, we don’t see any hint that the temple or other grand buildings are evil or wrong. A building is simply a building.

However, a building is never meant to be our focus. Instead, buildings are meant to be places where people can live, work, and collaborate with each other.

In the case of the temple in Jerusalem, it was constructed to be a place where Jews came to worship God and to offer their sacrifices to Him. In the cases of buildings today, they are constructed to help us fulfill purposes beyond simply looking pretty on the outside or inside. Houses are constructed to be places where families can grow and live together. Office buildings and factories are buildings constructed for people to be able to work and accomplish things with the help of each other. Churches are buildings designed for people to come together to worship God.

Buildings should never be seen as the ultimate answer to problems. This is because buildings come and go. Instead, buildings are to be seen and used as tools helping us achieve things together. Just like buildings are a result of hundreds, if not thousands, of people working together in many different industries, buildings are used by many people to accomplish things together.

The best humanity can create or build is nothing when it comes to what God has in store for us in heaven. Culture wants us to minimize God while glorifying what humanity is capable of building. Jesus challenges His followers to glorify God while being realistic about what humanity is able to accomplish.

Natural disasters, terrorism, and other catastrophes can easily destroy in minutes a building that took years to construct. This is why Jesus challenges His followers to not focus on amazing or extravagant buildings. Buildings come and building go, but what matters above everything else is giving glory to the One who created life, and the One who gave His life for each of us!

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 and choose to glorify Him in whatever environment you are in. Whether you are in a home, an office, a factory, a vehicle, or outside, take a few moments to give God the glory and thank Him for blessing you with life, with breath, and with the gift of eternity together with Him. Resist the culture’s temptation to place buildings over relationships, especially when it comes to your relationship with God.

Also, continue intentionally praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn, grow, and move closer to God each and every day. While what we pray and study might matter to some, what matters more is that we actually pray and study. Praying and studying our Bibles is infinitely more significant than trying to find the best place to study in. Don’t let the lack of an ideal location stop you from growing closer to God through prayer and study.

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 give up on where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!