Sabbath: Epilogue: Knowing Jesus and His Word
Daily Lesson for Sabbath 21st of December 2024
Image © Pacific Press
Read for This Week’s Study: John 21:1-25; John 11:9-10; John 8:42-44; John 4:46-54; 2 Timothy 3:16; John 15:1-11.
Memory Text:
“ ‘You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me’ ” (John 5:39, NKJV).
John’s Gospel, like Mark’s, ends with a meeting in Galilee. This final lesson on John deals with that meeting but integrates it with the theme of how we know Jesus and the Word of God—a concept that runs through the fourth Gospel.
Though they were with Jesus more than three years, the disciples were still greatly unprepared for the Crucifixion and Resurrection, even though Jesus had told them again and again what would happen.
Unfortunately, they didn’t take Him at His word.
We today can be in danger of doing the same thing: hearing or even reading the Word of God but not listening to it, not abiding in it, and not obeying it. That is, not accepting it as the light that should guide our thoughts and actions. This, unfortunately, is where, perhaps unwittingly, too many Christians are.
In this, our last week in John, we will look at some of this Gospel’s key points, which can help us move beyond the mere head knowledge of Jesus to, instead, knowing Him better and more closely abiding in Him and in His Word.
*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, December 28.
(23)
We are coming to the close of our study of John's Gospel this week. I said at the very beginning of this study that it would be a great idea to read the whole Gospel through as a story in one or two sittings to get a "big picture" view. I have done this a couple of times in the last 3 months and both times have come away with the centrality of Jesus in John's narrative.
... is a reminder of that centrality. It is not about winning another bout in the boxing ring of doctrinal purity. Not is is about solving the riddle of the nature of the Godhead. It is about having a practical working relationship with Jesus. If we take that relationship with us and extend it to others we have graduated from this study successfully.
At this time of the year we see slogans like, "Jesus is the Reason for the Season" and we need to take that beyond being a cute word play to something that pilots our daily living.
I will let Paul summarise it for me:
As we end our study of the Book of John, I am making a solemn plea to our Lord and Saviour Jesus; may our study NOT be an empty ritual. May the Holy Spirit cause us to reflect and truly make us to have a living relationship with Jesus who is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). The message in the Book of John has strongly reminded us that we will do well if receive and believe in Jesus (John 1:12). Our time spent in reading the Book of John will amount to nothing if eternal life is not ours by faith in Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross. This is our blessed hope. This is our comfort and strength while we go through pain, tears, and sorrow in this life (John 16:20-22). Even so, we cry, Lord Jesus come quickly.
As we bring the study of the Book of John to a close for now, let us remind ourselves that by the grace of God, it should never be business as usual. Are we going to retreat to our old ways of life because the message has become too familiar? Jesus, please forbid this tragedy to befall upon us (John 6:60-66). As the book gives us eternal promises, it also reveals some of the saddest and greatest lost opportunities. “He came to that which was His own [that which belonged to Him—His world, His creation, His possession], and those who were His own [people—the Jewish nation] did not receive and welcome Him” (John 1:11 – Amplified Bible). Have we become too familiarized with scripture and prophecy to the point that our spiritual sensitivity has been seared? We run into great danger if we claim to be the custodians of truth and yet fail to yield to the transformative power of truth. "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:32, NIV). The truth (Jesus) has got power to set us free from the captivity of sin. Like the Samaritan woman, may we realise that only Jesus can satisfy ((John 4:10).
As we encourage one another, may we be firmly convicted that the time is coming and now has come to hear the voice of Jesus through the Book of John and live. "Very 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” (John 5:25 - NIV). May we become true worshipers who will worship the Fathe in spirit and in truth (John 4:23).
Peter's restoration and role as leader in the early church is the one of the strongest evidences that Jesus rose from the dead.
John 15:1-11
John 15:1 ”I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.” This expresses in a ‘nutshell’ the mysterious, living, interrelationship the believer has with the Father when abiding in Jesus Christ.
Reading and re-reading, pondering the meaning of these words, personalizing them and applying them to one’s own circumstances will reveal to each the fundamental truth that: ‘without abiding in Jesus and He in us, we can do nothing.” - John 15:5.
John 15:11 ”These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.”
These 11 short verses contain all the Truth to help us recognize how a rich and rewarding relationship with our Lord and Savior is established and how to maintain it.
John 15:9 - "As the Father has loved me, I also have loved you; abide in my love."
The book of John contains most of my favorite sayings attributed to Jesus. His words are like the refreshing, sweet waters of a clean well quenching the thirst of my heart thirsting for the harmony and righteousness in His Truth. The Father and His Son are one in spirit and we have been invited to join them. Praise God!
If we want to make a difference in our homes, we need Jesus within! Let us open our minds to the Jesus of the Word!
Humility is one of the greatest qualifications for ministry. I like this comment because we are reminded that unless we become as little children we cannot enter the kingdom.
we must be willing to act with child-like faith, pureness of mind with the innocence, pureness and earnestness of a
child.
As we conclude this lesson on the book of John, one glaring truth stands out: despite the overwhelming evidence presented to them, the very people Jesus came to save failed to understand His mission, let alone believe in Him. This includes the disciples as we see in John 21 with them going back to their old lives as if the past three and a half years had been nothing. Oh LORD help us by your grace that we may not take that sad path as well.
I like your conclusion, Albert. After encountering Jesus, it is not life as usual but life altered in the most magnificent way where you become the best version of yourself - the version God has seen all along.
Jesus come to safe mankind. We need to humble ourselves before him so that we can be victors at the end of these World