Thursday: Jesus’ Claims
Daily Lesson for Thursday 3rd of October 2024
The miracle by the Pool of Bethesda provided an excellent opportunity for John to emphasize who Jesus is. John takes nine verses to describe the miracle and about 40 verses (see below) to describe the One who performed the miracle.
Read John 5:16-18. Why was Jesus persecuted for His action on the Sabbath?
Image © Jim Howard at Goodsalt.com
John 5:18 can be disturbing because it seems to say that Jesus was breaking the Sabbath. However, a closer look at John 5:16-18 shows that Jesus argues that His “work” on the Sabbath is in line with His relationship to His Father. God does not stop sustaining the universe on the Sabbath. Consequently, Jesus’ Sabbath activity was part of His claim to divinity. The religious leaders persecuted Him on the basis of supposed Sabbath-breaking and a claim to equality to God.
Read John 5:19-47. What was Jesus saying in order to help the leaders see Him for who He truly is, a claim so powerfully attested by the miracle He had just done?
Jesus defends His actions in three steps. First, He explains His intimate relationship with the Father (John 5:19-30). Jesus indicates that He and His Father act in harmony, to the point that Jesus has the power both to judge and to raise the dead (John 5:25-30).
Second, Jesus calls four “witnesses” in rapid succession to His defense—John the Baptist (John 5:31-35), the miracles Jesus does (John 5:36), the Father (John 5:37-38), and the Scriptures (John 5:39). Each of these “witnesses” gives testimony in favor of Jesus.
Finally, in John 5:40-47, Jesus sets before His accusers their own condemnation, revealing the contrast between His ministry and their self-seeking. Their condemnation, He says, will come from Moses (John 5:45-47), the one in whom they have set their hopes.
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How can we be careful not to fall into the trap of believing in God, even having correct doctrines, but not surrendering fully to Christ? Bring your answer to class on Sabbath. |
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If Jesus could heal the sick. He can also turn my life around for better.Amen 🙏
Dear Jesus please help me to trust in you even in times of self doubt.
What do I get out of John 5:38-47?
To have the Word abiding in me, I need to believe in Christ. It does me zero good to read the scriptures, and fail to believe in the One who died for my sins. There is great honor from God because I have the love of God in me. Oh Lord my God in whome I awesome wounder, consider all the worlds Thy hands have made. I see the stars I hear the rolling thunder, Thy power throughout the universe display.
How great He is. The more I see of Him, I see His love for me. I believe Moses. I believe he was instructed by our Lord. So I believe in Jesus Christ.
Pastor Mark Finley once said, in our devotions put the Bible in our own words. I would say, paraphrase it to the best of what we are led to realize of what it says, especially if we are sharing our thoughts. Adding a little flavor that goes with the theme, with a twinkle in our eye, I am sure is ok, as long as we don't fall off the path of the message. Make the Bible come alive, ya know, activating our neuron synopsis.
Surrendering all to Christ may be problematic. We tend to stay where it is comfortable. But change may take effort. Growing may take energy, and not everyone is open to change. May the Love of God for us make us flexible and adaptable to what is good and blocked to what is evil.
I think that this quote from CS Lewis in "Mere Christianity" is pertinent to this discussion:
Much of the rest of the chapter is also relevant too. A plain text version of this is available here:
Mere Christianity C S Lewis
Why was Jesus persecuted for His action on the Sabbath?
The Pharisees were after Him from the git go. The Pharisees were legalist and they may not have known it, or at least they did not admit it. Jesus came also into this world to save, not condemn, though some times He had to be quite frank with the Jewish leaders. I really don't think Jesus argued, He told them in as kind as possible way, their errors. John 5:16-18.
The pharisees were not legalist. They were hypocrites. For example, they claimed the tax collectors were sinners and did not want to have anything to do with them because they cheated the people. In the temple, they were cheating the people. They did not like Jesus healing a man on Sabbath, but in their hearts, they were planning how they could murder Him. Jesus did not break any of the Torah, He only broke their rules. They had a lot of rules that were not part of God's rules. They claimed their rules came from God orally. The Sadducees did not believe that. I honestly don't believe the pharisees believed it either. Their rules were the church manual. We have to be careful that we don't put our own church rules above the Bible. The pharisees were leaders and did not want to give up their authority over others. They were fearful of losing that. By the time the Messiah came, they did not really want the Messiah. They liked their high position and did not want that jeopardized. This is something for everyone to think about because we can all fall into the same trap. Loving the world above God.
To avoid the trap of believing in God and having the right doctrines without fully surrendering to Christ, we need to focus on building a personal relationship with Him. It's not enough to know the truth; we must actively seek to live it out by trusting God with every part of our lives, allowing Him to lead us. This means letting go of control, submitting our will to Him, and being transformed by His love, not just following rules or believing the right things. True surrender comes when our hearts are fully committed to Christ, not just our minds.
Jesus,our ALMIGHTY Father who resides in Heaven interceding for us now as we are now witnessing the prophecy of His words unfold. Let us all contemplate upon the Holiness and Mercifulness of God who alone can sustain us and keep us! Let us look up and stay prayed up for one another, for even our adversary know the scripture but we must be strong in His (God's) might!
The writer.of the lesson asked, "How can we be careful not to fall into the trap of believing in God, even having correct doctrines, but not surrendering fully to Christ?"
My response: Pray for our eyes to see and our heart to feel the wonder of Jesus Christ. Surround ourselves with mature Christians who can encourage us to avoid the deceitfulness of sin. Understand that surrender to God is necessary, as we were created to be dependent on Him, not self-sufficient. Submit to God by humbly placing ourselves at His feet and giving up our desire for control and pride. Stop resisting and start obeying God with a trusting attitude. Trust God to keep us from stumbling.
I believe Jesus is the second in the Godhead...An equal of God too.
To my understanding, after reading John 5:31-35, I find that this quote of Jesus goes further than pointing to John the Baptist, the miracles, and the Scriptures as ‘witnesses’. I find them to be 'vessels' used to point to God's Truth. John the Baptist has born witness to His Truth; Scripture bares witness to His Truth, and so do Jesus’ miracles.
I find the most powerful aspect of God's Truth to be contained in John 5:19-21; v.21 - ”For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.” Those judging Jesus cannot understand this Truth because ‘they do not have His (the Father’s) Word abiding in them’ – John 5:38. And the evidence to this is: ‘because whom He sent, Him you do not believe.’
Jesus does not seek approval or acceptance from man through their reasoning. John 5:34 states ”Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved. God’s Truth - Grace, accepted by Faith as one yields to the Holy Spirit's calling -, becomes the only living witness which can testify to the Truth of the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, to give life.
Only through believing and employing His Truth can Truth become the evidence to the faithful follower of Jesus Christ that the Spirit of Truth does testify to the power of the Word of God - as Jesus claims, to be God's life-saving Truth - John17:17; John 8:31-32; Heb.6:18.
Philippians 3:9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may KNOW Him and... the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.