Month: January 2023

Again Jesus is arguing with the Pharisees about their willful rebellion and refusal to listen to the truth. From the very first time Jesus revealed Himself as the coming Messiah to the woman at the well in John 4:26, to His use of Old Testament “I AM” language in these verses, He was illustrating how far apart heaven & earth were & how far apart the knowledge of the Pharisees and the truth was. In John 3:31 John the Baptist distinguished Jesus from all other human beings as coming from above… and of being in the world, but not of it. The Pharisees trusted in their technical knowledge of the Scriptures & would die because of it…but Believers who place their faith & trust in Jesus will experience saving knowledge of their Lord & Savior and receive eternal life.

The Pharisees were questioning Jesus bearing witness alone about Himself…not realizing that He had the divine witness of God, so nothing more was needed. Jesus accused the Pharisees of only judging by human standards which meant basing their punishment entirely on the sinful standards of the world & the infirmity of their own corrupt, & carnal nature. Jesus had made it clear earlier in John that He had been given the authority to judge, (John 5:22,27) but that the purpose of His coming was not to condemn but rather to serve. (John 3:17) And that if He did judge, it would be genuine & true and always within His Father’s Will.

Just as the pillar of fire provided light & guidance to Israel in the wilderness, (Exodus 13:21) so Jesus is our spiritual illumination in the world today. The darkness around us is filled with unhappiness & ruin…all the consequences of sin & our corrupt human nature. But sometimes we have trouble following Jesus. We’d rather lead…follow Him only on occasion, or when we’ve made a big mess of our lives. But following the light of Jesus takes commitment, trust, & obedience in His lead & example, “For the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.” (Proverbs 4:18) For the longer we follow, the more attuned we become to His Voice, (John 10:4-5) and ultimately His light will start to shine through us, His Church, into the darkness. (Matthew 5:14-16 & I John 1:8-10)

Even though the earliest manuscripts & many other ancient witnesses don’t have John 7:53-8:11 in the body of their work, this story of the woman caught in adultery is a beautiful reminder of Jesus’ forgiveness & redemption…which is consistent with His Ministry during His time here on earth. The woman in this story was just a pawn for the Jewish Leaders to entrap Jesus with, but He challenged them by turning the tables & forcing them to examine their own sin-filled lives. In one sentence, Jesus effectively disqualified them all as judges to follow through with capital punishment. Their own consciences stinging with remorse & conviction…for they all knew they had no standing before God to carry out her execution…for not one of them was guiltless of sin. Or as Romans 2:1 exhorts, “Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you the judge, practice the very things.” So after they had all walked away, the only sinless man that ever lived & by all rights had every authority to condemn this woman, didn’t. But neither did Jesus push her sinful life style under the carpet. With love, kindness & mercy Jesus told her to go, and leave her old life behind…which, not surprisingly, is something Jesus calls all of us to do.

Christian service to others is the overflow which pours from our life filled with love and devotion for the Lord. It’s our intimate relationship with our Redeemer that causes us to want to serve others …as a reflection of the love we’ve received so graciously. Our service to God is a deliberate love-gift back to Him for what He has done in our lives. So service to others isn’t optional, neither is it something that needs a great deal of preparation & forethought…we just need to be ready, willing & able. For just as there is a multitude of us within the Body of Believers…there is just as many ways to serve. And when each of us is serving fittingly, the Church can’t help but be blessed.

The vision of God’s holiness astonished, overwhelmed, and convicted Isaiah of his moral & spiritual impurity….his guilt so great, all Isaiah could feel was inadequacy & doom. For he immediately realized not only his but his people’s deceptive & slanderous speech, thoughts, & motivation had caused them to walk far away from God’s Will. We see elsewhere in the Bible where Ezekiel, Daniel, Paul, & John all had similar experiences when seeing the glory of the Lord…all falling facedown – overcome by the majesty of the Sovereign Lord, the All-powerful King of Kings.

Jesus had just gotten done giving a particularly hard teaching…and many of the people following Him took offense, refusing to listen any further and unwilling to accept His words. And it says they turned away & rejected Him. So this prompted Jesus to turn to the Twelve disciples & ask a very pointed question, “You don’t want to leave too do you?” Jesus did this not because He was fearful of being rejected by them also, but to bring them to a reckoning of personal confession. Did they have faith in who Jesus said He was, or did they too have lingering doubts, & uncertainty? Peter then answered for the Twelve, giving a firm confession of faith…recognizing Jesus by the divine Title of Holy One of God.

Jericho was a formidable city with strong, tightly closed massive gates & fortified walls. Yet God’s declaration over the city didn’t waver or vacillate…for in His eyes it was already accomplished…a done deal. So even though they only saw the impossibility of this…the Jewish people obeyed or as Hebrews 11:30 tells us, “By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.” Sometimes the promises of God look like utter impossibilities in our current situation. It’s when our present circumstances & God’s promises seem to be so far apart, that short of a miracle it will never happen. But if we will only trust in God’s sovereign work & the promise that it’s already done…He will deliver it into our hands.

The Babylonians were unwilling to set the Jewish people free…instead using their power for destruction & cruelty…their hearts & minds hardened against God. But they didn’t realize just Who they were fighting against. It says here that the mighty hand of God was about to liberate & set free His people…loosening the bonds of the wicked, undoing the straps of the yoke to let the oppressed go free & breaking every yoke. (Isaiah 58:6) Our Redeemer, Jesus Christ, continues to be just as powerful against the things that oppress His people. He is always there interceding & advocating on our behalf…contending against those who contend with us. (Isaiah 49:25)

It’s our duty as fellow Believers to encourage one another…or as Hebrews 10:24-25 tells us, “to stir up one another.” Adherence to this Scripture is vitally important because within our Christian fellowship you can bet there are still those with unbelieving hearts. Hearts toughened by adversity & hardship or corrupted by false teaching. Therefore we are called to guard our own & each other’s ability to withstand the deceitfulness of sin by encouraging one another daily.