First, just a comment on these summaries of the Bible Studies. I have written them so that you do not just know “what” I taught, but “why” I taught it from the Word rightly divided. Heaven help us all if anyone believes something I say just because I said it. I want to show you from God's Word why you should believe it. I do not want you to rely on me. I want you rely on God. So, if they seem a little wordy at times, now you know the reason why.
You can also find more details in the Bold To Speak The Mystery Bible Study Newsletters.
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Highlights in John
In our Thursday night Bible study fellowship in the Gospel of John, We're setting up the context for the rest of Jn. 6, recognizing that it is founded on the Old Testament types and themes of God's Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel NOT on His Mystery Program with the Body of Christ as revealed through Paul's Scriptures.
We are typically told that the Gospel of John contains seven I AM sayings. But is this the whole story?
First, a little background. At the Exodus, God tied the declaration of an incomplete statement--I AM ___ --to His Jehovah (English=LORD) Name (Ex. 3:14‑15). In effect, the Exodus was God's classroom where He tried to teach Israel the importance, the absolute necessity, of relying on His I AM Jehovah Name. If Israel was going to be God's Own great and holy nation, a blessing to the world and a light to the Gentiles (Gen. 12:2‑3; Ex. 19:5‑6), they needed to realize that God would have to do everything for them. They CANNOT DO IT THEMSELVES! They must access the grace resident in His Jehovah Name by filling in His incomplete I AM ___ statement by faith with whatever they needed God to do to make them His Own Nation of Israel.
Now, fast forward some 1500 years to Christ's earthly ministry in the Gospel of John where John once again brings the importance of God's I AM Jehovah (LORD) Name for Israel back into the spotlight. God sent His Son at that time because it was time to implement the salvation of the Nation of Israel. To do this, God will lead her through a 2nd greater Exodus by another greater Prophet-Like-Unto-Moses, who will take them out of the enemy world of sin and death and usher them into the “Promised Land” of their long-prophesied earthly Kingdom of righteousness and Life. But it all hinges on Israel in faith falling on the grace resident for her in His I AM Jehovah Name. While Israel failed this test at Sinai in the Exodus of old (Ex. 19:8), they will pass it in the future Exodus at Christ's 2nd Coming when they will plead with the LORD (Jehovah-I AM ___) to treat us graciously (Hos. 14:2).
We are traditionally taught that John records seven I AM statements of Jesus, and that the number 7 in the Bible signifies completeness and perfection. But this is imprecise. We must be more careful. More specifically there are seven PREDICATE I AM ___ statements in John's Gospel. In these sayings, Jesus gives Israel examples of how to fill in the blank space of His I AM ___ Jehovah Name to show them how to make use of it. Israel needed Life and Light, they needed a Door and a Way to God, they needed a Shepherd and a Vine, they needed Truth and Resurrection—so Jesus filled the blank of His I AM ___ with all these things:
But this isn't the whole story. What often goes unnoticed is that there are also seven ABSOLUTE I AM ___ sayings in John whereby Jesus invites Israel to play the game of FILLING IN HIS I AM __ Jehovah Name with what they need by believing. While the PREDICATE I AM sayings gave Israel teaching examples for how to fill in the blank space of His incomplete I AM Jehovah Name, the ABSOLUTE I AM sayings invite them to fill it in themselves by faith.
But even this isn't the whole I AM ___ story for there are also seven I AM ___ sayings of LOCATION!
So, we see that the glory of Jesus' I AM Jehovah Name for Israel and through Israel the world is not just 1 X 7, not just singly complete and perfect! It is 3 x 7, triply utterly complete and triply utterly perfect!!
Highlights in John
We dive into the first part of Jesus' Bread of Life Discourse in Jn. 6:22-35. We compared and contrasted the traditional teaching on this passage from those who do not rightly-divide the Scriptures with a non-traditional interpretation that does.
The traditional interpretation of John 6 is based the preconceived notion that the Gospel of John is the handbook of personal evangelism for individual salvation in the Dispensation of Grace. I used to say this interpretation reads Paul into the context, but that is not really true. It is far worse that. It reads Martin Luther into the context. But to do this is to wrongly divide the Scriptures. It discards the fact that Jesus Christ came AT THAT TIME to bring about Israel's NATIONAL salvation, confirming and fulfilling God's promises to the Nation of Israel's fathers (Rom. 15:8). John 6 should instead be read in the far context of the Old Testament, especially the Exodus Account, and the near context of the three principles Jesus declared in John 5.
So, what might an interpretation based on rightly-dividing the Word of God look like? Let's take a shot at it with a paraphrase of this passage, albeit a loose paraphrase:
Introduction: Jn. 6:1-21: Through the two signs in Jn. 6--the Feeding of the 5,000 and the Walking on the Water—John gives us the basic theme of the rest of the chapter. In the sign of the Feeding of the 5,000 he introduces the BREAD theme (Jn. 6:7-11), and in the sign of the Walking on the Water He introduces the I AM ___ theme (Jn. 6:20). And if you put them together, you have I AM the Bread of Life (Jn. 6:35, 41, 48, 51).
Setting: Jn. 6:22-24: The crowd witnessed Jesus' signs of healing on the west side of the Sea of Galilee and participated in His feeding of the 5,000 on the east side. The next morning, Jesus' disciples are gone, and Jesus didn't go with them. Jesus has mysteriously disappeared. So, the crowds actively, busily, even frantically look for Him over land and over sea (Jn. 6:22‑25). But He's not there. They conclude that they need to continue their fervent search for Jesus on the other side of the sea. So, they hop into boats and row as hard and fast as they can. Perhaps they are becoming suspicious that another supernatural event had occurred during the night. While they weren't present to see Jesus walking on the water, they might wonder how else could He get across the sea without a boat?
The Crowd: Jn. 6:25: Finally and perhaps out of breath, the crowd finds Him and ask: Rabbi (Master—Jn. 1:38), when did you get here. Perhaps they were trying to ascertain whether He had time to get Capernaum on foot by walking around the north side of the sea.
Jesus: Jn. 6:26-27: Jesus ignores their question. Instead, He tells them they are focusing on the wrong things and asking the wrong questions. The question they should be asking is what, exactly, are we laboriously working/seeking after? Jesus breaks it down the options for them:
The Crowd: Jn. 6:28: But the crowd wasn't listening. They were not interested in eternal life and individual salvation. They were interested in filling their bellies with the food that perishes. Recognizing that Jesus is not going to feed them again, they persist in their endeavor by saying in effect: Ok, Jesus, if you won't feed us again now, tell us how to do it ourselves. We will do the works of God. It must be noted that the only works of God in context are the works that Jesus has been doing, the healings and the feeding signs. The crowd explicitly equates Jesus' production of a sign with His work in Jn. 6:30. This is ominously reminiscent of Israel's fatal words at Sinai: We will do all that you say (Ex. 1:8)! We don't need to rely on the LORD. We will do it ourselves. Then they went under the Mosaic Law system according to the flesh and spent the next 1500 years under the Curses of the Law in the Courses of Punishment.
No doubt, they reasoned that if regular people like Moses and Jesus can do the works of God, why can't they! Again, this is ominously reminiscent of times when the Israelites rebelled against Moses. Aaron and Miriam, for instance, rebelled against Moses saying: Has the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? Has He not spoken by us also! And the LORD brought judgment down upon them (Num. 12:1-15). Not long after that, Korah and a large group of ruling Israelites likewise rebelled against Moses saying: You take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation is holy, every one of them, wherefore, then lift yourselves above the congregation of the LORD? Once again, God's judgment fell, and the earth swallowed up Korah with hundreds of his companions (Num. 16:1-35).
Jesus: Jn. 6:29: Jesus goes on to explain that they are focusing on the wrong things. Instead of desiring to do the works/signs that God is doing through Me, they should be focusing on the Work that God is doing right now, AT THIS TIME, in My earthly ministry! The work that God is now doing is the sending and giving of His Son (Jn. 6:29b, 32b) to whom He is giving, leading and drawing those who belong to Him so that they receive, believe and follow Him into life (Jn. 6:37, 44).
The Crowd: Jn. 6:30-31: The crowd is still not listening. They are still focused on getting the bread that perishes to fill their empty stomachs. They persist in their endeavor: Well, if Jesus isn't going to give us the food that perishes, and He won't tell us how to do it ourselves, then maybe we can tempt Him into doing it. So, they say, “Show us a sign, do a work, so that we might believe!” This even though they have already seen many signs of healing and the massive sign of the Feeding of the 5,000 yet remain in unbelief!! If You are greater than Moses give us a sign that goes beyond what he did. Moses gave our fathers manna to eat for 40 years! Why don't you one-up Moses and feed us with physical bread from Heaven for 40+ years. Then, indeed, we will believe!!!
Jesus: Jn. 6:32-33: But the crowd betrays its ignorance and unbelief in God, the Scriptures and Moses (Jn. 5:37-47). They see the manna and Moses, but they don't see the LORD and don't know the Scriptures (Neh. 9:15; Ps. 78:24‑25; 105:40). Jesus shows their error: Moses didn't give them manna: GOD GAVE THEM MANNA FROM HEAVEN! They betray that they don't really believe in God, the Scriptures or Moses. Therefore, they will reject Christ in unbelief because they reject the witness of Moses and the Scriptures, and don't recognize the Father in the Son (Jn. 5:37-47).
But now, the Father is working through the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ to give Israel the TRUE Bread from Heaven. The manna/bread from Heaven of their ancient history was just the type, the shadow. Now God was working to give them the antitype and the substance. The antitype and substance isn't a thing like physical bread. It is a HE, a PERSON, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Work of God is God sending His Son to give life to the world, which in God's Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel, begins with Israel and through Israel, the world.
The Crowd: Jn. 6:34: The crowd is still pursuing the bread that perishes in unbelief (Jn. 6:36). Give us this bread forevermore—ie., not just today, not just for the next 40+ years but forever!
Jesus: Jn. 6:35: The crowd is still not listening. They are willfully stopping their ears. They are still seeking the bread that is a thing even though Jesus just told them it is not a thing. It is a PERSON! It is Himself!! So, He tries to break through the wall of unbelief by clearly and definitively proclaiming: I AM the Bread of Life—He who. It is as though Jesus raises His eyes above the crowd and looks beyond those standing before Him. There, out at the edge of the horizon, He sees another community of people, a community of believers, a community made up of He Who have come and believed on Him and will, therefore, never hunger or thirst again.
Highlights in John
We dive into the second part of Jesus' Bread of Life Discourse in Jn. 6:36-45. Where in vv. 22-35 John emphasized the failed Exodus Lessons, in this passage he emphasizes the Jn. 5 Principles. As before we presented a non-traditional interpretation that doesn't lead to some of the great errors of historic Christianity like Predestination/Calvinism in its varied formats.
What might an interpretation of Jn. 6:36-45 look like from the standpoint of the Bible rightly-divided that distinguishes between God's Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel (the non-Pauline Scriptures) and God's Mystery Program with the Body of Christ (the Pauline Scriptures)? What if we recognized that the Gospel of John is not about how an unbeliever in God participates in INDIVIDUAL salvation, but is primarily about how believing Israelites (those who already have individual salvation) can now—AT THAT TIME--participate in Israel's NATIONAL salvation?
Introduction: Jn. 6:36: Jesus introduces this passage by revealing that even though they have seen Him and His many signs, they still do not believe. They continue to desire the bread that perishes, the bread of death—a “thing.” Therefore, they reject the True Bread that doesn't perish, the Bread of everlasting Life—a PERSON—who has now come down from Heaven (Jn. 6:33, 35). They remain members of the YE (You plural) group of unbelievers, and do not belong to the WHO EVER/ALL group of believers, the Believing Remnant of Israel that Jesus looks out to in Jn. 6:35 (see commentary on Jn. 6:35, last week).
Why do they reject Him in unbelief? Jn. 6:37: In accord with the principles we learned in Jn. 5, they reject Him because they don't really believe in God, the Scriptures or Moses (Jn. 5:37-47). For if they believed in God, they would have recognized the Father in the Son and would have received and believed in Son because He only does the will of the Father, speaking His words and doing His works (Jn. 5:19, 30). And they don't really believe the Scriptures because if they did they would believe in the Son because the Scriptures testify of Him. And if they really believed and followed Moses, they would believe and follow the Son because Moses wrote of Him.
Fact #1: Those who come to the Son are those who belong to the Father. He then gives them, leads them, draws them to the Son, who will receive them and not cast them out.
What is the Father accomplishing in sending His Son? Jn. 6:38‑40:
Fact #2: The Son was sent by the Father, and He comes down from Heaven not to do His Own will but the Father's will. And the Father's will is that ALL and WHO EVER belong to Him (Jn. 6:35, 37)--the Believing Remnant of Israel—be given over to His Sent One, the Lord Jesus Christ, so that they can see, come and believe on Him so that He can keep them safe (especially through the Tribulation Period) and resurrect them at the last day (for entrance into Israel's earthly Kingdom). In other words, Christ came AT THAT TIME not to just give temporary physical life (which is what the crowd wanted) but to give access to the everlasting spiritual life of the Father to be lived out in the everlasting Kingdom with its everlasting provision of physical blessings.
Now, if you subscribe to the traditional view that the Gospel of John is about individual salvation, you are going to have a big problem with these verses. You will read them and be forced into the man-made unbiblical theological notions of Calvinism/predestination whereby God picks and chooses who does and doesn't get saved individually. But that isn't the salvation Jesus came to bring about AT THAT TIME.
Jesus Christ came AT THAT TIME to bring about Israel's NATIONAL salvation and through saved Israel salvation would go out to the whole world. He came AT THAT TIME to call believing Israel (those who already have individual salvation--ie., justification before God unto everlasting life) unto Himself so that they can now participate in Israel's NATIONAL salvation, accessing their everlasting life through Him and living it out in Israel's everlasting Kingdom (ie., justification before Christ at His 2nd Coming). He proclaimed: I AM the door, the gate (Jn. 10:7, 9) through which the Father's sheep would access everlasting life.
Let's follow the logic: At the Cross of Christ, all that remains to be fulfilled on Daniel's Time Schedule is the 7-year Tribulation Period, which would culminate in Christ's 2nd Coming and the salvation and restoration of the Nation of Israel. Christ's 1st Coming came AT THAT TIME to begin implementing what was required to bring about Israel's long-prophesied salvation and earthly Kingdom. And one of those things was the calling the Believing Remnant of Israel out of the apostate and unto the Father through the Son.
But to accomplish this, there was a problem. God the Father was in Heaven while the Believing Remnant of Israel was on the Earth. To remedy this situation, the Father sent His Son ... the Son left the Father in Heaven and comes down to the Earth ... so that those who belong to the Father (the Believing Remnant of Israel) can be given, led, drawn by Father to the Son for safekeeping, especially through the Tribulation Period, and unto the resurrection unto Life at the last day for entrance into the Kingdom. In short, those who belong to the Father, the Father gives to the Son, and those given by the Father to the Son will come = see = believe on the Son and recognize Him as the Bread (source) of the Father's Life to them. Or as Peter says: Where would we go? You have the words (bread, food, source) of eternal life (Jn. 6:68).
The Jews murmur: Jn. 6:41‑42: The Jews chew Jesus's words but instead of swallowing them so they can be incorporated into hearts of faith, they choke and spit them out. They thought He was just a regular man, at best a man like Moses. They thought they knew where He came from and who His parents were. They went by their own earthly ignorance rather than His heavenly truth (Jn. 3:12). They murmured like the Israelites of old who likewise rejected the grace resident for them in God's I AM Jehovah Name, desiring to abide in the Egypt of the world rather than in Him—the eternal Word incarnate (Jn. 15:4).
Jesus again summarizes why they don't believe: Jn. 6:43‑45: Those who come to Jesus are those who belong to the Father and that He gives, leads and draws to His Sent One, His Son, to keep them safe through the last day. In Jn. 6:31‑32, the crowd showed that they didn't know and believe in God, the Scriptures or Moses. They thought the Scriptures taught that Moses gave Israel the manna in the wilderness when, in fact, the Scriptures clearly taught that it was really the LORD God who gave Israel manna in the wilderness.
Now in Jn. 6:45 we have the other side of that coin. Jesus here explained that it is those who know and believe in God, the Scriptures and Moses who come to Him. It is those who have been taught of God; those who have heard and have learned of the Father; those who believe the Scriptures and Moses; THOSE ARE THE ONES WHO COME TO HIM.
The crowd did receive, believe and follow the Lord Jesus Christ because they didn't belong to God.
In summary: The Father sent the Son AT THAT TIME to call believing Israel out of apostate Israel, gather them unto Himself, and give them access to the everlasting life they had in the Father--now and in the future--thereby keeping them safe through the Tribulation Period and ushering them into the Kingdom at His 2nd Coming so that He could make them into His Own great and holy Nation of Israel (Gen. 12:2; Ex. 19:6), the conduit of His Life and Light, Glory and Name, Salvation and Blessings, to the whole world.
Highlights in John
In our Thursday night Bible study fellowship in the Gospel of John, we looked at some questions about the LORD's Name—its significance in John (Jn. 1:12), its significance to the patriarchal fathers of Israel and its significance at the Exodus. We also answered the question: Who, exactly, is the LORD?
When it comes to God's Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel to restore His glory on the earth, we talk about God's I AM Jehovah Name a lot. It is where God's grace for Israel resides, and they could access it by believing in His Name. Jehovah/Yahweh is the Name in Hebrew, and it is usually translated by the word LORD in English. It is the title, the Name, of the Triune God who is in covenant relationship with the Nation of Israel.
God made His Jehovah Name known to Israel's Patriarchs before the Exodus, introducing Himself to Moses by saying : He is the LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob (Ex. 3:15). They all heard and spoke with Him: Abraham and Sarah (Gen. 12:4, 7‑8; 15:6‑7; 18:11-17), Isaac and Rebekah (Gen. 25:21‑23; 26:1-5, 24-25); Jacob and Rachel (Gen. 28:16; 30:24); and Joseph (Gen. 39:21).
But it wasn't until God brought Israel out of Egypt to make her into His Own great and holy nation (Gen. 12:2; Ex. 19:6) at the Exodus that He revealed His Jehovah Name in its fullness and demonstrated how it worked. He attached to His Jehovah Name the incomplete statement: I AM ___. It was Israel's “blank check” to fill in with whatever they needed to become God's own great and holy nation.
While God introduced this concept to Abraham (Gen. 22:8, 14—Jehovah your Provider, which in context referred to Him providing HIMSELF as Israel's sacrifice), it didn't come into full bloom until the Exodus. There He shined a spotlight on His I AM ___ Jehovah Name, and the importance of Israel relying on the LORD to do everything they needed to become His Own holy people (Ex. 14:13‑14). Israel's job was to access the grace resident in His I AM Jehovah Name by filling in the blank space in faith. For instance, to become God's own great nation did they need the water healed so they didn't all die in the wilderness? The Jehovah (LORD) God of Israel says: I AM your Healer (Ex. 15:25‑26). Did they need someone to conquer their enemies? The Jehovah God of Israel says: I AM your Banner (Ex. 17:15). Just fill in the blank space!! Did they need a shepherd? The Jehovah God of Israel says: I AM your Shepherd (Ps. 23:1). Did they need peace? The Jehovah God of Israel says: I AM your Peace (Judg. 6:24). Did they need righteousness? The Jehovah God of Israel says: I AM your Righteousness (Jer. 23:6). Did they need God's presence? The Jehovah God of Israel says: I AM with you (Ezek. 48:35).
John in His Gospel picks up on this with the Lord Jesus's 7 compound I AM ___ sayings. The Lord Jesus once again tried to show Israel how to fill in the blank in faith. That was their only hope! If they did, HE will do all that is required to make them into God's own great and holy Nation of Israel. He declares: I AM the Bread of Life (Jn. 6:35), the Light of the World (8:12), the Gate (10:7), the Good Shepherd (10:11), the Resurrection and the Life (11:25), the Way, the Truth, and the Life (14:6), and the True Vine (15:1). And when Israel has all that, she will be saved and through her salvation will go out to the rest of the nations.
This raises an interesting question. Who, exactly, is the LORD of the Old Testament? Is He God the Father? God the Son? Or God the Holy Spirit? Or all three? The answer is that the Jehovah Name applies to the Triune Godhead as a whole. It belongs to all three of its members. Perhaps a more nuanced understanding would be based on how Jesus explains the Triune Godhead as the source of Life in Jn. 5:26. The Father has Life in Himself. He freely gives it to the Son to have Life in Himself, who (based on passages like Jn. 6:63; 7:37‑39) freely gives it to the Holy Spirit to have Life in Himself.
Likewise, the Triune Godhead's I AM Jehovah Name belongs to the Father in Himself, but it also belongs to the Son and the Holy Spirit to have in Themselves. Let's look at examples to illustrate:
Highlights in John
In our Thursday night Bible study fellowship in the Gospel of John, we looked at what, exactly, it means to eat and drink Jesus. It should be an easy passage, but Christianity's own vain religious system has turned it into something else indeed.
If we follow the traditional view of the Gospel of John, that it is about personal evangelism for individual salvation in the Dispensation of Grace, it will give us a lot of trouble, especially here in John 6.
THE CHICKEN OR THE EGG PROBLEM
For according to John 6, those who come to and believe on the Son are those the Father gives, draws and teaches (Jn. 6:37, 44‑45). But this creates a big problem that begs the proverbial question: Which came first--the chicken or the egg? Personal evangelism says one must FIRST come to the Son in faith, then they will belong to the Father. But this passage says the exact opposite. Here, the Father gives to the Son those who ALREADY belong to Him (by believing in Him—Jn. 5:37‑38), and who ALREADY are drawn and taught of Him (by believing Moses and the Scriptures—Jn. 5:39, 46‑47). In order to try to get around this problem, Christianity's own vain religious and theological systems have had to devise all sorts of destructive man-made doctrines like Predestination/Calvinism in all its varieties.
But we don't need to follow this foolishness because this problem instantly disappears when we remember that Christ came AT THAT EXACT TIME not to begin a personal evangelism program to unbelievers in God for participation in individual salvation, but to begin the collective calling out of the Believing Remnant of Israel for participation in Israel's national salvation. God has always had a personal evangelism program, and He has been saving individual sinners since the Fall of Adam. Two thousand years before Christ, for instance, Abraham believed in the LORD and He (the LORD) counted it (his faith) unto him for righteousness—ie., individual salvation and forgiveness of personal sins (Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:3).
Rather, Jesus Christ came AT THAT EXACT TIME to advance and ultimately complete God's Prophetic Program by providing Israel with their NATIONAL salvation. By the time of Christ's death on the Cross, the only thing left on Daniel's Time Schedule was the 7-year Tribulation Period, which would be followed by the establishment of Israel's long-prophesied earthly Kingdom (Acts 1:6). Christ came (primarily) AT THAT TIME to call believing Israel (the Believing Remnant of Israel made up of individually saved sinners) out of apostate unbelieving Israel so that He could keep them safe (especially through the Tribulation Period) and lead them in to Israel's earthly Kingdom, even raising from the dead those who died physically beforehand (Jn. 6:37, 39, 40, 44, 54).
A CLASSIC EXAMPLE
The classic example of this is Peter in Mat. 16:16-17. There, Peter proclaimed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God (Mat. 16:16). Jesus responded by saying: Flesh and blood has not revealed it unto thee, but My Father who is in Heaven (Mat. 16:17). Now, would anyone suggest that at this late date in Jesus's ministry that Peter is just now receiving individual salvation? Of course not! As a follower of John the Baptist, he was a believer in God and His Word and, therefore, individually saved--justified before God and His Tribunal unto everlasting life long before--BEFORE JESUS HAD EVEN ARRIVED ON THE SCENE! Something similar happened at the very end of His earthly ministry In Jn. 14:1 when Jesus told His very closest disciples/apostles: Ye believe in God, believe also in Me! Huh? Again, would anyone suggest that Peter, James and John were not yet saved individually at this time? Of course, not. Something else must be going on.
When we appreciate that the Lord Jesus Christ was sent AT THAT EXACT TIME not (primarily) to call unbelievers in God to become believers in God for individual salvation, but to call the believers in God in Israel (the Believing Remnant of Israel, here represented by Peter and the 12, excepting Judas) out of unbelieving Israel so that He could empower and authorize them to participate in Israel's NATIONAL salvation, whereby God would make THEM into His Own great and holy Nation of Israel (Gen. 12:2; Ex. 19:6; Mat. 21:43).
THE CART BEFORE THE HORSE
The Beatitudes summarize this nicely (Mat. 5:2-12). This passage is often erroneously taught as what must characterize sinners before God can save them. But this creates an insurmountable problem. If this is talking about individual salvation, then it would go against the biblical truth that individual salvation for sinners is by grace through faith WITHOUT works of any kind (Eph. 2:8‑9)! If the Beatitudes present how a sinner receives individual salvation, then sinners have the power to make themselves godly and the friend of God so that He can save him. But this is putting the cart before the horse because Paul states categorically that God saves sinners while they are yet powerless, ungodly, sinners on enemy status before Him (Rom. 5:6‑10)!
Once again, however, the problem instantly disappears when we recognize that Christ's earthly ministry wasn't (primarily) about calling on lost sinners to participate in individual salvation to receive forgiveness of personal sins. It was to call on members of believing Israel (those who were already saved individuals) to come out of unbelieving Israel so that they could participate in Israel's national salvation to receive forgiveness of their association with Israel's national debt of sins (as Israelites).
Recognizing this does not diminish individual salvation one bit. Of course, any lost unbelievers in God who believed God's words through Jesus, would, OF COURSE, be individually saved, justified before God in His courtroom unto eternal life--just as God has been doing with individual sinners since the Fall of Adam—and God, the angels and we all rejoice in that!
THE CHILDREN OF GOD
Christ came AT THAT EXACT TIME to empower and authorize those who belonged to God, the Believing Remnant of Israel, with what they needed to become who they truly are: The children of God. John put it this way: But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the children (NKJV) of God, even to them that believe on His Name (Jn. 1:12). Note carefully what is given here. Christ didn't come to give them the status of children of God. They already had that as saved as individuals. Rather, Christ came AT THAT TIME to give them POWER and AUTHORITY to become who they already were, the children of God. They were God's designated recipients of Israel's national salvation.
We sometimes refer to this as positional and experiential truth. AT THAT TIME, the Believing Remnant of Israel was positionally the children of God, but experientially they were powerless, suffering under and subjected to Israel's powerful vain religious system that was ruled by the Gentiles, who were ruled by Satan. They were weak, persecuted, spiritually poor, mournful and meek, hungering and thirsting after righteousness (Mat. 5:2-12), and there was nothing they could do about it. So, AT THAT EXACT TIME the Father sent His Son to remedy their predicament by empowering and authorizing them to become who they really were as the children of God. Christ came to give them the power, right and authority to be the ones through whom God would fulfill His Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel to restore His Glory on earth (Mat. 21:43; Et al.).
So, in summary: God the Father sent the Son AT THAT TIME to hand those who belonged to Him (believing Israel made up of individually saved sinners) over to the Son for safekeeping (especially through the Tribulation Period) and to lead them—even those who had died physically beforehand by raising them from the dead--into Israel's long-prophesied Millennial Kingdom where they would have and possess, access and enjoy, everlasting life, making of them His Own great and holy Nation of Israel.
Highlights in John
We bring out the biblical significance of Jesus's reference to His flesh and blood. Then contrast the biblical idiom “flesh and blood” with that of “flesh and bone” and their connection to bodily resurrection.
In his great chapter on the resurrection, the Apostle Paul states: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God (1 Cor. 15:50). Some have used this verse to deny that there will be a literal, material, bodily resurrection for believers in Christ. But they are wrong because they miss the significance of what Paul is saying. He is speaking idiomatically. According to the Cambridge dictionary an idiom is a group of words in a fixed order that has a particular meaning that is different from the meanings of each word on its own.
The Bible uses two idioms for humanity: 1. Flesh and blood humanity that is destined unto death, and 2. Flesh and bone humanity that is destined unto life. Let's look at them individually:
Flesh and Bone Humanity unto Life:
Flesh and Blood Humanity unto Death:
In summary: While flesh and blood humanity destined unto death cannot inherit the Kingdom of God (1 Cor. 15:50), flesh and bone humanity destined unto Life through resurrection can and does (1 Cor. 15:53)! The Risen Lord Jesus Christ is the proof and the first-fruits.
Highlights in John
In our Thursday night Bible study fellowship in the Gospel of John, we looked at Jesus's numerous figures of speech in John 6, His metaphors, similes and idioms.
Contrary to a large segment of apostate historic Christianity, Jesus is speaking figuratively in Jn. 6 not literally, especially when He is speaking of eating His flesh and drinking His blood. Here are some of the figures of speech He uses to teach Israel the literal truth that believing on Him is the way they will access and possess everlasting life (Jn. 6:47).
Through these figures of speech, Jesus was trying to teach them the simple truth that believing on Him was the way to everlasting life. And they did that when they believed on Him and His words because He is the eternal Word, the Creator God of the Universe, the Light and Life of humanity incarnate (Jn. 1:1‑4, 14). Therefore, His words are what the Holy Spirit uses (Jn. 3:34) to enliven and enlighten the dead human spirit, bringing it into everlasting life (Jn. 6:63). He is the One who can transform believing Israel from being part of “flesh and blood” humanity destined unto death to being a part of His new “flesh and bone/s” humanity destined unto life.
Highlights in John
Recently, the question was asked: What was the purpose of Paul's ministry to the Jews first? Here is my short and simple answer:
During this Transition Period, on one hand, God's Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel was diminishing and would soon be completely packed up in boxes and put in storage until the end of the Dispensation of Grace. On the other hand, His Mystery Program with the Body of Christ was increasing and would soon be, so to speak, the only show in town. During this time of transition, unbelieving Jews throughout the world associated with the synagogues that were, for the most part, associated with apostate unbelieving Israel, whose leaders had rejected Christ.
Therefore, during this period, Jews needed two “salvations.” As sinners and like everyone else, they needed individual salvation before God unto eternal life, which is always by faith alone. Paul explained this salvation in Rom. 3-5, and we will call it salvation #1. Additionally, Jews (and Gentiles associated with them) also needed to be “saved” from the shame of being members of the Christ-rejecting apostate Nation of Israel. This salvation was by faith plus “confession,” which occurred when they said the same thing about the Lord Jesus Christ that Paul (and God) said about Him and was displayed publicly when they left the synagogue and followed Paul (Rom. 10:8‑11). Paul explained this salvation in Rom. 9-11, and we will call it salvation #2.
Said another way: By believing Paul's Gospel of Grace, Jews participated in salvation #1. That is, God instantly and eternally placed them into the Body of Christ as participants in His Mystery Program to re-establish His Glory in the Heavenlies. Then, in believing and saying the same thing Paul said about the Lord Jesus Christ (i.e., confession), they participated in salvation #2 by leaving the synagogue associated with the apostate Nation of Israel and following Paul now as members of the Body of Christ.
We see this played out repeatedly in the Book of Acts. In Acts 13:41‑47, for instance, we see Jews (and Gentiles associated with them at the synagogue) hearing Paul's preaching. Some believed Paul's Gospel, and they were individually saved and eternally secure (salvation #1). They demonstrated their agreement with what God and Paul said about the Lord Jesus Christ (ie., confession) by separating from the unbelieving synagogue now as members of the Body of Christ, thereby being saved from the shame of being associated with the sins of the Christ-rejecting apostate Nation of Israel (salvation #2).
Of course, after the Transition Period was over, and God had completely set aside the Nation of Israel at the end of Acts, this provision was no longer needed, and it ceased.
Highlights in John
When we remember that in Christ's earthly ministry God the Father sent the Son AT THAT TIME primarily to advance His Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel, by bringing about her national salvation (NOT personal evangelism unto individual salvation in the Dispensation of Grace in accord with His Mystery Program with the Body of Christ!), many of the things John mentions take on new meaning. For instance, when He talks about resurrection, is it referring to dead Israel's national resurrection as a nation whereby God will make of them His own holy and great nation in accord with such Old Testament prophecies as Ezek. 37? Or, does it refer to individual people being resurrected from physical death in accord with such prophecies as Dan. 12:2?.
In John 5, for instance, Jesus clearly refers to the latter when He quotes Dan. 12:2, proclaiming that He is the One who will fulfill Daniel's prophecy by raising the dead: Those who have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they who have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation (Jn. 5:28‑29).
But in Jn. 6, Jesus says things a little differently. Remember that in the Bread of Life Discourse Jesus moves from talking to the crowds in front of Him, whom He addresses as YOU/YE, and who do not believe (Jn. 6:32, 36) and begins talking to another group He addresses as HE/ALL, who do believe (Jn. 6:32). The former refer to unbelieving Israel. The latter to believing Israel, the Believing Remnant of Israel.
Jesus goes on to explain that the Father sent Him AT THAT TIME to advance His Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel by handing believing Israel (those who belong to the Father) over to the Son for safekeeping (esp., through the Tribulation Period) so that He could usher them into Israel's long-prophesied earthly Kingdom and make them into His own great and holy Nation (Jn. 6:37‑40; Gen. 2:2; Ex. 19:6).
But then Jesus adds that He will raise IT (Jn. 6:39) and THEM (plural--Jn. 6:40) from the dead at the last day. The former refers to believing Israel as a group being raised from the dead. It refers to Israel's NATIONAL resurrection from their graves among the Gentiles in accord with Ezek. 37. Ezekiel asks: God, how can you restore the Nation of Israel to fulfill the promises you made to her (Ezek. 37:1‑4)? God's answer is that He will resurrect it from the dead by gathering believing Israel, restoring them to Himself, planting them in the Land and making of them His Own great and holy Nation of Israel, through whom He will send His blessings out to all the other nations on earth thereby fulfilling His Prophetic Program (Ezek. 37:5, 11‑14).
So, if the IT of Jn. 6:39 refers to Israel's NATIONAL resurrection and restoration as God's Own nation, what does the HE/HIM refer to in Jn. 6:40? Of course, to resurrect believing Israel as a whole, God will also have to resurrect the individual members of believing Israel who died before Christ's 2nd Coming—Old Testament and Tribulation saints who died physically. This is in accord with Dan. 12 as quoted by Jesus in Jn. 5:28-29: Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation (Jn. 5:28‑29; Dan. 12:2; Jn. 6:40).
So, let's put together the resurrections required to fulfill God's Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel.
Highlights in John
In our Thursday night Bible study fellowship in the Gospel of John, we looked at what the Bible means when it uses words like chosen/elected/ordained.
Is it referring to individual salvation? Or, to something else?
Then we went on to introduce John 7.
Highlights in John
It is commonplace in the teachings of historical Christianity to refer to Israel's Feasts as pictures of how God saves individual sinners in the Dispensation of Grace. We would expect such teachings from those who don't rightly divide the Scriptures, and who have thrown away God's literal Nation of Israel, but we would also expect those who rightly-divide the Scriptures to be more cautious and discerning. Israel's Prophetic Calendar doesn't picture how God provides for individual salvation, but how God provides for Israel's NATIONAL salvation. It pictures how God is going to make of the Believing Remnant of Israel into His Own great and holy NATION of Israel. Let's look at Israel's three basic Feast groups: Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles.
Passover: Passover, Unleavened Bread and Firstfruits (Ex. 23:14‑19)
Passover: Passover pictures God redeeming the Nation of Israel by blood and power. God rescued Israel from Egypt by turning death away from the HOUSES of Israelites who transferred death to a substitute, smearing its blood on the doorposts as proof. In this way, the HOUSES of the Israelites were protected from death, and those family members who stayed in the HOUSE were protected as well (Ex. 12). Once they were in the Land and could operate as a true nation, however, the Feast occurred in the House of the LORD (the Tabernacle or Temple) on behalf of the whole HOUSE (now singular) of Israel (i.e., the NATION of Israel).
Unleavened Bread: Then, having driven away death for the night, Unleavened Bread pictures God separating Israel from Egypt and joining them to Himself. They were to leave behind the gods and ways of Egypt so they could be filled with the one true God of Israel and follow His ways. Instead of being permeated and raised by the leaven of Egypt, they were to be permeated and raised by their LORD, who would put them on His eagle's wings, carry them along and bring them unto Himself (Ex. 18:8‑12; 19:4).
Firstfruits: Finally, by delivering the Nation of Israel from death and separating them from Egypt while filling them with Himself, the LORD resurrected the NATION from the dead. This is the NATION of Israel's miraculous 1st birth.
Summary: The basis for this group of Feasts was provided by the Lord Jesus Christ, Israel's ultimate firstborn Son, who took onto Himself Israel's NATIONAL debt of sin in accord with God's Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel, dying for His friends, the Believing Remnant of Israel (Jn. 15:13) so that God could make of them His Own Nation.
Israel will go through a 2nd greater Exodus in the future when they experience a greater Passover, a greater separation from the Egypt of the world and gathering unto the LORD and a greater national resurrection from the dead, thereby being born again a 2nd time as God's Own great and holy Nation of Israel. We see that in the Feasts that follow.
Pentecost
Most assume the Feast of Pentecost refers to the first giving of the Mosaic Law at Mt. Sinai. But this is not quite correct. For at the 1st Exodus, the Israelites received the Law in their own way rather than in God's way. At the 1st Exodus, they received it in rebellion against God and rejection of His Grace. Thinking they could make themselves into His holy nation through the power of their own flesh, they went under the Law according to the flesh (Ex. 19:5‑8). In doing so, they rejected the lessons God had tried to teach them as He led them from Goshen in Egypt to Sinai.
They should have learned that if they couldn't heal the water (Ex. 15:23) or provide food in the wilderness (Ex. 14:3) or follow two little eensy-weensy teeny-tiny commands about collecting manna (Ex. 16) through the power of their own flesh, they most certainly would not be able to make themselves into God's Own holy and great Nation in reliance upon themselves! The LORD would have to do it for them. Their job was to rely on Him in faith. Instead, at Sinai they declared that they not only could but would do it themselves (Ex. 19:8), thereby going under the Law System in accord with their flesh, and they spent the next 1500 years under its Curses (Lev. 26).
God's way was for Israel to FIRST rely on the grace and mercy resident for them in His I AM LORD (Jehovah) Name that they could freely access by believing. He wanted them FIRST to rely on Him, not themselves. He wanted them to call on Him for everything they needed. Then, He would give them His Spirit, who would put the Law in their hearts and cause them to obey the commandments of God so that they could receive the blessings of the Law rather than the curses (New Covenant) (Jer. 31:33; Ezek. 37:26‑27).
Summary: Believing Israel had a foretaste of this at Pentecost in Acts 2-3, and they will have an even greater foretaste of it in the Tribulation Period. Complete fulfillment, however, awaits Christ's 2nd Coming when He will implement the New Covenant in all its fullness by pouring out His Spirit upon believing Israel. The Spirit will empower them to walk according to His Law not empowered by their flesh (hopeless) but empowered by God's Spirit (100% certain)!
Tabernacles: Trumpets, Atonement, Tabernacles
This group of events looks forward to Christ's 2nd Coming in God's Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel. The trumpets will sound (Trumpets), Christ will return to gather believing Israel from the 4 corners of the earth (Mk. 13:27), separating them from the world and their association with apostate Israel's NATIONAL sins. He will give them the Holy Spirit who will empower them to walk in God's ways so that they never accrue a NATIONAL debt of sins again. In this way He will make believing Israel into His Own greatest Nation in the earthly Kingdom, through whom He will send His light and glory, blessings and salvation, to the whole earth (Atonement and Tabernacles).
Summary: This will be the Nation of Israel's 2nd greater Exodus, their 2nd birth, led by the greater Prophet like unto Moses (Deut. 18:15), the Lord Jesus Christ. And at that time, success will be guaranteed. Believing Israel will fall on the Grace resident in His I AM Jehovah Name (Zech. 12:10; Hos. 14:2), and the LORD will proclaim to them: Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the Glory of the LORD is risen upon thee ... and the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising (Is. 60:1‑3).
When these Feasts are fulfilled, God's Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel to re-establish His Glory on the earth will, indeed, be fulfilled—absolutely and literally in every detail!
Highlights in John
We continue in our study of Jn. 7 by looking at the Feast of Tabernacles. Was it a Feast of the LORD? Or, the Jews? Or, both?
The Feast of Tabernacles was supposed to be a time for Israel to rejoice about receiving the blessings of the Law in the presence of the LORD (Deut. 16:13‑15). Therefore, it is ominous when John refers to it as a feast of the Jews in Jn. 7:2 rather than the Feast of the LORD as in Lev. 23:44. It gets even more ominous when Jesus says at first that He is not going to Jerusalem to observe it (Jn. 7:8), and then when He does go, it is half over, and instead of rejoicing with the Jews, He proclaims that none of you keeps the Law, and you are going about to kill Me (Jn. 7:19)—kill the eternal Word incarnate, the LORD embodied in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, who was now TABERNACLING among them (Jn. 1:14) at the Feast of Tabernacles!
He exposes the hypocrisy of Israel's vain religious system (Mat. 23). For if they do not keep the Law, then they are under the curses of the Law not its blessings. And if they are going about to kill Him, then they don't know God and won't have Him in their presence (Jn. 5). The hypocrisy comes to the forefront when we remember that the Feast of Tabernacles was given so they could rejoice in receiving the BLESSINGS of the Law in the PRESENCE of God. Yet in Jn. 7, Israel was, on the one hand, under the curses of the Law in the 5th Course of Punishment, while on the other hand, were trying to remove God (the Son) from their presence!
What John calls the feast of tabernacles of the Jews in Jn. 7 was the very anti-type of the Feast of Tabernacles of the LORD given through Moses in the Law (which they don't keep). Instead of rejoicing while receiving the blessings of the Law, they were rejoicing while receiving the curses of the Law! Instead of welcoming God (the Son) into their presence, they were trying to banish Him from their presence by putting Him to death on a Cross! This feast of the Jews had become an empty parody of the wonderful Feast the LORD God intended it to be. No wonder Jesus went up to Jerusalem not to celebrate their feast but to preach against their vain religious system.
Let's look at what the Feast of Tabernacles was supposed to be about:
In conclusion: The Jews of Jesus' day and their Nation of Israel should have been mourning and crying out in repentance to the LORD by falling on the grace now present in the Person of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, by believing.
Highlights in John
In our Thursday night Bible study fellowship in the Gospel of John, we looked at how Israel turned the LORD's Feast of Tabernacles into the Jew's Feast of Tabernacles. During the 400 years of silence Israel's vain religious system replaced God and His Word with man and his traditions.
John 7 and 8 occur during the Feast of Tabernacles. Zechariah tells us that this Feast will be observed in the future Millennial Kingdom (Zech. 14:16). So, this is a good opportunity to practice using our skills of right-division by reading Zech. 14, a non-Pauline Scripture that has to do with God's Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel to re-establish His Glory on earth NOT His Mystery Program with the Body of Christ to re-establish His Glory in the heavenlies as revealed in the Pauline Scriptures.
The Ground Rules:
We are not going to trivialize the Scriptures by spiritualizing them away. We are going to take the literal meaning unless the context demands otherwise. Therefore, the literal physical Nation of Israel is NOT the figurative spiritual Body of Christ! Nor is the Promised Land Heaven! Nor is Jerusalem, London, Chicago, Salt Lake City or your hometown! And Jesus Christ sitting on His literal physical throne in literal physical Jerusalem is not Jesus Christ sitting on the figurative spiritual throne of your heart! To throw away of God and His Word and replace it with man and his word, is IDOLATRY (Mk. 7:1-22)!
Zechariah and God's Prophetic Timeline for the Nation of Israel:
Zechariah was a post-exilic priest/prophet, who was among the 50,000 or so Jews who returned from Babylonian Captivity to Jerusalem. Using the Prophetic Timeline ( included at the end of this article), we see that Zechariah ministered especially in the 2nd installment of the 5th Course of Punishment (5COP). He encouraged the Jews who had returned from Babylon to rebuild the Temple by revealing to them God's Plan for Israel's future.
Future Judgment of the Land of Israel (Zech. 13:7‑9):
Future Judgment on Jerusalem (Zech. 14:1‑3):
Forward to Christ's 2nd Coming: Geographic and Astronomical/Planetary Effect
Back to the End of the Tribulation Period
Forward to the Kingdom and the Gentiles
Forward to the Kingdom and Jerusalem/Israel
Highlights in John
A LITTLE REFRESHER ON GOD'S I AM JEHOVAH NAME
If we don't appreciate the importance of what God did just before the Exodus when He attached His I AM provision to His Jehovah (LORD) Name (Ex. 3:14‑15), we won't appreciate the importance of what Jesus is doing in the Gospel Accounts, especially the Gospel of John. God's Jehovah (LORD) Name is the source of grace for Israel whereby God will make of them His Own great and holy nation (Gen. 12:2; Ex. 19:6). And His I AM ___ provision is the way Israel accessed that grace by believing (Ex. 4:1-10).
The importance of His (I AM) Jehovah Name for the Nation of Israel cannot be overstated. The grace resident in His (I AM) Jehovah Name fundtions by reversing the order of the Law's curses and blessings. For disobedience, the Law called on God to FIRST give its curses by showing His wrath and judgment on rebels and idolaters. Then, after that, SECOND, He would give its blessings by showing His mercy and grace to anyone left standing, the obedient and repentant (Ex. 20:5‑6). His (I AM) Jehovah Name, however, reverses this order. Through His I AM Jehovah Name, He FIRST would give mercy and grace to rebels and idolaters. Then, to those who responded in faith, He would give more mercy and grace but to those who didn't, He would give wrath and judgment (Ex. 34:6‑7).
The classic example of this is the interchange between God and Moses at the Golden Calf Incident in Ex. 32:7-14. Based on the Law, God FIRST should have gone down and consumed the rebellious Israelites (Ex. 32:7). Then, after that, SECOND, He would show mercy and grace to whoever was left standing, in this case Moses (Ex. 32:10). But Moses interceded on Israel's behalf, appealing to God based on the grace resident in His (I AM) Jehovah Name in the light of the Abrahamic Covenant (Ex. 32:11‑13), and the LORD “repented” (Ex. 32:14). Now, based on His Name, He would FIRST offer mercy and grace to the rebels, and then, SECOND, He would dispense mercy and grace on the repentant and wrath and judgment on the unrepentant (Ex. 32:26-35).
NOW BACK TO Gospel of John
With this background in mind, let's return to the Gospel of John. In sending His Son, God gave Israel the greatest display of the Grace resident in God's I AM Jehovah Name. John shows Jesus passing through Israel, declaring God's glory by proclaiming His (I AM) Jehovah (LORD) name. I AM (Gk.--ego eimi) occurs at least 33 times in reference to Jesus in the Gospel of John. Most are familiar with the 7 passages that refer to Jesus's predicate I AM sayings: I AM the Bread of Life (Jn. 6:35), the Light of the world (Jn. 8:12), the Door of the Sheep (Jn. 10:7), the Good Shepherd (Jn. 10:11), the Resurrection and the Life (Jn. 11:25), the Way, the Truth and the Life (Jn. 14:6), and the True Vine (Jn. 15:1). But we must not stop there because there are also 7 passages that refer to Jesus's absolute I AM sayings, manifesting that His deity as Israel's Messiah King and the world's Creator and Lord (Jn. 4:26; 6:20; 8:24, 28, 58; 18:5, 6, 8).
But we must not stop there either. What goes virtually unnoticed is that there are also 7 passages that refer to Jesus's locative (location) I AM sayings. This is a shame because in His I AM sayings of location, the Lord Jesus Christ states categorically in the boldest and clearest terms possible who He truly is—the absolute God who can bring humanity unto God. Through these sayings, for instance, He proclaims the amazing fact that where He is, there God is. And where God is, there He is. Where He lives, there God lives. And where God lives, there He lives. What He says and does, God says and does. As God gives life and judges, so too Jesus gives life and judges. In fact, He is the eternal Son who eternally resides in Heaven in the eternal bosom of the Father, who reveals God to humanity (Jn. 1:14, 18; 3:12) (Jn. 5:18, 19, 30; 7:16; 8:16, 28, 38; 12:49).
This revelation reaches its pinnacle when Jesus says to His disciples: If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him ... he that hath seen me hath seen the Father ... Believe thou not that I AM (I AM of location) in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works (Jn. 14:7‑10). To know Jesus is to know the Father. And to know the Father is to know Jesus, the Son. To see Jesus is to see the Father. When Jesus speaks, it is the Father's words. When Jesus, God the Son, works, God the Father works (Jn. 5:19, 30; 12:49‑50).
In His Prophetic Program with Israel, God displays His Glory by proclaiming His (I AM) Jehovah Name in all its multifaceted radiance (Ex. 34:5‑6; Jn. 1:14). Therefore, to minimize or miss some of Jesus' I AM sayings, especially His I AM sayings of location, is to minimize or miss the fullness of the radiance of His Glory!
Highlights in John
In comparison with Jn. 5-6, when we read Jn. 7, it can be difficult to follow the flow. This is because there is a lot of background noise, static, from the Brothers/People/Jews that make it difficult to hear the music of the Lord Jesus Christ. : Let's look at the numbers:
| Words: | Voices in John 5-7 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| John 5 | John 6 | John 7 | |
| Jesus's words: | 62% | 50% | 33% |
| Disciple's words: | 5% | 5% | 0% |
| Jew's/People's words: | 5% | 9% | 33% !! |
| Narrator's (John's) words: | 28% | 36% | 34% |
This chart indicates that as Jesus's ministry goes from Jn. 5-7, His divine music is being progressively drowned out and replaced with the noise, clatter and static of unbelieving Israel. While they should have done what my kindergarten teacher commanded her students to do--close their mouths and open their ears (as the disciples were doing)--they were closing their ears (Jn. 6:60) and opening their mouths (Jn. 7)! It is as though Jesus progressively couldn't get a word in edge-wise, and by the final major section in Jn. 7: 40-53, He says nothing at all!
We have the static/background noise of His brothers in Jn. 7:3-9, and that of the Jews/People in Jn. 7:11-13, 15, 20, 25-27, 31-32, 35-36, 40-53. Jesus's teaching dwindles throughout the chapter. It begins ok in the first part of the chapter (Jn. 7:6‑8, 16‑19, 21‑24), diminishes in the second half of the chapter (Jn. 7:28‑29, 33‑34, 37‑38) and is completely silenced in the final section of the chapter (Jn. 7:40-53).
What Israel needed to know is that it was time to listen to Jesus the Christ. God had advanced His Prophetic Program by sending His Own Son to begin fulfilling and implementing all the promises He had made to the Nation of Israel. Or, to use John the Baptist's words: He must increase, but I must decrease (Jn. 3:29).
Highlights in John
Having filtered out the static and background noise of the People/Jews last week, this week we listened to Jesus's song that consisted of 6 speeches. We also looked at Nicodemus. Is there an indication that he was a true believing disciple?
THE PRINCIPLE OF TRUE DISCIPLESHIP
Going from Jn. 5-7, Jesus was progressively silenced by People/Jews. Jesus spoke about 62% of the words in Jn. 5, and the People/Jews only about 5%. In Jn. 6, Jesus's words decreased to 50%, and words of the People/Jews increased to 9%. Then in Jn. 7, Jesus's words plummeted to just 33% of those spoken while the People/Jews skyrocketed to 33%!! By the end of Jn. 7, Jesus is completely drowned out by the noise of the People/Jews (Jn. 7:40-53).
Which raises an interesting thought. If the crowd's silencing of Jesus Christ by unbelieving Israel indicates their rejection of God and with Him true discipleship, could the silencing of a person or group while listening to Jesus indicate their acceptance of God and with Him true discipleship? John the Baptist states it this way: He must increase, but I must decrease (Jn. 3:30). Nathaniel has a lot to say at first in Jn. 1:46‑49, but he doesn't utter another word throughout the rest of the Gospel of John. And in John 5-6, the core 12 disciples speak only 5% of the time, but even that low level drops to 0% in Jn. 7!
Could this be an indicator of true faith and discipleship in the Gospel of John? Believers speak less and less and listen to Jesus more and more? Whereas unbelievers listen to Jesus less and less (for example, Jn. 6:60) and speak more and more?
Let's use this principle to evaluate someone who many, if not most, commentators ridicule: Nicodemus. Most conclude that he wasn't a believer and never became a believer. But is this true? Is there another possibility that rescues him from these mean-spirited and self-righteous commentators? Let's look at the journey of Nicodemus in the Gospel of John using John the Baptist's principle that He must increase but I must decrease.
THE SILENCING OF NICODEMUS
We can look at the account of Nicodemus in two ways. First, by looking at Jn. 3 alone. Second, by looking at Nicodemus's journey through the Gospel of John.
Nicodemus's progressive journey of faith through Jn. 3 and through the whole Book of John indicates that he was a true believer who became a true disciple of Jesus. Like the Samaritan Woman, it is time to restore his reputation. Like John the Baptist, Nicodemus realized he had to decrease, and Jesus needed to increase.
Highlights in John
Let's slow down and read Jesus's discussion with His brothers applying what we know about God's Prophetic Program. We begin by re-emphasizing that the Gospel of John is not about individual salvation in the Dispensation of Grace. John is about the advance God made in His Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel by sending His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to bring believing Israel (i.e., those who are already participating in INDIVIDUAL salvation) unto Himself so they can now participate in Israel's NATIONAL salvation.
Jn. 7:3‑4: The Brothers and The Options
Here, the brothers are trying to get Jesus to go to Judea/Jerusalem to make Himself known openly through His (miraculous) works. Let's ponder these verses for a while without jumping to conclusions based on our own preconceived notions, giving the brothers the benefit of the doubt. If we do this, we might wonder what the true intent of the brothers is.
For instance, are they trying to get Jesus to go to Jerusalem to show Himself to the world for biblical reasons? After all, in God's Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel to re-establish His glory on earth, salvation MUST FIRST go to and be received by JERUSALEM. Then saved Jerusalem would take salvation to Judea/Galilee. Then saved Jerusalem, Judea and Galilee would take salvation to Samaria, bringing them back into the fold of the Davidic Monarchy. Then ALL Israel would be saved (Rom. 11:26). And then, after all that, the saved Nation of Israel will take salvation out to the Gentiles nations. This would paint the brothers in a somewhat positive light.
Or, are the brothers trying to get Jesus to go to Judea/Jerusalem to show Himself to the world for wrong and selfish reasons? Were they like those in Jn. 6:14‑15, who, after experiencing the miraculous feeding to the 5,000, wanted to take Jesus and make Him their own king, a king who would give them free meals everyday (Jn. 6:26)? Perhaps the brothers thought that if Jesus went to Jerusalem, made Himself known through miraculous signs, and was accepted as their king, they (as His brothers) would stand in the limelight with Him! Why, they would be princes!! This would paint the brothers in a negative light.
Jn. 7:5: John the Author's Abrupt Revelation
John the narrator quickly redirects our ruminations by stating explicitly that the brothers didn't believe in Jesus. But this opens another set of options. They didn't believe in Jesus, but do they believe in God? After all, at the end of His ministry Jesus tells His closest disciples, who have been with Him for about 3 years--disciples like Peter, James and John: Ye believe in God, believe also in Me (Jn. 14:1)! Huh? Didn't they believe in Jesus at least as far back in Jn. 2:11?
Of course, this is a HUGE problem if you think the Gospel of John is about individual salvation in the Dispensation of Grace. But it is not a problem when we appreciate that John is primarily about how members of the Believing Remnant of Israel, those who have already participated in INDIVIDUAL salvation before God, could now participate in Israel's NATIONAL salvation at Christ's 2nd Coming.
In the Gospel Accounts (Christ's earthly ministry) and early Acts (the ministry of Peter and the 12), God provided what we could call a transition period. This was a divinely given period of time that gave Israel time to appreciate how God had advanced His Prophetic Program with Israel by sending His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. During this time, believing in Jesus was a progressive journey.
Once God had given enough time (about 4 years) for Israel to receive and appreciate what God was accomplishing through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 2), this transition period ended. After that, Israel was without excuse. They would no longer be able to claim innocent ignorance (Acts 3:13‑17) for they were then willfully and rebelliously ignorant. This transition period ended at the stoning of Stephen in Acts 7 when Israel once-and-for-all joined the Gentiles, thrust its fist into the face of God and declared: We will NOT have Your Son to reign over us!
So, back to our ruminations—they didn't believe in Jesus, but did they believe in God?
Jn. 7:6‑7: Jesus Shuts Down This Option
Here, Jesus shuts down all options by telling us that the brothers not only don't believe in Him, they also don't believe in God either. They still belonged to the world of unbelieving humanity that is hostile to God and His Sent One, His Own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The hostile world loves the brothers because they belong to it (Jn. 15:19). But the world hates Jesus because He manifests that its works are evil and doesn't belong to it (Jn. 3:19‑21). And it is at this point that He declares His I AM saying of location: Ye are from beneath, I AM from above; ye are of this world, I AM not of this world (Jn. 8:23).
Jesus is the eternal Word who resides eternally face-to-face with God (Jn. 1:1‑2). He is God the Son who resides eternally in the bosom of the Father and makes Him known (Jn. 1:18; 3:13). In fact, Jesus makes this universe-shattering claim that If ye had known Me, ye should have known My Father also (Jn. 14:7). As if that is astounding enough, He goes on to say: He that has seen Me, has seen the Father (Jn. 14:8)!
Highlights in John
Looking at Jesus' brothers led us to thinking about another Transition Period. We normally think of the Transition Period God allowed when He transitioned from His Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel to His Mystery Program with the Body of Christ as revealed in Acts and Paul's Epistles. But that is not the only Transition Period. God also allowed for a Transition Period within His Prophetic Program with Israel when He advanced that program by sending His Son to begin bringing about Israel's national salvation.
| RIGHTLY‑DIVIDING THE SCRIPTUES | NON‑PAULINE SCRIPTURES: (Old Testament, Gospels, Peter and the 12, Hebrews‑Revelation) |
PAUL'S SCRIPTURES: (Romans‑Philemon) |
|---|---|---|
| Two Purposes | RE‑ESTABLISH HIS GLORY ON EARTH. THE EARTHLY PURPOSE. (Deut. 28) |
RE‑ESTABLISH HIS GLORY IN THE HEAVENLIES. THE HEAVENLY PURPOSE. (Eph. 1‑3) |
| Two Programs | What God HAD SPOKEN by the prophets since the world began. HIS PROPHETIC PROGRAM. (Lk. 1:70; Acts 3:21) |
What God HAD KEPT SECRET since the world began. HIS MYSTERY PROGRAM. (Rom. 16:25; Eph. 3) |
| Two Peoples/Vehicles of His Service | THE NATION OF ISRAEL (Ex. 19:6) | THE BODY OF CHRIST (Eph. 1:22‑23) |
| Two Sets of Gospels | GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM/ GOSPEL OF THE CIRCUMCISION. (Mat. 4:23; Gal. 2:7) | GOSPEL OF THE GRACE OF GOD/GOSPEL OF THE UNCIRCUMCISION. (Acts 20:24; Gal. 2:7) |
| Two Sets of Instructions | THE LAW OF MOSES. (Ex. 19) | Pauline Grace Mystery Truth. (Rom. 16:25; Eph. 3‑1‑10; Titus 2:11‑14) |
| Two Salvations Fully Manifested | PARTICIPATION IN ISRAEL'S NATIONAL SALVATION BEFORE CHRIST AT HIS 2ND COMING BY FAITH PLUS WORKS | PARTICIPATION IN THE SINNER'S INDIVIDUAL SALVATION BEFORE GOD AND HIS TRIBUNAL BY FAITH ALONE |
| Two ways the Gentiles are Blessed | WITH THE NATION OF ISRAEL AND THROUGH HER RISE (et al. Is. 60) | APART FROM THE NATION OF ISRAEL AND THROUGH HER FALL (Rom. 11) |
| Two Reasons God Gives Basic Spiritual blessings: | TO GIVE SUPER‑ABUNDANT PHYSICAL BLESSINGS TO BE USED ON EARTH (Is. 60) | TO GIVE SUPER‑ABOUND SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS TO BE USED IN THE HEAVENLIES (Eph. 1:3) |
| Two Primary Sources of Grace | GOD'S I AM JEHOVAH NAME (Ex. 3:14‑15) | PAULINE GRACE MYSTERY TRUTH (Rom. 16:25) |
| Two Standards of Power | THE POWER WHEN GOD DIVIDED THE RED SEA. (Ex. 14:15‑31) | THE POWER WHEN GOD RAISED CHRIST FROM THE DEAD. (Eph. 1:19‑20) |
| Two Dispensations | DSPENSATION OF THE LAW. (Ex. 20) | DISPENSATION OF GRACE. (Eph. 3) |
Highlights in John
Through these rebukes, Jesus as the true Light (Jn. 1:1-9) exposes the evil deeds of the unbelieving Nation of Israel (Jn. 7:7), for they had replaced God and His Word with man and his traditions. They honored God with their lips, but their heart was far from Him (Mk. 7:6‑7, 13). But those who did believe and honor God also believed and honored the Son (Jn. 5:23), and to them He gave the power and authority to become who the really were: The Children of God (Jn. 1:12).
Highlights in John
Here in Jn. 7, Jesus told the religious leaders, the self-proclaimed experts in Moses's Law, that they not only didn't keep the Law, they didn't even know the Law (Jn. 7:17, 19; 5:36-47). Therefore, they didn't judge with righteous judgment regarding the Sabbath. In Jn. 7, Jesus turned the tables on the crowd. They thought they were judging Him when, in fact, He was judging them. If they knew and obeyed Moses from hearts of faith, they would have known where His doctrine came from (Jn. 7:17), and knowing that, they would judge rightly, recognizing that helping others on the Sabbath wasn't forbidden, it was required if you had the means.
The work Israel was supposed to cease from doing was the normal work they did to support themselves, their families and their community. It was what they did the other six days a week for a living. It was work that they could plan for ahead of time and prepare for in advance. Of course, emergencies or circumstances that could not have been planned or provided for in advance were not included in the Sabbath regulations. Israel's vain religious system had taken the virtue of God's gift of the Sabbath—enjoying His life-giving blessings in worshipful rest—and turned it into a vice--unbearable regulations that prolonged suffering and left people in the grip of death (Mk. 2:27‑28; 3:4; Mat. 12:8, 12; Lk. 6:9).
If they knew the Law and judged righteously, they would realize that sometimes one command had precedence over another, like circumcision on the Sabbath (Jn. 7:21‑24). They would know that the whole Law needed to be understood and applied through the lens of love of God and men (Mat. 22:36‑40). And they would know that judging righteously from a heart of faith meant that the Sabbath wasn't given to prolong suffering and make life difficult in the presence of death. It was given to provide rest and restoration, in the presence of the life-giving God (Gen. 2:2‑3; Ex. 20:8‑11).
But because, for the most part, the crowd didn't know and believe in God, the Scriptures and Moses (Jn. 5:36-47), they also didn't know and believe in His Sent One, the Lord Jesus Christ. Rather than embracing by faith the life-giving Jesus, they rejected Him in unbelief and sought to put Him to death.
Highlights in John
We continued looking at Jesus' rebukes of the Nation of Israel as He reveals why they don't believe and know Him. It is because they don't really believe and know God, the Scriptures and Moses (Jn. 5:36-47).
The Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Word incarnate (Jn. 1:14), and the Light (Jn. 1:1‑5) reveals the extent of the Nation of Israel's apostacy in Jn. 7 with five major rebukes:
Under the curses of the Law in the Courses of Punishment, Israel should have come to her wits end and fallen on the grace resident in God's I AM Jehovah Name now tabernacling among them. Instead, led by their vain religious system, they pretended and play-acted, working to hide their unrighteousness and establish their own righteousness, not judging with righteous judgment.
Highlights in John
We finished up our study of Jn. 7 by observing Jesus' two self-declarations of who, exactly, He is.
First, Jesus' I AM Saying of Location
While in Jn. 6 the issue was especially the content of Jesus' teaching, in Jn. 7 it is the origin of His teaching, where it came from (Jn. 7:15‑16). Therefore, it is not surprising that this is the first of 7 passages where Jesus declares an I AM saying of location (Jn. 7:34). While most recognize the predicate I AM ___ sayings, sayings\ where Jesus fills in the blank space with something—I AM the Bread of Life, the Light of the World, the Good Shepherd, etc.—and some recognize His absolute I AM sayings that declare He is the Creator God and Israel's Messiah and King (Jn. 6:20), few recognize His locative (location) I AM sayings.
This is unfortunate because Jesus' I AM sayings of location are perhaps His most definitive self-declarations about who He is. For in them, He declares the astonishing truth that where God is, there I AM; and where I AM, there God is. Jesus proclaims to the religious leaders: Ye shall seek me and shall not find me: and where I am (ego eimi—I AM), thither ye cannot come (Jn. 7:34).
Having rebuked them 5 times in the previous verses that exposed the fact that they not only didn't know and believe the Scriptures or Moses, they didn't even know and believe God (Jn. 7:28; 5:37-47), Jesus tells them that not only did He come from God (whom they don't know), but that He resides in a sphere of existence that they cannot enter. He is the eternal Word incarnated in the human line of David in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ; the Son of God who resides in the bosom of God the Father, the perfect and complete Revealer of Him (Jn. 1:1‑3, 14, 18; 5:19-30). He is God the Son sent by God the Father to display His Glory by proclaiming His I AM Jehovah Name to begin fulfilling His promises to Israel's fathers, beginning with accomplishing Israel's national salvation.
Jesus Christ resided in a sphere of existence that Israel in their current state could not enter. In fact, for a time—between Jesus Christ's death/resurrection/ascension and His return at His 2nd Coming-- not even Jesus' true believing disciples would be able to go to where He is going (Jn. 13:33). But He quickly followed that with this: And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am (ego eimi, I AM), there ye may be also (Jn. 14:3). This will happen at His 2nd Coming when He ushers believing Israel into their long-prophesied Kingdom of God/Heaven on earth.
Second, Jesus is the Source of Living Water (the Holy Spirit)
Instead of participating in the vain religious system's man-made traditions in the Jew's feast of tabernacles, making a big empty parade of getting buckets of water from the Pool of Siloam, pretending to be drinking of God's living waters; they should have been drinking of the true source (God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ) of God's true living water (God the Holy Spirit) by believing on Him.
He is the One John the Baptist said would baptize with the Holy Spirit, Israel's Messiah and King (Jn. 1:33). He is the One who promised the Samaritan Woman and all believers: If thou knew the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou would have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water (Jn. 4:10, 13‑14).
This living water, the Holy Spirit, is a provision of Israel's New Covenant in which God promised that He would put the Law into believing Israel's heart and give them the Holy Spirit, who would cause them to keep it (unlike the Israel of Jesus' day—Jn. 7:19!). We see a foretaste of this in early Acts, and there will be a greater foretaste of this for believing Israel in the Tribulation Period, but its complete fulfillment won't occur until Christ's 2nd Coming.
So here we are in Jn. 7 on the last day of the last feast on Israel's prophetic calendar (Jn. 7:2, 37) as Jesus looks out to the last day when He returns at His 2nd Coming for judgment and resurrection (Jn. 6:39, 40, 44, 54).
Highlights in John
After giving two strong self-revelations, Jesus fades into the background, and the chapter fades away into the mostly nonsensical ramblings of the divided people, Jews, and religious leaders.
The Gospel of John is known for its consistent use of irony. “Irony occurs when events or words are the opposite of what is expected, creating a sense of surprise, humor, or deeper meaning in literature, rhetoric, and everyday situations.” For instance, John's explanation that the Jewish leaders who were plotting to kill Jesus, an innocent man, refused to enter the Praetorium (the gentile Governor's palace) so they would not be defiled and excluded from eating the Passover, just drips with irony.
John also pours on the irony in the rambling verbiage of the people, Jews and religious leaders at the end of Jn. 7. For instance:
John's use of irony adds depth to his Gospel and drives home the theological truths he is teaching.
Highlights in John
Thursday night in our Bible study fellowship in the Gospel of John, we entered John 8 through the account of the Woman Caught in Adultery. To put the chapter in context, we also made some important observations about the chapter as a whole.
As we begin to plunge into the depths of Jn. 8, there are at least three things we can observe.
Is there significance to these observations? We shall see there indeed is as we plunge into the depts of Jn. 8.
Highlights in John
Thursday night in our Bible study fellowship in the Gospel of John, we looked at the account of the Woman Caught in Adultery. This passage has suffered greatly at the hands of most of historic Christianity. On the one hand, it has removed this passage entirely from the Bible, claiming it doesn't belong there. On the other hand, those who teach it have trivialized it, reducing it to little more than a morality tale with the moral of: We are all sinners, so don't judge others. But what if we maximize it? What if we look at it as one of John's ‘SIGNS'?
In. Jn. 8:1-11, the scribes and Pharisees barge into Jesus' teaching session in the Temple with the woman caught in adultery—IN THE VERY ACT! These were the self-declared experts of the Law. They claimed to know it inside and out, upside down and backwards. But did they really believe, know and keep it? John already told us that they don't know and believe it in Jn. 5:46‑47, and that they don't keep it (Jn. 7:19), and Paul is in full agreement (Rom. 2:17-23). The account of the woman caught in adultery gives us an opportunity to count some of the ways that Israel didn't know, believe or keep the Law:
And He did this all by writing with His finger on the ground. The only other time the LORD wrote with His “finger” was when He wrote the Law for Moses at Sinai on tablets of stone. Here the Lord Jesus Christ declares that He not only surpasses Moses, He is the One who wrote the Law on tablets of stone with His finger and gave it to Moses for Israel (Ex. 31:18; Deut. 9:10).
Unfortunately, most of historical Christianity has trivialized the account of the woman caught in adultery by reducing it to a morality play with the moral: We are all sinners, so don't judge others. But this completely misses its real role as one of John's signs given so that Israel might believe (Jn. 20:31). Rather, it magnifies the fact that in her present sinful predicament, having been cast away as the LORD's ADULTEROUS wife (Hos. 1:2; 2:2‑5; Jer. 3:8‑9; Ezek. 16:32; Mat. 12:39), Israel's only hope was to respond positively to His wooing, which He had then initiated by sending His Own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ (Hos. 2:14‑16; Mat. 23:37). Perhaps we could call this the Cleansing of the Temple, Pt. 2!
Highlights in John
Thursday night in our Bible study fellowship in the Gospel of John, we looked at the account of the Woman Caught in Adultery. We refused to trivialize it by reducing it to a simple morality tale (we are all sinners so we are not to judge others) as though it was one of Aesop's fables. Instead we viewed it as one of John's signs, paying special attention to who the adulterous woman represented, and what Jesus' writing with His finger on the stone tablets on the ground of the Temple signified (SIGN-ified).
The three basic principles that are critical to understanding the Gospel of John are:
Principle #1: Jesus only does the will of the Father, saying the words and doing the works of the Father (Jn. 5:19, 30).
Principle #2: Jesus has all authority over giving life and judgment now and at the final resurrections (Jn. 5:21-29).
Principle #3: The reason most of Israel doesn't believe in Jesus Christ is because they don't really believe in God, the Scriptures or Moses (Jn. 5:37-47).
--Corollary: Those who come to Jesus are those who (already) believe in God, the Scriptures and Moses.
When we apply these basic principles, we will view the Gospel of John in its proper context of God's Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel to re-establish His Glory on earth. We will appreciate that God sent His Son AT THAT TIME not to begin a giant crusade of personal evangelism and individual salvation (He's been doing that since the fall of Adam!), but to confirm the promises God made to Israel's fathers and begin to bring about Israel's NATIONAL salvation (Rom. 15:8).
Highlights in John
Thursday night in our Bible study fellowship in the Gospel of John. After appreciating the importance of the account of the woman caught in adultery, we looked at who Jesus says He is, beginning with I AM the Light of the World.
I. Jn. 8:12: I AM the Light of the World (predicate)
II. Jn. 8:13-29: Who Jesus is—through a barrage of I AM sayings
—His personal, intimate, ongoing relationship with His Father.
III. Jn. 8:30‑32: What this means for those who believe.
III' Jn. 8:33‑36—What this means for those who do not believe.
II' Jn. 8:37-56: Who they are—through a barrage of fatherships
—their personal, intimate, ongoing relationship with their father
—not God, not Abraham, but Satan.
I'. Jn. 8:58: Before Abraham was, I AM!
Highlights in John
Jesus MUST bear witness of Himself, and His witness is true. He speaks the words that God the Son hears of God the Father empowered by God the Holy Spirit. You can't get any better testimony than that! Therefore, He MUST be heard and believed because He is the only one who can remove their sin/s of those in darkness and death in unbelief and bring them into righteousness that gives them Light and Life in faith (Jn 8:24).
Highlights in John
Thursday night in our Bible study fellowship in the Gospel of John. The Book of John reaches one of its high points in Jn. 8 with a barrage of I AM sayings that culminate in the astounding fact that Jesus' testimony is true because He speaks the words that God the Son heard from God the Father, empowered by the indwelling God the Holy Spirit!
The Lord Jesus Christ is not only the Greater-Prophet-Like—Unto--Moses that God promised to the Nation of Israel in Deut. 18:15, He is also the LORD who appeared to Moses on Mt. Sinai!
At Sinai, Israel contracted with God to deal with them based on the Mosaic Law System. But we see at the Golden Calf Incident that that wasn't God's ONLY way of dealing with them. If He only dealt with them based on the Law, He would have had to go down every few generations and consume them for rebelliousness and idolatry. Then, if there was anyone left standing, He would start over again with them (Ex. 32:10)! Under the Law, rebelliousness and idolatry called for God to FIRST dispense wrath and judgment, and then, SECOND, dispense grace and mercy to anyone left standing (Ex. 20:5‑6), like Moses (Ex. 32:10).
Fortunately for Israel, this wasn't the only way God could deal with them. He gloriously reserved the right to deal with Israel outside the Law and in accord with the grace resident in His I AM Jehovah Name, whereby He would FIRST dispense grace and mercy to Israel. Then, SECOND, He would dispense more grace and mercy to those who received it in faith, and to those who didn't, He would dispense wrath and judgment (Ex. 32:11‑14).
Moses wanted to know how this could be? How could an infinitely holy, righteous and just God offer rebellious Israel grace and mercy FIRST rather than the Law's wrath and judgment? He wanted to know all that was true about God (His Glory) that made this possible. Show me Thy Glory (33:18). God granted him his wish. He would make all His goodness (Glory) pass before Moses (Ex. 33:19). And how would He do that? By proclaiming the Name of the LORD—His I AM Jehovah LORD Name (Ex. 3:14‑15)—thereby showing how He is gracious to whom He will be gracious and will show mercy on whom He will show mercy (Ex. 33:19).
Let's follow the steps of the LORD doing this in Ex. 34:5‑9:
Highlights in John
The Book of John reaches one of its high points in Jn. 8 with a barrage of I AM sayings that culminate in the astounding fact that Jesus' testimony is true because He speaks the words that God the Son heard from God the Father, empowered by the indwelling God the Holy Spirit! And if for all that Israel won't believe, they will die in their sin/s.
In Jn. 8, Jesus self-proclamation of who He is reaches a high point with a barrage of I AM sayings (at least 9 I AM sayings--6 explicit and 3 implicit) and with the testimony of the Triune Godhead. With all that evidence, it is no wonder that He warns the people of Israel that if they still don't believe I AM—the bearer of God's I AM Jehovah Name, the LORD incarnate, the source of God's grace and mercy to Israel, the One who can fulfill all God's Promises to the Nation--they will die in their sin/s (Jn. 8:24).
No doubt started in their unbelief, they ask: Who (in the world) are You? Jesus responds by answering: Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning (Jn. 8:25). It is tempting to take His reference to the “beginning” back to Jn. 1:1--before creation (Gen. 1:1) and back into the eternal past: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. But here in Jn. 8:25, it is probably best to see it as referring to what He has said since the beginning of His earthly ministry. So, let's look at some of the ways by skipping a stone over the surface of the ocean of John 1-8:
Therefore, if they continue to reject all that He has said and done since the beginning of His ministry as the Sent One of the Father in accord with the Triune Godhead, displaying the God's glory by proclaiming His I AM Jehovah Name, they will die in their sin (of unbelief—Jn. 8:21; 16:8) and in their sins (Jn. 8:24); while He will return to the Father in the Glory He had in the Beginning before creation in eternity past (Jn. 17:5; 1:1).
Highlights in John
Thursday night in our Bible study fellowship in the Gospel of John, we looked at Jesus' use of the Old Testament when He says: Ye shall die in your sin/s (Jn. 8:21,24), by going back to what He was referring to in Ezek. 3:15‑21. We sprang off Ezek. 3 to look at one of the most important principles for understanding the whole Bible. In the non-Pauline Scriptures there are two major “salvations.”
The biggest error that has persisted in Dispensationalism in general, and Mid-Acts Dispensationalism in particular, is that the “tests” associated with each of the Bible's dispensations are tied to participation in INDIVIDUAL salvation--justification before God and His Tribunal unto eternal life by faith WITHOUT works—when, in fact, they are tied to participation in Israel's NATIONAL salvation—justification before the Lord Jesus Christ at His 2nd Coming by faith PLUS works for entrance into Israel's Kingdom and living in a privileged position there.
Moses explicitly stated this at the beginning of the account of Abraham so that there would be no misunderstanding. Like everyone else born into the world since the fall of Adam, Abraham was an idol-worshipping Gentile, a powerless, ungodly sinner on enemy status before God. God confronted him with His word (Gen. 12-15). Abraham believed in the LORD and He (the LORD) counted it to him for righteousness—Abraham's individual salvation—justification (declared righteous) before God unto eternal life by faith WITHOUT works (Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:3-13).
Two thousand years later, the Apostle Paul would use this statement to establish his biblical thesis that individual salvation is by grace through faith WITHOUT works. For Abraham was declared right before God--individual salvation--centuries before the Law and its works, decades before the offering of Isaac, years before circumcision, and even before God codified His promises to Abraham in the Abrahamic Covenant (Gen. 15:9-21). Therefore, IT WAS BY FAITH WITHOUT WORKS OF ANY KIND WHATSOEVER (Rom. 4:3‑5)!
Then, after Abraham had participated in individual salvation BY FAITH WITHOUT WORKS, God gave him opportunities to obey Him for participation in Israel's national salvation. Based on faithfulness, he could be blessed of God and reside in the Promised Land AT THAT TIME and, and IN THE FUTURE, he could enter Israel's earthly Kingdom and have a privileged position there BY FAITH PLUS WORKS (i.e., faithfulness). In short, works in God's Prophetic Program and its dispensations were not tied to participation in INDIVIDUAL SALVATION! They were tied to participation in Israel's NATIONAL SALVATION.
Not understanding this has led to great errors regarding the fundamentals of the faith, like salvation and eternal security. This is exemplified by one of the beloved “pillars” of Mid-Acts Dispensationalism, C.R. Stam in his book Things That Differ. He begins by insisting that “no thinking dispensationalist would teach that the works of the law in themselves could ever save, or even help save, anyone” (the italics are his; the bold is mine); and that “we have no illusions as to man's utter inability to please God by works as such in any age” (again, italics are his; bold is mine); and that “man has always been saved essentially by the grace of God through faith; and that there could be no other way be saved” (chap. 1, pgs. 21-22). So far, so good!!
But then he throws it all away, However, “Faith would most assuredly approach God in God's way at any time, and to seek to gain acceptance with Him in any other way would, of course, be unbelief and self-will. Thus, while works never did or could save as such, they did once save as expressions of faith” (chap. 1, pg. 22). One suspects he recognizes the pit he has just fallen into, but he wants us to think he has found a way out. He tries to cover this up by repeatedly inserting obfuscating words in italics! Then, in an attempt at back-pedaling, he states that while all saints “were saved essentially by grace through faith, works as such never had any saving value (chap. 1, p. 24). HUH?!!
In themselves ... as such ... as such ... expressions of faith ... essentially ... as such. There's a lot of hemming and hawing going on here. But what does any of it actually mean, exactly?! Is he trying to have his cake and eat it too, so to speak? On page 22 works saved as expressions of faith, but then on page 24 they have no saving value!? Which is it? Do works have saving value or not? If we push away all this double-speak, back-pedaling and obfuscating words in italics, we are left with the simple conclusion that he claims that Old Testament saints were saved by faith PLUS works. Interestingly, this is exactly what he said was anathema on pages 21-22!?
Try hard as he might to escape this pit of false teaching, he just digs the hole deeper. “Note carefully that while God refuses works for salvation today, He required them under other dispensations” (italics are his, bold is mine) (chap. 1, pg. 29). One cannot escape the conclusion that he is saying that while in the present Dispensation of Grace individual salvation is by faith without works, in all other dispensations salvation is by faith PLUS required works.
This error is perhaps the biggest stumbling block that has caused much of believing Christianity to reject dispensationalism in general, and Mid-Acts Dispensationalism in particular. But the author's conclusion is not necessary. The much simpler solution that doesn't call into question the fundamentals of the faith is that in God's Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel as recorded in the non-Pauline Scriptures people have the opportunity to participate not in one salvation—individual salvation—but in TWO salvation!
It is important to note that this is not an attack on C.R. Stam or his book. Things That Differ is perhaps the best book on the fundamentals of rightly-dividing the Scriptures available—that is, if you remove the first chapter.
We will see how this all plays out in the non-Pauline Scriptures--the Old Testament, Gospel Accounts and ministry of the 12--since the fall of Adam next time.
Highlights in John
Thursday night in our Bible study fellowship in the Gospel of John, we continued our study of one of the most important principles for understanding the whole Bible: In God's Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel to restore His glory on earth as revealed in the non-Pauline Scriptures there are two major “salvations” that can be participated in. We began going through a variety of individuals in the Old Testament, Gospel Accounts and Acts to demonstrate this.
As we saw in last week's Highlights Article, one error that is persistent in dispensationalism is that Old Testament saints were saved by faith plus (in one way or another) works. However, we demonstrated that this is not the case. Those who teach this error make the fundamental mistake of thinking that the “testings” or works associated with each of the dispensations were the basis for participation in individual salvation when, in fact, they were the basis for participation in Israel's NATIONAL salvation.
THE BASIC PRINCIPLE:
In God's Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel, when sinners believe in God and His Word, God counts their faith (WITHOUT works) for righteousness--INDIVIDUAL salvation. Then those who are saved individually are offered the opportunity to also participate in Israel's NATIONAL salvation by faith plus works.
In summary: In God's Prophetic Program, when enemy sinners believe in God through His word to them, and He counts their faith for righteousness—justification before God and His Tribunal unto eternal life with all personal sins forgiven by faith WITHOUT works (Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:3‑8). Then, these saved individuals are given the opportunity to participate in another salvation, Israel's national salvation, as God's friends—justification before Christ at His 2ndComing for entrance into Israel's earthly kingdom and attaining a privileged position there by faith plus works (James 2:17-26).
THE BASIC PRINCIPLE WORKBOOK
After the Fall, God presented Adam and Eve with His word (Gen. 3:15), and they believed (Gen. 3:20; 4:1)—INDIVIDUAL SALVATION. Then, God gave them animal sacrifice (Gen. 3:21) for participation in His Prophetic Program with Israel (who were seminally present in his loins, so to speak), which culminates in the future with Israel's national salvation.
NOAH
Noah was a just (righteous) man who had found grace in the eyes of the LORDunto individual salvation (Gen. 6:8‑9). Then, after that, God gave him the opportunity to participate is His Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel (who were seminally present in Noah's loins, so to speak) by building an ark and preserving physical life through the flood thereby participating in Israel's national salvation (Gen. 6:13-22).
ABRAHAM
Abraham believed in God, and God counted his faith for righteousnessunto individual salvation by faith without works (Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:3‑5). Then, after that, God gave him opportunities to participate in Israel's national salvation by making a covenant with him (Gen. 15:9-21), giving him circumcision (Gen. 17:9‑14), a miraculous child (Gen. 21), and the opportunity to be a picture of what God the Father would do with His Son 2,000 years later by offering up his son Isaac (Gen. 22).
LOT
Lot was a righteous man by faith without works (implicitly in Gen. 18:23-32 and explicitly in 2 Peter 2:8) unto individual salvation. But his association with Sodom precluded him from participating with Uncle Abraham in Israel's national salvation at that time, and probably in Israel's future earthly kingdom as well (Gen. 19).
Next time, we will look at more characters in the Old Testament, Gospel Accounts and Acts.
Highlights in John
Thursday night in our Bible study fellowship in the Gospel of John, we continued our study of one of the most important principles for understanding the whole Bible: In God's Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel to restore His glory on earth as revealed in the non-Pauline Scriptures there are two major “salvations”—participation in individual salvation of enemy sinners by faith WITHOUT works and participation in Israel's national salvation of righteous friends by faith WITH works. This is important because one of the fundamental errors of historic dispensationalism, including Mid-Acts Dispensationalism is the idea that Old Testament saints were individually saved by faith plus works.
THE BASIC PRINCIPLE
Last time we stated the basic principle based on Bible texts like 2 Chron. 20:20 and Jn. 14:1: Believe in God (individual salvation—Gen. 15:6) believe also in Me (Jesus Christ—for participation in Israel's national salvation—i.e., He is God's Sent One to lead them into Israel's Kingdom). The Pauline Scriptures fully reveal and explain the former (participation in individual salvation of enemy sinners by faith WITHOUT works--Rom. 3-4). The non-Pauline Scriptures fully reveal and explain the latter (participation in Israel's national salvation of friends by faith PLUS works--James 2; etc.).
THE BASIC PRINCIPLE WORKBOOK
Last time we also looked at how this applies to people like Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham and Lot. Let's look at some more examples:
MOSES
No one doubts that Moses was individually saved unto eternal life. This is implicit in the whole Exodus account (Exodus chapters 3, 4 and 30 and Deut. 34:10; etc.) and can be seen in passages like Mat. 17:1-13).
But he wasn't completely faithful. At the beginning of his ministry, for instance, he argued with God, didn't want to be his spokesman and complained. And at the end, he was unfaithful in rebelling against God by hitting the rock twice to get water rather than just speaking to the rock as God had instructed him to do (Num. 20:1-13). Because of this unfaithfulness, God excluded Moses from fully participating in Israel's national salvation AT THAT TIME. While he was allowed to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, he was not allowed to enter Israel's Promised Land.
While his unfaithfulness affected his participation in some aspects of Israel's national salvation (because it is by faith plus works), it had no affect on his individual salvation (because that is by faith without works). While Moses was spiritually alive, he physically died in the wilderness (AT THAT TIME) and is waiting to be resurrected from the dead to participate in Israel's national salvation by entering Israel's Kingdom (IN THE FUTURE).
DAVID
Again, I don't think anyone would question whether David was saved individually. The Psalms indicate a person who believed in God, and when a sinner believes in God, God counts his faith for righteousness—individual salvation, justification before God unto eternal life (Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:2-6). In addition, God states explicitly that David was a man after His own heart (1 Sam. 13:14; Ps. 89:20), which must refer to David's heart of faith.
But David was not completely faithful. He did pretty good in the first part of his life as recorded in 2 Sam. 1‑10, and he participated in Israel's national salvation by God extending the borders of Israel's Kingdom farther than ever before during his reign. In addition, the Lord made the Davidic Covenant with him, revealing that the LORD Himself would enflesh Himself into the line of David to provide for Israel's national salvation. He will be Israel's Redeemer, Deliverer, Avenger, King and Blesser.
But in the latter part of his life he committed great sins (2 Sam. 11‑24), especially epitomized in the Bathsheba incident. He coveted Bathsheba (and Paul tells us coveting is idolatry—Col. 3:5), committed adultery with her and arranged the murder of her husband, all the while bearing false witness. In short, he blew the whole Law to smithereens, and under the Law there was only one option: Physical death (2 Sam. 12:1-14)! But because of his repentance by falling on the grace resident in God's I AM Jehovah name (Ps. 51), he was not put to physical death. But his participation in Isael's national salvation did begin to die—the son that resulted from the adultery died (2 Sam. 12:18), his family/dynasty began to self-destruct, and the enemies he conquered began returning and wore him out (2 Sam. Chapters 13‑21).
Again, while his unfaithfulness affected his participation in some aspects of Israel's national salvation (because it is by faith plus work), it had no effect on his individual salvation (because that is by faith without works). Even if David had been put to physical death under the sentence of the Law (AT THAT TIME), he would still be spiritually alive and awaiting to be resurrected from the dead to participate in Israel's national salvation by entering Israel's earthly Kingdom (IN THE FUTURE).
Next time, we will look at examples from the Gospel Accounts. And how do the Gentiles play into all of this?
Highlights in John
Thursday night in our Bible study fellowship in the Gospel of John, we continued our study of one of the most destructive errors within dispensationalism in general and Mid-Acts Dispensationalism in particular. The error that Old Testament saints were individually saved by faith plus works (in one way or another). This error is destructive because it has hindered countless believers from embracing rightly-dividing the Scripture. And it results from not recognizing that in God's Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel to restore His glory on earth as revealed in the non-Pauline Scriptures there are two major “salvations”—
1.) participation in individual salvation of enemy sinners by faith WITHOUT works and
2.) participation in Israel's national salvation of righteous friends by faith WITH works.
THE BASIC PRINCIPLE WORKBOOK
Last time we looked at how Old Testament people like Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham and Lot, Moses and David, participated in the two salvations of God's Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel to restore His glory on earth. Now, let's look at examples from the Gospel Accounts:
One of the most important things to remember when reading about Christ's earthly ministry is that BEFORE Jesus arrived on the scene, there were already believing Israelites. There was already a believing remnant of Israel. Before Jesus arrived on the scene, people like Joseph and Mary (Mat. 1:19; Lk. 1:47), Elizabeth and Zacharias (Lk. 1:5‑6; 67), Simeon and Anna (Lk. 2:25, 37), John the Baptist and his followers (Mat. 3; Jn. 1), and no doubt many others, were already believers in the God of Israel and His word to them—they were already individually saved--justified unto eternal life before God and His Tribunal by faith without works. Then, having individual salvation, they were looking for Israel's national salvation—Israel's horn of salvation (Lk. 1:68‑69), the Consolation of Israel (Lk. 2:25), Redemption in Jerusalem (Lk. 2:37).
These saved individuals had gone to bed every night for what--20, 30, 40, 50 years-- knowing nothing about a man named Jesus. Then one day they woke up, and there He was, claiming to be God's Sent One, the Christ, Israel's King, the Son of God! It is for this reason that the Gospel Accounts must be thought of as a Transition Period in God's Prophetic Program with Israel. As is true with any transition period, when God advances or changes His program/s He gives a divine allowance of time so that ignorant, finite, fallible humans can catch up. I suggest this Transition Period began with Christ's earthly ministry and ended at the stoning of Stephen. From that point on, Israel would no longer be excused for innocent ignorance but would be accused of willful and rebellious ignorance. In short, by that time, they were without excuse.
Therefore, it is not so surprising to hear Jesus, at the end of His ministry, tell his closest disciples, who had been continually with Him for some 3 years: Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me (Jn. 14:1). Huh? They didn't believe in Jesus Christ yet?? Were they not yet saved individuals?! The only answer to this confusion is what we have been talking about for the past few weeks. There are two salvations available in God's Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel:
But so far, we have only looked at the Jews. What about the Gentiles? Did they participate in these two salvations? And if so, how? We will look at that next time.
Highlights in John
We looked at a second destructive error that has crept into dispensationalism in general and Mid-Acts Dispensationalism in particular. In God's Prophetic Program with Israel, did Gentiles have to proselytize to Judaism to be individually saved before God?
There are some who teach that when people are described as “devout” in the Bible it doesn't refer to an individually saved person, but to someone who at best is just on the way to being saved. But this does not pass the test of Scriptures. The answer needs to be more nuanced.
First, it is important to note that “devout” terminology is only used in the non-Pauline Scriptures, never in Paul's Scriptures. It is reserved for God's Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel. Second, within the non-Pauline Scriptures it is primarily used by Luke in the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts with one exception when Peter seconds Luke's usage in 2 Pet. 2:9. So, let's look at Luke's use of “devout” terminology.
Highlights in John
We went back to basic principles for understanding the Bible by looking at what Paul and James say about salvation/justification. Do they contradict each other? Or, are they united?
One of the most persistent problems in evangelical Christianity is what to do with Paul's insistence that “salvation/justification” is by faith WITHOUT works, while James insists it is by faith with works. Bible teachers jump through hoops trying to explain away this apparent “contradiction.” But this is all wasted energy because there is no contradiction.
Simply put, when we rightly-divide the Bible, it is clear that Paul and James are not talking about the same “salvation/justification,” and instantly the whole supposed problem dissolves into the unity of God's Word. Remember, “save” is just a generic word that requires a context to determine what one is saved from and what one is saved to. When the Bible uses the word “save,” it doesn't always automatically refer to individual salvation before God, saved from sin and death and saved unto righteousness and life. For a person can be saved from and to a million different things. You can be saved from financial ruin by someone giving you money. You can be saved from drowning by being pulled out of the water. You can be saved from an embarrassing situation by the fire alarm going off.
And it is no different in the Bible. For instance, in Phil. 1:19‑20, Paul was waiting for his “salvation.” Of course, he wasn't waiting for his individual salvation before God. He already had that! He was waiting for salvation that would come when he was saved/delivered from prison and the shame of not magnifying Christ in his body. In Acts 27:20, Paul and his shipmates lost all hope of being “saved.” Certainly, Paul hadn't lost the hope of his individual salvation before God unto eternal life! He lost hope in being “saved” from the storm and being drowned in the sea. And in Rom. 8:25, Paul says we are “saved” by hope. Wait, I thought we were saved by grace through faith?! Here, Paul is not referring to individual salvation before God but to being saved from the discouragement, defeat and despair that can come from serving God in a sin-cursed enemy world that is under the rule of Satan, death and darkness in the midst of trials (Rom. 8:18-25).
So, when Paul and James refer to being “saved,” we need to first determine from the context what their audience is being saved from and being saved to. In passages like Rom. 3-4 (esp. Rom 3:20, 28; 4:2‑6; 5:1-10; Gal. 2:16), it is clear that Paul is fully manifesting and revealing to his audience how powerless ungodly enemy sinners before God (the way all are born into the world) participate in individual salvation that saves them from sin and death and unto righteousness and eternal life before God. Since this is God's gift to powerless sinners, it must be by faith WITHOUT works. In other words, this salvation is not based on us and our works. It is based on Christ and His work/s for us on the Cross, which we receive and participate in by believing, by faith ALONE (Rom. 3:22‑25; Gal. 2:16). This is justification before God, separated from/forgiven all personal sin/s—by faith WITHOUT works.
Jame's audience, however, were (and will be) those in God's Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel to restore His glory on earth (Ps. 24:1‑2; Deut. 28:13; Is. 11; Ezek. 36:25-35; Lk. 1:65-75; Acts 3:19‑20), especially those who will be going through the Tribulation Period, the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord's Wrath before Christ's 2nd Coming to usher them into Israel's long-prophesied earthly Kingdom (Acts 1:8). James is explaining how God's righteous friends (believers in the 12 tribes of Israel who had already participated in individual salvation before God and were members of the Believing Remnant of Israel) will be saved when Christ returns to fulfill His Prophetic Program with them by Coming to destroy His enemies (apostate Israel and enemy Gentile nations) and save His friends (believing Israel and her believing Gentile friends). He will usher in Israel's earthly Kingdom, that is established through Israel's national salvation.
This justification before Christ at His 2nd Coming for entrance into Israel's everlasting Kingdom to live their everlasting life out there, separated from/forgiven their association with Israel's national debt of sin/s--by faith WITH works.
In conclusion, the simple answer to this “apparent” biblical contradiction is that Paul and James, and more generally Paul's Scriptures and the non-Pauline Scriptures, are talking about two different salvations/justifications.
Highlights in John
We looked at how those in God's Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel could participate in a COMPLETE salvation/justification. Peter led us through this in 2 Pet. 1:1‑11.
The Apostle Peter gives a clear example of how the two salvations/justifications operate in God's Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel to restore His glory on earth. First, you must participate in individual salvation--justification of sinner enemies before God unto eternal life in a right relationship with Him--by faith WITHOUT works. Then those who are individually saved can participate in Israel's national salvation--justification of righteous friends before Christ at His 2nd Coming for entrance into Israel's earthly kingdom--by faith PLUS works. Because the former is ultimately based not on who the sinner is and what works he does, but on who Christ is and what He did for him on the Cross, it is participated in fully by all believers. Because the latter involves human works, it is participated in partially to various degrees.
Let's follow Peter as he lays this all out in 2 Peter 1.
BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT
First, it is important to appreciate that for both James and Peter, the audience is the Jewish diaspora—members of the Nation of Israel scattered out among the Gentiles (James 1:1; 1 Peter 1:1). Of course, the corollary of this is that James and Peter are NOT, therefore, written to and about us today because we are members of the Body of Christ not the Nation of Israel! While Peter, James and their audience were participants in God's Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel, which was spoken about by all His holy prophets since the world began, as now recorded in the non-Pauline Scriptures (Lk. 1:72; Acts 3:21); Paul and his audience are participants in God's Mystery Program with the Body of Christ, which was kept secret since the world began, as now recorded in the Pauline Scriptures (Rom. 16:25‑26).
Second, we need to appreciate is that the books of James and Peter were written at different times. While the Book of James was written before the advance of Paul's ministry with little or no knowledge of it, 2 Peter was written after the advance of Paul's ministry with much, if not full knowledge, of it (2 Peter 3:15‑18; Acts 15). Therefore, James wrote without the light of Paul's divine revelation, whereas Peter wrote in light of its full noon-day brightness.
INDIVIDUAL SALVATION
In 2 Pet. 1:1‑4, we see that Peter is writing to those who have already received individual salvation by faith WITHOUT works and are participants in the righteousness of God made available through their Savior Jesus Christ unto a right relationship with God and eternal life. They are the recipients of God's grace and peace, His power and (full-) knowledge, His glory and promises, and are partakers in His divine nature and glory. In short, they have individual salvation before God by faith WITHOUT works!
ISRAEL'S NATIONAL SALVATION
Then, in 2 Pet. 1:5‑10, Peter goes on by instructing them to add works to their faith. Which leads to the million-dollar question: For what?! Are they to add works to their faith for individual salvation--justification before God? Absolutely not! We just established that they already had individual salvation by faith WITHOUT works. Well, then: For what?
Peter gives us the answer in 2 Pet. 1:11. They were to add to their faith such things as giving diligence to virtue (doing the good of God), seeking (God's) knowledge, exercising self-control, enduring patiently, doing what is well-pleasing to God, extending brotherly love to the brethren and love to all, bearing fruit unto God (1:5‑7—all with God's power in v. 3). Then, as they increasingly abounded in these works added to faith (1:8), they would increasingly secure an increasing abounding entrance into God's earthly kingdom that comes through participation in Israel's national salvation (1:11)--justification before Christ at His 2nd Coming when He returns to destroy His enemies and SAVE His friends for entrance into Israel's long-prophesied earthly Kingdom (Acts 1:6).
CONCLUSION
It is in this way that a participant in God's Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel to restore His glory one earth can participate in a complete salvation package (James 2:22) : First, as sinner enemies they participate in INDIVIDUAL salvation before God unto eternal life and a right relationship with Him by faith WITHOUT works. Then, second, they could participate in Israel's NATIONAL salvation before Christ at His 2nd Coming for living out their eternal life in the everlasting earthly kingdom—the long-prophesied Kingdom of Heaven and God established on the earth--by faith WITH works.
Highlights in John
We looked at how those in God's Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel could participate in a COMPLETE salvation/justification. We looked at how Pentecost in early Acts was a practice run for how James's audience—the believing remnant of Israel—will be in the Tribulation Period.
The New Covenant unconditionally promised Israel that God would make of them His Own great, holy, debt-free Nation thereby fulfilling His Prophetic Program to restore His glory on earth. Most fundamentally, the New Covenant provides Israel with a new heart engraved with His Law that is empowered by the Holy Spirit.
THE NEW COVENANT DESCRIPTION
ACT 1: PARTIAL FORETASTE OF NEW COVENANT BLESSINGS WITH PETER AT PENTECOST
When Jesus Christ died to save the “many” of believing Israel (His friends—Jn. 15:13), His shed blood not only ended the Old Covenant--Israel being under the Law according to the flesh--it also provided the basis for the New Covenant--Israel being under the Law according to the Spirit (Lk. 22:20; Mat. 26:28). While the New Covenant won't be completely fulfilled and implemented until Christ's 2nd Coming when He establishes Israel's earthly kingdom, we see a partial foretaste of how the New Covenant blessings work in early Acts in the ministry of Peter and the 12.
ACT 2: PARTIAL FORETASTE OF NEW COVENANT BLESSINGS WITH JAMES IN THE TRIBULATION PERIOD
What happened in early Acts was the practice run for what it will be like for believing Israel going through the Tribulation Period when God restarts His Prophetic Program. This is what James is talking about in the Book of James. He is writing to those of the 12 tribes of Israel at that time, and he expects them to be able to “do” the whole Royal Law—the Mosaic Law Christ recovered and purified in His earthly ministry (Mat. 5:21, 27). He expected them to keep all its commandments, even in the midst of severe suffering and persecution (James 2:8‑12). And they will be able to do this because they will be given the Holy Spirit (see #2 above) who will engraft/engrave the Law in their hearts (James 1:21—see #6 above) and empower them to “do” them (James 4:5), giving them the wisdom of God (James 1:5—see #8 above) so that they can have an abounding entrance into the Kingdom at Christ's 2nd Coming (2 Pet. 1:8, 11—se # 3, 9 above). Because of this divine empowerment, the Law that Peter called the Law of bondage for Israel's fathers (Acts 15:10), becomes for James the Law of Liberty.
Highlights in John
We looked at the Paul/James problem. Paul says justification is by faith without works. James says it is by faith with works. Who's right? They both can't be right ... or can they?
Last time we noted, especially from Jer. 31 and Ezek. 36, at least 10 provisions of God's New Covenant for the Nation of Israel. We also noted that while the New Covenant will ultimately be completely fulfilled and fully implemented at Christ's 2nd Coming when He returns to establish Israel's long-prophesied kingdom (Acts 1:6), God gave believing Israel a foretaste of New Covenant blessings at Pentecost and will again when He restarts His Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel to fulfill the only thing left on Daniel's Time Schedule--the Tribulation Period in the future. This foretaste of New Covenant blessings will empower believing Israel to remain faithful to the end for justification before Christ at His 2nd Coming unto an abounding entrance into the Kingdom (2 Pet. 1:8, 11).
GOD WILL PUT HIS LAW IN THEIR INWARD PARTS/WRITE IT IN THEIR HEARTS (Jer. 31:33)
Peter to Believing Jews at Pentecost: Peter explained to these Jews from around the world that God had advanced His Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel by sending His Own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, their King and Messiah. When some of them (the believing Jews—Acts 2:44) heard God's word through Peter, it pricked in (KJV) or cut to (NKJV) their heart. Perhaps Luke is using this not idiomatically, referring to acute emotional distress, but literally. God's word pierced into their hearts, written or engraved there. This word received with gladness is what would save them from that perverse/crooked/evil generation unto life in Israel's Kingdom (Acts 2:40; 1:6).
James to Believing Jews in the Tribulation Period: James instructs them to receive the engrafted/implanted/engraved word with meekness, which is able to save your souls from that perverse/crooked/evil generation and physical death for unrighteousness sake (James 1:21). James identifies this engrafted word (James 1:21) as the Law of Liberty (1:25), the Royal Law of the Kingdom (2:1-8).
NO LONGER TEACH FELLOW JEWS BECAUSE THEY WILL ALL KNOW THE LORD (Jer. 31:34a)
Peter to Believing Jews at Pentecost: They gladly received God's word (Acts 2:41) and immediately understood and continually persevered in unity with God, the apostles and each other (Acts 2:42‑47), boldly proclaiming God's word, ALL being filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 4:29‑31).
James to Believing Jews in the Tribulation Period:
Each member of the Believing Remnant will have direct access to God's wisdom simply by asking (James 1:5) in accord with the Holy Spirit (James 4:5) to live in accord with God's will and in accord one with another, extending mercy and peace.
GOD WILL FORGIVE ISRAEL'S NATIONAL DEBT OF SIN/S (Jer. 31:34b)
Peter and Pentecost: Those who repented, were water baptized for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38). Believing Israel was forgiven and separated from all association (as Israelites) with Israel's national debt of sin/s (Acts 5:31) so they could be saved from that perverse generation and saved unto being made into God's Own great and holy Nation of Israel at Christ's 2nd Coming (Acts 2:40, 47 with 2:34‑36).
James to Believing Jews in the Tribulation Period:
The Believing Remnant has been begotten of God by the word of truth (James 1:18), so that they could be the first fruits of His creatures. This will culminate in the rebirth and resurrection from the dead of the Nation of Israel at Christ's 2nd Coming when He will make of this Believing Remnant His Own great and Holy, DEBT-FREE Nation in Israel, to whom He will give the long-prophesied Kingdom on earth (James 2:5; 5:7‑8; Acts 1:6).
AND GOD WILL PUT HIS SPIRIT WITHIN YOU AND CAUSE YOU TO WALK IN MY STATUTES (Ezek. 36:27)
Peter and Pentecost: They received the baptism of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2) and lived in perfect unity with God, the apostles and fellow believers. In short, they kept the Law perfectly, fulfilling it by loving God with all their heart and loving others as themselves (Acts 2:42‑47; 4:29‑31).
James to Believing Israel in the Tribulation Period:
James' audience has also received the Holy Spirit who will empower them to live in unity, with the full understanding of God's word, mercifully providing for each other's needs in peace (James 4:5‑6). This passage might be read: The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously/enviously (for us), giving us more grace (NKJV). This refers to how God repeatedly described Himself in the Old Testament: For I am a jealous God (Ex. 20:5, et al.). Or, less likely, it could be read: The Spirit whom God made to dwell in us was not so bestowed that we should be guilty of (the sin) of envy (KJV/Vines). Whatever option picked, both indicate that James' audience has received the Holy Spirit, who yearns to cause them to obey the Law perfectly (James 2:10), even to the level Jesus spoke of in the Beatitudes (Mat. 5 with James 2:8‑12).
Highlights in John
INTRODUCTION
This passage is one of the most misunderstood passages in the Scripture. Here, James insists that justification is by faith WITH works (James 2:14-24). Whereas Paul insists that justification is by faith WITHOUT works (Rom. 4:3‑5). So, which is it? It can't be both ... or can it?
The basic reason for all the confusion about the Book of James in general and James 2:14-26 in specific is that most of historic Christianity, even believing Christianity, has rejected Paul's distinct and unique apostleship and with it rightly-dividing the Scriptures. Nominal Christianity (unbelieving Christianity—Christians in name only without faith) favor James because they teach that individual salvation being by works WITHOUT faith—of course, the “works” are the works of their apostate religious and theological systems!
THE LOCKED BOX
Believing Christianity (those who have believed Paul's Gospel, the Good News of the Cross of Christ), however, tend to side with Paul—individual salvation before God is by faith without works. This means they must go to great lengths to try explain away what James “appears” to clearly say. Because they don't rightly-divide the Bible, they make the mistake of thinking the Epistle of James is for us today in the Dispensation of Grace as members of the Body of Christ, even though James states explicitly in James 1:1 that he is writing to the 12 Tribes of ISRAEL!! In doing this, they, like Houdini, lock themselves in a leaky box that is pushed into a lake. And like Houdini, they squirm and wrestle and twist and turn, trying to find a way of escape. But unlike Houdini, there is no false lock or hidden key that will save them.
Some think the key to explaining this passage away is understanding that while individual salvation before God is by faith without works, if one is TRULY saved they will manifest that faith with works. In other words, works are not required for individual salvation, they are required as the proof of it. Someone has described this as a distinction without a distinction, and causing all kinds of confusion! What if the supposedly saved person does not produce works in someone's eyes? Then, they say, that person has temporarily “backslidden” and will soon be back to doing works; or he was never really saved to begin with; or he lost his salvation and is now unsaved. But this generates more questions than it answers. For instance, who determines what the “works” are? And how many of them does the supposed saved person need to be assured of salvation? How long do you have to do them? How do you know they are really works of God in the first place? Won't the one following this teaching spend his life down here in semi-despair, questioning and never sure of his salvation, wondering if he has it at all, resigned to the fact he won't know until after he dies?
Others, such as Zane Hodges, who rightly-divides to a slight degree, advance the traditional teaching on this passage in James by suggesting that the key to unlocking the box comes from the observation that Paul and James are talking about two different justifications: 1. Paul is talking about justification by faith without works before God (Rom. 4:3‑5); 2. Whereas, Hodges says, James is talking about justification by works before men (James 2:14-26). While this suggestion does advance the discussion, in the end it is still an incomplete answer that fails to open the box, and we are left drowning in many of the same problems and questions as we had in the traditional view.
THE KEY
The needed key presents itself to us if we rigorously apply right-division of the Scriptures in the light of Paul's distinct apostleship. When we do that, we can agree with Hodges that Paul and James are speaking about two different JUSTIFICATIONS, but we would add that these two JUSTIFICATIONS (by faith without works/by faith with works) have to do with two different SALVATIONS (individual salvation/Israel's national salvation, respectively)!
Those involved in God's Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel to restore His Glory on earth, which the prophets had spoken about since the world began (OT; Lk. 1:72; Acts 3:21) could participate in two salvations:
1. First, they could participate in individual salvation by faith without works. This is the starting point for a right relationship with God. To drive home its fundamental importance, God had Moses establish it at the very beginning of Israel's history by stating explicitly that: Abraham believed in the LORD, and He counted his faith for righteousness—this is justification as ENEMY SINNERS before God by faith WITHOUT works unto everlasting life. And, this is the basic starting point for any right relationship with God in all times, ages, dispensations, etc.
2. Second, then those saved individuals in God's Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel, were qualified and invited to participate in another salvation, Israel's NATIONAL salvation—this is justification as RIGHTEOUS FRIENDS before Christ at His 2nd Coming by faith WITH works for abounding entrance into Israel's long-prophesied everlasting earthly kingdom (Acts 1:6; James 2:5; 2 Pet. 1:5, 8, 11). This salvation is only available to those who are involved in God's Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel in which the world is blessed with Israel and through her RISE as revealed in the non-Pauline Scriptures. Of course, this is not operative today because we are participants in God's Mystery Program with the Body of Christ in which the world is blessed apart from Israel and through her FALL as revealed in the Pauline Scriptures.
James' audience has clearly participated in individual salvation (#1 above--James 1:18, 2:1). Now he was writing them to encourage and admonish them to participate as fully as possible in Israel's national salvation (#2 above--James 1:22‑27; 2:1-13; 5:1-9). The former salvation is justification before God unto eternal life by faith without works. The latter salvation is justification before Christ at His 2nd Coming for entrance into the kingdom by works that come from faith—by faith with works. Peter gives his readers a step-by-step guide on how this works in 2 Peter 1:1-11.