There is an important connection between love and obedience which involves the work of the Spirit

This passage is part of a dialogue between Jesus and his disciples which began in Ch 13 of John’s gospel. Here we find two matters, which are related, to consider. The first is love and the second is the Holy Spirit. The obedience of the disciples is to flow out from their love for Jesus. The ‘commandments’ are love for God … love for one another … and love for their enemies.

Some of the work of the Holy Spirit is also mentioned. He is called the ‘helper’ who will teach the disciples all things and bring to their remembrance what Jesus has said to them. The blessing of peace will be theirs so that their hearts will not be troubled at Jesus’ departure. This peace will come to them through the death of Jesus on the cross and his glorious resurrection.

 

 

 

The perfect assurance for the future is freely received by faith

In this passage God, speaking through the prophet Isaiah, assures his people that their future will be certain in the Servant of the Lord. We find that God will make a new way that people can come to him. Jesus and what he has accomplished on the cross is this new way.

Isaiah further shows us that God doesn’t treat his people as their sins deserve. The people in Isaiah’s time were, however, not convinced because their city was in ruins and they were still in exile. God’s response to this, through the prophet, is ‘can a woman forget her nursing child?’ The surprising way God will bring about future blessings for his people will be through their enemies.

This sounds quite strange to us until we realise that before a person comes to faith in Christ, before they are converted, they are God’s enemies. This was until Jesus was made ‘a covenant’ for them. Therefore all those who have come to believe in Jesus and what he has done for them in his death and resurrection can know that their future is certain because their sins are forgiven.

 

 

 

 

  The disciples lacked understanding because their picture of God was too small.

This passage is connected to the disciples in the upper room with Jesus celebrating the Passover. The significance here is that Jesus is the true Passover who would set his people free from their bondage to sin. This would come about through his death on the cross as a substitute and resurrection.

The disciples didn’t understand because Jesus said to them ‘where I am going you cannot come’. They were in a state of confusion and unrest wondering ‘we do not know where you are going, how do we know the way?’ Jesus tries to comfort them by saying ‘do not let your hearts be troubled … believe in God and also in me’.

Jesus further said to the disciples ‘I am the way, the truth and the life’. In saying ‘I am the way’ he was referring to his teaching, miracles and sacrificial love. In saying ‘I am the truth’ it means that he reveals to us the right way back to God and in saying ‘I am the life’ he points to himself as the source of life reversing the death which came into the world through Adam and Eve.

 

 

It is primarily in a person, coming into the world as a servant, that a light would be for the nations.

One of the themes of the book of Isaiah is that of God’s people as a Servant Nation. God’s promise was to bless the world though the nation of Israel. Here the prophet speaks of Israel not as a nation but as a person still to come … the Lord Jesus. Everywhere that God’s OT people failed, Jesus, the true Israel, the Servant, would succeed.

In this passage we find the true Servant and what He would come to do. It is the Servant’s intimate relationship with his Father which will demand that people listen. We also learn that whilst the Servant’s ministry will be powerful, it will also be difficult. He spoke of their need to believe in him but most walked away.

His reward is not here on earth but it is with his God. We learn that whilst the Servant’s ministry begins with Israel he will also be a light for the Gentiles and so will the church … it is for all peoples. The Servant’s message and splendor would come through the cross.

 

 

 Christians are to be known by love

In this passage we feel Jesus’ pain in knowing who would betray him. It is one thing to know that your enemies are against you but what about when a friend is against you? Even more in this case, Jesus’ foreknowledge of who it is would have increased his pain whilst at the same time showing that He is God.

All this presents a new test for the disciples. When Judas is exposed could they still love him even as Jesus continues to do so? The cross is the means by which this love is shown. It is also the means by which both the Father and the Son, in his obedience, are glorified. Jesus commands his disciples to love one another as he has loved them and says that by this all men will know that they are his disciples.

Love is the hardest commandment to keep. It seeks reconciliation and restoration in relationships because this is what the cross is all about. Peter misses understanding what Jesus says because he is focused on himself. Jesus reveals the pain he will feel in Peter’s threefold denial of him which is to come later … but Jesus will never fail Peter. Jesus will never fail us either when we trust in him and not ourselves. His resurrection guarantees it.

 

 

  Jesus displays the character of God for us to imitate.

Among those involved in the recent rescue of the boys trapped in the Thai cave, much humility was shown. This raises the question ‘where should we look for our example of humility?’  This passage shows the astounding humility of God, in the person of Jesus Christ, taking on flesh and becoming a servant … washing the disciples’ feet.

Jesus’ example is one to imitate. It is how his disciples should act and has different aspects in differing situations. We might admire humility by a worker in a rescue situation which is according to the standards of the world. Jesus’ disciples, however, must follow him. Their humility will not always be on public display but will be connected with their stewardship of the gospel message … ‘believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved’.

 

 

The meaning of suffering in peoples’ lives is widely misunderstood.

 

In these passages we have a message for God’s people, the nation of Israel, about their suffering. They also show others that the matter and purpose of suffering in our lives can often be completely misunderstood. The reality is that God is sovereign in our affliction.

The wrong response is to look to a ‘false God’ … fashioning an idol of some kind to make ourselves feel that we are in control. Whilst this may be very ‘convenient’ there is, in reality, nothing convenient when dealing with God. He is the one who is always in control because he created this world and everything in it.

The right response to suffering is to acknowledge that we don’t always understand its purpose in our lives. What God will do in the future, however, is certain because of what he has done in the past. Our response should always be to remember the cross of Jesus Christ.

 

 

 God strengthens his people with the hope of glory

In the time of the prophet Ezekiel God’s people, the nation of Israel, had been taken into captivity by the Babylonians. This was because they had brought an idol into the temple where the altar of sacrifice was and where the people came to be in the presence of God in worship. The temple was destroyed and God’s glory departed from them.

In this passage we find a prophecy about God’s glory returning to the temple. Whilst the people in exile would mostly have understood this differently to what we now know about Jesus, it would have given them a hope for the future … God would be present with his people once again.

In our time the church looks back to what happened 2000 years ago when Jesus said ‘destroy this temple and I will rebuild it in three days’. He was referring to his death on the cross and resurrection. Jesus and all those who trust him through what he has accomplished for them are the ‘temple’ of God. This temple has a future perspective, looking to the heavenly city where God’s people will be fully in his glorious presence for all eternity … worshiping him forever.

 

 

 

  The death of the seed results in life for the woman

In these passages we find the first mention of the gospel (Genesis 3:15). We are told that ‘the seed of the woman will crush the serpent’s head’. This is a reference to Jesus’ death on the cross which made Satan a defeated enemy. It is also a reference to Mary the one to whom the baby Jesus was born.

The gospel message contained in all of this is that of a substitute for our wrongdoing who would provide us with a ‘righteousness’, received by faith alone, from his perfect life. The outworking of this is a life which is dependent what he has done and not what we do. There is no place for self-righteousness in the lives of his people.

 

 

 

The cost of rejecting Jesus is eternal life

What you believe shapes who you are and what you do. Why then did the Jews refuse to believe in Jesus, even after his death and resurrection? The reason is because it was not unexpected. It was part of God’s plan which to us is incomprehensible. It involves understanding the relationship between God’s sovereignty and our accountability. Both are taught in Scripture and are like two parallel lines which meet in eternity.

It is only through Jesus that our eyes are opened … as in this passage which refers back to the faith of the man born blind whom Jesus had earlier healed. Everything is moving towards the fulfillment of God’s purposes revealed to us in the Scriptures. Believing in Jesus is believing in God, acknowledging that we are sinners and receiving, by faith, his sacrifice on the cross, in our place, for forgiveness. In this God is greatly glorified.