The Power of Jesus Name

There is a popular song that says, “There is power in the name of Jesus.”

I grew up singing, “There is Power in the Blood.”

These songs speak a truth that can transform our lives.

We all face enemies in life.  However, our struggle is not against flesh and blood.  The Bible tells us as much.  In Ephesians 6:12, it tells us, “For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.”[i]

The struggle we are in can impact us in a number of ways.  For example, the struggle we are in can bring fear and trouble, doubt and uncertainty and/or leave us lost and in the dark.

The death of Jesus on the cross brought all of these on His disciples.

Jesus spent 3 years building into the lives of a core group of 12, plus an assorted group of followers.  If we go by the number of people gathered together after the resurrection in Acts 1:16, we can number these followers at about 120.  The training of the 12 was especially intense as it was a 24/7/365 deal.  They were with the Teacher constantly, and developed a close relationship with Him.

When Jesus went to the cross, He confronted all of the evil rulers of the unseen world.  He confronted the mighty powers in this dark world, and He fought against the evil spirits in the heavenly places.  He battled all of these and won.  This was the ultimate confrontation of good and evil.

When they laid Jesus in the tomb, His followers thought the battle was over.  Fear, uncertainty and dark ruled the day.  John 20 tells us of the resurrection, and through this account, we will see how the power in the name of Jesus overcame the fear, uncertainty and darkness of that day.  We will also see how this same power works in our lives today.

First, let us talk about fear and trouble.

Notice that John 20:19 says, “The disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders.” 

They had a lot to fear.  There was more than a strong possibility that the Jewish leaders would try to round up all of Jesus’s followers and make sure that this was the last they would hear about Jesus.

These people were not being cowardly.  They were in danger.  The angel at the tomb told the women to tell the disciples that Jesus would meet them in Galilee.  The Bible does not say why Jesus chose to meet them in Galilee, but one obvious reason was safety.  Jerusalem was not safe.  This was trouble, trouble that brought on the fear they were experiencing.

We all confront troubles in life that threaten our safety.

Trouble comes in all shapes and sizes.

Sometimes trouble keeps us awake at night.  At other times, we hide from it behind locked doors.  We all have fears that we have to face as a part of our troubles.

In John 14 Jesus was preparing His disciples for the trouble they were about to face.  He said, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled.  Trust in God, and trust also in me.”  (John 14:1)  In John 20 at the conclusion of the trouble, He appeared in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.”  (John 20:19)  He gave the same message before and after the trouble. 

Notice He came in spite of locked doors.  This is consistent with His character.  When we shut the world out because of our fears and troubles, He still has a way of getting in.

He does not just give us words of comfort.  Jesus gave His disciples an assignment.  “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.”  (John 20:21)  And then, He gave them His power, the Holy Spirit. 

Jesus did not take away the troubles.  He reassured the disciples that they could trust God.  He gave them purpose so there was a reason to face their fear.  Then, finally, He gave them power to face the trouble.

Because of the Holy Spirit, we have the mind of Christ, the presence of Christ and the power of Christ in our lives.  This is the meaning of Jesus’s promise to be with us to the end of the age.

Whatever the trouble, we have His reassurance that we can trust God.  We have the purpose of being His witnesses in all our trials.  Then finally, we have the power to face the trouble. 

There is power in the name of Jesus to help us face fear and trouble.

Next, we will talk about doubt and uncertainty.

John 20:24 tells us one of the twelve named Thomas was not there when Jesus appeared.  When they told Thomas what had happened Thomas said, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.”  (John 20:24) 

Thomas was no different from the other disciples.  If you look back at verse 20, you will see that as Jesus was standing among them, He still needed to show them the wounds in His hands and side in order to convince them.

They had been through a traumatic week.  They had seen Jesus stripped, beaten, nailed to a cross and pierced with a spear. 

Luke tells of two men on the road to Emmaus who walked with Jesus and did not recognize Him.  Mary, at the tomb, did not recognize Jesus until He said her name.  Whatever else was going on, these individuals were not able to see past what they had experienced.  In other words, the beating, hanging and death were such great realities to them that they could not process what their eyes were telling them.

There are times in life when the physical reality of life seems to negate everything we profess to believe.  We all face doubt and uncertainty.  It may be different for you than it is for me, but we will all face it.  It may be the death of a loved one, sickness and disease, financial collapse or the failure of a relationship.  Whatever it is, the reality challenges our faith and brings us doubt and uncertainty.

This is what happened to the disciples and to Thomas in particular.

Jesus handles this by showing Himself to Thomas, addressing Thomas’s doubts and challenging Him to be more trusting.

However, Jesus waited 8 days. 

These must have been the most difficult days of Thomas’s life.  For some reason, the growth of our faith requires these dry, silent times.  These are days when God does not seem to be there.  These are painful, trying days.  Job went through them.  Thomas went through them.  We all go through them.

These are days worth enduring.  The reason is that at the end, we see Jesus more clearly.  Jesus singled out Thomas, and showed him exactly what he needed.  He does this for us too.  James tells us, “Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.  For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.”  (James 1:2-3)

Look at Thomas’s response.  He says, “My Lord and my God!”  (John 20:28) 

Once we pass through the doubt and uncertainty and are confirmed in our faith, it results in praise to God.  This is why I say these are days worth enduring.  I never want to go through these days again.  However, I am so much richer for having endured them.

Jesus then challenges Thomas to be more trusting.  It is the same advice He gave the disciples before He went to the cross.  Trust in God.  Trust also in me.  (John 14:1)  I find this meaning strongest in the words, “Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.”

Isaiah 26:3 teaches this when it says, “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in You.”[ii]  (ESV)

This is the key to weathering the storms of uncertainty and doubt.  We must trust God.  We cannot allow what has so clearly been displayed to us in the light of day to be stripped away by dark days.

The disciples had just been through the darkest days in all history.  The sun had been darkened and an earthquake had accompanied the death of the Son of God.  Now they were on the other side of these events. 

Jesus won victory over death, hell and the grave.  Jesus was alive.  Jesus is alive still today.

John tells us, “The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book.”

This world is a dark place.  John starts out His account of the life of Jesus by saying Jesus was a light that shined in the darkness.  He healed the sick, freed those oppressed by demons, gave the blind their sight, turned water to wine and even raised the dead to life.  According to the gospel writers, He did too many of these things to record them all.

The ones that are recorded are for our benefit, so that we can believe.  They are for light and hope in this dark world.  

The disciples had found hope.  All of them were willing to die for what they believed, and all but John had the privilege of dying for their testimony.  They had seen the darkness in the world and had tasted of the victory over it that Jesus won.  They knew that there is only one place to go for life.  There is life in Jesus.

They wanted us to know that there is power in the name of Jesus.

They wanted us to know: “by believing in him you will have life by the power of His name.”  (John 20:31)

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[i]  Unless otherwise noted Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation. Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Steam, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

[ii] Scripture quotations marked ESV are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The Resurrection

Read Mark 16:1-8

Jesus rose bodily from the grave.

It is necessary to say bodily, because there are inventive storytellers in the world.

There are those who say that Jesus never died.

The theories, explanations and denials are too numerous to list.  Some say the disciples stole the body.  Some say that Jesus fainted.  Some say that Jesus is a mythical figure that never really existed.

There have been recent claims that the tomb of Jesus has been discovered and that He stayed dead.

The very morning He rose from the dead the resurrection was attacked.  The soldiers came back to Jerusalem with the report of the resurrection and immediately the Jewish leaders invented a story and paid the soldiers to tell everyone that the disciples had stolen the body.

Muslims dispute the fact of Jesus's crucifixion, arguing that Allah would never have dishonored His prophet by allowing Him to undergo such a death. Muslims believe that Jesus was miraculously caught up into heaven and that someone (perhaps Judas Iscariot) surreptitiously took His place on the cross.[i]

It is not surprising that there is such a concentrated attack on the resurrection.  It is the single most significant event of history.

I am not going to try to give all the historical proofs and evidence for the resurrection in the short time we have together.  Rather, I am going to point out some relevant facts that can help us in our lives.  Lee Strobel recently wrote a book titled, The Case for the Real Jesus, where he brilliantly lays out many convincing arguments and evidences for the historical facts surrounding the life of Jesus.

What is significant for you and me today is that Jesus rose bodily from the grave.  Notice, I said, “Bodily.”  This is an important point.  To deny that Jesus rose bodily from the grave is to deny the resurrection.  The body is not evil.  However, the body also must be redeemed.  It has been corrupted or damaged by sin.  The consequences of sin are far reaching. What God created perfect is now subject to pain, suffering, disease and death.  The body also has to be freed from the effects of sin.

Notice that I say, “the body also.”  The soul is separate from the body and is also subject to death because of sin.  A resurrected body is no good to a condemned soul.  The resurrection is the proof that God accepted Jesus’s sacrifice on our behalf.

The bodily resurrection also shows us that Jesus was completely human.

One might think that it would not be necessary to say this.  However, we tend to forget just what it means that Jesus was human.

Hebrews 5:8 speaks of Jesus learning obedience from the things that He suffered.  Isaiah 53 speaks of Him growing up before Him.  Jesus was not born with the ability to speak.  He was not preaching after 3 days on Earth, nor was He doing advanced calculus within the first weeks of His birth.

We cannot comprehend how Jesus could be fully God and fully man, but this is the truth that we learn from Scripture.

The women were bringing burial spices to the tomb to anoint a dead body.  The spices would have been used to cover up the smell of a corpse.  While the Psalmist said that God would not allow His chosen one to undergo decay, these women were not thinking in these terms.  They were thinking “dead body.” 

This serves to point out the fact that Jesus was very human and that His death was very real.

Hebrews 4:15 teaches us one of the meanings of this fact.  “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet he did not sin.”  (NIV)

We worship Jesus.  He is our Savior and our God.  Yet, during His time on earth His stomach would have gurgled when it was empty. In John 4, John tells us that Jesus was tired from the journey as He sat by the well.  The gospel writers tell us that Jesus was asleep in the back of the boat, apparently tired from a long day of teaching.

It is essential to our faith that we understand that Jesus was a historical person.  That He had a body with needs, appetites and desires like you and me. 

This is important for us to be able to understand how He can both identify with us and intercede for us.  This is what Hebrews 4:15 points out.  He understands.

However, the bodily resurrection is also important to us for our understanding of our hope.

1 Corinthians 15:22-23 says, “²²Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life.  ²³But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back.

We who are believers live in hope of the resurrection of the dead.  We speak of heaven quite frequently.  The stories of people who have apparently died and come back to life are fascinating and spark our imagination for what life will be like after death.  However, this is not the end of the story.  1 Corinthians 15 goes on to tell us:

⁵¹But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret.  We will not all die, but we will all be transformed!  ⁵²It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown.  For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever.  And we who are living will also be transformed.  ⁵³For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.

⁵⁴Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.

⁵⁵O death, where is your victory?

O death, where is your sting?”

This is it!  Victory over death!

Jesus is still fully God and fully man. 

We will have a body like His resurrection body.  He is the first to be raised, and we will all be raised with Him.  Please do not misunderstand.  We will not become God like Him.  We will have a resurrection body like His.

This is the great hope of the believer and we must not lose sight of it.  One reason we must not lose sight of this hope is given in 1 John 3:3, “All who have this hope in Him purify themselves, just as He is pure.”  (NIV)  Our joyful hope in the resurrection is a purifying influence in our lives.  It gives us perspective.  It helps us to see and choose what is truly good, rather than having vision limited only to what our physical eyes can see.

Jesus was completely human and we see it gives us hope that He can identify with our weakness.  It also promises us the great and final victory over death.

I want us to notice one more thing.  It has to do with His bodily resurrection and His humanity.  It is His consideration of His friends.

Jesus had just won a tremendous battle.  He had sweat drops of blood.  He had cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?”  Now He was on the other side of that battle.

The women came to the tomb.  Mark tells us they entered the tomb and were shocked to see a young man clothed in a white robe sitting on the right side.  Mark also tells us this is an angel, a messenger of God.  There are so many miraculous details: the stone rolled away, the empty tomb and the announcement that Jesus had risen.  Mark tells us that the women left so terrified that they did not speak about it.

In all this victory and all this joy, Peter’s name comes up.  The angel said, “Now go and tell his disciples including Peter . . .” 

Peter had failed Jesus.  When Jesus was going through the worst part of the battle, Peter had denied he even knew Jesus.

We can see ourselves like Peter.  Easter and the resurrection are exciting for the rest of the world, but Jesus cannot love me.  I have done something that I cannot forgive myself for; why would Jesus forgive me?

One of Jesus’s first concerns upon His resurrection was Peter.

Jesus told a story about a shepherd who at the end of the day was missing one sheep.  That shepherd left ninety-nine sheep alone in their pen to go and search for the one missing sheep.

At the resurrection, He showed what this meant.  His first order of business was to check on His friend.  Can’t you see He does the same for you?

Whatever your failure, put your name in here:

            Go tell my disciples and ____________.

He is just that human.

He is just that Divine.

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[i] http://www.christiananswers.net/q-aiia/islam-cross.html

Save Now!

Read Mark 11:1-11

Jesus walked 120 miles from Capernaum to Jerusalem to attend the Passover feast in Jerusalem.  He walked south down the east side of the Jordan River, crossing over and heading toward Jerusalem through Jericho.  The gospel writer Mark tells us in chapter 10 of His account that as Jesus left Jericho there was a large crowd following Him.

The large crowd and commotion drew the attention of a blind man named Bartimaeus.  Bartimaeus shouted out for Jesus, and Jesus stopped and healed Bartimaeus.

In addition to healing Bartimaeus, Jesus performed many miracles during His 3 year ministry.  Just a short time earlier, He raised Lazarus from the dead.  He healed every kind of sickness, and Bartimaeus was not the only blind person to receive sight. 

From that day to this, people have sought out Jesus for their own reasons.  Some want healing for sickness.  Some want deliverance from slavery or bondage to habit.  Some want wisdom and direction for life.  Some want health and happiness for family and/or friends.  Some want political and economic solutions.  Some want power, peace or prosperity.

We all need hope.  We need hope that life is worth living. 

We all face challenges. 

Challenges come in all shapes and sizes.  Challenges can be financial, physical, health, family, economic, political, legal and the list can get long.

Jesus is our hope.  No matter the challenge, Jesus is the answer.

For thousands of years before His birth, those who knew God looked forward to God sending His anointed One, His King.  This promised One was the hope of the world, for political and personal problems.  The Jewish nation was entrusted with the Word of God and carried this hope.  To this day, the Jewish people carry on the traditions that look forward to the coming of this hope.

For those who care to accept it, Jesus is the promised hope of the world.  Jesus is the promised Messiah, the anointed One of Israel.  Jesus is the great and coming King.

Those who pursue money, fitness, health, happiness and/or all that this world has to offer miss the true meaning of life.  They miss what they were created for.  God created each person unique, and loves each one individually.  Each individual can only find true meaning in God.  This is where hope is.

Jesus showed He is the Hope of the world when He rode into Jerusalem at the beginning of His passion week.

First, we see this in the way He came.

He came fulfilling prophecy.

The prophecy, given 500 years before Jesus was born, is found in Zechariah 9:9.  It says, “Rejoice, O people of Zion!  Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem!  Look, your king is coming to you.  He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey--riding on a donkey's colt.”[i]

This is exactly how Jesus came.  He came triumphantly.  He knew He was coming to give His life as a ransom for many, and yet His coming was triumphant and joyful.

It was also in perfect timing. 

Daniel 9:24 says: "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy Place."

The idiom of a "week" of years was common in Israel.  The prophecy encompasses seventy weeks, that is, seventy times seven years, or 490 years.  However verse 26 indicates that there is an interval between the 69th and 70th weeks.  A very specific prediction occurs in the next verse: "Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times (Daniel 9:25).”  The Jewish (and Babylonian) calendars used a 360-day year; 69 weeks of 360-day years totals 173,880 days.  In effect, Gabriel told Daniel that the interval between the commandment to rebuild Jerusalem until the presentation of the Messiah as King would be 173,880 days.

The commandment to restore and build Jerusalem was given by Artaxerxes Longimanus on March 14, 445 BC.

On [that] day [Jesus] rode into the city of Jerusalem riding on a donkey, deliberately fulfilling a prophecy by Zechariah that the Messiah would present Himself as king in just that way: "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass (Zechariah 9:9)."

This is the only occasion that Jesus presented Himself as King. It occurred on April 6, 32 AD.  When we examine the period between March 14, 445 BC and April 6, 32 AD, and correct for leap years, we discover that it is 173,880 days exactly, to the very day![ii]

Jesus also came making prophecies of His own. 

He walked approximately 6 days to get to Jerusalem.  With no way of communicating to any one in advance, Jesus was able to tell His disciples exactly where they would find a donkey and what would be said.

Throughout His ministry, Jesus demonstrated this supernatural power or knowledge.  He confronted His detractors about unspoken thoughts, demonstrated knowledge of the details of the lives of complete strangers.

He still does this.  Scripture tells us that He knows the very hairs on our head.  He knows the words we mean to speak before we speak them.

Jesus shows He is the hope of the world by both giving and fulfilling prophecy.  He is so in control of the events of History to be able to tell exactly what is going to happen hundreds of years before it happens.  He has promised to come back and make everything right, establish peace and justice and to take away tears and suffering.

Besides fulfilling prophecy, Jesus showed He was the hope of the world by accepting the praises of His people.

Crazy people, megalomaniacs and deceivers also accept praise.  However, by looking at the fruit of their lives and by reading what they said we can easily identify these imposters.

Hitler, Stalin, Nero and such accepted praise and their legacy in history is that of monsters, murders and liars.  There are hardly any redeeming factors to their reigns. 

As an extreme opposite, Jesus’s life has changed the world for the better.  One has only to read what Jesus said to know that He was not crazy, a megalomaniac or a deceiver.   No one in history has ever taught with such wisdom, insight and understanding.

The main word in the people’s praise carried the message of the triumph that Jesus carried with Him.  Jesus was entering into Jerusalem in victory.

The people were shouting, “Hosanna, Hosanna.”

This would be like people in our day shouting, “SAVE NOW, SAVE NOW, SAVE NOW, SAVE NOW.”

This is exactly what Jesus came to do.  There could be no more appropriate praise.  Luke 19 tells us:

³⁹But some of the Pharisees among the crowd said, “Teacher, rebuke your followers for saying things like that!”

⁴⁰He replied, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!”

He is worthy of all of our praise.  Acts 4:12 says, “There is salvation in no one else!  God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved."

Jesus showed He is the hope of the world by fulfilling prophecy and by accepting the praises of His people.  He also showed He is the hope of the world by what He expected in return.

Mark 11:11 says, “So Jesus came to Jerusalem and went into the Temple.  After looking around carefully at everything, he left because it was late in the afternoon.  Then he returned to Bethany with the twelve disciples.”

What was He looking for?  Why did He look around carefully?

Throughout the week, Jesus gave hints of what He was looking for.

He cleansed the temple, accusing them of making His Father’s house a den of thieves rather than a house of prayer.

He cursed the fig tree.  This was a symbolic gesture pointing to the fruitless condition of the nation.  It was a picture prophecy of what happened to Jerusalem in 70 AD when Titus and company destroyed Jerusalem and the temple.

He gave the parable of the evil farmers who killed everyone the landlord sent to collect the rent, including the landlord’s own son.  This was a clear reference to the reception Jesus received from the nation’s leadership.  They knew He was talking about them, and they tried all the harder to kill Him for it.

The cleansing, the fig tree and the parable all point to what Jesus was looking for.  He was looking for true, unfeigned religion.  By religion, I mean love for God.  This is the first and greatest commandment. “You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.”  (Deuteronomy 6:5)

He is still looking for the same thing.

 “It is impossible to please God without faith.  Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.”  (Hebrews 11:6)

“But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.”  (John 1:12)

“And anyone who believes in God’s Son has eternal life.  Anyone who doesn’t obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God’s angry judgment.”  (John 3:36)

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[i]  Unless otherwise noted Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation. Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Steam, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

[ii] http://www.khouse.org/enews_article/2007/1190/print/

Why Jesus Had to Come

Read John 3:1-21

In a public place, at the most crowded time, in the most conspicuous way, Jesus announced His presence to Israel.

The Gospel of John, chapter 2, gives the story.

Jesus made a whip out of small cords and drove those selling cattle and sheep, along with people changing foreign currency, out of the temple grounds.

This act got the attention of the national leaders.  They demanded proof that Jesus had authority to do this thing.

However, one of the leaders, a man named Nicodemus, was curious.  So, one night after dark, he went to speak with Jesus.  

Nicodemus said, “Rabbi, we all know that God has sent you to teach us.  Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.”  (John 3:2)[i]

He said, “. . . we all know.”

Here it is . . . evidence that the Jewish leaders who were demanding proof knew already that Jesus was from God.  

Of all the leaders, Nicodemus was the only one who came to find out why God sent Jesus.

Jesus starts by challenging Nicodemus to consider spiritual truth.  He uses the physical world to illustrate and talk about spiritual truth.  Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”   (John 3:3)  This statement baffles Nicodemus and Jesus explains that He is talking about a spiritual truth.

We know from Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1 that we were all once dead because of our disobedience and many sins.  This death is clearly spiritual.  Because of sin, we are born spiritually dead, separated from God.  Jesus is pointing out to Nicodemus that this is why He had to come.  This death due to sin needed to be fixed, and this necessitated a rebirth.

Nicodemus was incredulous.  “How are these things possible?”  He asked.  (John 3:9)

Jesus chided Nicodemus for being a respected Jewish leader and religious teacher and yet being unable to understand this most basic of spiritual truths. Then Jesus says this most interesting thing.  “If you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things?”  (John 3:12)

Contained in this statement is more spiritual truth about why Jesus had to come.  He explains, “No one has ever gone to heaven and returned.  But the Son of Man has come down from heaven.”  (v. 13) Jesus is drawing a picture of our lost condition.  Not only are we spiritually dead, but we cannot even begin to understand God and heaven.  From the Apostle Paul’s letter to the believers in Rome, we know that God has given plenty of evidence of His existence and even of His Divine attributes.  However, who can explain Him?  Jesus shows that we cannot understand or even see God.  Without Jesus, we are lost.

To explain this, Jesus uses the example of people bitten by a poisonous snake; without help they are certain to die.  This is a picture of how lost we are.   

The example Jesus uses is from the Old Testament.  God used Moses to lead the nation of Israel out of their slavery in Egypt.  Numbers 21 tells us:

⁴Then the people of Israel set out from Mount Hor, taking the road to the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom.  But the people grew impatient with the long journey, ⁵and they began to speak against God and Moses.  “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die here in the wilderness?” they complained.  “There is nothing to eat here and nothing to drink.  And we hate this horrible manna!”

⁶So the LORD sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many were bitten and died.  ⁷Then the people came to Moses and cried out, “We have sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you.  Pray that the LORD will take away the snakes.”  So Moses prayed for the people.

⁸Then the LORD told him, “Make a replica of a poisonous snake and attach it to a pole.  All who are bitten will live if they simply look at it!”  ⁹So Moses made a snake out of bronze and attached it to a pole.  Then anyone who was bitten by a snake could look at the bronze snake and be healed!

This was a picture of what Jesus came to do.  Humanity is spiritually dead because the snake in the garden deceived it.  Those bitten by the snake in Moses’s time had the option to go ahead and die, or to look at the bronze replica and live.  We also have the same option.  We can remain dead in our disobedience and many sins or we can look to Jesus and live.  

There was no power in the physical replica of the snake.  There is no power in the physical replica of a cross.  It will not stop or burn vampires, nor will it ward off evil spirits, disease, sickness or problems.  The power of looking at the replica of the snake was belief, belief that God could and would save.  The power of looking to the cross is the same.  The power is Jesus Himself.  

In using the example of the snake on a pole, Jesus is showing that He knows exactly what kind of death He is going to die.

This is part of what makes John 3:16 so precious.  It says, “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

This is a spiritual truth.  Jesus explains it using the physical example of the snake on a pole.  There was no physical merit in looking at the snake on a pole.  In other words, there are no anti-venom properties associated with looking at replicas of snakes.  In the same way, there are no anti-sin properties associated with religious practice.  The only hope is to look to Jesus.  Jesus uses the word, “believe.”  

Jesus anticipates a problem that Nicodemus might be having.  

The Law that God gave through Moses, condemned everyone.  There were stiff penalties for breaking the Law, and Nicodemus would have understood that He had not kept the Law perfectly.  In the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Roman believers, he explains that by conscience and the law we all know that we deserve condemnation or judgment.

Therefore, Jesus explains in verse 17 and following that God did not send Him to judge or condemn, but to save.

On the cross, Jesus paid the price for all sin for all time.  There is no sin too great or too small.  Jesus paid it all.

However, this creates a difficulty.  Jesus explains it like this, “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him.  But anyone who does not believe in Him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son.”  (v. 18)

God loved the world so much that He gave His One and Only Son, and in verse 18, we see the consequences of rejecting that gift.

Why would anyone reject such a gift?  It seems hard to believe that such a loving and kind gift from heaven would be rejected.

Jesus explained to Nicodemus our spiritual condition and why Jesus had to come.  He explained how belief works by simply believing and looking to God for eternal life.  It is a spiritual transaction, which we cannot fully understand.  Jesus uses earthly illustrations here to explain heavenly truths that are beyond our ability to understand.

He ends His lesson for Nicodemus by explaining why people reject this gift.  This is especially significant for Nicodemus because he is a member of the ruling council of Jewish leaders who were starting down the road to crucifying Jesus.

Jesus says:

¹⁹And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil.  ²⁰All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed.  ²¹But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.

I might be too simplistic, but I believe that this gives the one and only reason that anyone rejects Jesus.

This does not mean that my neighbor who does not believe in Jesus is any worse than I am.  The snake called sin has bitten us all.  Therefore, the only hope for any of us is to look to the One who was lifted up on a cross.

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[i] Unless otherwise noted Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation. Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Steam, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

My Father's House

Read John 2

Jesus was not a typical man.  He performed many miracles demonstrating this fact.  The Apostle John calls these miracles “signs.”  These “signs” served as a mark or token to authenticate Jesus’s identity.

As an example of this, in chapter 2 of his account, the Apostle John tells of a wedding in Cana of Galilee.  At this wedding, Jesus turns water into wine.  John says, “This miraculous sign at Cana in Galilee was the first time Jesus revealed his glory.  And his disciples believed in him.”  (John 2:11)[i]

After the wedding in Cana of Galilee, Jesus walked the 20 to 25 miles to Capernaum with His mother, His brothers and His disciples.  According to John, Jesus was in Capernaum a few days before leaving to walk the 120 miles to Jerusalem for the Passover festival.

The Law of Moses required the Jews to observe the Passover every year.  The Apostle John records 4 Passovers that Jesus attended.  One at the beginning of His three-year ministry (John 2:13), two in the middle (John 5:1, 6:4) and then the last one at which He was slain as the Passover Lamb (John 11:55). 

The Passover, of all the Jewish feasts, clearly portrayed the sacrifice Jesus was born to fulfill.  The blood of the Passover Lamb kept the judgment of God from falling on the Jewish household when God delivered His people from slavery in Egypt.  In the same way, the blood of Jesus keeps the judgment of God from falling on us when He delivers us from slavery to sin.

Jesus was not a typical man.  He was the Son of Man, also known as the Son of God.  John the Baptist called Him “the Lamb of God.”

He walked 120 miles from Capernaum to Jerusalem to be at the temple for Passover.  He was not alone.  Jews from all over the world gathered in Jerusalem for the Passover.  The city was crowded with these pilgrims.

These travelers were a good business opportunity.  Food and lodging were necessary.  Since it was a religious festival, animals for sacrifice and religious ceremonies were also necessary.  People traveling from other regions brought money from other countries.  This money had to be exchanged for local currency.

We exchange money for local currency even today.  I have money from Mexico, Canada and Japan that cannot be used at the local convenience store.  It has to be exchanged.  I have always exchanged my money at banks, and they always take a cut.  They buy low and sell high.  Like any industry, the unscrupulous can take advantage of this system to rob people.

When Jesus arrived at the temple John says, “In the Temple area he saw merchants selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifices; he also saw dealers at tables exchanging foreign money.”  (John 2:14)  To be fair, this says nothing about any cheating or robbing.  It is a market.  People are buying, selling and trading.  Sheep are bleating, cows are lowing and doves are cooing and flapping.  And, yuck, the animals are indiscriminate about where they relieve themselves.  Can you imagine the smell, the noise and the commotion?

Jesus made a whip and drove them all out of the temple.  He said, “Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!”  (John 2:16)

When Matthew and Mark deal with the account of Jesus chasing the money changers out of the temple they mention that He said, "'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it 'a den of robbers.'"  (Matthew 21:13, NIV)[ii]

This quote refers to the word of the Lord given through Jeremiah the prophet.  In chapter 7 of Jeremiah, it says:

⁸Don’t be fooled into thinking that you will never suffer because the Temple is here.  It’s a lie!  ⁹Do you really think you can steal, murder, commit adultery, lie, and burn incense to Baal and all those other new gods of yours, ¹⁰and then come here and stand before me in my Temple and chant, “We are safe!”  —only to go right back to all those evils again?  ¹¹Don’t you yourselves admit that this Temple, which bears my name, has become a den of thieves?  Surely I see all the evil going on there.  I, the LORD, have spoken!

The state of the temple reflected the heart of the people toward God.  The people of Jeremiah’s day suffered judgment that they never thought would come.  The people of Jesus’s day also suffered judgment.  Jesus promised them that not one stone of their temple would be left upon another, which happened about 40 years later.

When the disciples saw Jesus clearing the temple they thought of another Old Testament prophecy, “Passion for God’s house will consume me.”  (John 2:17)

The Jewish leaders demanded, “What are you doing?  If God gave you authority to do this, show us a miraculous sign to prove it.”

Two things are going on here.  First, they were doing something wrong and knew it.  Otherwise, they would have stopped Jesus.  Second, they recognized that Jesus was acting with God’s authority.  This is why they asked for a miracle.

Jesus agrees to give them a sign.  “All right,” Jesus replied.  “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”  (John 2:19)

There is a significant change in the wording here in John’s Gospel that is missed in the English translation.

When John says that Jesus saw merchants selling in the temple, the word he uses for temple means “the temple area.”  When Jesus says, “Destroy this temple,” He uses a different word.  The word points to the sanctuary rather than the temple in general.

This reminds me of where the Apostle Paul says:

Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God?  You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price.  So you must honor God with your body.  (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

The word for temple used in this statement by the Apostle Paul is the same word used by Jesus in John’s Gospel. 

John says:

When Jesus said “this temple,” he meant his own body.  After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered he had said this, and they believed both the Scriptures and what Jesus had said.  (John 2:21-22)

In several places, the Gospel writers quote Jesus as saying, “Only an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign, but the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah."  (Matthew 12:29, 16:4, Luke 11:29)

Jesus was not a typical man.  He did many things that were signs.  He healed the sick, cast out demons, raised the dead, walked on water, turned water into wine and calmed the sea.  His ultimate sign was rising from the dead.  By this, He proved beyond doubt that He is the Son of God.

Notice that He says, “Only an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign.”

The condition of the temple showed the condition of the religion.  The temple practice of Jesus’s day had become a commercial operation.  Jesus confronted this with His actions and in this confrontation stirred up resistance.

Our hearts can be much the same. 

Our bodies are designed to be temples, but we clutter our hearts with so many things.  The gods we serve might be self, money, pleasure, greed, bitterness, envy, jealousy and many such things termed the lust of the flesh.  When we meet Jesus, He confronts these things.  In this confrontation, He stirs up resistance.

In our day, just to say sex outside of marriage between a man and a woman is wrong, is to invite condemnation and criticism from a culture that insists that sex is a personal matter controlled by biology.

Sex is not the only issue.  The Apostle Paul says:

When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these.  Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.  (Galatians 5:19-21)

When we meet Jesus, He confronts these things.  Our first defense is to demand a sign.  “What right do you have to say what I am doing is wrong?”

Just as the condition of the temple reflected the spiritual condition of the nation’s religion, the condition of our inner temple reflects our spiritual condition.  This is why the Apostle Paul says, “Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.”  (Galatians 5:21)

Do we love the Father the way Jesus did?

Does passion for the Father consume us?

What or where for you is “My Father’s House”?

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[i]  Unless otherwise noted Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation. Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Steam, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

[ii] Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.