Unit 2: Liberating Gospels
Key Verse:
John 8:36 NLT
36 So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.
What freedom is it that Jesus speaks of?
What you need to know
John 7:1 NLT
1 After this, Jesus traveled around Galilee. He wanted to stay out of Judea, where the Jewish leaders were plotting his death.
There is much here to speak of. However, in order to set the proper atmosphere, there are a few things that you must know. Chief among them is the understanding that while Jesus was well thought of in Galilee and Samaria, all of northern Israel, he was despised by the religious leaders in the region of Judea, particularly in Jerusalem, the headquarters of the Sanhedrin. In fact, the religious leaders in Jerusalem had begun to formulate plans for His death.
John 7:2-10 NLT
2 But soon it was time for the Jewish Festival of Shelters, 3 and Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, where your followers can see your miracles! 4 You can’t become famous if you hide like this! If you can do such wonderful things, show yourself to the world!” 5 For even his brothers didn’t believe in him.
6 Jesus replied, “Now is not the right time for me to go, but you can go anytime. 7 The world can’t hate you, but it does hate me because I accuse it of doing evil. 8 You go on. I’m not going[a] to this festival, because my time has not yet come.” 9 After saying these things, Jesus remained in Galilee. 10 But after his brothers left for the festival, Jesus also went, though secretly, staying out of public view.
However, it was the occasion of the “Festival of Booths”, or ‘Succot’, one of three major Holy Days that Jews, particularly men, were to come to Jerusalem to observe. Subsequently, Jesus made the journey alone, keeping Himself out of public view because he was aware of the nefarious plots of the Pharisees.
John 7:28:30 NLT
28 While Jesus was teaching in the Temple, he called out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I come from. But I’m not here on my own. The one who sent me is true, and you don’t know him. 29 But I know him because I come from him, and he sent me to you.” 30 Then the leaders tried to arrest him; but no one laid a hand on him, because his time[c] had not yet come.
Upon His arrival in Jerusalem, Jesus went to the Temple and began to teach. While He was aware that the Pharisees planned to arrest Him, He defiantly proclaimed that His Presence was ordered and ordained by His Father, in Heaven. He was simply obeying the leading of the Holy Spirit. As He had been led into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, so now had He been led to Jerusalem to declare His righteousness.
John 7:31 NLT
31 Many among the crowds at the Temple believed in him. “After all,” they said, “would you expect the Messiah to do more miraculous signs than this man has done?”
Because he spent so much more time in Galilee than in Jerusalem, Jesus had fewer true followers in Jerusalem. The people there had not seen or heard enough from Him to make cogent decisions concerning what they believed about Him. But, upon seeing Him at the Temple, and hearing of His miracles, the Bible states that ‘many’ believed in Him.
John 8:7-9 NLT
7 They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” 8 Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust. 9 When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman.
Finally, this was ‘that occasion’. This was the occasion where the Pharisees sought to trap Jesus by throwing an accused woman at His feet and demanding that He proclaim judgment against her. However, Jesus deftly confounded His accusers, leaving them retreating in shame.
The Lesson
John 8:31 NLT
31 Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings.
In just the next few moments, Jesus was confronted by the Pharisees again. Earlier that week (John 7:37-37), He had invited ‘any who thirsted’ to come to Him for ‘Living Water’. His Presence in theTemple was concurrent with the pouring of water over the altar, a practice since the time of Joel that typified the day that the Messiah would cause water to flow from the Temple (Joel 3:18). Jesus’ declaration signaled that He was their long-awaited Messiah.
Then, after being confronted by the Pharisees a few moments earlier, Jesus had declared Himself,”…the Light of the world”, another Messianic declaration that left the religious leaders aghast and incensed. This declaration was concurrent with the lighting of lamps in the Court of the Women, on the Temple grounds, another Messianic foreshadowing.
While the Pharisees left that confrontation enraged, those citizens of Jerusalem who believed in Him were emboldened to gather around Him, encouraged by His proclamation of Messiahship in the face of stiff opposition. This too was an act of the Holy Spirit. He drew these uncertain believers closer to Christ so that they might learn more of Him in whom they had believed. Yes, they were ‘believers’. They just didn’t know fully what they were believing. There is every indication that their belief was based on ‘head knowledge’ and not a true ‘change of heart…yet.
Jesus was calling these uncertain believers to discipleship. He invited them to continue to learn of Him and to remain faithful in what they were to learn. They were on the path to a ‘new life’. Jesus exhorted them to stay on that path.
John 8:32 NLT
32 And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Jesus finished His statement by promising that those that continued in discipleship would reap the benefit of a changed life, a life of freedom. In fact, the unveiling of that freedom would be progressive. The more they learned, the freer they would become. This concurred with His words to the twelve that if they would make their abode in Him, they would bear ‘much fruit’ (John 15:1-8). The freedom that Jesus promised would be the result of the sanctification of these believers by the Holy Spirit as their minds were renewed by the washing and regeneration of the Word.
John 8:33 NLT
33 “But we are descendants of Abraham,” they said. “We have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean, ‘You will be set free’?”
Again, this was a moment of discovery that Jesus would turn to introspection. Their collective statement that they “had never been slaves” revealed their ignorance about Jesus’ mission. Were they expecting fish and loaves, as Jesus had provided on two different occasions in Samaria? Were they expecting that Jesus would oppose the Roman occupiers and ‘free’ Israel from the yoke of their oppressors? They were still grasping at a head knowledge of salvation.
John 8:34 NLT
34 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin.
Jesus required them to look at themselves. He offered them eternal life, but they would each require sanctification, a turn toward personal Holiness that surpassed even the righteousness of the Pharisees. While that righteousness must be imparted by God, it must be pursued by us, those who call themselves ‘Christians’.
John 8:35 NLT
35 A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever.
Now Jesus reveals a great truth, a slave is not a member of the master’s house, he is, rather, property of the master and property only. He has no inheritance that can be gained from the master’s possessions. What Jesus explained to these new believers was that they were now permanent members of the household of God, indeed they were now children of God with full rights to an eternal inheritance stored up for them in Heaven.
This is a foundational truth that is echoed later in Paul’s writing in Galatians and by the writer of the Book of Hebrews who both use the analogy of the rights of the slave versus the rights of the heir to illustrate to a Jewish audience that their physical connection to Abraham through ancestry was not sufficient to secure an eternal inheritance for them.
John 8:36 NLT
36 So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.
So then, after the illustration of the heir and the slave, an illustration familiar to all of His listeners, Jesus restates His original premise. He is the only path available to mankind to… freedom.
John 8:37 NLT
37 Yes, I realize that you are descendants of Abraham. And yet some of you are trying to kill me because there’s no room in your hearts for my message.
Obviously, this was a moment of contention between Jesus and these new converts. Some of them were not converted because they were holding to their belief that their kinship to Abraham was their ticket to eternity. They were missing the point, weren’t they. Abraham’s righteousness was imputed to Him because He believed God. If all have sinned and fallen short of God’s, then how can one be saved unless righteousness is imputed (gifted) to them by God as well? Additionally, how could they be saved if they looked past their awaited Messiah to Abraham? Jesus revealed that they had no room in their hearts for Him. They could not see past Abraham. Beloved, your grandmother’s right relationship with God won’t save you. You have to take Jesus to heart for yourself.
John 8:38 NLT
38 I am telling you what I saw when I was with my Father. But you are following the advice of your father.”
Jesus continues his rebuke of these believers by informing them that their ‘belief’ is not yet genuine. He informs them that He knows that because the Father made it clear to Him. Theirs is a sorry state. They are lost in the confusion of their ancestry, not understanding that Abraham, himself was a servant and friend to God Almighty and that it was only because of His trust in God that righteousness was imparted to them. Jesus was inviting these listeners to that to come to that place of faith. But, he was lamenting the fact that they could not replace their esteem of Abraham in their minds with a real love for the true Messiah that had come to give them eternal life.
John 8:42 NLT
42 Jesus told them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, because I have come to you from God. I am not here on my own, but he sent me.
Beloved, the verse above wasn’t part of the printed text, but I have included it, so as to bring the lesson to a proper conclusion. You see, my own experience with Christ was similar to what these Jews who confronted Jesus were experiencing. I had no consciousness of personal sin. My ideas about right and wrong hinged on whatever best served my carnal desires. However, I did have an abiding curiosity about God. Was He really real? How could I know? Thankfully, one Monday night, He revealed Himself to me in a church where the gospel was being preached. Once revealed, I fell in love. I fell completely in love with God. In that few moments, I threw everything else out of my heart and invited God in. My life has not been the same since. That was over thirty years ago and still, to this day, every day with Jesus is sweeter than the day before.
Selah,
wb
Lamentations 3:22-24 NLT
22
The faithful love of the Lord never ends![a]
His mercies never cease.
23
Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning.
24
I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance;
therefore, I will hope in him!”
No comments:
Post a Comment