This morning, as I was reading the Bible, I came across the following verse: “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him” (2 Chron 16:9). It is a great verse. Wouldn’t it be amazing if as this verse says, I could have the confidence that God was intimately aware of our lives and circumstances, and that He was providing strong support behind the scenes for us? However, when I read this, my instant reaction was not a sense of hope but a feeling of despair. And when I shared this verse with Vanita, she later told me that she had also felt a similar sense of despair. This despair came from the realization that we know all too well that our hearts are not perfectly in tune with God, so this promise could not possibly apply to us. Since this is where both of our thoughts went immediately, I wonder if you also feel this way when you read such promises from God in Scripture. If so, I pray that this article will encourage you.

The reason I felt this this sense of despair, was because I interpreted the phrase “those whose heart is blameless toward Him” to mean “those whose heart is perfectly in tune with, and in total submission to God”. Living on this side of eternity, I fall far short of this bar. Although this may seem to be a valid way of reading this verse, the Bible tells us that this is not the whole story. If you think about it, this is not what the verse is actually saying. It was not for those who are perfect, but for those whom God does not find cause to blame for anything, thus making them “blameless”. Normally both the words “perfect” and “blameless” would mean the same thing. However, the word “perfect” literally describes someone’s behavior and character. The word “blameless” describes how God views that person. And thankfully, God does not make “blameless” synonymous with “perfect”. God has done something remarkable, so that we can be blameless although we are not close to being perfect. He has done this for all those who have put their trust in Jesus. Several verses come to mind “For our sake He (God) made Him (Jesus) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him (Jesus) we might become the righteousness of God” (1 Cor 5:21). “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1). “He (God) has clothed me with the garments of salvation; He has covered me with the robe of righteousness” (Isa 61:10).

This is why Jesus came. He came in order to die the death that I deserved, and face the wrath of God that I deserved, and in turn to give me His own righteous perfection. When God looks at me, He does not see my sins but He sees the perfection of His Son. I am reminded of a song I learned as a youth:

I am covered over with the robe of righteousness that Jesus gives to me;
I am cleansed forever by the precious blood of Jesus and He lives in me,
What a thrill it is to know my Heavenly Father loves me so, and gives to me, my Jesus,
When He looks at me He sees not what I used to be, but He sees Jesus.

Because Jesus bore all the penalty for my sins, there is nothing left to make me guilty. I stand tall in the presence of God as a person whose heart is blameless toward God. I can personally apply the promise of 2 Chron 16:9 as a truth in my own life. God is giving strong support to me and my family right now even if I cannot see it, and I can trust Him and take comfort in that.

The apostle Peter says that Gods “precious and exceedingly great promises” have been given to us, to give us the divine power to live godly lives that are pleasing to Him (2 pet 1:3-4). As I read the Bible, I discover that the Bible is flooded with such promises. In fact this verse in 2 Chronicles 16:9 is just another way of saying that “in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Rom 8:28). Do I “love Him“? Yes I do, although imperfectly. Have I been “called according to His purpose“? Yes. And that was not my doing but His! He called me by revealing Himself to me and showing me that He had died for my sake, and invited me to have a reconciled relationship with Him. So by this promise, I can be assured that in every single situation my family and I are in, God is working all things out individually for our good. I do not have to live in defeat and despair. The assertion here is that all my life experiences will actually be used by God to draw me closer to Him in a way I do not fully understand, and one day I will find that it was ultimately good for me. As J I Packer says in his book Knowing God, regarding an extension of this promise in Romans 8:32: The meaning of “He will give us all things” can be put thus: one day we will see that nothing – literally nothing – which could have increased our eternal happiness has been denied us, and that nothing – literally nothing – that could have reduced that happiness has been left with us. This is so amazing, it is hard to completely grasp or believe. But if God is who He says He is, this is true!

So I now take great comfort in the knowledge that the promises of God apply to those who belong to God. Those who have fallen at the mercy of God, and who have received that mercy because of what Jesus did on the cross for them.

The Whole Bible Comes Alive

When we start reading the Bible with the lens of the gospel in this way, it comes alive. We find that God is a strong warrior who works on behalf of those who put their trust in Him. We see this time and time again in the Old Testament, as we read about His dealings with people in various circumstances and from various stations in life. As we read, our hearts are warmed with the realization that God has not changed. Our God today is the same God (Heb 13:8). Then when we continue reading into the New Testament, we get to understand the how and the why of all this – centered around the atoning death and resurrection of Jesus. In fact, these are insights the Old Testament believers never fully had! It all coalesces together into a beautiful whole – God’s Word to us – which has given us every thing we need to live our lives trusting Him, especially through “His precious and exceedingly great promises” (2 Pet 1:3,4)

Let us look the story of Job from this perspective.

A Fresh Look at the Story of Job

The story of Job, starts this way: “There was a man … whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright” (Job 1:1). The story of Job is about a man who was “blameless and upright“. God uses these exact same words in describing Job to Satan in Job 1:8 and Job 2:3 – blameless and upright. The Bible makes it clear that this is how God viewed Job.

But this immediately begs the question. Was Job some kind of holy superman who was very different from the rest of us? How could God possibly say that Job was “blameless and upright” if he was anything like we are? Well, it turns out that Job himself was aware that he fell short of God’s absolute standards. He said: “How can a man be right before God? If one wished to contend with Him one could not answer Him once in a thousand times” (Job 9:2-3). Like Job, if we were to stand before God as Judge on the merit of our lives, we would be found guilty, a thousand times. But Job does not stop there. He goes on to say “I must appeal for mercy to my accuser” (Job 9:15b). And we are also in exactly the same situation. Without mercy we, like Job, have no hope. But Job knew His God well enough to know that God indeed was merciful. A lot of Job’s struggle is not that he thought he was perfect and did not deserve to suffer, but that he could not reconcile his circumstances to the nature of the God that he had come to know and worship. (This was also partly because Job did not have the knowledge that this life is not all there is, as we do now. But we also sometimes feel this way).

However, Job did have hope in His God. He later said: “Even now, behold my witness is in heaven. And He who testifies for me is on high. … He would argue the case of a man with God as a son of man does with his neighbor” (Job 16:19,21). Although he knew that he himself would not be able to stand and argue in the court of God’s justice, he also knew with the eyes of faith that there is One in heaven who could! And Job was right. Looking at it in the light of New Testament revelation, we know that Jesus was that witness Job was talking about. “If anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1). Thus, even though Job did not fully understand it, he was able to say to his friends in the course of his conversation: “I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will stand upon the earth and after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God” (Job 19:25-26). The word “redeem” means “to buy something for a price, or a ransom“. That is what Jesus did for Job, and for every one of us who have put our trust in Him. He gave His life as the ransom price to save our souls, and bring us to God. “you were ransomed … not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18-19). Job was spot-on, and spoke the truth – and now we understand why.

So when we read about Job, we should not think: “Job was such a righteous man. I can never live up to that standard. This story does not have any relevance to me”. Or worse: “I need to step up my game so that God will favor me like He did Job”. That is the opposite of what God really wants us to learn. The story of Job is ultimately about the God of Job. He is a God whose wisdom and knowledge infinitely surpasses ours and who is in control of all things, and yet He is also a God who is merciful and gracious and who abounds in steadfast love. As we read this story, we should realize that Job needed redemption and salvation just as much as we do today (and his friends did too, as we get to learn later). Although he did not know about Jesus, he had put His trust in God with the limited revelation he was given. God in turn considered Job righteous, just as He did with every other Old Testament saint (e.g. see Gen 15:6), on the basis of the at-that-time-future work of Jesus on the cross. This is why God could  call him a “blameless” man, just like you and I are blameless before Him (see Heb 9:15). Job’s story is a foreshadowing of our own stories. It tells us that although in Christ we are blameless in God’s sight, God may have reasons why  He wants us to go through extremely trying situations, just like He did for Job. Our final restoration and vindication may not happen in this life, but God guarantees that it is coming, and that it will extend to all of eternity!

Hope for the Future

Thus we get comfort from Scripture. The entire Bible is ultimately a story of God. We read about Him and learn about His character. Every single Bible story (Old and New Testament) is about how people lived. But we also get the additional divine revelation about how God responded to them. We read stories there which serve as warnings to us (see 1 Cor 10:6) or as encouragements to us (see the entire chapter of Hebrews 11). We learn how God thinks. We read about His awesome holiness that would burn any of us to a crisp if we were to go anywhere close. Yet we read about the great mercy and compassion He has towards us even though we do not deserve any of it. We read about His Beloved Son whom He sent, who at great cost opened the way to God by His death on the cross, shielding us from the lethal rays of God’s righteous holiness by His own blood (John 3:16). And we also read the countless promises that assure us that God is faithful. “For all the promises of God find their Yes in Him” (2 Cor 1:20). As we read, we learn to trust in Him more and more, to fall in love with Him, and to turn aside and worship.

This is what enables us to press on and live by faith and hope, through the most trying of circumstances.

https://www.christianity.com/wiki/god/why-should-we-worship-god.html

Before discussing why we should worship God, it would be good to understand just what worship is. For many Christians, worship is what we do on Sunday morning. Singing a few songs, listening to a teaching, sharing communion/Eucharist, and doing whatever else is scheduled for the Sunday morning meeting time.

But worship is so much more than that. And, all too often, what we call worship is not really worship at all. What we call worship is all too often entertainment. And we evaluate the effectiveness of worship by how it makes us feel. But worship is really about what we give. Not what we receive.
Worship is bowing before our superior, in this case, God. True worship costs us something.

In Romans 12:1 that cost is described as the sacrifice of self. When we come before God in worship, we humbly give ourselves up to his Lordship, proclaiming that he is worthy and exalting him in praise.

Because He Is the Alpha and the Omega

Because He Is the Creator

In the fourth chapter of Revelation, John sees a vision of God on his throne in heaven. And surrounding the throne are four living creatures and 24 elders. They are worshiping God and saying,

“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”

They are proclaiming that God is worthy of our worship because he created all things. Because all things have their being in him.

Because He Is Lord

In 1 Chronicles 16:29, we are told to “ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering and come before him. Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.” The Lord alone is worthy of our adoration and worship. The Psalms are filled with calls to praise the Lord including Psalm 95:6, “Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.” And Jesus also tells us that “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”

Because He Is the Redeemer

God is worthy of my worship because he is my creator and Lord. But he is much more than that. Throughout the pages of the Bible, you can find him working to call people to himself. And, more personally, he has called me to himself.

I am a sinful human. One who was separated from the love of God by my sin. But God provided a suitable sacrifice for my sin. He imputed to me the righteousness of Christ. He adopted me into his family. And he has prepared an eternal future for me with himself.

Because He Is Worthy

In the end, everyone will bow before God and worship him as Lord. When we all stand before him, his glory and majesty will overwhelm each one. We will bow then, not because we are forced to, but simply because we will acknowledge that he is worthy of our worship.

But how much better if we worship him now. He is our creator, Lord, and redeemer. Our natural response to him should be to mimic the elders and living creatures in Revelation 4:9-10 and bow before him,

Worship in Spirit and Truth

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/what-does-it-mean-to-worship-god-in-spirit-and-truth/

To say that we must worship God “in spirit” means, among other things, that it must originate from within, from the heart; it must be sincere, motivated by our love for God and gratitude for all he is and has done. Worship cannot be mechanical or formalistic. That does not necessarily rule out certain rituals or liturgy. But it does demand that all physical postures or symbolic actions must be infused with heartfelt commitment and faith and love and zeal.

But the word “spirit” here may also be a reference to the Holy Spirit—there’s disagreement among good Bible scholars. The apostle Paul said that Christians “worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh” (Phil. 3:3).

It’s the Holy Spirit who awakens in us an understanding of God’s beauty and splendor and power. It’s the Holy Spirit who stirs us to celebrate and rejoice and give thanks. It’s the Holy Spirit who opens our eyes to see and savor all that God is for us in Jesus. It’s the Holy Spirit who, I hope and pray, orchestrates our services and leads us in corporate praise of God.

This worship, however, must also be “in truth.” This is easier for us to understand, for it obviously means that our worship must conform to the revelation of God in Scripture. It must be informed by who God is and what he is like.

Our worship must be rooted in and tethered to the realities of biblical revelation. God forbid that we should ever sing heresy. Worship is not meant to be formed by what feels good, but by the light of what’s true.

Genuine, Christ-exalting worship must never be mindless or based in ignorance. It must be doctrinally grounded and focused on the truth of all we know of our great Triune God. To worship inconsistently with what is revealed to us in Scripture ultimately degenerates into idolatry.

True Worship

https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/what-is-worship

Let’s start with the inner essence of worship and then work out to the more public expressions of worship services or daily acts of love, which Paul calls our “spiritual worship” (Romans 12:1).

The reason I make the distinction between the inner essence of worship and the external expression of it is because I think Jesus did in Matthew 15:8–9: “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me.”

For Jesus, this worship amounts to zero. That is what “vain” means. “In vain do they worship me.” Zero. It is not worship. This is a zero worship. It is zero if there is no heart dimension to it. So, you can do as many deeds as you want and go to as many church services as you want and never be worshiping if it is all external and nothing is happening in your heart toward God. All true worship is in essence a matter of the heart. It is more, but it is not less.

Then the question becomes: What is this inner, authentic, Godward experience of the heart that we call the essence of worship? Jesus pointed us toward an answer in John 4:23–24 when he said, “The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” Notice that worshiping in spirit is not contrasted with worshiping in the body or with the body. Instead, it is put alongside worshiping in truth.

Secondly, worship depends on a right spiritual or emotional or affectional heart-grasp of God’s supreme value. So true worship is based on a right understanding of God’s nature, and it is a right valuing of God’s worth.

So, here is my summary: The inner essence of worship is to know God truly and then respond from the heart to that knowledge by valuing God, treasuring God, prizing God, enjoying God, being satisfied with God above all earthly things. And then that deep, restful, joyful satisfaction in God overflows in demonstrable acts of praise from the lips and demonstrable acts of love in serving others for the sake of Christ.

Essence of Worship

https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-inner-essence-of-worship

Now I take it as a given that worship, whether an inner act of the heart, or an outward act of the body, or of the congregation collectively, is a magnifying of God. That is, it is an act that shows how magnificent God is. It is an act that reveals or expresses how great and glorious he is. Worship is all about reflecting the worth or value of God.
What inner experience of the heart does that? If the essence of worship is not mere outward form, but inner, Godward experience, what experience reveals and expresses how great and glorious God is? To answer that question we go to Philippians 1:20–21.

Notice from verse 20 what Paul’s mission in life is. He says it is “my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted [the key word, “magnified” — shown to be great and glorious] in my body, whether by life or by death.” So what Paul is saying is that his earnest hope and passion is that what he does with his body, whether in life or death, will always be worship. In life and death, his mission is to magnify Christ — to show that Christ is magnificent, to exalt Christ, and demonstrate that he is great. That’s plain from verse 20: “that Christ shall be exalted in my body, whether by life or death.”
This means that we can now say that the inner essence of worship is cherishing Christ as gain — indeed as more gain than all that life can offer — family, career, retirement, fame, food, friends. The essence of worship is experiencing Christ as gain. Or to use words that we love to use around here: it is savoring Christ, treasuring Christ, being satisfied with Christ. This is the inner essence of worship. Because, Paul says, experiencing Christ as gain in death is the way he is exalted in death.

“Worship is giving God the best that He has given you. Be careful what you do with the best you have. Whenever you get a blessing from God, give it back to Him as a love gift. Take time to meditate before God and offer the blessing back to Him in a deliberate act of worship. If you hoard a thing of blessing for yourself, it will turn into spiritual dry rot, as the mama did when it was hoarded [Exodus 16]. God will never let you hold a spiritual thing for yourself, it has to be given back to Him that He may make it a blessing to others.” – Oswald Chambers

“ The best preparation for worship is not a rehearsal but surrender “ – A.W. Tozer

Chapter 28 Questions

1. Look up these verses , and share how they make you feel / think about God
   • Psalm 96:4-9
   • Psalm 29:1-2
   • 1 Chronicles 16:25-29
   • Psalm 86:12
2. Pg 217: Fill in the blanks ! “ Worship is the _________ of all our nature to God . It is the __________ of _________ by His holiness ; the ___________ of mind with His truth ; the __________ of the imagination by His beauty; the ________ of the ___________ to His love ; the _________ of _________ to His purpose. “
3. Discuss William Temple’s definition of worship (above)
4. Pg 217-218: “The heart is the control center of our inner person“ ( Thrasher ) How do we give our mind , emotion and will when we worship?
5. Pg 219- 220: Discuss what unacceptable worship looks like .
6. Share thoughts , insights from the book or the notes.

He Gives us the Right to Become Children of God (John 1:12)

“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12), John has said that His own people rejected Him. But there was a counterpart. Some did in fact receive Him. John calls this “believing in His name”. This is what it means to believe in Jesus. It is not just an intellectual belief that He lived and died as a historical figure. It means to accept all that He is – God Himself and to throw the weight of our lives on this knowledge and trust Him completely. John says that to all who do this, He gives them the right to be called children of God. We had looked at this profound truth in more depth when we studied Paul’s letter to the Galatians.

We saw last week that the reason why John wrote this Gospel is so that we as the readers will be confronted with the magnificent portrait of Jesus, and to receive Him – to put our trust in Him. By believing in this way, we will have “life in His name” (John 20:31),  and in fact become the adopted children of God. As children, we will get to inherit all of God’s wealth – the universe itself, and live in His presence forever – that is enjoy eternal life. Here we see that most people do not get to have this experience. Most people reject Jesus. But John is inviting us to be among the minority that do not reject Jesus but receive Him and believe Him for who He is!

He Helps Us Know God (John 1:18)

No one Has Ever Seen God (John 1:18)

John is asserting a fact here. God is invisible. Paul describes Jesus as the One “who alone has immortality, how dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see” (1 Tim 6:16).

He Has Come From the Father’s Side (John 1:18)

However, this same Jesus, chose to come down from heaven – from the Father’s side, and to become man.

He Makes God Known (John 1:18)

This Jesus makes God known. Jesus said the same thing to Nicodemus: “If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man” (John 3:12-13). What a privilege we have, to actually know the God who could not possibly have been known unless He had chosen to reveal Himself to us. Yet this is what He did through all of Scripture, and ultimately in the Person of Jesus Christ!

When we see Jesus, we are actually seeing God. Jesus said “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9)

We Can Still See God in Jesus

You may think – “Oh no! I did not live at that time. I lost the opportunity to see God”. But that is not true. There are two reasons

Firstly, we have just seen that when He was on earth, the world did not recognize Him. That would most likely have been our lot if we lived at that time. Remember Isaiah said that there was nothing attractive in Him as a human being, and only those who saw Him with opened spiritual eyes could actually see His glory (see John 9:39-41). Today as believers, we have the Holy Spirit living in us. He is the one who opens our spiritual eyes when we read the Bible. And when we read with opened spiritual eyes, this is how Paul describes it: “We all, with unveiled faces, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Cor 3:18). This is what we are doing when we study the Bible together. We are getting to see God in His glory through the words of Scripture and the illumination of the Holy Spirit. We see God with the eyes of our heart (Eph 1:18) that are wide open and able to see God. We are privileged to be alive today, with the Bible as accessible as it is (it has only been this way in the last few centuries), with this opportunity of revelation.

Secondly, the Bible says that this life is not all there is. There is eternal life to follow. That is where we fully experience what it means to be children of God. That is when we have unfettered access into the Presence of God Himself, and will actually “see Him as He is” in all of His glory, and that joy will never end (see 1 John 3:2 and John 17:24).

Application

If we ask “what is God like”, a very good place to start is to see God in the Person of Jesus. In Jesus, we see a God full of compassion and grace who is the embodiment of truth.

Let us do a quick recap of the prologue of John’s Gospel. What is John actually saying here? He is climbing a ladder here. He starts by asserting that God is invisible and cannot be seen. This God existed before time, and is the Creator of the universe. Then He says that this God revealed Himself by giving the law through Moses. This helped us to better understand what God was like. But He was too holy and too scary for most people to think they could have an intimate relationship with Him (although some even in the Old Testament who got to know Him, did). But then, God became human. And as a human being, he walked and talked with us, and spoke to us and taught us. And the promise is that when we put our trust in Jesus, He will give us the right to become children of God! God is just not knowable, but He is knowable as our Heavenly Father.

Thus, as we see in this passage, when we read Scripture, God came not just to stock our heads with knowledge, and not just to show us grace, but to give us grace; and we must receive it. Don’t spurn this grace. Receive it. And let your hearts be filled with everlasting joy as children of God.

Questions to Dig Deeper

1. Jesus said “it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper [the Holy Spirit] will not come to you. But if I go I will send him to you” (John 16:7). Do you see that living at now an advantage compared to if we had lived at the time of Jesus? Explain why you feel this way.
2. When you think about God in the Old Testament, do you see Him differently compared to what you see in Jesus? Discuss what appears the same or different, and what it means.
3. If no one has seen God at any time, how was it possible for people to not only see Jesus, but to  interact with Him and even touch Him? What do you understand about the nature of Jesus while He was on earth?
4. What is preventing you from knowing God intimately, the way John describes in his prologue?
5. What do you think John means by saying Jesus gave those who believed in His name the right to become children of God?

The Gospel of John was written by John, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus while He was on earth.

An Eyewitness

He was an eyewitness of Jesus, who witnessed the events recorded here, first hand. How do we know this?

Five times in this Gospel we find one of Jesus’ disciples referenced as: “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 13:23, John 19:26, John 20:2, John 20:7, John 21:20). For example, we see him leaning on Jesus’ shoulder during the last supper (John 13:23). Then, at the very end it says, “Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them” (John 21:20). And finally the author identifies himself! Four verses later he says, “This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things and who has written these things” (John 21:24).

There are other interesting curiosities. This Gospel never mentions the disciple John anywhere. This would not make sense, unless John himself was the author! Also, he refers to John the Baptist as just John. The other Gospel writers distinguish him to avoid confusion.

Inspired By God to Write

One of the reasons that I say it is divinely inspired is that this is what Jesus promised to do. He said: “The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (John 14:26) And He also said, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak” (John 16:13).

In other words, Jesus chose his apostles as his representatives, saved them, taught them, sent them, and then gave them, through the Holy Spirit, divine guidance in the writing of Scripture for the foundation of the church (Ephesians 2:20). We believe that John’s Gospel is therefore, the inspired word of God.

When was The Gospel of John Written?

There is nothing in the gospel itself that helps us see when it was written. For this we need to look at external evidence.

A papyrus fragment was found in Egypt in the early 2nd century, which gives us an upper bound to the date of John, given that it also needs to have been copied and to have been available in Egypt. The advanced theology in John makes it likely that it was written later. Many place it in the last decade of the 1st century, when John was an old man. However, other scholars think it had to be before AD 70 for two reasons. First, the destruction of Jerusalem is not mentioned here, and second, John does not use any of the material of the other three gospels. Regardless of when it was written, John had ample time to digest the significance of all that he had been an eye-witness of (and let us not forget, Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would aid him in that), and that is clear from his choice of material.

Purpose – That We May Believe

The Gospel of John is a portrait of Jesus Christ and his saving work. It focuses on the last three years of Jesus’s life and especially on his death and resurrection. It’s purpose is clear near the end of the book: “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:30-31).

Since John wants us to believe in Jesus, we find another theme running through the book. He peppers it with incidents of people who believe. Some have false belief, and some have true belief that saves. By providing us multiple examples, John is explaining what it means to truly believe in Jesus. We will point this out as we go through the gospel.

The book is written to help people believe in Jesus and have eternal life. Reading this gospel, we are confronted with a magnificent portrait of Jesus, and are also confronted with whether we choose to believe that He is who He said He is, or if He was an imposter or blasphemer. In order to do this, John records selected incidents and discourses from the life of Jesus, along with different people’s reactions to Him. All the while, John is inviting us the readers  to make our own decision about Jesus. His hope is that we will conclude that Jesus was really who He said He was, “the Christ the Son of God, and by believing we will have life in His Name”.

Intended Readers – Non-Christians and Christians

John carefully selects a few miracles of Jesus that he calls “signs”. They were intended to not just be miraculous acts, but things that Jesus did that acts as signposts to who He was.

John also lists a few statements called “I am” statements. This harks back to God speaking to Moses through the burning bush and revealing Himself as the “I am”. Jesus naturally takes up this title, and thus claims to be God. He even once said “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). We will be keeping our eyes out for these as well.

However, we should not assume that the book is meant just for unbelievers. Believers in Jesus must go on believing in Jesus in order to be saved in the end. Jesus said in John 15:6, “If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.” And in John 8:31, he said, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples”.

In addition to awakening faith in people who have not put their faith in Jesus, it also sustains and strengthens the faith of those who do. And there may be no better book in the Bible to help us keep on trusting Jesus. Even as I study this book to teach it, my own faith is getting strengthened, as I pray will happen to each of you over the next few months.

In The Beginning Was The Word (John 1:1-3)

In this study, we will focus on the first three verses of John 1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:1-3).

Jesus is “The Word”

The first statement is. “In the beginning was the Word.” What or who is this “Word”? The answer is made clear in verse 14: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14) The Word refers to Jesus Christ.

In this book, John is going to tell us the story of what Jesus Christ did and what he taught. This is a book about the life and work of the man Jesus Christ — the man that John knew and saw and heard and touched with his hands (1 John 1:1). He was a human being, and not a ghost or an apparition. He ate and drank and got tired. John knew this man intimately by having lived with him for three years. In addition, Jesus’s mother lived with John in the last part of her life (John 19:26).

John wants to tell us who Jesus is before we start reading about Him. For John it took over three years to really understand who Jesus was. He does not want his readers to play this guessing game. He tells us right up front. He wants us to have in our minds, fixed and clear, from the very beginning of his Gospel, about the eternal majesty and deity of Jesus Christ, and that He is the Creator of the universe.

Jesus in His Infinite Majesty

John wants us to read the gospel worship-fully, humbly submissively and full of awe at the man at the wedding, at the well, the one who could control the seas, heal a paralytic and make a man born blind to see – that He is the Creator of the universe. This is what John wants us to see and to feel as we read this. He wants us to think about the stupendous fact that this man was God. This is why John starts the book this way – the way God meant for him to put it together. You or I may have written this story along with a detailed commentary on the meanings of various events. John does none of that. He just lays it up front as to who Jesus is, and then invites us to see for ourselves. This is what Jesus told the first two disciples who approached Him: “Come and see” (John 1:39). This is what we are invited to do as well. To come, to see and to believe!

John says, “In the very first words out of the end of my pen, I will stun you and blow you away with the identity of this man who became flesh and dwelt among us.” John means for us to read every word of this Gospel with the clear, solid, amazed knowledge that Jesus Christ was with God and was God and that the one who laid down his life for us (John 15:13) created the universe. John wants us to know and believe in a magnificent Savior. Whatever else you may enjoy about Jesus, John wants you to know and see Jesus in his infinite majesty. This is why he says speaking of himself and the other disciples “We have seen His glory” (John 1:14). He wants us to see His glory too!

Why ‘Word’?

But still, we may wonder: why did he choose to call Jesus “the Word?” “In the beginning was the Word” (John 1:1). For one thing, John has both Jewish and Gentile readers. He has his Gentile readers in mind, because he often explains Jewish customs in his narrative. Greek philosophy elevated reason to the highest place as the cause of the universe (the Greek word is Logos). Jewish readers thought about the creation of the world as described in Genesis and arising from God’s Word (“and God said … “). So by using this term, He was using a term that would be understood by all his readers. But John makes this “Word” personal. John had come to see the words of Jesus and the Person of Jesus as the embodiment of the truth of God in such a unified way that Jesus himself — in his coming, and working, and teaching, and dying and rising — was the final and decisive message of God. Or to put it more simply: what God had to say to us was not only or mainly what Jesus said, but who Jesus was and what he did. His words clarified himself and his work. But He Himself and his work were the main truth God was revealing. Jesus said, “I am the truth,” (John 14:6).

Jesus came to witness the truth (John 18:37) and he was the truth (John 14:6). His witness and his Person were the Word of truth. He said, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples” (John 8:31), and he said, “Abide in me” (John 15:7). When we abide in him we are abiding in the word. He said that his works were a “witness” about him (John 5:36; 10:25). In other words, even in everything He did, He was the Word.

Jesus: God’s Decisive, Final Message

In Revelation 19:13 (by the same author as the Gospel), he describes Jesus’s glorious return: “He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is the Word of God.” Jesus is called The Word of God, as he returns to earth. Two verses later John says, “From his mouth comes a sharp sword” (Revelation 19:15). In other words, Jesus strikes the nations in the power of the word of God that he speaks — the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17). But the power of this word is so united with Jesus himself that John says that he doesn’t just have a sword of God’s word coming out of his mouth, but he is the Word of God.

So as John begins his Gospel, he has in view all the revelation, all the truth, all the witness, all the glory, all the light, all the words that come out of Jesus in his living and teaching and dying and rising, and he sums up all that revelation of God with the name: he is “the Word” — the first, final, ultimate, decisive, absolutely true and reliable Word. The meaning is the same as Hebrews 1:1–2: “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son” (Heb 1:1-2). The Son of God incarnate is God’s climactic and decisive Word to the world.

What does John Say About Jesus?

What does John want to tell us first about this man Jesus Christ whose deeds and words fill the pages of this Gospel? He wants to tell us four things about Jesus Christ: (1) the time of his existence, (2) the essence of his identity, (3) his relationship to God, and (4) his relationship to the world.

The Time of His Existence

John begins with: “In the beginning was the Word” (John 1:1). This is similar to how the Bible begins in Genesis: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen 1:1). That is not an accident, because the first thing John is going to tell us about what Jesus did is that he created the universe. That’s what he says in verse 3. So the words “in the beginning” mean: before there was any created matter, before time existed there was the Word, the Son of God.

Remember: “These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God” (John 20:31). John begins his Gospel by locating Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God, even before time. Jude exults in this truth with his great doxology: “To the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen” (Jude 1:25). Paul says in 2 Timothy 1:9 that God gave us grace in Christ Jesus “before the times of the ages.” So before there was any time or any matter, there was the Word, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. That is who we will meet in this Gospel.

The Essence of His Identity

Verse 1 ends: “The Word was God” (Gen 1:1). One of the marks of this Gospel is that the weightiest doctrines are often delivered in the simplest words. Someone has said that it is good for a child to wade and an elephant to swim! This could not get simpler — and it could not get deeper. The Word, who became flesh and dwelt among us, Jesus Christ, was and is God.

Every Christian worships Jesus Christ as God. We fall down with Thomas before Jesus in John 20:28 and confess with joy and wonder, “My Lord and my God!”

When we hear the Jewish leaders say in John 10:33, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God” we are invited to think, “No, this is not blasphemy. This is who our Savior really is! Our Lord, our God.”

Think about this for a moment. This means that as we study this Gospel, we are getting to know God, because getting to know Jesus is getting to know God. Do you see what this means for our series on the Gospel of John? It means that we are going to spend week after week getting to know God, as we get to know Jesus. Do you want to know God? Then “Come and see”!

His Relationship to God

The middle of verse 1 says: “The Word was with God” (John 1:1). This is the heart of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. Jesus was with God. He was different to God, yet He was also “God”.

Let this statement sink in your minds. The Word, Jesus Christ was with God, and he was God. He is God, and he has a relationship with God. He is God, and he is the image of God, perfectly reflecting all that God is and standing forth from all eternity as the fullness of deity in a distinct Person. There is one divine essence and three persons. Two of them are mentioned here. The Father and the Son. We learn those names later on in the book. The Holy Spirit will be introduced later.

This may be hard to understand, but God has given us this truth for a reason. Let us not discard it because we do not understand it. If Jesus Christ is not God, he could not have saved us. But because He is God, He will be able to satisfy the deepest longings and aspirations of our souls for all eternity. This is why He describes Himself as Living Water, so that if we drink of Him we will never thirst again. As Piper says: “If you throw away the deity of Jesus Christ, you throw away your soul and with it all your joy in the age to come”.

His Relationship to the World

John continues: “He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:2-3). The Word who became flesh and dwelt among us, taught us, healed us, rebuked us, protected us, loved us, and died for us, created the universe. Remember to retain the mystery of the Trinity from verse 1. Don’t leave it as soon as you get to verse 3. “All things were made through him.” Yes, another was acting through the Word. God was. But the Word is God. Therefore, don’t let yourself diminish the majesty of the work of Christ as Creator. He was the Father’s agent, or Word, in the creation of all things. But in doing it, he was God. God, the Word, created the world. Your Savior, your Lord, your Friend — Jesus is your Maker.

John makes one more statement here, that affirms that Jesus is God Himself. Muslims and Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that Jesus was not God, but was the highest created Being. John 3 sets that to rest once and for all. He did not just say, “All things were made through him.” You might think that is enough to settle it. Jesus is not a creature he created creatures. But someone could conceivably argue, “Yes, but ‘all things’ does not include himself.” It includes everything but himself. So he was created by the Father, but then with the Father created all other things.

But John did not leave it at that. He said, in addition “and without him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:3). What do these final words “that was made” add to the meaning of “without him was not anything made”? They add this: they make explicit and emphatic and crystal clear that anything in the category of made, Christ made it. Therefore, Jesus was not “made”. He always was! He is the eternal “I am”.

May God enable us to see His glory!

Ravi: I was a young man with a good job. But I was restless. Something was missing in my life. I started having a deep desire for God. I believed there is a God, a higher power in control of our universe. But I didn’t know how to find Him or reach Him. I began seeking God in the religion of my family. I performed all the rituals at home and in the temple, I gave alms to the poor, I fasted and prayed. But I just could not get close to God. I felt that there was a deep, wide gulf separating me from God. I looked around at other religions. The pathway to God in every religion came to a stop at the gulf! “How do I cross this big gulf and reach God?” I thought in despair.

One day I heard a message that the gulf between me and God are my SINS! God is holy and pure. I’m full of sin. My sins are keeping me from reaching God! “God, what do I do?” I cried in despair. “There is hope for you,” the message said. “Lord Jesus, God’s Son, has bridged the gulf between you and God when He died on the cross for your sins.”I ran to Jesus and knelt at His feet. “Lord, I’m so sorry for all my sins. Please forgive me and accept me,” I cried. The Lord Jesus gladly forgave my sins because He has paid my punishment on the cross. And He washed me clean of all the dark stains of sin. Jesus now took my hand and together we turned towards the gulf. To my amazement, I saw a bridge across the gulf! It was in the shape of a cross. I followed my Lord over the bridge and reached God the Father, who was waiting for me on the other side! My joy knew no bounds! I fell at God’s feet and worshiped Him. I looked back across the gulf of sins. There were many people along many pathways desperately trying to reach God. But they all came to a stop at the gulf! There was no way for them to cross the gulf. They could not cross the big gulf of their sins by their own efforts. They were crying out to God, but could not reach Him, just like me before I came to the Lord Jesus. But I saw that many people, who came to Jesus and had their sins forgiven, we’re all crossing the big gulf joyfully with him and were reaching God and were rejoicing!

Now I understood the truth of what Lord Jesus says in the Bible: “I am the WAY and the TRUTH and the LIFE. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6

This is Ravi’s spiritual journey. He has now left his old life of sin and lives a pure new life for his Savior, the Lord Jesus. And he wants to tell everyone where they can find the way to God!

How about you, my friend? Have you come to the Lord Jesus and obtained forgiveness for your sins and joyfully found the way to God?

Prayer: “Lord Jesus, I believe with all my heart You are the only Way to Holy God.Thank You for forgiving my sins and taking me to God by your sacrifice on the cross for me. Amen.”

”The Lord Jesus replied: 

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”  Mark 12:30

“How do I love God this way?” I wondered.  Then Holy Spirit shone his light in my heart and showed me.

God wants me to love him with all of me!  He wants my total and complete devotion! He wants me to give Him first place in my life! 

I look back on all that God has done for me: 

He created me in my mother’s womb and gave me life. He has given me all the blessings I enjoy in this life.

He gave his own Son to save me from my sinful ways and has given me a new life.

He has given me his Holy Spirit to be with me and guide me till the end of my life.

He has promised to be with me always in all the trials and cares of this life, guide me and take care of me.

He has prepared a home for me in heaven, to live with Him forever.

How can I not love my God who has blessed me with so much?

Then I wondered: How do I show my love for God? Again Holy Spirit shone His light in my heart and showed me.

First and foremost, I show my love for God by hating what He hates:  SIN

In the next lesson, we will see what sin is according to God.

Prayer: “ Heavenly Father, please help me to love You with all of me.”

The answer is “No, there is one God”. Then how?

God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are three different Persons. They do different work in our lives. But they are ONE in nature, one in purpose, and they do everything together. They are always united as One God and they are equal with one another. When we worship one of them, we are worshiping all three. When we pray to one, all three hear us and answer our prayers.

Together they are sometimes called The Trinity or The Triune God– Three in one God by the church.

The Gospel or the Good News of the Lord Jesus is this:

God the Father, loves us very much. He does not want us to be separated from Him by our sins. So He planned our salvation. He sent His own Son to bring us back to Him.

God the Son, the Lord Jesus, came, paid our punishment on the cross, and rose from the dead. He gave us victory over sin and Satan. He gives us eternal life.

God, the Holy Spirit, now lives in us. He gives us the power to live a new, pure life for God.

This is beautifully expressed in this song: “Thank You, O my Father, for giving us the Son And leaving Your Spirit till Your work on earth is done.”

“This is what love is: not that we loved God, but He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice for our sins.” 1 John 4:10 Are you amazed that God would love us this way? But, it is true! So let us rejoice and be glad!!

Prayer: “Dear Father, I worship You and praise You for Your infinite love for me in giving me Your salvation through Your Son and for giving me Your Holy Spirit to live this earthly life for You. Amen.”

After He died and came alive, the Lord Jesus spent forty days with His disciples teaching them and giving them instructions. He said: “The Holy Spirit will come to you. He will give you the power to tell the whole world about Me.” after He said this, He went up to heaven as they watched.

On a Jewish festival day called ‘Pentecost’, many disciples had come together to pray. Just as the Lord Jesus said, all of them received the Holy Spirit that day! The disciples had been very afraid of the people who had killed the Lord Jesus and they had been hiding. When the Holy Spirit came, he gave all of them the courage to boldly face everyone and tell them about the Lord Jesus and the salvation He gives.

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God. The moment we receive the Lord Jesus as our Savior, the Holy Spirit comes to live in our hearts! 

And the wonderful truth is: 

Through the Holy Spirit, God our Father, and the Lord Jesus our Savior, also live in our hearts! Can we be any more blessed than this?

In the next lesson, we will learn about the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Prayer: “Thank You, Father, for your gift of the Holy Spirit to be with us always and to guide us.”

He says, “I and my Father (God) are one” – making it clear that He is God’s Son and He is equal with God. He says in John 14: 6: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  No one comes to the Father except by Me.”- telling us clearly He is the only way to God. He teaches them how to live God’s way – the opposite of our sinful human way.

He says: 

• “I forgive you.  You too should forgive everyone who has offended you.”
• “Love your enemies. Do good to them. Pray for them.”
• “If you want to be greatest in God’s kingdom, be the least person of all.”
• “I have come to serve.  Be a servant, just like Me.
• Love one another, as I have loved you.”

Our hearts are lifted as we listen to Him. We don’t want to leave His side! He still speaks to us and teaches us through the Bible. Let us eagerly listen to Him!

Prayer: “Lord Jesus, Thank You for teaching me how to live as Your follower. Please help me to obey You always, my Lord.”

Another day, He sees that the people who follow Him are hungry. There are more than 5000 people!  He does not want to send them away hungry. One little boy gives Jesus his lunch. Jesus blesses it and there is enough food for all the people and lots leftover! Now He is on a boat on the Sea of Galilee. A big storm comes up and His disciples are terrified. He gives a command and the wind and the storm stops immediately! 

Another time He walks on water on the sea when his disciples were in the boat and comes to them. He often forgives people’s sins as He heals them.  He tells them having their sins forgiven is even more important than healing for their body. He changes the lives of everyone who comes seeking Him. A tax collector who cheated people, a woman caught in adultery, a religious leader, and many others receive forgiveness and new life from Him. The Lord Jesus proves that He is God by many, many outer and inner miracles. I believe He is God who came down to earth. Do you believe also, my friend?

Prayer: “Dear Lord Jesus, You are a miracle-working God. I want to follow You all my life.”