Group Bible Study

We are looking at the interactions between the leaders and Jesus during the last week before the crucifixion. After Christ overturned the money changers tables in the Court of the Gentiles in the temple precincts, the chief priests and leaders felt that the situation was getting out of their control with the crowd hanging on to His every word (Luke 19:48). Their jealousy and fear of losing their financial empire made them acknowledge that their efforts to stop Christ’s popularity had little effect. They said, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him” (John 12:19). They decided that they had to try to undermine the people’s faith in Christ’s spiritual authority. They thought to ask Him about His certificate of ordination to be a Rabbi. What religious school had taught Him, and under whose authority was He doing these things? Of course, they knew He had attended no “seminary” or “yeshiva” and that He had no formal authority from men. This tactic, t...

In our daily meditations, we are looking at some of the teachings of the Lord Jesus. After Christ went into the temple courts and threw out the money changers, the religious leaders plotted to kill Jesus because of His challenge to their authority. In front of many hundreds of people in attendance in the courts of the temple, Jesus spoke this parable: 9 And He began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and rented it out to vine-growers, and went on a journey for a long time.   10 “At the   harvest   time he sent a slave to the vine-growers so that they would give him   some   of the produce of the vineyard; but the vine-growers beat him and sent him away empty-handed.   1 1 “And he proceeded to send another slave; and they beat him also and treated him shamefully and sent him away empty-handed.   12 “And he proceeded to send a third; and this one also they wounded and cast out.   13 “The owner of the vineyard said, ‘W...

Jesus said, “I know my sheep, and my sheep know me” (John 10:14). The Lord is intimately acquainted with us and knows us inside out. Theologians have a big word for this ability of God  to know everything about us; they say that God is omniscient. He knows all things at all times. There is nothing God does not know. He never had to learn it; He doesn’t have to read up on the day’s happenings. He is not surprised by anything. The Lord Jesus, being God in the flesh, has the same perfect knowledge and complete understanding of all that goes on. Perfect knowledge is the accurate possession of the facts. Perfect wisdom is the proper application of the facts, and perfect understanding means that He fully perceives and interprets the facts. Omniscience makes God infallible; He is incapable of error or omission (Psalm 139:1-10). How beautiful to know that, even though He knows everything about us, He still loves us and cares for us. He indeed is the Good Shepherd—the lovely One! The...

In our daily meditations, we are continuing on the theme of Jesus being the Good Shepherd, the One who laid down His life for His sheep. Here’s the passage: 7 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep.  8 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture.  10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.  11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.  12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it.  13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.  14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sh...

We are continuing to look at the confrontation between Jesus and the Pharisees and ruling elders after the Lord healed the man born blind on the Sabbath (John 9). When John wrote his Gospel, there were no chapter divisions, so we should read the following verses of Jesus’ teaching in the context of the treatment by the Pharisees of the man healed of blindness. The leaders excommunicated the man and, at the same time, scorned him and accused him of being born in sin (John 9:34). Jesus had sharp but honest words about the false shepherds of Israel: 1 “Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber.  2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.  3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his sheep by name and leads them out.  4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him ...

After Jesus healed the man born blind in John 9, all hell broke loose because of the healing. The joy of the man healed was not allowed to continue, for the religious leaders were incensed at the implications of the healing. The man was probably well known by many due to his begging at the city gates. When people saw him full of joy at his healing, they wanted to know what had happened to him, for who had ever heard of someone healing a man blind from birth? This healing by Jesus was particularly significant. To cure a person born blind would also beg the question: how did they deal with the sin problem? Jesus had healed the blind before this occurrence, but this was the first time a man was healed who had been blind  from birth . When people heard that it was Jesus Who performed the miracle they took the healed man to the Pharisees (John 9:13). Perhaps those who brought him were sympathetic to Jesus and wanted to prove that Jesus was Who He said He was: The Messiah of Israel....

In our daily meditations, we are looking at the confrontation between the Lord Jesus and the influential religious leaders of the day. They didn't like the fact that Christ claimed to be THE Light of Israel (John 8:12), so the leaders began attacking Him vigorously. Jesus responded by shining light into their dark hearts. There is a general philosophy in our day that God is the Father of all humankind. In a certain sense the statement is true, for He created our physical bodies and gave us a spirit, mind, will, and emotions, but it is not true that He is our Father until we are born again (John 3:3). Jesus said that there are two kinds of people in this world: those who are on His side, and those who belong to the devil and are deceived by him, and do his work: He who is  not with me is against me , and he who does not gather with me scatters (Matthew 12:30). As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live  when you followed t...

In our daily meditations, we are continuing to look at some of the teachings of the Lord Jesus. In a confrontation with the ruling powers of the day, Jesus told them they could be set free:  “ Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:32).  Knowing the truth will set us free. The Greek term translated  "set you free"  suggests being released from indentured servanthood. In the ancient world, when a person didn't have enough money to pay his debts, either he or one of his children was made a slave or servant to the one owed. If someone paid his or her debt, they were released from indentured servanthood, i.e., set free. The truth is that Jesus has paid the sin debt that humanity owed and liberated people from slavery to Satan. The Lord was saying that, if they listened and held to His teaching, then they would know the truth about God’s deliverance from sin, and that truth would keep them in life and set them free from slavery to the po...

There is often a clash of kingdoms when the light is manifest. Earlier that day at the Feast of Tabernacles, the Jews had witnessed Jesus' testimony about His being the giver of the living water (John 7:38), the love and mercy towards the woman caught in the act of adultery (John 8:1-11), and now they hear Christ's testimony about Himself, i.e., that He is  the  Light of the world. His statement of being the light of the world brought another attack from the Jewish leadership. When the light of God is made manifest, those called of God will come to the light; whereas, those who set themselves against the light drawback into darkness: 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.  20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.  21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen pl...

In a prophetic word about the Messiah, God’s Suffering Servant, Isaiah prophesied: I will make you   as a light for the nations ,  that   my salvation may reach to the end of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6). Not only is the Lord Jesus the Light of Israel, but also He is the Light of all nations. From the very beginning of time, God planned to bring forth from all nations a bride for His Son. He said to Abraham,  2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.  3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and  all peoples on earth will be blessed through you ” (Genesis 12:2-3).  All nations of the earth were to be partakers of the heavenly blessing that includes you, dear reader. Hopefully, you have come to a point in your life where you are asking the big questions about life, "Who am I? Why am I here? What reason do I have for living? Where am I ...

We are continuing to talk about Jesus’ statements about Himself at the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem. Later that day as the sun went down, a second ceremony had begun called the Illumination of the Temple. In the temple courts, the Court of the Women had four large lamps or candelabras. The  Mishnah  (Sukkah 5:2-3) tells us that each lamp had four great golden bowls with a ladder at each, thus enabling the younger priests to climb up and fill the bowls with oil and set them alight when it got dark. It must have been an impressive sight. Because the Temple Mount was at a high point in the city, it is said that the blaze of the lamps lit up most of Jerusalem. During the Feast of Tabernacles, the Jewish people were commanded by God to celebrate for seven days (Numbers 29:12), so all night long, there was dancing and rejoicing before the Lord. More than likely as the lamps were lit, Jesus spoke the second of the seven " I Am ” statements found in the Gospel of John. We ...