Passover Night #1
Teachings from the Gospel of John
by
Keith Hunt
PASSOVER NIGHT! It is Passover night, March 28th in the year 2010. It is the night to be much observed by those who have Jesus Christ as their PERSONAL Savior. It should be a night of no hurry, of Scripture reading, of meditation on the LIFE and the DEATH of our Savior, and the FREEDOM from sins and death that is given to us. It may be a night of staying up later, even at the expense of less sleep that usual, for it is a night like no other in the calendar of God. It is written in Exodus 12 that it is a night to be much observed. Of course during this night all in Christ, all baptized members of the body of Christ partake of the symbols of LIFE - the unleavened bread and the cup of the fruit of the vine. I have determined to read through the book of the Gospel of John in the next 24 hours or so. I would like to share with you some of the wonderful truths that are found therein. The Word was in the beginning, the Word was God, and the Word was with God (Two eternal beings were in the beginning as the Godhead). This One God being was the Word, and it was He that did the creating, and nothing that is made, was made without Him. And in Him was LIFE. This Word was made flesh (He was the Immanuel to come as Isaiah told - God with us), and He came to His own (created people in His likeness, as well as coming from the tribe of Judah). The Old Testament law was given through Moses but grace and truth (in its fullness) came through Jesus Christ, the Word (John 1:1-17). No man has EVER seen God the Father! It was the Son of God that has declared Him in all His splendor of perfection and grace and love. John, the baptist that is, was sent to bear witness to that Word of light and truth. He was chosen to prepare a people for the coming of God in the flesh. "The next day John seeing Jesus coming unto him, says, "Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sins of the world" (John 1:29). Yes, our sins can be taken away, blotted out by the blood of Christ. A master in Israel called Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, came to Him by night. Jesus taught him about His purpose: "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up. That whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life" (verses 14-16). Yes, LIFE you can have. It is there for the taking, but the taking means as Jesus went on to teach: "And this is the condemnation, that LIGHT is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that practices evil hates the light, neither comes to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that practices truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are performed in God" (verses 19-21). Do YOU, enjoy LIGHT? Do you WANT it more than darkness? Do you love to find TRUTH? Do you want to be corrected, to grow in grace and knowledge? Do you hunger and thirst after righteousness? And what is righteousness? It is interpreted for you in Psalm 119:172! Maybe during this Passover/Unleavened Bread feast you could read through the letters of the apostle John. They contain clear as a cloudless day in the sun, what the LOVE of God IS! Jesus must needs go through Samaria, and He meets the woman at the well. He tells her about the true water that if a man drinks he will never thirst again, but that water will spring up into everlasting life (John 4:1-14). Jesus tells the woman about her life, and the truth that God wants people who will worship Him in "spirit and in truth" (God's word is truth - see John 17:17; and we are to live by every word of God - see Matthew 4:4) - verse 23-24. Jesus reveals God is a Spirit, that is He is made of Spirit - His form and shape is eternal spirit (verse 24). Jesus' food is to do the WILL of the Father, and to finish the work He is given (verse 34). Are YOU in tune with Jesus my friends, if you are, YOUR desire above all else, will be as Jesus' was. And your work .... well that is for the Father to point you to, it varies for every person in Christ. But be assured you do have a work to do, be it in your family or community or larger yet. Everyone in the body of Christ has work to do for Him. We are not all an eye, or a nose, or hand, or foot, or head, or arm or leg, or toe-nail, but we all have a work and working our work, means Jesus' work moves forward and outward to the world and those who need His light and truth. Ah, from this woman at the well comes many from her town and they entreated Jesus to stay, and He did, for two whole days, teaching and instructing. The result: "And many more BELIEVED because of His own words; And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy sayings; for we have HEARD HIM OURSELVES, and know that this IS INDEED the Christ, the SAVIOR of the world!" (verses 40-42). If YOU want Jesus, if you want the light of man in your life, then LISTEN to Him speak! READ His words in the four Gospels! Let them touch your heart and mind, drink them in, let them become part of you. Love them, meditate on them. Then you will have a PERSONAL relationship with Jesus. Yesterday I received an email from a man who had read my "short biography" on this Website but asked me if I had accepted Jesus as my personal Savior. Obviously the man had not read very much of my Website, or my writings. I was sent to a "church school" at age 6. I "fell in love" with the Bible. I fell in love with the Gospels. I fell in love with the words of Jesus. By the time I was 9 years old I had accepted Jesus as my Savior, I was having a personal relationship with Him and the Father. Well that was me, that was God's doing in my early life. Oh, I was yet to learn the deep things of God (my that is really a life time as we are always to grow in grace and knowledge), but YOU, whatever your age, you can have right now a personal relationship with Jesus and the Father. Just like those Samaritans, they had only two days, but because they were willing to HEAR Him, with a right heart, they BELIEVED, and they walked with him. It does not take years friends to "get a relationship" with Jesus or the Father. It just takes a right heart reading and listening to Their words. Jesus healed a man in chapter 5 verses 1-14. A little later that day (a Sabbath day) Jesus finds the man, and says: "Behold thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee" (verse 14). As we ponder on "sin" during this feast of Unleavened Bread, we need to acknowledge that SOME sins carry a physical penalty. That should not be hard to understand when we think about what "smoking" has done to people physically. So if Jesus did heal your lungs and body from the effects of smoking, then you can see why Jesus said what He said to this man, obviously Christ knew the nitty-gritty of the situation (we are not told), and so advised the man to not physically sin any more. I mean throwing God's grace back in His face, is not being wise at all. We need to honor our physical body, it is the temple of God, as the apostle Paul put it. So during this feast maybe take time to look, or examine, your physical life. Is it in harmony with the physical laws that God wants us to observe so a "worse thing come not upon you." Yes, a Christian pays attention to the physical as well as the spiritual things that are the makeup of the God we say we want to follow and serve. The Son does the Father's will, the Father loves the Son; as the Father has power over death so does the Son. All judgement the Father is committing to the Son, so men should honor the Son as they do the Father. You cannot have one without the other. You must have the Son and the Father (verses 19-23). Those who HEAR the words of Christ and BELIEVE on Him that sent Him to this world, they have everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but are passed from death to life (verse 24). The Bible, and especially the New Testament makes it very clear what "hearing my word" means. The apostle James likened it to looking into a mirror, which is God's word and law, and seeing yourself in the light of that truth and light, you go away DOING something about it. Hearing the word of the Lord means it does not go in one ear and out the other ear, and you continuing in practicing sin! The first chapters of 1 John tell you about being a Christian - it is pretty plain, to those who have their hearts right with God. No PhD needed, no 4 years at some "theology school" - just a few simple passages and verses tell you what the Passover and Unleavened Bread feast means to true Christians. If your heart is right you can be wiser in understanding salvation and the Kingdom of God than all the PhDs in the world. Here in this 5th chapter of John (verses 25-29), Jesus tells us plainly about the truth of the RESURRECTION! ALL who have ever lived will one day be raised from the dead. Some to eternal life, and others to a resurrection that will end in judgement (not "damnation" as the KJV gives). The truth of the RESURRECTION/S - yes more than one, is expounded fully on this Website. Jesus was sent by the Father. His witness to light and truth is in full harmony with the Father. And the Father bears witness of the Son. Jesus tells us that the voice and shape of the Father has never been seen, as was given in chapter 1:18 (verses 30-37). The truth of all that is given and explained in many studies about God on this Website. There are many professing Christians out there today, who "think they have eternal life" but who do not, and many of them have never, "SEARCHED THE SCRIPTURES" (verse 39). They have either lulled themselves to spiritual sleep, or they have been lulled by their preachers and teachers to spiritual sleep. Too MANY are ignorant of the Scriptures, they have no clue as to what the Bible teaches, not even to what Jesus taught in the Gospels. And certainly when it comes to putting some EFFORT into Bible reading and studying, they ain't "searching the scriptures." Jesus taught people TO SEARCH the Scriptures. Are you doing so? Do your beliefs and practices in Christianity come from the Bible or from the teachings and traditions of men, or organizations of men? Jesus had to say to many people in His day "But I know you, that you have NOT the love of God in you!" (verse 42). Now, you should be asking, "What is the love of God?" Do you know? How about asking the minister you may look to? How about asking yourself and him/her (now that we have ordained women in popular Christianity), "Please give me some clear Bible definitions as to what is 'the love of God'." Well you or they should be turning to the letters of John, and some verses also later in the Gospel of John. Again, you don't need some PhD to find the answer to this question. Why a child can understand! Oh look at verses 43-47! How many today are looking to "men" (or women) for Bible understanding; men who often scratch each other's back - this one gives an endorsement of that one's book, and visa-versa. They honor one another, and none of them SEEK the honor that comes from God only. I try always to honor God. I have studies on this Website that are going to kick many people, and "church leaders" right where it hurts (and I think you know where that is). Such do not need my accusing. The very Word of God, the Bible, will accuse them. The religious leaders of Jesus' day were accused by the very writings of Moses, whom they claimed to read. Moses wrote about the truth of the coming Messiah, and they would not believe it. Hence they would not believe the words of that Messiah when He came. So it is today, people will not search or believe the Scriptures; they give honor to men but will not honor God, by searching, reading, and believing the Word of God! It was the Passover and Jesus went up into a mountain, and He sat with His disciples. He lifted up His eyes and saw this huge company coming to Him. He performed a mighty miracle of feeding about 5,000 from just five barley loaves (they would have been unleavened) and two small fish. Many seeing such a miracle believed that this was indeed the "prophet that should come into the world" (Chapter 6:1-14). Will it take YOU seeing such a miracle to believe in Jesus Christ as the Messiah, the Savior of the world, the One who can wash away your sins, give you a heart of flesh (which may have been previously stone)? I pray it will not take such a physical miracle for you to accept Jesus as YOUR PERSONAL Savior! If anyone reading this has still not done so, then this is now a wonderful time of the year to do so. It just takes a little reading, hearing the words of Jesus. Many of the Samaritans accepted Him in just two days of hearing Him. I pray you will walk with Him also. ....................... To be continued |
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