God Will Confirm His Words

The book of John opens with John the Baptist stating this is who I am and this is who Jesus is. Then Jesus says this is who I am. In John 8, Jesus talks about who He is and almost point for point confirms what John the Baptist said about Him.

John 3—John the Baptist’s statements about Jesus    John 8—Jesus’s statement about who He is

Jesus came from heaven, we are from Earth (31)	I am from above, you are from below (23)
Jesus is above all (31)	I am judge (23, 26)
Jesus tells what he has seen and heard	I have much to say and judge, I declare God’s word (26)
We do  not believe Him (32)	We do not believe Him, specifically the Pharisees (13)
God gives words to those He sends (34)	I declare what I have heard from him  (26, 28)
God gives a limitless amount of His Spirit (34)	I am not alone (29)
If you obey the Son, you’ll have eternal life, if you do not obey, the wrath of God remains on him (36)	If you believe in me, you’ll live; if you don’t, you will die in sin (24)

Jesus confirms the words John spoke about Him. Remember that John said, “[H]e whom God has sent utters the words of God” (3:34)? Guess what, when we speak the words that God gives us, He will confirm them.

Now, we do need to be careful. This doesn’t mean we speak every thought that pops into our head and declare it as the word of the Lord. Be careful about this. God gives a stern warning about speaking presumptuously in Deuteronomy. “But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded him to say, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, must be put to death. You may say to yourselves, ‘How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the LORD?’ If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him” (Dt 18:20-22).

However, when God does give us something to say, do not be afraid to say it. God will confirm His words. His words will accomplish everything He intends and will not return to Him empty (Isa 55:10-11). They will leave a lasting effect on the listener. When God declares something, it will happen (Isa 48:3). He teaches us what to say. “The Sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen as one being taught” (Isa 40:4). 

How do we know the difference between our words and the words of God? Get to know His voice. Spend time in the Word and in prayer. Test what you hear. “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good” (1 Th 5:20). Make sure it aligns with Scripture. God does not contradict himself. If it doesn’t match with Scripture, toss it. If it does, I find it helpful to write down the reference next to the word.

Spend time with other believers who hear God’s voice well. This is probably the best way to learn. When we are with other believers, we can learn from them and learn to hear God’s words. We can test things out on each other and together discern if it aligns with God’s Word.

You will begin to know your Father’s voice. The sheep know the Shepherd’s voice (Jn 10:3-5). Soon it will become second nature and you will just know that it is God’s voice. It isn’t always something you will learn over night. Maybe you’ll have a burning bush moment like Moses did but for many of us, we learn God’s voice by being in His presence. We learn His voice by practice. If you hear something and it doesn’t sit right with you, it’s likely that isn’t God’s voice. If you hear something and it touches your heart so deeply, there’s a good chance it is God’s voice. But again, test everything with the Bible.

 

“Draw near to me, hear this: from the beginning I have not spoken in secret, from the time it came to be I have been there” (Isa 48:16). God is not silent. Quiet yourself and be still and listen. This takes practice. In our busy world it is hard to still ourselves. But keep at it. God loves talking with us and wants to talk with you. He loves you so much and wants to tell you this and more.

Jesus the Word

The book of John is full of identity statements. The first one we are looking at is Jesus as the Word of God. The book opens by giving others’ testimony about who Jesus is then shows through examples that Jesus is these things.

John the Author opens his book by stating who Jesus is. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. [He made everything and nothing was made without Him.] In him was life, and the life was the light of men” (1:1-4). By opening this book with “in the beginning” every Jewish mind would automatically go to Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth...” John is saying Jesus is the Word and He was the means by which the world was created.

We also see John the Baptist declare Jesus’ identity. Jesus came from heaven and tells about what he has seen and heard. He is sent from God and “utters the words of God” (3:34). We have heard that Jesus speaks the words of God but now we get to experience this.

Chapter four opens with Jesus talking with the Samaritan woman at a well. She realizes Jesus is the long-awaited Christ and tells everyone in her town about Jesus. “[M]any believe in him because of the woman’s testimony... and many more believed because of his word” (4:39, 41). This is a transition story from the testimony of others to Jesus’ testimony about Himself. Now others are beginning to see the authority He has as the Word of God.

The next several stories focus on Jesus’ words. When He heals, John focuses on the fact that He speaks healing and restoration over people. He does not say that He touched people. It was not that Jesus was afraid of touching sick people but that John wanted to make a point about the power Jesus’ words have.

Right after the story of the woman at the well, John tells about a time when Jesus heals an official’s son. The father comes to Jesus asking him to heal his son. Instead of going to his house, Jesus just speaks healing over the son and declares that he is healed. “The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way” (4:50). The same hour that Jesus spoke healing the man’s son was healed. He and his household believed in Jesus as a result of His words.

After this Jesus goes to Jerusalem for a feast and is walking down by the pool of Bethesda. It was believed that an angel would fly over the water and his wings would touch the water. When this happened, the first person into the water would be healed. This had become the hangout spot for everyone who was sick, lame, blind and paralyzed. Jesus is walking down by the pool and talks with a man. He asks him if he wants to be healed. I can only imagine the look on the man’s face. He was down there for that very reason but had no one to help him into the pool. Jesus then tells him to stand up, grab his bed and walk.

The Jews get mad that Jesus is healing on the Sabbath. Unphased, Jesus tells them that He is sent from God and does as He sees His Father doing. God created the world and brought life into the world so Jesus is restoring life to the world. Then He says a crazy statement: “An hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to also have life in himself” (5:25-26). Jesus is saying that when the dead hear His voice, they will be raised to life. His very words and voice will restore life. That is some serious power and authority!

Later, Jesus is teaching and the people are amazed at His teaching. “How is it that this man has learning when he has never studied” (7:15). Jesus wasn’t part of the religious training system. He did not have the training the Pharisees and priest had yet He had such insight and authority in His words that it left people amazed. The priests and Pharisees send men to arrest Jesus but they marvel at Jesus’ words as well. “No one ever spoke like this man” (7:46)!

A while later the Pharisees talk with Jesus about His crazy statements. He keeps declaring who He is— the light of the world, the word, the light of life... “So the Pharisees said to him, ‘You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.’ Jesus answered, ‘Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I come from and where I am going” (8:13-14). He knows His identity. Regardless of what people keep saying, He knows that He came from heaven. He knows He is the Son of God. He knows He is the Messiah.  “[H]e who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him” (8:26).

Jesus continually shows the power of his words. He has authority in his voice. He declares something and it is, just as in the beginning where God created the world with His voice. Now, Jesus is walking on the earth and His very words spoken are creating and renewing life on earth.

Intro to the book of John

There are several pivotal moments in the book of John where the story takes a step up from the direction it was previously going. Each moment allows a new theme to spring forth and the following section shows the outworking of this truth. This first post is going to be more of an introduction to the next several posts about the book of John.

The book of John is introduced by establishing Jesus as the Word, as Light, and as Life. Immediately following this John the Baptist is introduced. The first few chapters have introduced Jesus and have given a flavor of his teaching and actions. This section is introduced by John the Baptist declaring that Jesus is the Christ and is closed by John declaring Jesus’ fame must increase and his must fade into the background (chapters 1-3). His ministry as the forerunner of Christ is coming to a close. It is at this instance that we reach the first pivotal moment.

John is still baptizing people, and some of his disciples are upset because Jesus and his disciples are baptizing more people. John reminds them that he already said he was not the Christ but he is the one who comes before him. John knows who he is. He knows his role and his identity. In ancient times, a herald would run ahead of the parade declaring that the king was coming and prepared the people for his arrival. He would raise excitement and anticipation so they would expectantly look for the king’s coming. John is the herald that runs ahead declaring the king is coming (1:23). He is the best man in the story not the groom (3:29-30). John recognized his role was to prepare the way for Jesus. Now that Jesus had arrived, his role was coming to an end.

John explains that Jesus comes from heaven and tells us about what he has seen and heard. When we believe him, we have eternal life and become ambassadors of the Word. God sends us and gives us His words and His Spirit. We tell others and the cycle starts over for as they believe, they become ambassadors speaking out the words of God that the Spirit gives us.

John the Baptist then gives this testimony about Jesus: “For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit” (3:34). In other words, God gives words to those whom He sends. He gives an unending amount of the Spirit. He isn’t going to take away the Spirit or the words He’s given to those He sends. God even promises this in Isaiah 59:21. “And as for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord, “My Spirit that is upon you and my words that I have put in your mouth shall not depart out of your mouth or out of the mouth of your offspring or out of the mouth of your children’s offspring from this time forth and forever more.”

John is establishing who Jesus is. He is establishing his identity. Right after this, the book of John launches into a time of establishing Jesus’ authority as the Word of God.

... For the sake of brevity this is coming later...

Restoration

God is a Restorer. He loves to redeem and bring to wholeness. These past few weeks I’ve been reading the book of Ruth over and over again. I can’t seem to get enough of it. There is an overwhelming theme of restoration surging through the words of this book so I thought I’d share a few of my observations about the book.

 

The setting for the book of Ruth is in the time of the judges during a famine. In Deuteronomy we find a list of blessings for following the law and curses for breaking the law. One of the curses is God will bring famine for breaking the law and turning to other gods (Dt 28:17-18). We immediately find Naomi and her husband trying to escape the curse of famine by going to a neighboring country.

 

It is always interesting to look at the names of people in the Bible. There is a disparity between the two generations and their outlooks. We can see Naomi and Elimelech’s parents had hope by the names of their children (Naomi means My Delight and Elimelech means My God is King); however, by the time Naomi and her husband had children, they lost hope. My God is King and My Delight gave birth to Sick and Pining. They are depressed and oppressed by the famine. Soon My God is King and Sick and Pining die and My Delight takes on the name Bitter.

 

It is to this backdrop we are introduced to Ruth (friendship). Friendship stays by My Delight even when she becomes Bitter and followers her to a foreign land. Ruth gives up everything to follow Naomi to Israel. She gives up family and her culture to live as a widow and a foreigner in a country where she has no rights and no possibility of marriage (it was highly unusual for a foreigner to marry an Israelite) to survive on the generosity of others.

Once the author of Ruth establishes this, we then meet Boaz, “a worthy man” (2:1). Boaz immediately notices Ruth gleaning in his field. However, he doesn’t see her as others would see her. He sees her as a woman of worth and value. By his actions he restores to her identity and begins to free her from shame.

 

Boaz tells her to continue with his workers and glean in his fields throughout the harvest season. He tells her she can drink from the water drawn for the workers. Ruth asks why he is doing this for her and he proclaims a blessing over her: “All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before. The LORD repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!”

 

At mealtime he invites her to join the reapers and gives her more than enough food. Widows were allowed to glean behind the workers and pick up what they dropped. However, Boaz tells his workers not to embarrass her if she started gathering with them. He did not want to bring shame upon her and begins to restore good standing to her.

 

Toward the end of the harvest season Ruth goes down to the threshing floor at night and asks Boaz to redeem her. The next day he meets with the elders of the town and restores her from a widow to a wife. We then learn that she is the great-grandmother of King David. Ruth’s previous husband died after 10 years of marriage and without children. It was a disgrace to not have children when you were married. But now, God has restored her in the eyes of man and added her to the lineage of David and Jesus. She has gone from widow to wife, from shame to joy, from destitution to prosperity. In the matter of a harvesting season, Ruth is restored to a better standing than she had when she was married and living in Moab.

 

Stories of restoration are not just for ancient times. God wants to restore us. He wants to bring healing to our lives, rest from our past, joy for our present and dreams for our future. As he gives us rest and healing he restores to us dreams for the future. We begin to believe we are created for more. We begin to believe we change nations and cities. We begin to believe the biggest dream we have in our hearts can be a reality.

 

We begin to see the value we have. God values us so much. His love for us is so deep. He valued us so much that He paid a high price for us. We have great worth. He gave His Son Jesus to die in our place. He believes we have so much value that He gave His Son as our price. Jesus rose so we could be with Him and have peace and joy restored. He frees us from shame and guilt and anger and hate. He instead gives us love and dreams and hope.

 

Begin to ask God how He sees you; then take time to listen. You may not hear anything at first but keep asking and keep looking. He won’t leave you no matter what you’ve done. He wants to free you from the past that haunts you. He wants to give you an amazing story of restoration and hope. He wants to show you how great His love is for you. Ask Him to show you. He will answer.

 

How precious are your thoughts concerning me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand—when I awake, I am still with you (Ps 139:17-18 NIV).