trying to find His way
“You will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.” (John 1:51) In Genesis 28:10-22, Jacob has a dream at a place he called Bethel.In that dream, the angels of God are ascending and descending on that place.He called that place Bethel, the house of God, because God was…
“‘Come,’ he replied, ‘and you will see.’” Two of John’s disciples are drawn to Jesus, ‘the Lamb of God’.They are not sure yet what they want, and ‘Where are you staying’ is an odd question.My sense is they want to go where Jesus is, to stay with Jesus.Jesus does not directly answer them, but invites…
“Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) I have always assumed that Jesus represents us before God.We are the lamb that has to be sacrificed, to satisfy God’s wrath.But Jesus often says that He represents God with us.He is not the Lamb of Man who takes away the…
“He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, ‘I am not the Messiah.’” (John 1:20) This is something we all need to repeat, especially to ourselves.I am not the messiah, God’s chosen saviour, who saves others.I cannot ‘save’ people by my words or by my actions.I cannot rescue people from their burdens or their folly.I…
“For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17) This contrast shows us the difference between the witness and the Word.Jesus reveals God in a way that Moses did not, and could not.Moses asked to see God’s glory, and God gave him a glimpse (Exodus 33:18-20).Moses saw His glorious goodness…
“He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.” (John 1:8) John, like the other OT prophets, and the NT writers, were not the true light.The recorded witness of these prophets and writers are not the true light.In other words, the scriptures are not the true light, the Word of…
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1) John starts biography of Jesus very differently.He traces Jesus’s roots back to the beginning of the creation story.“In the beginning” (Genesis 1:1) God spoke creation into being by His Word.A person’s word is how they communicate their heart…
“While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven.” (Luke 24:51) When we visit our daughter’s family in Europe, the hardest part is saying goodbye.I can relate to blessing them, and then leaving them.My leaving does not mean I do not love them, nor want them to be blessed.With our heart’s…
“You are witnesses of these things.” (Luke 24:48) The first disciples witnessed Jesus in person.Their experiences form the basis of everyone else’s experience of Jesus.They testified to what they saw and heard and experienced in Jesus.We cannot fully do the same thing as them, but we can still be witnesses.We witness to what we experience with…
“Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” (Luke 24:39) We cannot touch Jesus, but the first disciples could.And through Jesus, they were experiencing the image of the invisible God.It is interesting to me that God showed up in the Garden as a human.“The man and his…