For as long as it takes we are going to study the gospel of
John chapters fourteen to seventeen. Some of it will be what I have already
written and some will be new. Therefore it may sometimes appear that I leave
off in the middle of a topic to be continued, since I have reached my daily
word count limit. We will also return to placing a blog posting daily for the
time being.
In order to follow this you ought to have read from the first
posting in the series – John 14 (One).
We continue with John 14:6: "I am the way and the truth and the
life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Jesus is the life
This passage can
easily be interpreted that Jesus is life, the opposite of death. In other words
in Jesus a believer is alive, which is good, but it does not say life, but the
life. The Greek word for life in this context is zoe, which means vitality, fullness of
life that is animate, real and genuine, a life active and vigorous and devoted
to God.
Because of Adam’s
sin and resulting death we are all dead outside of Christ. Although we are
alive, life is empty, senseless and without meaning and purpose – in short
without the life, Jesus. But once
Jesus’ life is poured into us through the Holy Spirit, life becomes fun. We,
however, still have a choice. We can live life as per the definition above -
full of vigour, vitality, animation and fullness or we can be carnally
religious and sad.
Jesus said that He
is the life and no one gets to the Father but by Him. The definition of the
Greek word for life, zoe, has words like vitality, animate, absolute fullness,
real and genuine, active and vigorous. This is how Jesus lived and what He desires
for us to have in Him; a life that suggests productivity, fruitfulness,
transparency and a testimony of something worthwhile to be desired by outsiders.
If Jesus in all His
life and fullness lives in us through the Holy Spirit, our life will have these
qualities. However, if we do not experience these qualities, it is quite
possible that we have not exercised the faith required to allow Jesus to live
through us in all His fullness, in other words we still rely too much on
ourselves and people, or allow the sinful nature and Satan to rob us of our joy.
It is then that, for instance, circumstances control us instead of faith, and worry
often manipulates us.
“If you really knew me, you would know my Father as
well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him." Philip said,
"Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us," (John 14:7-8).
Jesus’ standard is clear - we will only know the Father
once we know Jesus. If for example you are an ordinary citizen of the country,
a meeting with the president would be very difficult to accomplish. If,
however, you are a close friend of the president’s son, you would be able to
walk with him into the president’s office and meet with him if he is not
occupied. Why? It is because the president and his staff know you personally as
a friend of the family. If we know Jesus as a close friend, we will enter
heaven one day saying: “Hi Lord Jesus, here I am – thanks to you I’ve made it.”
He will then say: “Hi Pete, good to see you. Come let me introduce you to my
Father, whom you already know.”
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter
the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in
heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in
your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I
will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”
(Matthew. 7:21-23).
Imagine the surprise when a person has done all these
wonderful things in the name of Jesus with the attitude to be seen or to get
recognition from men, but never went to the trouble of knowing Jesus and doing
His Father’s will. When she walks into heaven and very confidently say: “Hi
Lord Jesus here I am, do you remember me?” Jesus will look at her with a
frown saying: “I never knew you.” I don’t want to be in that position.
Do you?
Lord, help my faith please.
Thank you Lord that
your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not
return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the
purpose for which you sent it.
We support a
mission. Have a look at the work, which you may become part of HERE. You may also want
to look at the Website.
Please pass this on if you
think others may benefit by it.
No comments:
Post a Comment