Friday, 4 August 2023

The Upper Room Discourse 24

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John 14:29-31 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe! "I will not talk with you much longer, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has nothing on Me. But in order that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me. "Get up, let's go from here!"

Yeshua has prophesied the end of His natural life on earth. And it happened just as He prophesied it would. With every lesson in Scripture was ask ourselves, "What should I change about my own life, now that I have been blessed to understand this lesson?" Sometimes, the Scripture itself gives us the answer ...

Philippians 2:5-8 Have this attitude in yourselves, which also was in Messiah Yeshua, Who, though existing in the form of God, did not consider being equal to God a thing to be grasped. But He emptied Himself - taking on the form of a slave, becoming the likeness of men and being found in appearance as a man. He humbled Himself - becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Yes, the lesson continues ...

Philippians 2:9-11 For this reason God highly exalted Him and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Yeshua every knee should bow, in heaven and on the earth and under the earth, and every tongue profess that Yeshua the Messiah is Lord - to the glory of God the Father.

The first words of verse 8 are echoing in my mind, "He humbled Himself." His humility resulted in life from the dead. So it will be with us as well. We also must humble ourselves (more on this in a moment). Then, we also, will share in His victory over death and have life everlasting.

When we humble ourselves, we acknowledge that we can't solve our own problems. We need His power. We need His leading and wisdom. We look at ourselves and honestly admit that making our own choices has not produced the best results. So we come humbly to Him and say, "I need you. Please be the Lord of my life."

John 3:18 The one who believes in Him is not condemned; but whoever does not believe has been condemned already, because he has not put his trust in the name of the one and only Ben-Elohim.

The Gospel of John is the one Gospel considered to be "non-synoptic." The other three Gospels line up closely with each other. John is the most Jewish oriented of the Gospels. It even starts like the Torah, "In the beginning." The next words in the Torah are "God created." The next word in John is "was the Word." Yeshua is the "Word." John 1:1b-2 The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Then John gives a short account of creation.

Yeshua is described in detail throughout the first chapter of John. John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. We looked upon His glory, the glory of the one and only from the Father, full of grace and truth. In Hebrew, "grace" is Chesed, while "truth" is Emet. What is not as well known is that "full" is Rav. This is connected etymologically to rabbi. In fact, Rav is a short and endearing form of rabbi. So the verse could read, "... the one and only from the Father, rabbi of grace and truth."

Modern theologians want to bifurcate grace and truth, but the Scripture never does that. God's Word is truth and grace never overrules God's commands. Grace is both the desire and the power (ability) to obey God.

Romans 8:3-4 For what was impossible for the Torah - since it was weakened on account of the flesh - God has done. Sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as a sin offering, He condemned sin in the flesh - so that the requirement of the Torah might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Ruach.

Yeshua was glorified through obedience, and so it will be with us. So we end this session right where we were several sessions ago. John 14:21 He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. This is consistent with ... Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not from yourselves - it is the gift of God. It is not based on deeds, so that no one may boast.

On that happy note ... enjoy the weekend.