John 2

Transcript

Bible studies always always x Pleasant and you know you you you sit x down and you start reading and you start x asking questions and every time you x learn more and so x um we have just started here in x Baltimore a study of the Gospel of John x and so I my turn was to do John 2 last x week and I thought you know what I'll x I'll do that in Stoughton as well x um because I I just I enjoyed it so much x so I want to look at John too and maybe x I could get someone to read the first 12 x verses for us or I could do that if that x would be best or x um that's one of the other x folks would like to do that x any takers x I can do it yeah go ahead go ahead x tell me the chapter again John chapter x two I've got the uh the uh New King x James Version up on the screen if if x anybody if you can see that same gospel x the gospel yes x Gospel of John chapter 2. x and the third day there was a marriage x in Canaan of Galilee and the mother of x Jesus was there and both Jesus was x called and his disciples to the marriage x and when they wanted wine the mother of x Jesus saith unto him they have no wine x Jesus saith unto her a woman what have I x to do with thee my now or has not yet x come his mother saith unto the servants x whatsoever he saith unto you do it and x there were set there six water parts of x stone after the manner of the purifying x of the Jews containing two or three x Firkins a piece Jesus said unto them x fill the water pots with water and they x filled them up to the brim and he said x unto them draw out now and be around to x the governor of the feast and they bear x it when the ruler of the feast had x tasted the water that was made wine and x knew not once it was but the servants x which drew the water knew the governor x of the feast called the bridegroom and x said unto him every man at the beginning x set forth good wine and when men have x well drunk then that which is worse but x thou has kept the good wine until now x this beginning of Miracles that Jesus x and Canaan of Galilee and manifested x forth his glory and his disciples x believed on him and this after this he x went out to Capernaum he and his mother x and his brother and his disciples and x they continued there not many days x okay so we'll look at a passage that's x probably familiar to most of us a little x bit later on in the class at the end of x John chapter 20 where John says that the x things that he's selected to make his x gospel up are things that are signs that x are chosen so that we may believe that x Jesus is the Christ the son of the x Living God x and so x this x first 12 verses of John Chapter 2 has x been chosen x as the first of his signs it's a wedding x at Cana first thing you notice there is x in in in verse one you notice it says x that on the third day x there was a wedding in the Cana of x Galilee you might you might ask yourself x why does it say the third day I mean x what's up what's the point of that x well as you go through the Gospel of x John it's remarkable in that it ties x events together in time x um there's phrases like two days later x or the following day and this goes right x through the gospel and right to the end x in fact it's uh the last time Jesus x appears to the disciples it's after x eight days so there's there's these day x connections and this is the third day x now if we go back into chapter one x um let's see if I can do that on the x screen here x I'll go back to chapter one x um x let's see x verse 19 to 28 x is the testimony of John the Baptist x when he says x that he is the voice of one crying in x the wilderness he's the the priests and x the Levites have been questioning his x authority he begins his testimony of x Jesus x worse then so that's the first day the x next day is in verse 29. x the next day x John saw Jesus coming to him x and he said Behold the Lamb of God takes x away the sin of the world x then you come down to verse 35 and it x says again the next day x John stood with two of his disciples and x I think we can figure out that it's uh x Andrew well it says it's Andrew and x presumably John himself John the the x writer of the Gospel x and we read about how that Andrew finds x his brother Simon Peter and tells him x that they found the Messiah x then you get to verse 43 and it says the x following day x Jesus wanted to go to Galilee and he x found Philip and he also found Nathaniel x so we get the calling of the first five x of of the of the 12 here so these things x happen over a series of if you count x them up four days x so then when we get to chapter 2 x it says on the third day x it would seem to be three days after all x these things have happened x which means that we have coming up x through chapter two and the wedding of x at Cana we have the first week of Jesus x work x this is interesting to me because the x gospel ends with the last uh 10 chapters x actually being the last week of Jesus x life x so it's this wedding Feast at Cana of x Galilee is the culmination x of the first week where Jesus has been x revealed by the by John the Baptist x and has met x his uh disciple the five of his x disciples x now x if you can see on my screen here x right where the arrow is here is where x John the Baptist was x prophesying uh baptizing at this time in x Bethany it's just south of the Sea of x Galilee x and on the east side of the Jordan x and in chapter one we read that Jesus x went up to his home in Capernaum x accompanied by the disciples x and then he goes up into the Hill x Country of Cana x right near his hometown of Nazareth x um so you might see that down here in x verse 12 x it says after this he went down to x Capernaum because literally they were up x in the mountains x in Cana for this wedding event x so there was a wedding in Cana x near his hometown of Nazareth x and we're told that the mother of Jesus x was there in verse one Mary was there x and Jesus is invited and his disciples x it reads almost as though the disciples x were invited to accompany Jesus x and the importance of this detail in x verse 2 that his disciples that were x there x is given in verse 11. x to 12 because it says when Jesus did x this beginning of signs x and manifested of his glory his x disciples believed in him x that's interesting to notice in verse 12 x it says they went down from there to x Capernaum he his mother his brothers and x his disciples x so apparently Not only was Mary at this x wedding but his brothers as well sounds x like quite a number of people were at x the wedding and his his brothers and his x mother were there as well his disciples x it says in verse 11 believed in him x in treating that it makes no mention of x his brothers believing in him x and in fact when we get to John Chapter x 7 x it says that even his brothers did not x believe in him x so strange that they didn't believe in x him given this Mighty sign and he works x so verse 3. at this wedding Feast the x wine gave out x probably a a real you know real throw x path for a a wedding feast but the thing x it brings to mind to me is there must x have been a huge number of guests there x let's try to get an idea how much wine x Jesus provided x now you notice that the the water pots x the six water pots of stone x there uh Brother Rich read to us from x the King James which says that they were x two or three Firkins The Good Old King x James x um and I don't know what a Firkin is and x apparently nobody's really entirely sure x somewhere between 9 and 11 gallons uh x the new King James revised Standard x Version all the modern versions just x politely say that there were 20 or 30 x gallons x in total with these two or three Firkins x so Firkin was 10 gallons x so if there were six x of these x what do you call them basins or jugs or x whatever they were six times 25 that's x 150 gallons x now I've got here x this is in my office right now this is a x very old x uh bottle of wine you can see it's all x dusty uh the important thing about this x bottle of wine is the Vintage if you can x make it out it's 1984 the same vintage x as my marriage x uh x and I've been told that this wine might x not be any good anymore it's just got x too old uh that apparently that can x happen but I gotta say that our marriage x is is still of a very good vintage it x gets better and better and better x now x this bottle of wine is typical size and x it's about a fifth of a gallon x so if there were 6 25 let's say 20 or 30 x gallons to these to these 10 freaking x things x 150 gallons x by my calculations it looks like they're x at about 750 bottles of wine x that Jesus produced x uh for this feast and this was after x they had already run out x so it's this was a very large assembly x of people x um x so Mary says x verse 3 x they have no wine x now x it it strikes me clear that that Mary's x not just relating facts x but she is expecting Jesus to do x something x she does x kind of what a lot of moms do x she points out the problem x and suggests that without saying so that x maybe something needs to be fixed x my mom who's resting in Hope of the x Resurrection someday you all can tell x her that I said this and I hope she'll x forgive me at that point but this way x moms are sometimes they say they have no x why there's a problem and and x um x it's evident x that she expects Jesus to do something x um it's evident not only from Jesus x response in verse 4. x but also from Mary's words to the x servants in verse 5 she expects Jesus is x going to do something she says whatever x he says to you to do do it x now verse 4 is a kind of a challenging x verse it's a little bit Troublesome x there's there's in fact there's three x parts of it that probably make us a bit x uneasy x the the first thing is Jesus said to her x woman x that sounds a bit abrupt a bit maybe x even almost rude almost x and then to say what have I to do with x thee x that seems a bit harsh x and then to say x my now has not yet come what's what's x that about what you know it's a it's a x this is the the difficult this is the x challenging verse of this episode x so let me offer some explanations x first of all the word translated woman x in verse four the Greek could be x rendered lady x that would help some x um it was pointed out to me by a x millennial daughter of mine that lady x wouldn't be much better nowadays x but to me it's at least a bit more x respectful maybe sort of like second x John's introduction that it was written x to the elect lady that's a different x word x but if we want to have peace in our x minds about this term woman x a really relevant passage that maybe x want to make note of in the margin of x your Bible if you don't if it doesn't x come right to mind x is in John Chapter 19 Verse 26 where we x won't look at it because I'm sure the x passage is familiar too it's when Jesus x is on the cross x and and x John's there with uh Mary x and Jesus says x woman x Behold thy son x and that's most undoubtedly a tender x moment x so there's nothing x necessarily disrespectful as we might x think at first glance x there is a bit of a distance in what x Jesus says he doesn't say mom or mother x but he's not being disrespectful and x addressing her as woman x interesting that the Gospel of John x alone among the four gospels never x mentioned Mary by name only as the x mother of Jesus x now the next the next difficulty is this x thing what have I had to do with it in x the King James that seems a bit harsh x a lot of the modern versions tone it x down a bit and but I suspect they might x be cheating a bit x um the new King James says what does x your concern have to do with me x the ESV says what does this have to do x with me x the net says why are you saying this to x me x The New American Standard Bible which is x is noted generally for being fairly x literally translated ignition it says x what business do you have with me woman x and against again we hear it overturns x of harshness x and even when it is toned down it does x seem a bit of a rebuke x one thing to bear in mind x is that when Jesus answers his x questioners x his answers often go quite beyond the x simple question that's put to him x there's a lot of examples of this but a x particularly good one is in John chapter x six I'll turn it up here so if you want x to look on on the screen you'll be able x to see it it's in John chapter 6 verse x 25 and 26. x and and the occasion is when after the x feeding the five thousand Jesus crosses x the stormy Lake x and is finally found by the crowd that's x seeking him and they say to him Rabbi x when did you come here x in verse 26 Jesus answered them x and said x most assuredly I say to you you seek me x not because you saw the signs but x because you ate the loaves and were x filled x they'd asked one question but Jesus sort x of answered the question behind behind x the question and and really this is x something that quite often happens x particularly in the Gospel of John that x Jesus answers go quite beyond the simple x question that's put to him x so I'm gonna I'm gonna x put this particular difficulty aside for x the moment x uh and come back to it x one thing I'd say though is that when x Jesus says my hour is not yet come x it might be that Jesus is simply saying x he's not going to be prodded into x miracles x you know x just very shortly before this x was the Temptation in the wilderness x it was still fresh in his mind x that he had been tempted to use the new x power that he had been given by God x inappropriately x you know he'd been tempted to feed x himself he'd been tempted to make a big x public display throwing himself off the x the peak of the the temple x and he had to have the x restraint not to do that x but I think there's more to it than just x that x when Jesus says my hour has not yet come x and I got more to say on this but well x I'll hold off for now accept a note that x this interaction is very similar to x something that happens in chapter seven x in the Feast of Tabernacles x I've put that up on the screen John 7 x verse 2 x where the says the Jews faced to the x Tabernacle was a hand and his brother x said to him depart from here go into x Judea that your disciples Also may see x the works that you're doing for no one x does anything in secret why he himself x seeks to be known Heavenly if you do x these things show yourself to the world x for even his brothers did not believe in x him x so they were challenging him telling him x to go up x to the feast and look at this verse 6 x Jesus said to them my time has not yet x come x very similar to what he says to Mary x and then as it turns out in verse 10 x when his brothers had gone up he also x went up to the feast not openly but as x it were in secret so there's a there's a x real similarity to that to to to what we x see here in chapter two x foreign x back to John Chapter 2 verses 5 to 8. x tell us of the miracle x there's six water pots of stone used x for the purification rights of the Jews x 20 or 30 gallons a piece quite large x Jesus says fill them up they fill them x to the brim x he has them draw some out x they carry it to the master of the feast x the Master of Ceremonies they do it and x the master story says man you've saved x the best to last yeah this isn't the way x we do things here typically you know x when people x their first sips of the line is where x they're they're looking for the for the x good quality later on they don't care so x much x but you've kept the good wine until now x what's the point of this episode x because John is not merely recounting x history x just like Jesus answers always seem to x answer more than the immediate question x think of how the elements of this x occasion foreshadow more exalted things x I don't even need to give you I mean you x all can x we think of the marriage supper of the x Lamb we think of the bride of Christ x Etc x there's water pots there that are x after the men are the purifying of the x Jews x Jesus Takes that and adopts it to a new x purpose x it's better x there's wine involved x and think of what wine signifies for us x and not only is it wine but it's better x wide x the thing that Jesus offers x is better x you know the the letter to the Hebrews x which was written to Jewish believers x who were sort of backsliding back into x Jewish x ways into the traditions of the elders x the word better x is there over and over and over again I x like to keep an eye out for words that x are repeated in in in a book because you x know that's what's on the writer's mind x 13 times in the Epistle of the Hebrews x comparing the old Covenant with the new x this is better x and the better wine is what's been x served at the end here x by the way I'd always been curious about x in Luke when x Jesus says no man having drunk old wine x straightway desireth new free saith the x old is better x and I'd never been able to make sense of x that because you know generally speaking x old wine is better x but what Jesus is talking about is x people's expectations x and in this case x the new wine x was the better x it's gratifying to see these these x connections what Jesus had to offer was x new and better x so thinking of all these things where x there is a foreshadowing of more exalted x themes x Jesus at a wedding x the purification of the Jews superseded x by the purification of Jesus x the new wine that's better x maybe we get an understanding of his x challenging response to Mary and his x assertion that his time was not yet come x there was a time going to come x Jesus x well he would have the great marriage x supper of the Lamb x and he would provide the new wine x um that time wasn't yet and it wasn't x yet the time for Jesus to make manifest x publicly x just uh in passing another thing there's x a simple truth in this episode x and perhaps it's not John's primary x intent but still worth contemplating x that Jesus blessed and endorsed the x happy occasion of a wedding day x it's food and its drink x okay verse 11. x this beginning of signs did x is in Canada and manifested his glory x and his disciples believed in him x foreign x it's generally assumed that this was x Jesus first public miracle x but x that seems inconsistent with Mary's x request x Mary seemed to know that Jesus was going x to do something miraculous she had no x reason for thinking that if she didn't x know that he could perform a miracle and x Jesus by his exchange with her had given x her no indication that he was going to x perform a miracle on this occasion x it says this beginning of signs it x doesn't say this beginning of Miracles x there's a difference between Miracles x which means you know an act of power x and signs like x something that signals you know the word x signal has signed in it x something x such as when Jesus signified by what x Death Peter would glorify God x in fact both words signs and miracles x are used together in Acts 2 verse 22 x when Peter says men of Israel hear these x words Jesus of Nazareth a man attested x by God to you by Miracles wonders and x signs which God did through him x this sign was a lot more x than a random Miracle it's setting x Freights it with significance x and he manifested his glory x um the word manifested is a real uh John x word x John has about 20 percent of the no 40 x percent of the uses of this word in his x gospel and in his first epistle he says x in chapter 17 verse 6 in the prayer of x Jesus he says Jesus says I have x manifested thy name x and here Jesus manifested his glory x in chapter one we've read we read of the x word that became flesh and brought among x us and we beheld his glory x the glory as of the only begotten of the x father x full of grace and truth x in fact glory is another really x important word in the Gospel of John x yeah x it's preponderantly if you're I'm I'm a x retired statistician I I've been x veterans that statistics guy and I can't x help but count things up x the word Glory x 43 times in the gospels 19 of them x almost half of them are in John we x beheld his glory in chapter one x to chapter 17 where he says I desire x that Those whom you've given me may be x with me where I am that they may behold x my glory x so we've seen in this wedding of x Cana x a prefiguring x of the work of Jesus x we see his great power x we see his glory x that was manifested and his disciples x believed x so from here we go x to x another episode x where it's an episode that's included x because of the sign it contains x in the cleansing of the temple in verses x 13 to 22. x could I have a volunteer to read uh x John 2 verses 13 to 22. x yeah I'm happy to do that bill I wonder x any um oh yeah would you be up to any x questions or comments x yeah absolutely okay x um you know one of the things that I x that I like to think of when it comes to x the miracle of the changing of the water x into the wine x and I don't know if you've heard this x before but uh I kind of like the idea x that Jesus didn't turn all of the water x and you know in each of those six huge x water pots into wine x but that it was as each Ladle full was x lifted out of the big cistern it was at x that moment that the servants saw the x miracle taking place before their eyes x and so when you come down to what was it x verse 11 it says you know that they x believed in him x you know I I think that that gave them x the evidence to know that there was x something very special about this man x um it's conjecture yeah it's you know x there's there's really nothing that x would uh indicate in the text that x that's what happened x but x um at least that's how that that's sort x of the way that I like to to see it x um I think it's probably x unlikely from what I've read that there x would be a wedding that would be so x large in those days that you know they x would need you know 70 I don't know how x many gallons 150 bottles yeah how many x 750 x yeah that's that's what yeah you know so x it's like you know anyway I I think that x those are some of the things that lead x me to think that maybe it was this like x really cool event where you know each x servant as they you know x you know fill up the Goblet to be passed x to the table they they see this x miraculous event x for what it's worth yeah that's x interesting but x yeah x well I think I think you mentioned um x you know when I think of this x and he says you know what does this have x to do with me and I and I do think that x his mind is at the marriage supper x right like the you know the the the the x bride has prepared herself he says in x Revelation has prepared himself through x belief right and I think you know that's x where Christ's mind is always at right x that marriage stuff I always look into x that future x um so yeah thanks x foreign x anybody else have any comments or x questions x I noticed Brother David Levin's posted x something he says there's no instance x where Jesus answers a question directly x which is interesting he he I I agree x with that I Think Jesus I mean I don't x know I know it's about I think Dave's x word for it but uh just seems like there x he's always on a somewhat higher plane x somewhat loftier plane than uh and and x certainly that's how we have to x understand this episode x yeah x John John 11 actually although it's not x really a question it's the one of the x rare times where he speaks directly and x he goes Lazarus is dead x oh yeah it's true yeah yeah x yeah x okay what would you like red x uh verses 13 to 22 and then there's x after that we'll hold the last three x verses just for the very end there's a x little section there that I there's a x just one more comment I want to make x about that but first about verses 13 to x 22. okay I I'll read unless somebody x else would like to x okay so uh you're reading the new King x James bill so I'll read that uh now the x Passover the Jews then Jesus went up to x Jerusalem and he found in the temple x those who sold oxen and sheep and doves x and money changers doing business x when he had made a whip of cords he x drove them all out of the temple with x the sheep and The Oxen and poured out x the Changers money and overturned the x tables and he said to those who sold x doves take these away do not make my x father's house a house of merchandise x then his disciples remembered that it x was written Zeal for your house has x eaten me up x so the Jews answered and said to him x what sign do you show us since you do x these things x Jesus answered and said to them destroy x this Temple and in three days I will x raise it up x then the Jews said it has taken 46 years x to build this Temple and you'll raise it x in three days x but he was speaking of the Temple of his x body x therefore when he had risen from the x dead his disciples remembered x that he had said this x to them that he had said this to them x and they believed the scriptures and the x word which Jesus had said x because first thing I I x bring to your attention is here in verse x 13. that's the Passover of the Jews x on chapter 5 verse 1 when it's talking x about the Feast of Tabernacles it says x it was a feast of the Jews x um x this is kind of phrase occurs over and x over again being the inveterate x statistician x um the Jews are mentioned five times in x Matthew six times in mark x five times in Luke x five six and five that makes sixteen and x Seventy Times x in the Gospel of John x so 70 of the 86 gospel reference Jews x are in John so there's a strong x suggestion I think in that that this x gospel is being written x two Gentiles x it's also important I think to note that x Jews in John frequently means the x religious Authority x rather than the common folks x now comparing the gospels there's a sort x of a perennial question whether Jesus x cleansed the temple once or twice x the Gospel of John mentions what would x appear to be three distinct passovers x here in chapter 6 feeding the five x thousand in Chapter 11 x uh the plot to kill Jesus after he x raised Lazarus x and by that Reckoning this cleansing x happened early in his ministry while x Matthew Mark and Luke all record a x cleansing in the last week of his x ministry just after the triumphal entry x there are some differences in the x accounts x John's is the only one that mentions him x making a whip of cords and in fact x he used that to drive out the oxen and x sheep x there were also doves in the synoptic x gospels only the doves are mentioned x so there's a bit of a difference there x Jesus refers to what they're doing as x making x the temple into a house of merchandise x in John x whereas in the synoptic Gospels x he calls it a den of Thieves you've made x it a den of Thieves x perhaps the biggest difference between x the event in the Gospel of John x and in the synoptic Gospels x is that here the Jews questioned The x Authority by which he does these things x whereas in the synoptic gospels they x simply plot to kill him x in both cases the cleansing was just x before the Passover x how appropriate it was when we look at x things on a you know on a x spiritual level and we think of more x exalted x things how appropriate was that the x temple should be cleansed at the x Passover this was the time when the x Jewish houses were swept clean x removing all the leaven x so there was in the x Court of the Gentiles x a currency exchange x I'll read a little quote from x entersheim's Life and Times of Jesus the x Messiah x he says these belonged to the high x Priestly family of ananias x and where such profitable trade was x driven by those who in their cupidity x and covetousness were were the x successors of the sons of Eli love that x line x in the court of the Gentiles or its x porches set the official money changers x who for a fixed discount changed all x foreign coins into those of the x sanctuary x the money changers opened their stalls x in every country town on the 15th of x Adar just a month before the feast x they were no doubt regularly accredited x and duly authorized x for all Jews and proselytes women slaves x and minors accepted had to pay the x annual Temple tribute of half a shekel x according to the sacred standard x and the sacred standard that they had x was a particular x um actually Gentile koi there wasn't a x Jewish coinage at the time but there was x a particular Tetra drachma that was used x for the half shekel Temple tax and x there's varying explanations for why it x was used one being that it didn't have x an image of the emperor x um but did have an image of the guide x knockheart x um best explanation probably was that it x was reliable for its silver content x during the uh Revolt of 80 70 it was x replaced with a gdn coin x now the interesting thing is Jesus does x these things he goes in there x and you can just imagine what it must x have been like you know he's got the x whip of chords and he's driving the x animals out and x flipping tables over in the money's x pouring around the floor x and x implicit to the whole story x is it the money changers and vendors x didn't resist x why didn't they x I mean humanly speaking you know you get x three or four people they could probably x subdue anybody right x but they didn't x there's two reasons I think in my mind x two reasons occur to me anyway first of x all they knew they were in the wrong x and secondly x there is something about Jesus on so x many occasions where he had this x commanding presence x you remember when they came to arrest x him in the garden x him Seiki Jesus I'm hate they fall back x another time when the Pharisees sent x people to arrest Jesus x and they've they've come back the x officers and come back and they you know x they're empty-handed they don't have x Jesus with them they said when we send x you their Egypt resting and all they can x answer is x never man spoke x like this man x I think of Luke chapter 4 when x in his hometown of Nazareth they were x going to him over the hill x and he passed through x the the x there was something about Jesus x there was no resistance made x instead all that happens in verses 18 x and 19 x is the Jews and I think this is x referring specifically to the religious x Authority x answered and said to him what sign x do you show us x since you do these things x and the answer that Jesus gives is x actually quite similar to other x occasions when Jesus was asked for a x sign x recall that in Matthew chapter 12 x the scribes and Pharisees said x Master we would see a sign from thee x same word x but he answered and said unto them an x evil and adulterous generation seeketh x after a sign x and there shall no sign be given to it x but the sign of the Prophet Jonas x for as Jonas was three days and three x nights in the whale's belly so shall the x son of man be three days and three x nights in the heart of the Earth x that was the sign that they were given x they were given the sign the x resurrection that was enough to convince x the early Believers but it wasn't enough x to consider to to convince Jesus x opponents x in fact in Luke 16 the parable of the x rich men and Lazarus ends with Jesus x saying if they don't hear Moses in the x prophets neither will they be persuaded x their one rise from the dead x so Jesus gave them the sign x destroy this Temple and in three days I x will raise it up x really interesting to notice x that this saying of Jesus in verse 19 x destroy this temple in three days I'll x raise it up x is quoted in Matthew and Mark though the x original episode is not recorded in x either Matthew or Mark x um x that's interesting to think about isn't x it it was used by the folks x who were bringing false accusation x against Jesus in his trial x it was used by the slanderers who walked x by the foot of the cross x in Matthew and Mark x but there's no actual record of the x event it's only that's only here in John x just an interesting uh x thing to meditate on uh and also sort of x the consistency and Harmony of the x Gospels x okay verse 20. here's a trick question x for y'all x how long did it take to build the temple x the answer is not 46 years x actually the main building only took 10 x years but the ornamentation of the x temple rent went on right up to 65 A.D x another 37 years after this x ornamentation is that what you said yeah x okay yeah so the temple wasn't actually x finished they say it's taken 46 what x they mean is it's been it's been being x built for 46 years but it wasn't x actually done quite yet x yeah got it x of course he was speaking in the temple x of his body x this was the sign that he would give him x this was the sign of his authority and x his disciples remembered the Zeal for x your house has eaten yet this is the son x of God x and the same passage in the same Psalm x Psalm 69 says you know the reproaches of x those that were approached you fell upon x me this is our lord Jesus the son of God x and x his feeling x uh x his indignation x yeah the distortion x that was going on x and so x verse 22 when he had risen from his dead x his disciples remembered that he said x this to them and they believed the x scripture this is the second time now in x this chapter where it says that his his x disciples believed in fact the verb x pissed Duo to believe the x you probably all know this but believe x and belief and faith x are pretty much the same thing in New x Testament Greek x pistus is the word for x Faith or belief and this verb to believe x it's just the verb forming the same x thing x and this is very much x a John theme x um x going through the gospels again x believing x Matthew 11 mark 15. Luke 9 x John 100. x and so x this x crucial passage for understanding the x Gospel of John John chapter 20. I'll x turn it up here x the end of the chapter x says truly Jesus did many other signs x this is the word that we've been x considering the signs and the presence x of his disciple which are not written in x this book but these are written that you x may believe x that Jesus is the Christ the son of God x and that believing x you may have life in his name x so just as we've seen the wedding at x Cana as a highly symbolic event a sign x of things to come x so we should see the cleansing of the x Temple x it was about the father's house x whose house we are x and secondly it gave the opportunity for x Jesus to speak of the sign of the x prophet Jonah x a restoration of the Temple of Jesus x body x so we have two Mighty signs here in John x Chapter two The Wedding again Cana and x the cleansing of the Temple x there's three more verses that we x haven't covered yet in the chapter x um I want to spend a couple minutes of x them at the end but before I do that x does anybody have any comments they want x to make on the cleansing of the Temple x Phil it's um it seems like you're x hinting at uh a number of the parallels x like did you see it that way that like x these two events x uh have x I think like John's almost like x highlighting things to kind of show x similarities like the sign mentioned x um and then the Jews asking for a sign x the Jewish purification rights and then x the Jewish feast of Tavern I mean he x uses language to try to highlight x um some similarities in the and the fact x that Jesus then takes in both of them as x you say things to another level are x there you think there's any other x um x parallels that he's trying to kind of x highlight and putting these two stories x one right after another like this x well the belief the belief thing that's x that's the big one I mean yeah they both x end with the disciples belief yeah x yeah I think that's I don't know it is x interesting though that there's there's x a lot of words that are repeated x you know like belief signs Glory these x are really very common in in the gospel x yeah yeah x I mean I guess in a way they're parallel x in a way and that they're complementary x and that you know that's the point to x the body and the blood of Jesus too like x you know well yeah x well let's let's just have a look at x these last three verses x um there's something here I've I've x never noticed before x in fact x I I've never seen any comments on it x maybe I just haven't read enough x um x and in fact every English translation x I've looked at and even the Spanish x translations that I have x they translate the same Greek word x differently x in verses 23 and 24. x now I'm not going to you right away x what it is x um x I'll tell you the only difference x between the two is they're both verbs x the one of them is in the a past tense x that is a completed event and the other x is named perfect which means something x that's passed that was going on x continually x but apart from that the two words are x exactly the same and so verses 23 and 24 x are very much connected x okay the word in question is belief x believe x in verse 23 x and in verse 24 x it's committing himself x they're both forms of the word pistus x faith to have faith in to trust or x commit yourself x so what do we have x when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover x during the feast many believed in his x name x when they saw the signs which he did x many put their trust in him x but Jesus could not put his trust in x them x because he knew all men x and had no need that anyone should x testify of man x for he knew what was in this man x what's up x I find this striking because it x highlights a sort of loneliness that x Jesus must have had x his relationships were never truly x reciprocal x there was perhaps the apostle that Jesus x loved x and perhaps others that could somehow x Merit his trust more but this was not so x as a general thing x and the isolation that resulted x was crucial for the success of his x mission x elsewhere Jesus says the foxes have x holes and the birds of the air have x nests x but the son of man hath not where to lay x his head x Jesus also had the terrible loneliness x of not having a true confident x not having anyone that he could truly x commit himself to none that he could x really put his faith in x why was this x well there's two reasons given in verses x 24 and 25. x it says he knew all men x and says he knew what was in men x the second of these things is the sort x of thing we know from scripture now x Jesus knew his Jeremiah 17 verse 9 that x the heart is deceitful above all things x and desperately wicked x he knew that about human nature x the first of these that he knew all men x is I believe the sort of penetrating x wisdom given by the spirit of God x by which he could say to Nathanael x behold an Israelite indeed in him x there's no guile x similarly Jesus was able to give Peter x his new name x on their very first acquaintance the x Samaritan woman at the well expressed it x by saying come see a man who told me all x things and I could that ever I did x and elsewhere in the Gospel of John we x see this in Jesus he knew from the x beginning who they were that did not x believe and who would betray him x this is repeated two on two occasions x it's like I very struck by these x verses here verses 23 to 25 x as x giving us an insight x into what it must have been like for x Jesus during these days of his ministry x he put his trust in God x and and he was sustained By Angels x but among his fellows x he couldn't put his trust in men x it's kind of a sad and lonely thing that x but it but it it also shows us something x about the dedication of our Lord and x that his his life really was x all together x to to accomplish the goal that he'd set x up set out that God had set out for him