Dear Student of the Word,
We are close to the end. The next installment will be the last one in our study of John's gospel, which we began last January. I hope you have enjoyed the studies as much as I have, and learned a thing or two along the way. This week, we look further at the events that came immediately after Jesus' resurrection, including His first appearances to the disciples. This week I wrote on day seven of this seven-day study:
20:28 – Thomas’ response was to worship the Lord! He identified Jesus as God and
worshipped Him as such. As I have
said throughout these studies, if Jesus accepted this worship and He was not
God (which of course He is), then He is worse than a false prophet. I sat that because some will read
scripture and determine that Jesus was a holy man, a righteous prophet, and a
moral leader. He is all those
things, but He is also the Lord God, who is worthy of all our worship and
praise.
Thomas responded as every human should respond to
Jesus. Do you like or admire
Jesus, or do you worship Him? There is a big difference.
v. 29 – Jesus told Thomas that he believed because Thomas
had seen Jesus scarred body. Yet
He proclaimed that those who have not seen and believed are blessed. God by His grace appeared to Thomas,
giving Thomas what He had required in order to believe. Jesus did not have to do that, but He
did it out of love for Thomas.
This makes me think of what the Lord did for Gideon when Gideon
requested and received more than one confirmation of God’s will to bolster Gideon’s
faith:
Gideon said to God, "If you
will save Israel by my hand as you have promised- look, I will place a wool
fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the
ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you
said." And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he
squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew—a bowlful of water (Judges 6:36-38).
While you can ask for a “fleece’ like Gideon and Thomas did,
there is no guarantee that the Lord will provide one for you. So best to settle the faith issue once
and for all, and learn to trust the Lord with as few stipulations as
possible.
v. 30 – John reported that Jesus did many other miraculous
signs for the disciples, also aimed at bolstering their faith for the future
work He had for them to do. Have
you seen any miracles? Do you
expect to see any? When was the
last one you witnessed? Was it
personal or for someone else?
v. 31 – John was clear in his purpose for writing and for
including the material that he did:
he wanted the reader to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of
God. It’s good to work with
purpose. Do you know why you
are doing what you are doing?
John knew that once the reader believed in Jesus that he or
she would then have life in His marvelous name. Do you have life in all that you do? Answer
truthfully. Are there
activities and roles you play that take life from you and don’t give life to
you? Then how connected are those activities to your faith in Christ? What adjustments do you need to make so
that you will have life?
This day I call heaven and earth
as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings
and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live (Deuteronomy
30:19).
As always, I welcome your comments to this week's study. You can write them or find the studies to Corinthians, Colossians, First Timothy, and Matthew's and Mark's gospels on the site where this week's entry is posted. You can also go there to sign up to receive each week's study.
Plus my website archives contains a complete collection of all my verse-by-verse Bible studies from Matthew, Mark, Luke, Acts, Romans, 1&2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1&2 Thessalonians, 1&2 Timothy, Hebrews, James, 1&2 Peter, Hebrews and Revelation, along with the unpublished volumes of The Faith Files.
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HELP IS ARRIVING: A lot of books, toys and other children's supplies arrived this week for The Deborah Foundation. What's more, $155 came in for The Sophia Fund. I wrote an update on The Sophia Fund the other day, including two emails from Kenya that describe what the latest Sophia Fund allotment has meant for their work. You can read about it here.
After
you read the update, I hope you will act to help today as we approach
the Christmas holiday. I need money and supplies to feed and educate
them in a difficult environment. I am
grateful for your prayerful and prompt response to the children's
needs. If you need more background or information, go to my blog
to see my latest post or go to my Facebook page. I will figure out
a way to get everything to Kenya. You just figure out a way to get them to
me.
DAILY PROVERB: I am now posting a short daily devotional focusing on one verse every day on my blog site. If you would like to read it or subscribe to receive it, just go to my site and register there. I promise to have it updated every day.
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