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John 7:25-31) He is going where they cannot come, and never guessed (for unbelief thinks of the dispersed among the Greeks of anything rather than of God). ): (Verse John 3:10). I apprehend the words the Authorised Version gives in italics should disappear. His own love and person were warrant enough for the simple to lift the veil for a season, and fill the hearts which had received Himself into the conscious enjoyment of divine grace, and of Him who revealed it to them. A second and wholly new man appears the bread of God, not of man, but for men. Yet thousands choose to remain in this state, and to encounter alone all that is terrible in the wrath of Almighty God, rather than come to Jesus, who has borne their sins in his own body on the tree, and who is willing to bless them with the peace, and purity, and joy of immortal life. At least, so say many Christians. Verse John 1:29 opens John's testimony to his disciples. (VersesJohn 7:33-36; John 7:33-36) Jesus was returning to Him that sent Him, and the Holy Ghost would be given. A. John 3:16 King James Version. Yet thousands choose to remain in this state, and to encounter alone all that is terrible in the wrath of Almighty God, rather than come to Jesus, who has borne their sins in his own body on the tree, and who is willing to bless them with the peace, and purity, and joy of immortal life. He that believeth not Or, obeyeth not - : from , negative, and , to persuade, or , to obey-the want of the obedience of faith. (Verses John 5:1-7), On the other hand, the Lord speaks but the word: "Rise, take up thy couch and walk." Pharisaic jealousy had wrought; and Jesus, wearied, sat thus at the fountain of Jacob's well in Sychar. But the wrath of God abideth on him; as the sentence of wrath, of condemnation, and death, and the curse of the law were pronounced upon him in Adam, as on all mankind, it continues, and will continue, and will never be reversed, but will be executed on him, he not being redeemed from it, as his final unbelief shows; and as he was by nature a child of wrath, as others, he remains such; and as the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men, it comes upon the children of disobedience, and remains there; it hangs over their heads, and lights upon them, and they will be filled with a dreadful sense of it to all eternity. The chapters we have had before us (John 1:1-51; John 2:1-25; John 3:1-36) are thus evidently an introduction: God revealed not in the Word alone, but in the Word made flesh, in the Son who declared the Father; His work, as God's Lamb, for the world, and His power by the Holy Ghost in man; then viewed as the centre of gathering, as the path to follow, and as the object even for the attendance of God's angels, the heaven being opened, and Jesus not the Son of God and King of Israel only, but the Son of man object of God's counsels. Further, if Jesus had made such a statement, He would have contradicted numerous other Bible passages that make it clear that salvation is by faith (John 3:16; John 3:36; Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5). Do any believe on His name? And in fact, the original hearer apparently . Such are the grand emphatic points to which the Lord leads. Till then the Holy Ghost could not be so given only when Jesus was glorified, after redemption was a fact. What Does It Really Mean That Your Body Is a Temple? There is the need of another nature, and the only way in which this nature is communicated is by being born of water and the Spirit the employment of the word of God in the quickening energy of the Holy Ghost. 31-36). Law, means, ordinances, could not meet the need no pool, nor angel nothing but the Son working in grace, the Son quickening. John's desire, and the reason he existed, was to see Christ exalted and glorified. In the five porches, then, of this pool lay a great multitude of sick, blind, lame, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. His opposition to sin, and its terrible effects in this world and the next. Very remarkable are the following words of the Jews (b) concerning the Messiah, whom they call the latter Redeemer: "whosoever believes in him "shall" live; but he that believes not in him shall go to the nations of the world, and they shall kill him.'' So bright was His glory, so concerned was the Father in maintaining it, so immense the blessing if received, so tremendous the stake involved in its loss, that God vouchsafed the amplest and clearest witnesses. The question really is, whether man would trust God. As the new birth for the kingdom of God, so the cross is absolutely necessary for eternal life. The Lord Jesus said: " He that believes on the Son has everlasting life." " [T]he water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. Life is in the Son, and He who has the Son has life and there is no condemnation to those that have placed their faith in Him. Details are not called for now, but just the outline of the truth. Jesus (c. 4 BC - AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Roman born Jewish preacher and religious leader; he is the central figure of Christianity, the world's largest religion.Most Christians believe he is the incarnation of God the Son and the awaited Messiah (the Christ) prophesied in the Hebrew Bible. What sayest thou of thyself? The Christian here has a foretaste of the world of glory, and enjoys the same kind of felicity, though not the same degree, that he will there.Shall not see life - Shall neither enjoy true life or happiness here nor in the world to come. So rich and transparently divine was the grace: not some souls, more meritorious than the rest, rewarded according to a graduated scale of honour, but "of his fulness have all we received." Now, it is no longer a question of nature, but of relationship; and hence it is not said simply the Word, but the Son, and the Son in the highest possible character, the only-begotten Son, distinguishing Him thus from any other who might, in a subordinate sense, be son of God "the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father." And they asked him, What then? Shall not see life - Shall neither enjoy true life or happiness here nor in the world to come. The law works no deliverance; it puts a man in chains, prison, darkness, and under condemnation; it renders him a patient, or a criminal incompetent to avail himself of the displays of God's goodness. Nevertheless the Son had taken the place of being the sent One, the place of subordination in the earth, in which He would say, "My Father is greater than I." He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him. The Father did not judge, but committed all judgment into the hands of the Son, because He is the Son of man. Shine The Light. The dreadful truth comes out: the Lord did not trust Himself to them, because He knew all men. It must be so. And herein is that true saying, One soweth, and another reapeth. . John the Baptist's work complete (John 3:22-36)While Jesus and his disciples were preaching and baptizing in Judea, John the Baptist was spending the closing days of his ministry preaching and baptizing further north, in the region of the Jordan Valley (John 3:22-24).Some of John's disciples were becoming jealous of Jesus' popularity, and John had to . He is ever God; He is the Son; He quickens and raises from the dead. No doubt He must become a man, in order, amongst other reasons, to be a sufferer, and to die. If His time was not yet come, their time was always ready. (VerseJohn 4:10; John 4:10) Infinite grace! Let them learn, then, that as Son of man (for which nature they despised Him, and denied His essential personal glory) He will judge; and this judgment will be no passing visitation, such as God has accomplished by angels or men in times past. Such was the grace that God was displaying in Him, the true and full expresser of His mind. But how precious the grace, in presence of their hatred and proud self-complacency! Both words are used in the phrase wrath of God, which commonly denotes a distinct manifestation of God's judgment (Romans 1:18; Romans 3:5; Romans 9:22; Romans 12:19). This was necessary for the kingdom of God; not for some special place of glory, but for any and every part of God's kingdom. It seemed natural: He had fed the poor with bread, and why should not He take His place on the throne? Abideth on him. "Come, see a man that told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?" Art thou Elias? John 1:17; John 1:17) The law, thus given, was in itself no giver, but an exacter; Jesus, full of grace and truth, gave, instead of requiring or receiving; and He Himself has said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. Article Images Copyright 2023 Getty Images unless otherwise indicated. Then said they unto him, Who art thou? John 3:31-36 meaning. (Ver. His opposition to sin, and its terrible effects in this world and the next. "He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." He holds a seat on the Expressly had He told the man to take up his couch and walk, as well as to rise. God does not here condescend to call it His, though, of course, it was His and holy, just, and good, both in itself and in its use, if used lawfully. And as life is in the person of the Son, so God in sending Him meant not that the smallest uncertainty should exist for aught so momentous. Thus we feed on Him and drink into Him, as man, unto life everlasting life in Him. If He judges, it is not without full warning. But this is the command of God, That men should believe on his Son, 1Jo 3:23. But Jesus finds him in the temple, and said, "Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee." (See Hebrews 12:2, Hebrews 13:11-13) Again, let me just remark in passing, that although, no doubt, we may in a general way speak of those who partake of the new nature as having that life, yet the Holy Ghost refrains from predicating of any saints the full character of eternal life as a present thing until we have the cross of Christ laid (at least doctrinally) as the ground of it. The distinctiveness of such a testimony to the Saviour's glory need hardly be pointed out. It is here life begunthe first breathings and pantings of the soul for immortality; yet it is life, though at first feeble and faint, which is eternal in its nature, and which shall be matured in the full and perfect bliss of heaven. And worship is viewed both in moral nature and in the joy of communion doubly. His aspect as thus tabernacling among the disciples was "full of grace and truth." John 3:19; John 3:19) Other things, the merest trifles, may serve to indicate a man's condition; but a new responsibility is created by this infinite display of divine goodness in Christ, and the evidence is decisive and final, that the unbeliever is already judged before God. Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? It is not merely a Messiah, who comes and offers Himself, as we find in other gospels, with most painstaking diligence, and presented to their responsibility; but here from the outset the question is viewed as closed. This is all perfectly true, of course; and we have it elsewhere. John is not saying that Christ in himself is not already as great intrinsically as he could possibly be. If He put forth His power, it was not only beyond man's measure, but unequivocally divine, however also the humblest and most dependent of men. They knew what they worshipped, but not the Father, nor were they "true." shall not see lifeThe contrast here is striking: The one has already a life that will endure for everthe other not only has it not now, but shall never have itnever see it. through "sin." Afterwards, John the Baptist explains why he's content to see his own ministry fade into the background. The addition of "unto him" detracts, to my mind, from the exceeding preciousness of what seems to be, at least, left open. Jesus not only could go up, as He did later, but He had come down thence, and, even though man, He was the Son of man that is in heaven. The wrath of God. The word, which occurs only here in the Gospels, is not the same as that at the beginning of the verse, and shows that the faith there intended is the subjection of the will to the Son, to whom the Father hath given all things (John 3:35). Nor was it yet complete. If it was addressed first to Jewish-Christians (or, just as easily, to Christian-Jews - that is the earl. "Master, eat," said they. He bows to, as he explains, the sovereign will of God. Then, resuming the strain of verse John 1:14, we are told, in verseJohn 1:16; John 1:16, that "of his fulness have all we received." Then (ver. Verse 3:36 comes after the Nicodemus story. 'Already' indicates that when you arrived on this planet, you were already an unbeliever, your sentence was then passed by God the Judge. To Him be all praise and glory forever and ever, AMEN. More correctly, as Rev., obeyeth not. Compare Romans 1:5, the obedience of faith. John 3:2 Greek him; John 3:3 Or from above; the Greek is purposely ambiguous and can mean both again and from above; also verse 7; John 3:6 The same Greek word means both wind and spirit; John 3:7 The Greek for you is plural here; John 3:8 The same Greek word means both wind and spirit; John 3:11 The Greek for you is plural here; also four times in verse 12 . Nay, the Father has given all judgment to the Son. Now, it is the Holy Ghost in the power that gives rivers of living water flowing out, and this bound up with, and consequent on, His being man in glory. John then declared his own waning before Christ, as we have seen, the issues of whose testimony, believed or not, are eternal; and this founded on the revelation of His glorious person as man and to man here below. Jesus, therefore, answered, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. infinite truth! And so, in fact, it was and is. By and by He will apply it to "that nation," the Jews, as to others also, and finally (always excepting the unbelieving and evil) to the entire system, the world. He that comes from above from heaven is above all. John 1:20-25) John does not even speak of Him as one who, on His rejection as Messiah, would step into a larger glory. What is there in God more truly divine than grace and truth? He would have every soul to know assuredly how he stands for eternity as well as now. The Light, on coming into the world, lightens every man with the fulness of evidence which was in Him, and at once discovers the true state as truly as it will be revealed in the last day when He judges all, as we find it intimated in the gospel afterwards. (See on [1777]Joh 3:18 and [1778]Joh 5:24).shall not see lifeThe contrast here is striking: The one has already a life that will endure for everthe other not only has it not now, but shall never have itnever see it.abideth on himIt was on Him before, and not being removed in the only possible way, by "believing on the Son," it necessarily remaineth on him!