OUR FATHER WHO GAVE GIFTS TO MEN

The book of John chapter 4 verses 39 - 42 records the reaction of the Samaritans in the town to what the woman who met Jesus at the well, had told them.

The people believed in Jesus because of the earnest testimony of the woman and also because they heard Him with their own ears and were persuaded by His words and because of His manner of love towards the people of a small town whom He, a Jew, would normally have no dealings with, and yet He stayed with them in their homes and shared the good news of the kingdom of God with them. 

39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of His own word.

42 Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”

The Lord established a model of winning the lost people. 

• He engaged them in conversation
• He shared with them the gift of the Spirit (word of knowledge about her life)
• He entwined His life with theirs as he stayed among them as a guest

Amen.

4

OUR FATHER WHOSE WORD IS OUR NOURISHMENT

The book of John chapter 4 verses 27 - 38 continues with the story at Jacobˋs well when Jesusˋ disciples returned from buying food.

The disciples were surprised to see that Jesus had broken an taboo and engaged a woman in conversation however they did not speak up about it because they knew that Jesus did not conform to cultural taboos.

The woman, having been bowled over by her encounter with Jesus went back to her home town and told everyone about the experience of Jesus telling her the hidden details of her life.

The spiritual hunger in the woman was revealed in the brief interaction with Jesus and she, knowing that people in her town had the same yearning, told them that she may have stumbled on the Christ for whom they had all been waiting.

27 And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You talking with her?”

28 The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, 29 “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” 30 Then they went out of the city and came to Him.

31 In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”

32 But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”

33 Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?”

34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. 

35 Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! 36 And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37 For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”

As this was happening, the disciples urged Jesus to have something to eat but He told them that his nourishment came from doing the will of the One who sent Him and completing the work that He was given to do.

Jesus then explained to His disciples that spiritual wages and the fruit for eternal life are gained by participating in the harvesting of the fields by winning souls for the kingdom of God.  The tasks of taking the crop are divided so that some people sow and others reap and in this symbiotic interdependency, everyone who joins in, benefits and rejoices together.

Amen.

12

OUR FATHER WHO KNOWS US

The book of John chapter 4 verses 1 - 26 records an encounter that Jesus had while travelling  from Jerusalem back to Galilee.

The route took Jesus through an area named Samaria and as He paused to rest by a water well that the patriarch Jacob had dug centuries before. His disciples went off to a nearby town to buy food and while they were gone, a woman came to the well to get some water.

Jesus initiated the conversation with her by asking her for a drink and our passage captures the interchange between them that followed;

1 Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John 2 (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), 3 He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. 4 But He needed to go through Samaria.

5 So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.

9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.

Breaking the cultural norm of Jews keeping separate from Samaritans, Jesus asked the woman to get Him a drink of water. 

The woman, fully knowing the taboos being contravened, asked Jesus why He, a Jew, would be asking her, a Samaritan and a woman no less, for water. 

This societal pattern had formed when northern Israel and  Judah in the south politically split apart centuries before and their spiritual pratices veered away from each other resulting in the people in Judah considering the people in the northern part of the country to be unclean heretics.

For Jesus to engage the woman in conversation would have been a surprise to her and t anyone else who would have witnessed it. In this setting, Jesus set a universal pattern for us to see that there were no people from any religion or tribe who Jesus would not be willing to connect with and form friendships with.

10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

In response to the womanˋs point, Jesus gave her a glimpse into who He actually was by telling her that He was a gift God to her and that He was able to offer living water to anyone who asked him.

11 The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12 Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”

13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”

15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”

The woman was skeptical of Jesusˋ claim because to her eyes, he was just a random man sitting by the well, failing to observe expected norms and who had no visible apparatus to retrieve water of any kind. She questioned whether He had the status to make promises to provide better water than what their common anscestor, Jacob, was able to provide for them when he dug the well centuries before.

Jesus responded that the water He provided to those who asked was better than the water provided by Jacob because, while Jacobˋs water would need to be drank over and over when thirst returned, the water He provided would perpetually bubble up within the person as a fountain that was a spring of eternal life.

The woman was intrigued by the possibilities and asked Jesus for the kind of water that would save her the frequent trips to the well for drinking water. 

16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.”

Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”´

With the woman interested in the promise of the eternal life that Jesus was proposing, He pivoted to the matter of her personal life that He knew needed to be addressed as part of the exchange between her temporal life in the flesh and the eternal life of the spirit.

19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”

The profound and detailed insight into her life that Jesus described shocked her and she immediately discerned that Jesus was a prophet. 

The first things that came to her mind when she realised that Jesus was a genuine spiritual authority was to ask Him to settle an issue of religious contention related to the validity of the Jewish claim that Jerusalem was the only legitimate place of worship while her people worshiped on a mountain in their own territory instead. 

Jesus settled the question unequivocally and permanently by telling her that God the Father, because He is spirit, would seek to be worshiped in spirit and truth and this would make the requirement to worship in the physical temple in Jerusalem or on the Samaritan mountain, obsolete.

21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.”

26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”

Jesusˋ masterful exposition of the nature of worship did not persuade the woman that He had the rank to make such an assertion so she said to Jesus that she would rather wait for the expected Messiah to settle her question for her and it was here that Jesus asserted that the awaited Messiah for whom the generations yearned to see, was right there with her at that well.

Wow. Amen.

4

OUR FATHER WHO SENT A HEROLD TO PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD

The followers of John the Baptist were concerned about reports that another person was  baptizing people and gaining a large following among the people.

They asked John the Baptist about this situation and John clarified for them that the one of whom He testified was the Christ would increase while John the Baptist decreased.

The book of John chapter 3 verses 22 - 36 records this interaction between John the Baptist and his followers.

22 After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He remained with them and baptized. 23 Now John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there. And they came and were baptized. 24 For John had not yet been thrown into prison.

25 Then there arose a dispute between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purification. 26 And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified—behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!”

27 John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. 28 You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before Him.’ 29 He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease. 

John the Baptist testified that he was not the Christ but that he was sent ahead of the Christ and now that John had seen the One for whom he was sent to herald, he was thrilled to have had a role in connection with one so great as Jesus.

Speaking further on Jesus, John explained that Jesus was from heaven and was speaking to the people about heavenly things that He was a witness of but the people were not receiving his testimony. To recieve the testimony of the One sent from heaven would be receiving the words of God directly because the Christ only spoke the words of God. To receive the words of God would assure the believer of everlasting life as John the Baptist taught his followers.

31 He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. 32 And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony. 33 He who has received His testimony has certified that God is true. 34 For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure. 35 The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. 36 He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

In this passage, John the Baptist said that God does not give the Spirit by measure. This means that to believe in the Christ and to then be given the Spirit, one is given the same Spirit that was given to Jesus in totality.

We are given the Spirit and we can grow in the Spirit as much or as little as we desire.

Therefore, we can expend our life in the pursuit of the Spirit in order to increase to the extent that the Spirit provides.

Amen.

4

OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS SON TO BRING MANY SONS TO GLORY

As Jesus was gaining noteriety around Jerusalem, the religious classes were debating His teachings and were trying to assess what He was up to.  Within the religious class called the pharisees was a faction that had concluded that the miraculous signs that Jesus was doing made it likely that He was from God and so they sent a representative to meet with Him incognito to interview Him in order to gain some understanding of His position.

The book of John chapter 3 verse 1 - 21  recorded the meeting between the emissary named Nicodemus and Jesus;

1 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”

3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Nicodemus  said to Jesus that he and some collegues in the Sanhedrin ( the Jewish religious council ) believed that He was sent by God because of the miraculous signs they were seeing Him doing.

To this statement by Nicodemus, Jesus replied that knowing that He was from God and learning His teachings was not enough for a person to gain access to the kingdom of God but rather, a person would have to be ˋborn againˋ. 

Nicodemus was baffled by the reference to being spiritually reborn because he had interpreted Jesusˋ words to mean a physical rebirth that required a re-entry into the womb. 

Jesus steered Nicodemus towards a more spiritual understanding of what He was saying by establishing that there were two types of births one of which was the physical birth and other being a spiritual birth and it was the only spiritual birth that needed to be repeated and that this rebirth that is the work of the Spirit of God was the means by which such men would be able to live within the confines of the physical world while at the same time being able to move about in the spiritual world.

This explanation that Jesus gave completely confounded Nicodemus who could not even conceive of such things.

9 Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?”

10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? 11 Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Jesus marvelled that a religious leader in Israel, with all his learning in the books of the law and the prophets, could not understand the basic things being explained.

He assured Nicodemus that the things He was teaching and testifying about were not guesses but rather things that He knew directly and had personally seen because He was from heaven and could therefore ascend to heaven. This was a reference to the book of Genesis Chapter 28 (that Nicodemus would have been very familiar with) which reads;

12 Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

13 And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants.

This dream of Jacob revealed the exchange program between heaven and earth that permitted the movement of beings between the physical realm and the spiritual one. It was the reality of the interpolation of these two realms that Jesus was explaining to Nicodemus but being rigidly trained in the things of the physical world, Nicodemus had a difficult time grappling with the possibilities of a new spiritual life.

Jesus went on to explain to Nicodemus that believing in the only begotten Son of God was the only way to acquire the righteousness that was needed to separate from the kingdom of darkness and ascend into the kingdom of God.

18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

The words of Jesus in this passage gives us a view into the mechanics of salvation where our faith in Jesus releases us from condemnation and we are given a new spirit and we are counted as righteous because of the new spirit within us.  Living from the spirit yields righteous deeds and we can come to the light.

Such is the unfathomably priceless gift that Jesus gave us. We are translated from the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of light by the work He finished on the cross.

Amen.

12

OUR FATHER WHOSE SON DID NOT BREAK A BRUISED REED

At the onset of Jesusˋ public ministry in Jerusalem during the Passover, many people were drawn to Him and believed in His name when they saw the miraculous works He was doing.

The book of John chapter 2 verses 23 - 25 records the people of Jerusalemˋs initial positive reception of His ministry and the passage also records Jesusˋ reserved reciprocation to that response. 

23 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. 24 But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, 25 and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.

Even though the people of Jerusalem, upon seeing the supernatural works Jesus was doing in their midst saw Him in a favourable light, Jesus was reticent about basing His ministry on the wave of popularity that was rising in the city.

He was fully aware of the fickle hearts of men who could, on one hand, be attracted to the novelty of a sincere and authoritative religious leader and then turn against that leader at the drop of a hat if the trends and fashion dictated so.

Jesus, the one for whom, and by whom and through whom all existance was created, was there at the beginning during the creation of mankind and therefore knew, without needing to hear from anyone, what was in man.

He was cool toward the reception He got in Jerusalem knowing that it was only the protracted exposure to His mission would reveal the true hearts of men.

Jesus did not run roughshod over the weak embers of faith that were igniting in some people of Jerusalem but He was gentle and gave room for their faith to quietly take hold and indeed some people were truly persuaded of the validity of His mission.

The book of Isaiah chapter 42 verses 1 - 4 says this is the One who was sent;

1 “Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights!

I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.

2 He will not cry out, nor raise His voice, Nor cause His voice to be heard in the street.

3 A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench;

He will bring forth justice for truth.

4 He will not fail nor be discouraged, Till He has established justice in the earth;

And the coastlands shall wait for His law.”

Amen.

4

OUR FATHER WHOSE TEMPLE IS A HOUSE OF PRAYER FOR THE NATIONS

The book of John chapter  2 verses 13 - 22 records when Jesus went to Jerusalem for the Passover and while he was there, found that the temple had been converted into a trading floor for sacrificial animals and currency changers.

As people poured into Jerusalem for the Passover feast, merchants took advantage of the high demand for animals and for the temple currency and they set up booths inside the temple in order to sell their wares at seasonally inflated rates.

This missappropriation of the temple stirred Jesus to anger and He scattered the vendors who had setup their retail opertations in a spiritual space by driving the animals out and by overturning the tables on which currency was being traded.

This activity attracted an investigation by the temple managers who asked what spiritual credentials Jesus had that permitted Him to enforce the spiritual function of the temple.

The passage reads this way;

13 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. 15 When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. 16 And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” 17 Then His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.”

18 So the Jews answered and said to Him, “What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?”

19 Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

20 Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?”

21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body. 22 Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.

As Jesus replied to the temple managers, the sign of Jesusˋ spiritul authority to clear the temple was that He would die and in three days, He would rise again. 

Amen.

4

OUR FATHER WHO INVITES US TO A WEDDING 

The book of John chapter 2 starts with a wedding at the Galilean town of Cana to which Jesusˋ mother was invited and the Lord Jesus and His disciples were also invited.

As the reception proceeded, the alcoholic beverages ran out and the host family was about to be embarrased. Mary, Jesusˋ mother, wanted to help out the flailing family and so she came to Jesus and informed His that the wine had run out and the family needed some help to keep face in the community.

Jesus replied to His mother that the alcohol supplies of a wedding were not His responsibility and certainly not maintaining the social standing of a family in the little town of Cana.

Mary responded as though she had not heard what Jesus had said and she rallied the wedding attendants to carry out whatever Jesus told them to do.

He commanded the servants to fill six water jars which held about 20 - 30 gallons of water each.

When they had filled the jars with water, Jesus told them to take a sample to the master of ceremonies who tasted it and was surprised by the quality of the wine.

Usually, as the master of ceremonies told the bridegroom, the best wine is served at the beginning of the festivities while everyone was sober. As the night wore on and people became increasingly inebriated, the hosts would bring out the cheaper dreck that drunk people donˋt mind or don't notice. 

On this occasion, the master of ceremonies was surprised by the fact that the hosts had brought out the top brand of wine towards the end of the wedding feast.

1 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. 3 And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.”

4 Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.”

5 His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.”

6 Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. 7 Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And He said to them, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.” And they took it. 9 When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. 10 And he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!”

11 This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.

12 After this He went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples; and they did not stay there many days.

The events wedding at Cana marked the beginning of Jesusˋ public supernatural ministry and His disciples took note of Jesusˋ power to do the miraculous.

The kingdom of God will be experienced in a similar way by those who subscribe to it.

At the beginning, we will engage with heaven faintly but at the culmination of all things, we will see and understand clearly.

As the Apostle Paul says in I Corinthians chapter 13 verse 12;

For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

The good wine will come at the end.

Amen

4

 OUR FATHER WHO GAVE HIS SON COMPANIONS to WALK WITH

The book of John chapter 1 verses 43 - 51 reads this way;

43 The following day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and He found Philip and said to him, “Follow Me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

46 And Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”

47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!”

48 Nathanael said to Him, “How do You know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”

49 Nathanael answered and said to Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”

50 Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And He said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

Amen

8

OUR FATHER WHO GAVE HIS SON COMPANIONS TO WALK WITH

The book of John chapter 1 verses 35 - 42 records the calling of the first disciples to Jesusˋ ministry.

The day after John had baptised Jesus, Jesus was in the area and again John declared the Jesus was the Lamb of God and two of Johnˋs disciples heard him and they left Johnˋs ministry and followed Jesus. One of these disciples was Andrew.

35 Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples. 36 And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, “Behold the Lamb of God!”

37 The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. 38 Then Jesus turned, and seeing them following, said to them, “What do you seek?” They said to Him, “Rabbi” (which is to say, when translated, Teacher), “where are You staying?”

39 He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where He was staying, and remained with Him that day (now it was about the tenth hour).

40 One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated, the Christ). 42 And he brought him to Jesus. Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, “You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas” (which is translated, A Stone).

Andrew, having heard John the baptist say that Jesus was the Lamb of God immediately followed Jesus and went to where He was staying and hung out with Him until about 4 in the afternoon. He then went to find his own brother whose name was Simon and Andrew told him that they had found the Messiah and brought him to where Jesus was.

Jesus, upon seeing Simon, changed his name to Peter which means ˋa stoneˋ.

Thus the group of disciples began to grow until it reached 12 core members.

Amen.

8

OUR FATHER WHO REVEALED HIS SON TO THE WORLD THROUGH JOHN THE BAPTIST

John chapter 1 verses 29 - 34 says this;

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who [k]is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ 31 I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.”

32 And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. 33 I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”

amen.

4

 OUR FATHER WHO SENT A VOICE AHEAD TO PREPARE A WAY FOR OUR GOD

John chapter 1 verses 19 - 29 captures the confrontation between the religious leaders and John the Baptist.

John the Baptistˋs emergence confounded the religious class at the time because he was proclaiming spiritual rite of repentance through baptism and so they sent priests and Levites to him to find out who he was and get an explanaton for what he was doing.

They asked John the Baptist if he was the Messiah and he denied that. They then asked him if he was Elijah who had pre-figured baptism in the scriptures and John denied that as well. They asked him if he was 'the prophet' to which John said ˋNoˋ.

The prophet is this case is a reference from Deuteronomy chapter 18 verse - 18, which says, "I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers".

The identity of this prophet is Jesus who was called a prophet by the woman at the well in the book of John chapter 4 verse 19;

The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.

Our passage for today reads this way;

20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”

21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?”

And he answered, “No.”

22 Then they said to him, “Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”

23 He said: “I am ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the Lord,” ’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”

24 Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees. 25 And they asked him, saying, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

26 John answered them, saying, “I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. 27 It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.”

28 These things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

Those who had aproached John the Baptist to question him exhausted the options that they had considered and so they asked him to tell them who he was and he told them that he was the one sent to prepare the way for the prophet (spoken of by Moses) and the Messiah (spoken of by the prophet  Isaiah and the other prophets). This role is captured in Isaiah chapter 40 verse which says;

The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHOSE SON WAS THE EXACT REPRESENTATION OF HIMSELF

The book of John chapter 1 verses 16 - 18 says this;

16 And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.

This passage is easier to understand in the Amplified version;

16 For out of His fullness [the superabundance of His grace and truth] we have all received grace upon grace [spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing, favor upon favor, and gift heaped upon gift]. 17 For the Law was given through Moses, but grace [the unearned, undeserved favor of God] and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God [His essence, His divine nature] at any time; the [One and] only begotten God [that is, the unique Son] who is in the intimate presence of the Father, He has explained Him [and interpreted and revealed the awesome wonder of the Father].

The Apostle John wrote of the experience that they had with the One of whom John the Baptist bore witness.

John describes being innundated with grace being poured upon grace out of the abundance of the Messiah Jesus Christ who, being in intimate connection with the  Father, was able to reveal the nature of God the Father to those listened to Him.

Whereas Moses brought the instrument of law by which favor was earned by obedience to it, the Messiah Jesus brought the instrument of grace and truth which made available the unearned and undeserved favor to us all.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS SON TO SAVE THE WORLD

The book of John chapter 1 verse 15 captures the reaction of John the Baptist when his ministry intersected the life of the Lord Jesus on the side of the river Jordan. 

15 John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ ”

John had been pre-alerted to some specifications of what the encounter with the awaited Messiah would be like and one day, while John was going about his ministry of preaching repentance and baptising people, Jesus arrived at that location and John saw the signs that he was in the presence of the One for whom he was sent to herald.

John the Baptist broadcast the news that Jesus was indeed the One of whom he had been saying would be coming after him who would be preeminent because He prexisted John even though John had been born before Him.

John positively identified Jesus on the shore of the Jordan River as the awaited One.

Amen.

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 OUR FATHER WHOSE ONLY BEGOTTEN SON CAME TO LIVE AMONG US

In chapter 1 verse 14 of his gospel, the Apostle John tells us that the divine eternal Word of God who was at the beginning of creation and through whom everything that exists was made, became a physical man and lived in their midst.

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

John marvels at how he and and his fellow disciples and other people around them actually set eyes on the One who was the only begotten Son of the Father and they saw His glory and they experienced Him to be full of grace and truth.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS SON INTO THE WORLD TO SAVE THE WORLD

John chapter 1 verses 10 - 13 is the executive summary of the mission of the Lord Jesus Christ.

10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

John tells us in this elemental passage that the creator of the world came to the world but He was not unrecognizable to the world for who He was. 

There was a set of people kept aside from all the people of the world to be His people who should have recieved Him into the world but they did not recieve Him.

When the officialdom of His people rejected Him, the gates were opened so that anyone who recieved Him by believing in Him were given the right to become children of God.

And those who did recieve Him were born as children of God. This birth was not biological nor intentioned by the flesh nor by the mind of man but born of God.

The apostle John wrote on this spiritual re-birth in more detail in John chapter 3 verses 3 - 8 which says;

3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

A teacher of Israel named Nicodemus came to Jesus seeking insight into His teachings and it is here that Jesus articulated the concept of being born again of the Spirit of God and becoming the children of God.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER SENT A WITNESS TO THE LIGHT

The book of John chapter 1 verses 6 - 9 tells us of the ministry of John the Baptist who was sent to identify the One who was the light.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. 8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 9 That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.

John was stationed in such a way that when the One who was the light arrived at that location, John would recognize Him as the One and would declare that He was the awaited light of the world.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHOSE SON IS OUR CREATOR AND OUR SAVIOUR

To begin our study of the book of the Gospel of John, letˋs start with the first five verses in chapter 1 within which the maginifcent declaration of the eternal and divine status of the Lord Jesus Christ and His covert mission to the earth to rescue men out of the clutches of the kingdom of darkness.

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

The first verse defines an entity named the ˋWordˋ who was at the beginning of the creation of eveything and who was with the supreme deity and who was the supreme deity.

The second verse gives this deity a singular masculine pronoun and tells us that He was alongside the supreme deity at the creation of everything.

The third verse tells us that everything that was created was made through Him (by His agency)  and nothing in existence came to be without Him.

The fourth verse tells us that this divine being was life itself and it was this life that was a beacon for mankind who sat in darkness. 

The fifth verse then tells us that into the realm which men inhabit, the deity shines as a beacon to summon men out of darkness and into His marvelous light (1 Peter chapter 2 verse 9 ) and light was smuggled into the world in such a way that the kingdom of darkness could not understand or inteprete what was going on in order to prevent the light from plundering the darkness.

The gospel of John, in telling us the story of the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus, reveals to us how the One who was life itself dwelt among us on the earth and launched an outpost of the kingdom of light in the midst of darkness.

Amen.

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 OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS SON TO SAVE THE WORLD

The end of the book of Matthew brings us to the great commission where the Lord Jesus met with His disciples in Galilee. Matthew chapter 28 verses 16 - 20 says this;

16 Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. 17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.

18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

The Lord, appeared to His followers at the appointed location and they worshiped Him. The text mentions that some of His followers doubted. This could be because Jesus did not look like what they expected and so they were not confident that they were actually interacting with the ressurected Lord.

The Lord declared to them that all authority in heaven and on earth had been given to Him and so every executive and adminstrative strand of power were in His hands.

This occured when Jesus ascended after the ressurection to the right hand of God the Father and He was made preeminent over all creation when He was installed as king over Zion as Psalm  2 verse 6 says;

“Yet as for Me, I have anointed and firmly installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain.”

The Lord then His people to go to all nations of the earth and make disciples of them and baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and to teach them to follow His commands.

To this charge, Jesus added that He would be with His disciples every step of the way and would be alongside them bringing His power and authority to bear in the fulfilment of the work of the great harvest.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO RAISED JESUS FROM THE DEAD

The perplexed but elated women ran to report these things and they met Jesus who said to them ˋRejoice!ˋ.

And they held Jesus by the feet and worshiped Him and the women were instructed to go and tell the disciples to go to Galilee where He would be seen by them.

Meanwhile, the guard detail that had been posted to watch the tomb travelled back into Jerusalem and reported to the chief priests what had happened at the grave site.

The circumstances, having changed to make the exaltation of the Lord Jesus among the people more likely, forced the chief priests to change tack from trying to prevent the disciples from stealing Jesusˋ body to spreading information that the disciples had indeed stolen Jesusˋ body.

Matthew chapter 28 verse 9 - 15 records the reaction of the chief priests to the ressurection of the Lord Jesus this way;

9 And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice!” So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me.”

11 Now while they were going, behold, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened. 12 When they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, 13 saying, “Tell them, ‘His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we slept.’ 14 And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will appease him and make you secure.” 15 So they took the money and did as they were instructed; and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.

Even a startling event like the ressurection could not bring the religious leaders ( who were guardians of the religious traditions of the children of Israel ) to reconsider their stance on who Jesus was. Instead, they worked to cover up the news of what happened at the burial site where Jesusˋ body was placed and many people were blocked from faith in Jesus by the cover-up story that the religious leaders propagated and that cover-up is still active to this day.

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OUR FATHER WHO RAISED JESUS FROM THE DEAD

As we reach the last chapter of the book of Matthew, we see the record of Mary Magdalene and another person named Mary coming early in the morning to the tomb where Jesus was buried.

An earthquake struck the area which was predicated by the arrival of an angel from heaven to roll back the stone that blocked the entrance to the grave.

The guards posted by the religious leaders witnessed the angelˋs apearance and they collapsed into unconciousness.

The angel addressed the women as the arrived and told them not to be afraid because he knew that they had come to look for the crucified Jesus but that Jesus had risen from the dead. The angel invited the women to look into the tomb to verify that Jesus was not there and then to go and tell the disciples that Jesus had indeed risen from the dead.

The angel also told the women to let the disciples know that Jesus would be going ahead of them to Galilee and they would see Him there.

The women were elated at the astonishing news and they ran to bring the news to the disciples.

Matthew chapter 28 verses 1 - 8 reads this way;

1 Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. 3 His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. 4 And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.

5 But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. 7 And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.”

8 So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word.

Amen and amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO GAVE HIS ONLY SON 

Matthew chapter 27 verses 62 - 66 captured the machinations of the religious leaders the morning after Jesusˋ death.

They wanted to take precautions to prevent the followers of Jesus from stealing Jesusˋ body and then claiming that He had risen from the dead as He had said would happen.  They were afraid that if this happened, the reverence of Jesus would be perpetuated to the detriment of the traditional religious establishment.

They went to Pilate and requested that he decree that the body of Jesus be secured by posting a guard over the tomb that Jesusˋ was placed in.

62 On the next day, which followed the Day of Preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate, 63 saying, “Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise.’ 64 Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away, and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead.’ So the last deception will be worse than the first.”

65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard; go your way, make it as secure as you know how.” 66 So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard.

Pilate did not share the concerns of the religious leaders because he was not threatened by the possible theft of Jesusˋ body. He therefore refused to send his own guards to watch over the tomb but told the religious leaders to post their own guards and secure the tomb to their own satisfaction.

The prevention of the theft of Jesusˋ body was now in the purview of the chief priests and the pharisees.

4

 OUR FATHER WHO GAVE HIS ONLY SON TO DIE FOR THE SINS OF THE WORLD

Matthew chapter 27 verses 57 - 61 records the burial of Jesus;

57 Now when evening had come, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. 58 This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be given to him. 59 When Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60 and laid it in his new tomb which he had hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb, and departed. 61 And Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting opposite the tomb.

Joseph of Arimathea, a disciple of Jesus took on the responsibility of burying the Lordˋs body and he requested permission from Pilate to take the body. 

Once granted, Joseph went to cross that Jesus was on and took it down and wrapped it in clean linen. He had a new tomb that he had cut into bedrock for himself and he laid Jesusˋ body in it and rolled a large stone over the entryway to the tomb. Mary Magdalene and another Mary were there during the placement of Jesusˋ body and as such, knew which tomb it was when they would come later to visit the tomb.

Have mercy on us O God.

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OUR FATHER WHO GAVE HIS SON AS A SACRIFICE FOR THE SINS OF THE WORLD

Matthew chapter 27 verses 45 - 56 records the last few minutes of Jesusˋ life;

45 Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

47 Some of those who stood there, when they heard that, said, “This Man is calling for Elijah!” 48 Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and offered it to Him to drink.

49 The rest said, “Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to save Him.”

50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.

51 Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, 52 and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; 53 and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

54 So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

55 And many women who followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to Him, were there looking on from afar, 56 among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.

While the Lord Jesus hung on the cross, a strange darkness lingered over the land from noon to 3:00 pm and at about 3:00 pm, the Lord, His body failing quickly, cried out the first words of Psalm 22 when He said, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

Psalm 22 verse 3 prophetically reveals Jesusˋ fortitude while His body approached the point of failure by recording His thoughts of reverence towards God even though He was now reaching the agonizing end of His life;

Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises. 

Some witness were trying to understand what He was saying while others were tried to offer Him some of the bitter vinegar. Others were scornful and remained close by to see if Jesus was going to be saved supernaturally.

With total heart faiure imminent, Jesus mustered the last of His strength and cried out in a loud voice and released His spirit and bowed His head in death.

A sequence of highly unusual events tooks place imediately after Jesus died;

1. The veil over the holiest part of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom
2. A great earthquake occured
3. Rocks around the are split into two pieces which opened up sealed graves
4. Saints who had died and were burried, arose from the dead went into Jerusalem
5. The saints who rose from the dead showed themselves to people in the city

The strange events that occured when Jesus died scared the soldiers charged with guarding and executing Him. They were able to recognize that the particular crucifixion that had just concluded was diferent from all the others they had done. They declared that the death of the man who died on the cross was so markedly different that He must have been the Son of God as He claimed even though He was being mocked for saying so.

This passage also gives a roll call of the women who had stayed close by and ministered to Jesus up to the time of His death;

1. Mary Magdalene
2. Mary the mother of James and Joses (Joseph)
3. The mother of James and John Zebedee.

Have mercy on us O God.

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OUR FATHER WHO GAVE HIS SON AS A SACRIFICE FOR THE SINS OF THE WORLD

In Matthew chapter 27 verses 32 - 43, the Lord Jesus, having been scourged and then handed over to be crucified, was now in a physically weakened state and so a man from Cyrene (which is a port city in the the area of modern day Lybia) was shanghaied into carrying a cross for Jesus until they reached the site of crucifixion at a place called Golgotha.

He was nailed to the cross and lifted up so that the distress to His body would cause a gradual descent into death as His organs failed one by one.

As dehydration set in, Jesus asked for a drink and they gave him a bitter liquid on a sponge to drink but after he tasted it, He could not drink. This is a reflection of Psalm 69 verses 20 - 21 which describes the sour liquid they offered Jesus but also describes the mockery that was leveled at Jesus as He hung on the spikes that held Him to the cross;

20 Scorn has broken my heart and has left me helpless; I looked for sympathy, but there was none, for comforters, but I found none. 21 They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst.

Our passage in Matthew which describes the scene of Jesusˋ suffering on the cross, reads this way;

32 Now as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. Him they compelled to bear His cross. 33 And when they had come to a place called Golgotha, that is to say, Place of a Skull, 34 they gave Him sour wine mingled with gall to drink. But when He had tasted it, He would not drink.

35 Then they crucified Him, and divided His garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet: “They divided My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots.”

36 Sitting down, they kept watch over Him there. 37 And they put up over His head the accusation written against Him:

THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

38 Then two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and another on the left.

39 And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads 40 and saying, “You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”

41 Likewise the chief priests also, mocking with the scribes and elders, said, 42 “He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him. 43 He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” 44 Even the robbers who were crucified with Him reviled Him with the same thing. 

As He suffered, the Romans gambled for His clothing which is captured in Psalm 22 verse 18 which reads;

They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.

The people who were witnessing the events were many of same people whom he had taught about the kingdom of God and righteousness but they mocked Him and used His words to jeer at Him and they challenged Him to free Himself from the cross since He claimed to be the Son of God and they reasoned that if He were truly from God, God would save Him from the cross.

This too was foretold in the twenty-second Psalm from verse 6 to verse 8 which reads;

6 But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people. 7 All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads.

8 “He trusts in the Lord,” they say, “let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.”

The Lord hung in this deteriorating condition of dehydration and shock for about 3 hours. His breathing became more laboured and His heart started to beat faster and faster trying to distribute oxygenated blood around the body but was increasingly unable to keep up.

The Lordˋs death was approaching.

Have mercy on us O God.

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