Category: Trinitarian Commentary

A reader asked me for my personal advice as he was having JW’s come over. I told him to simply read the blog tonight. I don’t believe I’ve got to address this yet and I am trying to keep you readers updated on my progress with the Jehovah’s Witnesses who have come to visit us. To date, I have not seen a Witness come out of the Watchtower as a result of my own ministry, but these that we have visiting are the ones that have given me the most hope.

So what do you do when they come to your door? First off, you need to have your own doctrine down well. Walter Martin once said that the average Jehovah’s Witness can turn the average Christian into a doctrinal pretzel in 90 seconds or less. I have some friends who I once had join me at the Y while I was at the pool. While there, we started talking about Witnesses and I got into some role-playing where I played the role of the Witness to stump them. The lesson showed them that they had a lot to learn.

By the way, I don’t say that to discourage my friends. One of the greatest blessings you’ll have in apologetics is when someone comes along and pounds you into the ground. What it does is it makes you more committed to your study and you go out there more to try to find those answers since you don’t want that to happen again.

Knowing your own doctrine is more than the doctrine of the Trinity. I would that every Christian would read at least one good systematic theology. “But that’s a lot of reading!” Yeah. Go out there and get started then. You need to know not just the doctrine of the Trinity, but how that doctrine relates to any other doctrine. Note that Jehovah’s Witnesses deny a lot more than just the Trinity. They also deny numerous other doctrines, such as the omnipresence of God.

Get an understanding of salvation. Jehovah’s Witnesses like all other groups teach works-salvation. One technique you can use is to get them talking about door to door ministry. Most Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t enjoy it and they’ll be happy to tell you so, but they do it because they believe they need to be out there doing that in order to have a place in the kingdom.

The resurrection is another doctrine that the Jehovah’s Witnesses get wrong as they believe in a spiritual resurrection of Christ rather than a physical one. Be ready to defend this one. If you are going to go toe-to-toe with a Jehovah’s Witness you will need to know your Bible well. They may seem to know it well, but they only know a few select passages.

Also, keep in mind the history of the Watchtower. The Watchtower has been compared to the Matrix. I think at one point, you will have to get them unplugged as otherwise, they will just go to the Watchtower and get an answer to your objection. It’s a bogus answer of course, but to them, it is a real answer.

Be courteous with them also. This is one my roommate is better at than I am as when I enter debate mode, I’m interested in knocking my opponent down often and can forget to remember mercy. We usually open up our meetings with some light conversation and start by offering them drinks if they want any. Before too long, we will be taking them out to lunch at a local restaurant. The Witness must see you as a friend and not an enemy.

Usually they’ll start a lesson with prayer and so should you. When they pray here, I’m usually praying my own prayer. It’s a prayer for wisdom and knowledge that my roommate and I will be able to answer as we ought and that their eyes will be opened to the lies of the Watchtower society.

It’s tempting to try to just demolish the Watchtower at the start, but don’t. My idea is to not play any cards until I have to. They want to teach? Let them be the teacher. You just be sure to ask really good questions. I try to not mention the Watchtower until I have to. If they smell a trap, you will have turned them away.

Remember also to build up orthodoxy and this is the case with Mormons also and I will use them as an example. When Mormons visit us, it is not my goal to destroy Mormonism so much as to build up orthodoxy. If I can show the Bible as it is is the Word of God, I think the BOM falls naturally.  With the Witnesses, I want to build up the beauty of orthodoxy and do so slowly. I have yet to mention the word Trinity, for instance. If they bring up something like God doesn’t change, I point out how much I delight in that while keeping in mind Hebrews 13 saying that Jesus never changes. If you hear them say something that applies to Jesus, comment on it and make sure they agree that applies to Jehovah and save it for the opportune time.

If you have any success stories also, please come back here and share them. I’d love to hear them and it’d be a real encouragement.

That’s all for tonight! Hope this helps!

Hello everyone. I’m going to go on and give a heads-up and say that there won’t be a new blog tomorrow night so you’d better either enjoy this one for two days or by all means, go back and look over the archives. There are over 800 posts to look at so if you want to keep reading here, there’s more than enough to keep you busy.

We’re going through the New Testament now and we’re looking for clues to the doctrine of the Trinity. For those who do know about my regular Saturday adventures, I did have the Jehovah’s Witnesses up and it was a fun day getting to talk to them about the topic of Jesus being God’s wisdom and how that means that he is eternal. 

Tonight, we’re still in John’s gospel and we’re going to be looking at John 8:48-57. Some of you familiar with Trinitarianism in the Scriptures are aware that I am saving one of the main Trinitarian verses for later. Let’s look at the text for now:

⁴⁸The Jews answered him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?”

 ⁴⁹“I am not possessed by a demon,” said Jesus, “but I honor my Father and you dishonor me. ⁵⁰I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. ⁵¹I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”

 ⁵²At this the Jews exclaimed, “Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that if anyone keeps your word, he will never taste death. ⁵³Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?”

 ⁵⁴Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. ⁵⁵Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and keep his word.⁵⁶Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.”

 ⁵⁷“You are not yet fifty years old,” the Jews said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!”

I find it noteworthy that when the people ask if Jesus is a Samaritan, he pays no attention to that charge. Jesus did break the racial barriers of his time and the barriers of sex and the barriers of age. He spoke with Samaritans, women, and children. He did answer the charge of demon possession.

In thinking about that, I was listening to the Unbelievable radio broadcast today from Premier Christian Radio over Jesus being the Jewish messiah with a Messianic Jew who affirmed that and a Reformed Jew who denied it and kept being amazed by the Jew saying that if that’s your way, that’s fine. We see Jesus as a great teacher and there are many ways to God.

I think the Jews of Jesus’s time would have found that shameful and I think they’re right. The Jews of Jesus’s time at least took his words seriously. How can it be that some Jews today see Jesus as a great teacher while the ones back then saw him as demon-possessed? My stance is that the Jews today who have such a light stance as the one on the program aren’t really paying attention to what Jesus said and have a relativistic notion of religion.

Jesus’s answer is that he honors the Father and they dishonor him, which is a powerful point. If Jesus is truly honoring the Father, then to make the charges that they made to him is to dishonor the Father as well. 

Jesus also says he does not seek his own glory, but the glory of the one who sent him. Jesus always pointed back to the Father. He did accept worship from men, of course, but did not go out seeking it as it were. It was given to him spontaneously.

However, Jesus says there is one who seeks the glory. We should really consider what he’s saying here. Jesus is saying that God seeks the glory of Jesus. If any of us stood up and made that claim, we’d be seen as egotistical or as a blasphemer. Again, I keep thinking the Jew on the program does not take Jesus’s words seriously.

The one who seeks the glory of Christ is the judge and all who keep the word of Christ will never see death. Christ cannot be talking about physical death here as so far even for Christians, the death rate has been one for one. He means spiritual death. The one who keeps his word does not need to fear the judge on the last day.

The Jews do not see this and rather see it as confirmation of what they believe. After all, Abraham and all the prophets saw death. (No mention made of Elijah. I take him as an understood exception.) They ask if Jesus thinks he is greater than Abraham. Who exactly does he think he is?

Jesus tells them that if he glorifies himself, it means nothing. However, he states that God glorifies him, which as pointed out earlier is an astounding claim. He also says that the Father is the one they claim as their God. In this, he spells out clearly who the Father is. Second, he strikes at his opponents by saying that they claim that the Father is their God. In reality, he is not. 

Jesus then tells them that he does know him and they do not. If he said he did not know him, he would be a liar like them. Yes. Jesus did say that and Jesus did speak strongly to his opponents. He did not hesitate to say that his opponents were liars or what exactly the content of their heart was. Let us get rid of the idea of gentle Jesus, meek and mild, and the Jesus who would never condemn anyone. He certainly did.

He then tells them that Abraham looked forward to his day and rejoiced. It was a belief at the time that Abraham got to see in a vision the messianic age of the future. The Jews will have nothing of this and point to his age and say “How could you know Abraham? You’re nowhere near old enough!”

The straight forward answer will be posted later.

Hello everyone. It’s time for another blog from Deeper Waters. We left on somewhat of a cliffhanger last time asking how Jesus would respond to his opponents who claimed that their father was God. On that point, I think it’s good to discuss the Bible leaving us on cliffhangers. This is a story and we should read the story wondering “What will happen next?” We can even do that with stories that we have seen. We know what will happen, but we still get that tenseness.

Anyway, we’re going through the New Testament trying to come to a deeper understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity. We’re in John 8 now and we’re going to be reading verses 42-47.

⁴²Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me. ⁴³Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. ⁴⁴You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. ⁴⁵Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! ⁴⁶Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? ⁴⁷He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”

Jesus’s response to the people is the same as their statement that they were children of Abraham. If they were the children of Abraham, they would have done the works of Abraham. (Makes you wonder that if they couldn’t even do the works of Abraham, what makes them think they’re doing the works of God?) If they were children of God, they would love Jesus since he is of God as well. They don’t, therefore they are not of God.

Instead, Jesus tells them who their father is. Their father is the devil and they seek to do his works. He was a murderer from the beginning and when he lies, he speaks his native language. It’s quite a strong accusation, but for the people he was speaking to, it would be true. You are either on the side of God or the side of the devil. They would prove themselves to be murderers also as the generation at that time was the one that put to death Jesus.

Since they believe the father of lies, they have a problem with Jesus who tells the truth. This is a point I’d like to get applicational on. We all too often as Christians believe lies rather than truth. We would prefer to believe the father of lies than the God of all truth. What nonsense are we believing about God, the universe, and ourselves so often? How often do we take the truths of Scripture with skepticism, but what our next-door neighbor says as solid gospel?

Jesus then makes an incredible statement in that he looks at his opponents and says “Which of you accuses me of sin?” I could go to the very next room here with my roommate and say “Tell me a sin that I’ve committed” and I am sure I would leave with a lengthy list. None of us would really want to ask that question. Jesus doesn’t just ask it. He challenges with it. He doesn’t challenge his friends either! He challenges his enemies!

Then Jesus asks why they do not believe him if he is not telling the truth. It’s a good syllogism which gets me to the point that Jesus knew logic well. If Jesus is telling the truth, you should believe him. It’s simple. If you do not believe him, it is because you do not believe he was telling the truth.

Jesus states that if we belong to God, we hear the things of God. He then tells his opponents the final conclusion. They do not hear the things of God because they do not belong to God. How will they answer this charge?

I suppose we’ll find out tomorrow night.

Hello everyone. We’re going through the New Testament still trying to come to a deeper understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity. Tonight, we’re in John and we have a lengthy text tonight so let’s get down to it. We’ll be looking at John 8:31-41.

³¹To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. ³²Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

 ³³They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”

 ³⁴Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. ³⁵Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. ³⁶So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. ³⁷I know you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are ready to kill me, because you have no room for my word. ³⁸I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you do what you have heard from your father.”

 ³⁹“Abraham is our father,” they answered.

   “If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do the things Abraham did. ⁴⁰As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. ⁴¹You are doing the things your own father does.” 
      “We are not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself.”

How do you know you’re a disciple of Christ? If you hold to his teachings. Let’s talk a little bit about assurance then. Some people wonder about their salvation. I can relate. I did it for awhile. Here’s how I see if I’m saved, which I am. I don’t look to saying “Did I say the prayer right several years ago?” No. I remember trusting Christ at one point and now I say “Am I growing to be more like Christ today? Am I committed to Christ today?”

It’s seeing where I’ve come from that gives me assurance.

That assurance is truth and Christ says truth is what sets us free. It sets us free from sin. It sets us free from slavery. It sets us free from doubt and ignorance. It sets us free from worry and fear. Truth is an incredible force if we would only realize it.

Christ is mainly talking about slavery however. The Jews say they are Abraham’s descendants and have never been a slave to anyone. It’s doubtful they’re forgetting that period in history when they were in Egypt, so they are speaking of themselves in the present day. 

Christ is speaking of a greater bondage than Egypt or Rome. He is speaking of the bondage of sin that he came to set them free from.  He tells the people of their position. They are slaves. They have no place in the house. Sons do though. If the Son sets them free, they will be sons themselves.

He also tells them that he is doing what he has heard in the presence of the Father, which is again Jesus pointing to his unique mission. He is the one who has been in the presence of the Father and can communicate this. They, on the other hand, are doing the work of their father.

To this, they reply that Abraham is their father. Yet Christ tells them that a son does the work of his father. They are not doing that, so they are not children of Abraham. The Jews reply that they are not illegitimate children. Their father is God himself.

We will see how Jesus answers them tomorrow.

Hello everyone. Welcome back to Deeper Waters. We are continuing going through the Bible looking to come to a deeper understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity. At the present time, we are in the gospel of John and in chapter 8, which is a chapter, as was pointed out last night, that is extremely important to understanding the claims of Jesus and as we get to the end, we’ll see just how great the claims were. Tonight, we’re looking at verses 25-30. Let’s go to the text.

²⁵“Who are you?” they asked.

   “Just what I have been claiming all along,” Jesus replied. ²⁶“I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is reliable, and what I have heard from him I tell the world.”

 ²⁷They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. ²⁸So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am the one I claim to be and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.²⁹The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” ³⁰Even as he spoke, many put their faith in him.

The Jews demand of Jesus to know who he is. In essence, they are saying “Who do you think you are?” They realized that Jesus was making a strong claim. I must say this in response. The Jew back then who knew Jesus was making a strong claim I believe is taking his claim more seriously than the person sitting in the pew who could even be a Christian but is not learning about their faith and passes over these words without considering just how revolutionary what Christ is saying is.

Christ tells them that he is just who his words and actions have been revealing him to be from the beginning. The problem is not that Christ has not answered their question. The problem is that he has answered their question and they simply do not like the answer that he has given.

Once again, his mission is connected with his relationship with the Father and his judgment is true because it is the judgment of the Father. As has been stated numerous times before, Jesus is shown to have a highly intricate relationship with the Father and everything he does is based on that.

Since they do not understand, Jesus tells them that they will when the Son is lifted up. John is a fan of using double entendre and no other writer describes crucifixion this way. John is indicating that while crucifixion involves a lifting up, in reality, it will come to be that which reveals Jesus as the king that he claims to be.

Jesus also tells us that he always does what pleases the Father. Stop and consider that. All of us today have done something that does not please the Father and here Jesus says that he always pleases him. What a claim to make.

We are told thankfully that some put their faith in him. Who? We don’t know. It doesn’t matter to us either. The question is, what about you? Have you put your faith in him?

Hello everyone. Welcome back to Deeper Waters. Tonight, we’re going to be continuing our look through the New Testament in coming to a deeper understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity. John 8 is a huge chapter and this portion of it is one that N.T. Wright considers integral to the whole of the gospel. We are going to be in John 8 and looking at verses 21-24.

²¹Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.”

 ²²This made the Jews ask, “Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, ‘Where I go, you cannot come’?”

 ²³But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. ²⁴I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins.”

Jesus tells of his departure and that the Jews will look for him and die in their sin. What does he mean by looking for him? It could mean that they find out who he is too late, but that does not seem to follow. If they find out who he is, then the message of Christianity was spreading and they would surely know to repent and believe the gospel. 

It could instead mean that when he disappears, they will look for him not to repent but just because he has mysteriously vanished and they are searching for him on Earth when he is not to be found there and when they have died without finding him, they will die in their sins.

The people wonder where he will go and ask “Will he kill himself?” Some people think that they might have been joking as if “Well if he does that, he’s definitely right. We’re sure not going to follow him into death!”

Jesus again points to his identity. The people are of their sins being from below. It’s not just that they’re on Earth. We’re all there after all. It’s that their focus is on the things of the Earth and it’s not focused on the things of Heaven.

It is at this point that Jesus makes a startling claim. He tells them that unless they believe he is who he claims to be, they will die in their sins. This is one verse that I like to take Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons to if I can. 

Jesus makes the question of his identity central. Consider this on the lips of anyone else. Jesus has it that eternity comes down to one question. It is the question that he asked the disciples. “Who do you say that I am?” Jesus’s mission was teaching the Kingdom of God, but he had entry to it based on his identity as his identity was what showed the coming of the kingdom. 

The Jesus who is not the Jesus of the Bible is a false Jesus. It is a Jesus who cannot save. He may be called Jesus and some may claim that he is found in the Bible, but the Jesus that we see in Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and other such cults cannot save.

Who do you say that he is?

Hello everyone. Welcome back to another Deeper Waters blog. As regular readers know, we’ve been going through the Bible trying to come to a deeper understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity. Right now, we’re in the New Testament and more specifically, we’re in the gospel of John. We’ve been in this one for quite awhile, but it is certainly one quite deep with Trinitarian thought. Today, we’re going to be looking at John 8:19-20.

¹⁹Then they asked him, “Where is your father?”

   “You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” ²⁰He spoke these words while teaching in the temple area near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his time had not yet come.

Jesus has just been speaking about his Father who testifies about him on his behalf. The Jews immediately want to know where this Father is. (Interesting that they don’t ask who he is. Apparently, they must have thought him someone human that they could bring out and try with questions.) 

Jesus instead tells them that they don’t know the Father. Naturally, if they had known who they were asking for, they wouldn’t have had to ask where he was. However, while saying that they do not know the Father, Jesus makes it just as clear that they do not know him either.

Had they known who Jesus was, they would have known who the Father is. The conclusion is that if one does not know Jesus, they do not know who the Father is. Consider it if we put it in the form of a syllogism.

If p, q.

p, therefore q.

If you know the Son, you know the Father.

You know the Son, therefore you know the Father.

Jesus ties himself in again in such a unique way to the Father. This is something that would not be well accepted in our age of pluralism. Contrary to the Oprah Winfreys of our age, Jesus is the means whereby one knows the Father. He is not a means. He is the means.

Now someone might ask if Christianity is an exclusivistic religion. On the contrary, Christianity is the most inclusive religion of all! The ones who may come are whosoever will. Christ simply asks that you come on his terms. All who come are welcomed. Christianity, like all other religions, has core tenets at the heart of it. To deny those is to deny Christianity. You cannot be a Muslim and believe Muhammad was not a prophet. You cannot be a Christian and deny that Jesus is fully God. (I say deny for I realize many come to faith at a young age not reciting Trinitarian terminology, but I believe they can later come to realize just who this Jesus is. It is the denial of it that is a problem.)

Jesus is also speaking in the most populated area of the temple where there would be the most people and no one lays a hand on him. The reason is not because Jesus was good at dodging captors or that they were particularly bad at capturing him. It is another theme we see in the gospel. His time has not yet come. Throughout this gospel, it is God who is in charge of all that is going on. Christ will die, but it will not be because God has let him down or he was caught off guard. It will be because he is fulfilling the plan of God and unknowingly, his opponents are helping him to do that.

We shall continue tomorrow.

Hello everyone. Before we continue our blog tonight, I’d like to recommend my readers go to the “Unbelievable” radio program out of the U.K. with Justin Brierly. A special treat is in store as Saturady, May 2nd, J.P. Holding debated Ken Humphreys on the question of if Jesus existed. Holding is a good friend of mine and he did an excellent job on this debate and I invite everyone to go and listen to it. The link to the program is here:http://www.premierradio.org.uk/shows/saturday/unbelievable.aspx 

You can also listen to other past broadcasts there by going through the archives.

Now it’s time for us to return to the doctrine of the Trinity. One interesting aspect of today’s blog is that it’s going to deal with modalism as this is one of my favorite passages to use when I am dealing with that heresy. Open up your Bibles or go to a website with the Bible or use your Bible software and take a look at John 8:13-18.

 ¹³The Pharisees challenged him, “Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid.”

 ¹⁴Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going. ¹⁵You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. ¹⁶But if I do judge, my decisions are right, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. ¹⁷In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two men is valid. ¹⁸I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.”

Before looking at the Trinitarian issues. We have to answer a supposed contradiction. In John 8:14, Jesus says his testimony about himself is valid, but in John 5:31, what does he say?

³¹“If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid.

Which is it?

It depends on what context you’re looking at. In John 5, Jesus is talking to the Jews and he is speaking about legal testimony in the law. Jesus certainly knew that according to the law, a man could not testify on his own behalf. That didn’t mean what he said about himself was true, but rather that it would not be accepted in a court of law.

In John 8, Jesus is speaking about a claim he has made stating that he is the light of the world. The Pharisees have immediately said that can’t be true because he is testifying about himself. Jesus states that his testimony is true because it does tell about who he is and that his Father testifies on his behalf. 

Jesus’s testimony is true because he knows where he comes from and where he’s going. He knows who sent him and where that journey leads. The Pharisees are making a human judgment. Jesus surprisingly says he passes judgment on no one. How come?

We know that he judges, but the judgment is not human judgment. He does not judge in the way that they do which is faulty. He judges by divine means. He judges based on his unique relationship with his Father and thus, his judgment is true.

So what about modalism?

Jesus tells us in this passage that the testimony of two men is valid. He counts himself as one. He counts his father as another. Were it the case that Jesus and the Father were one person, this would not meet the criteria of two witnesses. The only way that can happen is if there truly are two different persons being spoken of.

And if there are two different persons, there cannot be modalism.

Thus, in this passage, we see Jesus expressing who he is and distinguishing himself from the Father, both essential for Trinitarianism.

We shall continue more on this tomorrow.

 

Hello everyone. We’re back again to continue our study on the Trinity. Over here, we had the Jehovah’s Witnesses come back again and got to discuss with them on the nature of Jesus further and I believe they are being quite stunned by the things we are bringing out. Pray for my roommate and I that we will be given wisdom to guide them out of the Watchtower and pray for them that the scales may be removed from their eyes and they will come to a knowledge of who Christ truly is and have forgiveness in him.

One point we brought out to the JWs is that when a feast was going on or when Jesus passed a temple or saw any event, he found a way to point to himself as a true fulfillment. Such is the case tonight for tonight, it is quite likely that the passage under discussion was when the Feast of Tabernacles was going on. It’s John 8:12. Let’s look at the text.

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

There were two big aspects to the Feast of Tabernacles. One was water and the other was light. There was a candleabra that was lit during this feast and it would have been a reminder to the people. It was also lit in the Court of Women, which was the most populated part of the temple seeing as more people had access to it. 

Light was a perpetual theme in the Old Testament. The Lord was seen as a light. His Word was a light. The people living in darkness have seen a great light. There will be a light unto the Gentiles. For the Hebrews, light played an important role.

But didn’t Christ say to his followers that they are the light of the world? Indeed he did. However, we are definitely not lights in the sense that he is. He is light by nature. Jesus in giving the sermon was telling people how they were supposed to live. What sense does it make to tell that which is light by nature that it ought to shine? Jesus tells us who we are to be and tells us to go out and live accordingly with that.

John’s gospel has already described Jesus as light in the prologue. Jesus is the light that lights every man that comes into the world. Jesus is the one that is standing against the darkness in the world. The darkness cannot comprehend him and as we should realize, the darkness seeks to put out the light. If it cannot bring that which is light down to its level, it will do what it can to extinguish it altogether.

Let’s not overlook Jesus’s unique claim here as well. It is an “I AM” statement and it is certainly emphatic. One point we made with the JWs was that Jesus is seen as humble, but if I was to stand before an audience at a church and say “I am the light of the world” they would think me insane, a blasphemer, or an idiot.

Yet we don’t seem to think those with Jesus. If we do not think of him as Lord, then we should think of him as one of the above or some combination. If not, we are not taking his words seriously.

What’s your stance on him then? Are you going to accept him as the Light of the World? If so, be prepared to walk in that light, but keep in mind the purpose of light is to shine in the darkness. Are you ready to do that?

Hello all. I’d like to thank Pastor Fred for his comments here last night and I hope he does let his light shine and I hope I do the same also. Some of you might be surprised by my saying I hope I do the same, but I think in ministry, we need to be watching ourselves and doing what we can to make manifest the love and truth of God. 

Before I get to the blog, I also ask prayer for my mother. She had a dear friend being driven back from an operation by her husband when he said he felt dizzy and needed to pull over. The next thing he knew, he woke up in the hospital, the car had rolled over, and his wife had died instantly. My mother is taking it hard. I ask prayer for this husband also as I’m sure he’ll be feeling a lot of guilt.

Tonight, we continue our look at the Trinity. We’re going to be in the gospel of John still and looking in chapter 7 at verses 37-39:

³⁷On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. ³⁸Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” ³⁹By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

It’s the last day and again, we have Jesus crying out. It’s the same emphatic tone that we’ve seen already in this passage. Not only that, he’s standing. Usually, teachers sat when they taught. Jesus stands and is most likely addressing everyone at the feast about streams of water flowing from them.

The people had been drinking water all week from the pool of Siloam. Jesus is taking this imagery and saying that if anyone believes in him, as the Scripture says, streams of living water will flow from him. We have two questions at this point. 

First off, where does the Scripture say this? Most likely, this just like the reference to the prophets in Matthew 2, is a reference to Scripture in general and not a specific verse. If you take the Scriptures as a whole and the message the prophets were wishing to convey, you will find the concept Jesus is speaking of.

Second, how could the streams flow from the believer? It’s important to realize that Jesus in saying that does not mean that we are the source of the living water. Instead, he is treating us as if we are conduits through which this living water will flow. 

Jesus has spoken of living water already to the woman at the well so we can see the principle at work. She became the messenger to everyone else and this should be something startling to us. If we believe in Christ, we can be the ones through which his message of life flows to others.

And let’s not overlook Christ’s understanding of himself. This is a high view he has in speaking at the Jewish feast and saying that his message is the message that that feast represented. Is it any wonder the guards came to arrest him?