The Gospel of John - Believing & Beholding
John · Vern Peterman · Nov 3, 2013
Gospel of John (2013), No. 42
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492645526397

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Let's see, Randy wrapped up the last of the going chronologically through the Gospel of John. So anyway, we'll be for the rest of the year going through topics that are significant in the Gospel of John. So this time we have Believing and Beholding. And so we'll be looking first at believing, because John has that as a major theme in his gospel. What's interesting is, in his gospel, believing is really big, and in the book of Revelation, his other major work, it doesn't show up as a theme at all. So it's because of a different purpose. a different purpose for the book. There are things in common between the Book of Revelation and the Gospel of John, but that's one that's a contrast where believing is definitely brought out in the Gospel of John and almost not at all in the Book of Revelation. Okay, let's take a look here.

The Apostle John was very clear that his aim was that his readers believe. John wrote a purpose statement in each of his major writings, and the statement of the Gospel of John is, so this is John 20, 30 through 31, many other signs therefore Jesus also performed in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book, but these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.

So the seven signs in the Gospel of John, by the way that's one of the patterns between the Gospel of John and Revelation, is seven. Seven signs and then seven metaphors of I am. I am the door, I am the good shepherd, I am the bread of life, etc. So seven metaphors of I am and seven signs. And the book of Revelation is full of sevens as well. So the seven signs written in the Gospel of John are changing the water into wine.

That's John 2, 1-11. This is what he did at the wedding in Cana of Galilee. Healing the royal official's son in Capernaum, John 4, 46-54. The third one, healing the paralytic by the pool of Bethesda, John 5, 1-18. Feeding the five thousands, John 6, 5-14. Jesus walking on water, John 6, 16-24. healing the man born blind, John 9, 1-7, and the raising of Lazarus, John 11, 1-45.

It's interesting in terms of chapter count, these seven show up in roughly the first half of the book. So John gets down to business and emphasizes those seven signs throughout the first half of the book. And then the second half of the book is focused on Christ from the time in the week just before his crucifixion and then the subsequent times after his resurrection.

So Jesus performed many other signs while his disciples were present. That's what the first part of John 20-30 says. Many other signs, therefore, Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples. And of course, John himself is among them. And some of those were recorded in the other three Gospels. Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Some of those are recorded there. But these were the seven signs that John selected to write about in his gospel. Now, could he have written more? Certainly he could have. But for John, seven is the magic number, right? And so he selected seven. Yeah, Paul? You've got to understand that underneath all overlaying actually all of this is the Holy Spirit was directing, John. There was more than his own feelings about it. Yes, certainly what the Holy Spirit directed was a key aspect of what came about.

It appears, though, as we look at the different books in the Bible, that the character of the individual author also comes through. So an interesting thing, the Lord does not set our personality aside, but works through our personality to express Himself. We see in verse 31 that the signs that John selected to write about were aimed toward the reader believing that, and this we'll want to expand on a little bit, Jesus, that's our anglicized form, Jesus, in the Greek, but the Hebrew, there's Yeshua, or we carry the cross as Joshua. The Hebrew is Yeshua, which means Savior. Here's what's really interesting.

We're coming up on the Christmas season next month now. We are in November. Coming up on the Christmas season, I think it's fascinating that when the angel Gabriel told Mary that she was to have a son. The angel Gabriel told Mary about the gospel of the kingdom, that Jesus would reign as king over his people, but the angel told Joseph the gospel of substitution.

He'll save his people from sin. And so it's a fascinating contrast. They each got a gospel message, but a different one. And so as you look at this, Joseph was the one told about the Savior role. Joseph was the one who was told about the Savior role that Jesus would have.

And then the next one is the Christ, the Hebrews Hamashiach, anglicized the Messiah. the Anointed One. Both Christ or Christos in the Greek and Messiah, both of those mean the Anointed One. And let's ask this question. Which of those names focuses on Christ's first coming? Savior, right? The Savior. So He is the Savior in his first coming, and then that means then that Christ, Christos, the Messiah, is the one that focuses on his second coming. So it's interesting that the two names that we have to go by each convey something about one of the comings. And then we have the third one, the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity.

How long How long was Jesus the Son of God? I'm asking a trick question. He has always been the Son of God and always will be the Son of God. So, do the names Jesus Christ convey something different than his identity as the Son of God? His humanity, okay? So those express His humanity all the while still being fully God. Still being fully God. So we're talking about Savior and Messiah, those are His humans?

Yeah, in other words, if you think about it, He was, before God said, let there be light, He was the Son of God, right? It was His entering time to be born of Mary and to be not changing his deity, but adding humanity to his deity, so that he could be one like us in order to pay the price for us.

In other words, you couldn't take any of the lambs that were slaughtered and say that this one's going to be the last and final payment. Because while the lamb points to Christ, we metaphorically say is the lamb, right? The lamb points to Christ. In truth, it had to be a human who died there on the cross in order for the similar payment to apply. Yeah. And it mentioned in Hebrew where it said, it is impossible for the blood of lambs and goats. That's right. That's right. And we'll be getting to that in Hebrews.

Where you know they'll do the sacrifices did God tell them to do the sacrifices? Yes, God told me to do the sacrifices, but all the while it was pointing to God's ultimate sacrifice right but not in itself sufficient to get it done that's all we'll be looking at here this morning the priests and the Levites with all that they did in the temple and they were told by God to do this it never got it done and It never got it done. You're just doing it again and again and again, and priests would come and go, and they'd keep on doing more and more sacrifices. So you have Jesus and Christ, which describe His humanity still being the God-man, fully God and fully man, and the Son of God is His eternal identity from eternity past, before God said, let there be light, on into eternity future, when this present heavens and earth have ended.

So in believing these things, the believers granted spiritual life in his name, that is, who he is. Now, let's ask this question. Are we doing okay? Let's ask this question. Does this mean I don't have to believe the gospel in order to be saved? How is the gospel included in these? These things I have written to you, you who believe on the Son of God. or that you may know that you have eternal life. But before that happens, you've got to come into the relationship. Yeah, well, let's ask this. What's that first name?

Jesus, Savior, right? How did He save? How were we saved? He died for our sins and was buried and rose again. So it's understanding. He didn't just come in and say, I'm the Savior. He actually carried out His death on the cross, burial, and resurrection.

And by the way, why does it take all three? What would happen, suppose Christ died for our sins on the cross, put Him in a grave, and there He stays? It would be like any other grave, kitchen. Yeah, what good does it do us if Christ is not resurrected?

That's right. He did not have victory over death. And it is the power that was invested in Christ to raise Him from the dead, and in which we ourselves follow in pattern and are identified in that resurrection. That gives us life. Yeah? temporary life, bios, or you know, current life, and eternal life, which the Greek says zoe, so it had to prove that he was eternal. Yes, he was eternal, which is why he is a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek, right?

It's why up until on into the last chapters of Revelation, when this present heavens and earth are gone, Christ is still the Lamb. It's interesting that the Gospel of John and the book of Revelation are the only books in the New Testament that say Christ is the Lamb. In John chapter 1, twice, behold the Lamb of God. And then it will be amazing on into eternity when this present heavens and earth are all gone, we will still look upon Christ and say, He paid the price for me. He is the Lamb.

On into the rolling ages of eternity. And we'll be understanding what that grace is. That most astounding, amazing, over-the-top riches of grace. We'll be understanding more and more of what that is. And recognizing Christ as the Lamb. Now, so if someone were to say, see, I don't have to believe the gospel, but wait a minute, He's the Savior. How did that happen? And then you say, well, what exactly is it?

Did He save us by crossing the Sea of Galilee on the water? No. Did He save us by healing the man born blind? No. He saved us by dying for our sins and being buried and resurrected, and includes all three. And so, believing the Gospel is included in Christ as the Savior. That's the only way He saves. OK, let's take a look here.

The Gospel of John is a distinct pattern among the four Gospels. John only uses the verb form of believing, and he uses it 98 times, nearly three times as many as the other three Gospels combined. Here is a count on the uses of the verb to believe and the noun faith in the four Gospels. So you see, John has believing as an action, believing as a verb, only, and he does it almost a hundred times throughout the gospel. He doesn't use the word, the noun, faith, like have faith, ever.

So for John, he puts it very much in terms of action. This is believing, and believing, now let's ask, believing what? Christ, that Jesus is the Savior, right? You have Christ is the Messiah, the Anointed One, and He's the Son of God, and believing those things. So it's believing in who He is and what He did. Okay? Who He is and what He did. And so John puts great emphasis on it because that's the purpose of this book. That's the stated purpose. Did John succeed?

You know, Nancy and I, neither of us would claim to have the gift of evangelism. And so, because I'm more of a teacher than an evangelist, if someone, you know, looks like they're interested in the Gospel, what do I do? I sit down, we start teaching through the Gospel of John. And it's not very far down the road, I mean within the first few chapters, where, oh, that's the Gospel, that's what I need to believe, this is who I need to believe in, And the truth becomes quite evident. So John's gospel succeeded, right? He accomplished his goal.

Hey Vern? Yes. I just had a thought. We use the word name. Yes. Even his name. Yes. What you said, you know those two things? Yeah. Who he is and what he's done. Yeah. It helps me to think along those lines when I hear somebody say that. Yeah. Just the word name, what's that mean? Yes, yeah, yeah. Who He is and what He has done is key. And the reality is we can't lose sight of either one of those things. Suppose I said, well, here's Jesus and He was a man who died for my sins and was buried and rose again.

Is that sufficient? Not going to be enough. As a matter of fact, let's ask this question. If Jesus can take care of the sins of the whole world in a few hours, die for the sins of the whole world in a few hours, what if someone turns that away and says, I'm not going to believe that? How long will they have to pay for just their own sins? Forever. So it's interesting to look at that. One individual will take forever to pay for their own sins. But that one individual, if they trust in Christ, gets it all done in a few hours.

Why is it that Christ has the capacity to pay for the sins of the whole world in a few hours, but if each individual decides, no, I'm not going to take advantage of that, I'm going to pay for my own, They have to pay forever. Why that immense disparity?

Because He is Deity and not just a human being. Because He is Deity, the Son of God, right? He has capacity that we do not. Yeah. Well, doesn't it go back to that big word, propitiation? Because He satisfied the anger of God. Yeah. God's wrath towards sin And God's justice was satisfied by Christ's death on the cross. Completely satisfied. And that's why here Christ, the Lamb, can live to make intercession for us as our great High Priest forever. God is always satisfied with Christ's payment. He is both the High Priest and the Lamb. The Lamb of God. that God offered, that fully satisfied God's absolute holiness and justice completely forever. Okay, let's take a look at page two.

Synonyms for believing in John's gospel, and now when I say synonym, that means that there is some connection, not necessarily that they are exact equals. Okay, so understand me on that. Synonyms for believing in John's gospel include knowing. John is big on knowing. And by the way, 1 John also gets into that knowing is key. seeing, receiving, coming to, accepting, abiding, remaining, etc. He has words like that that are synonyms to believing. Synonyms to believing.

Now there are opposites of believing as well, and John makes note of that. He makes note, it's interesting, big emphasis on believing, when someone doesn't believe, he makes note of that too. Why would it be important for John to make note of those who don't believe? Why would that be important? Because if there's any middle ground, there would be an excuse to dodge. Right.

And you see, one of the things that the Lord does when He explains things to us, He gives us the contrast. You know, you wouldn't understand grace unless you really understood law. That's one reason why people talk about the Ten Commandments or God's Top Ten or something. I say, hey, that's not enough. You've got to take all 613, if that's what you're going to do, the whole thing. Because if you go for mini-law, you only need mini-grace.

We need to understand the full weight of the law. All of it, every bit of it, with full intensity, Then when we look at grace, we have a much better understanding of what grace is. If we see how utterly failed we would be under the law, then we can say, oh, thank God for His amazing grace. But if you don't understand the law, you won't understand grace. The same thing here. He talks about believing and how important that is, and that's the reason why this book has been written. But the reason for giving the opposites is by contrast we can understand what's the difference between believing and not believing.

If it were possible that you could do all of the law, you would still not be saved. The law was not designed to save anybody. The law was there to determine who gets blessed and who gets cursed. If you follow the law, to the letter, you'll be blessed. If. Good luck with that. You'll be blessed. If you don't follow the law and all you've got to do is break one, you'll be cursed. Yes. And it's earthly blessings, not heavenly spiritual blessings.

Okay, so the opposites of believing include not believing, not receiving, rejecting, denying, going away, not abiding, etc. It's interesting you didn't put unbelief in there, even though that's used frequently. Yeah, and that's why I put etc. because I put in not believing and whatnot. There are in fact other words as you go through this that you would catch, but I'm getting across an idea here that there are various ways that John talks about believing, aside from 98 times using the verb to believe. He also uses other approximate equivalents, synonyms, and then has this contrast of opposites as well.

Just like law and grace, we need to understand the law with its full force and full weight and not trim back to 10 or 9 or 11 or anything else. We need to understand the law with its full weight as a ministry of death and a ministry of condemnation, that's 2 Corinthians 3, in order that we understand how huge grace is. How huge grace is, yes. So is there a difference, I mean transliteration is never exact, so when you're talking about the Greek and you're talking about English, is there a difference between what the Jewish people see in believing and what we see in believing?

Here is, I think, the Apostle Paul explains things in terms of position and condition. And what you see in books like James, and not so much even like with Peter, Jude, James, Peter, you know, first and second Peter, those books don't have an explanation of our position and condition, walking in our position. And why don't they have it in there? It's because Paul is the apostle to the Gentiles, more of the Greek mindset, You see, in the Greek and Roman mindset, spirituality had no connection with morality. You might, in the pagan world, pray to steal better. You might pray that this guy dies so that you can have his wife. You, in the pagan world, might have those kinds of thoughts. And it would have that mindset.

So what the Apostle Paul did is instead of jumping as the Jews would do, of course you're a Jew, you have a position, and your position is in Israel, right? And so for the Jews it was an assumption, they didn't have to have it explained to them. But for the Gentile mindset, in order for them to understand how do I walk, They had to be told, and this is why Ephesians, in this very pagan city, here's why Ephesians would spend three and a half chapters just explaining your position before telling you to do or not do anything.

Because we need to know who we are in Christ. And that's why the Apostle Paul explained it. The other books tend to just assume our position. The Apostle Paul was given a specific assignment, and he understood the need where he has to explain position, and we understand who we are so that we can live life. So whereas the law comes up and just says, look, don't do this, do that, and no explanation of you're this and you're that, and you have this position, and just do this, don't do that, that's it.

But as we see in the New Testament, particularly in the letters of Paul, we have explained to us who we are, because of who Christ is and what He has done. Who He is, what He's done. And when we believe that, then we can walk in it. But God doesn't come to us and just say, do it, don't do it. That's law. That's not what He's expecting us to do. We need to understand who we are in Christ, and who Christ is in us. Then life gets lived out from there.

Okay, the next one, possessing faith, having faith, is found in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, but not in John. Instead, the Gospel of John says that believing as an action is necessary in order to have, here's the possession, have life. He does talk about having life. But believing as an action is necessary in order to have life. And by the way, we show repeatedly here the Gospel of John, starting in chapter 3 and going on into this verse that we quoted before, his purpose statement verse, has believing first and life after that, life follows. That's, by the way, the reverse of Calvinism. Calvinism says you're given life so that you can believe. Gospel of John repeatedly says you believe and then are given life. Big difference.

In the Gospel of John, believing is necessary in order to be saved. And once having believed, continued believing is essential in order to abide, know, see, and remain. So there is a belief There is a belief at which point in time one is saved. I believe that Christ, the Son of God, died for my sins, was buried and rose again. I'm saved. That's it.

God does a whole bunch of things at that moment that we spend the rest of our lives catching up to. We spend the rest of our lives catching up to what God has done at the moment we believed. And guess what that catching up to is learning and growing. Catching up to is learning and growing.

So when he talks about believing, there is both an emphasis upon believing so as to be saved, and then there is believing so as to abide in Christ. Then there is believing so as to walk in fellowship with Him. Then there is believing so that His life in me gets lived out. So John writes about both of those things. Yes? So at the point of believing in what you're saying, is that a position? At the point of believing, our position is radically and eternally changed. Right?

Before we were separated from Christ, having believed, and all it is that initial belief, having believed, I am forever not separated from, but joined to Christ. I am separated from, at the moment I believe, the sin nature, the law, and the world. It doesn't make any of those go away, but I'm spiritually separated from those three things based on Christ's death on the cross and my identification with Him in those things. I am identified with Christ in His death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seeding.

Those things are eternally true. And what's amazing is God knew who was going to believe and who wasn't. So He takes us here in our current era, identifies us spiritually with Christ and His death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seeding, events that happen within less than two months, and then carries the results back into our current time in our current life. So God is doing all these things.

We all of a sudden are a part of his flock. We all of a sudden are the bride of Christ, a part of the bride of Christ. We all of a sudden have a whole list of things. In fact, that's something that starting earlier this year, Roger's been going through a list of 33 things, and there are other smaller items that fit within that category, that suddenly change.

But the person who believes that Christ died for his sins and was buried and rose again doesn't know all those things. And so what are we doing? First, learning about all those things that God changed the moment we believed. and growing into those as we walk by faith in those newly learned things. That's why I say we spend the rest of our lives catching up to what God did in an instant the moment we believe. We're catching up by learning about it, catching up by walking in it. And then he does the growing.

The three things that we are separated from at the moment we believe because we're identified with Christ and His death are one, the sin nature. This is out of Romans chapter 6 and 7. We're separated from the law. Romans chapter 7 verses 4 through 6.

This is Galatians 2.19. OK? Separated from the law, and thirdly, separated from the world. This is Galatians 6 and Colossians chapter 2 or chapter 3, I have to look that up.

So we're separated from the sin nature, the law, and the world by our identification with Christ. We're joined to Christ from whom we had been previously separated, right? And if we are separated from the sin nature of the law and the world, it means before we believed, we were joined to the sin nature of the law and the world.

Okay, let's take a look here. There's also a spectrum of not believing to believing in the Gospel of John. So we talked about believing and not believing as absolutes and extremes. There's also a spectrum. Those who hear Jesus' words and or see his signs yet refuse to believe. So the world, the chief priests, most Jews, Pharisees, even the brothers of Jesus. Next, those who hear Jesus' words and or see his signs and begin to believe but don't fully recognize Jesus' identity. Some of the crowd, some of the early disciples, and some of the Jews.

Those who come to believe in Jesus but seem afraid to acknowledge their faith publicly. Nicodemus is one of those. He tried that. It's recorded. He tried bringing some defense of Jesus up against the Sanhedrin. Boy, they didn't go for that at all. So he kept his mouth shut after that.

So Nicodemus, some of the Jews, the parents of the man born blind would fall in that category. Those who encounter Jesus and come to believe in him and are recognized as his disciples. So the core group of disciples, the Samaritans, the man born blind, and Thomas. And then five, those who believe even without seeing signs on the basis of hearing the words of Jesus and or other witnesses.

So the royal official from Capernaum, Martha, believes before Lazarus is raised. John 11, 27. Later believers down to today on the account of Thomas and the purpose statement of the gospel. These are written that you might believe. Are you going to see Jesus walking in Galilee? No. But you're going to read about it and you're going to believe on the basis of John's testimony and the testimony of others. And you're going to believe and that belief initially God says, okay, you believe, that's good, I'll take care of the rest. I'll take care of everything else. And you can spend the rest of your life catching up to what He already did. Let's take a look at the Gospel of John, beholding, on page 3.

In John 1.14, it says, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. full of grace and truth. In the box here, right below that, where it has John 14, it says, Among us, and we saw his glory. In this case, among us refers to Jesus having dwelt among the disciples and others in their company, because it was those same ones who saw that King James has beheld, the Greek Thalami, his glory. They saw his glory.

The Greek word for saw or beheld means to look closely, so John meant that he and those in company with Christ looked closely at his radiant essence, who was glorious because of his deity. Did you see a carpenter from Galilee? You know, just had skin and bones and eyes and hair just like us? Yeah. But they looked closely. Wait a minute. There's something more than just a carpenter from Nazareth. They beheld his glory. Yes. How could you see his glory? Yeah, let's answer that question because it doesn't mean he just went around shining all the time. So how did they behold his glory? Yeah, how did they behold his glory? They should have seen it in miracles. Okay, one is they saw it in miracles and signs. Okay, that was one of the ways.

Yeah, Tom? Absolutely sinless life. Okay? Absolute sinless life? Wow. Yes. Hold on a sec. Morgan, you had your hand up? The glory is the radiant essence of who God is. That's the brief definition. Yeah, Roy? I was thinking that his words gave him life, he said. Ah, his words gave him life. So it wasn't, it was the things he did. It was the things he didn't do. It was the things he said. It was how He said them. And let's ask one other thing.

When Jesus died on the cross, was that glorious? Was that glorious? Isn't it interesting from a human standpoint to say, look, you're the Son of God, save yourself. People looked at Him and thought, well, He's a pitiful fellow. And so that would be the human perspective. But then you start to have other people say, wait a minute, there's something different about this guy, radical different. And the two people that we know were greatly impacted that day were the centurion.

This truly was the Son of God. We crucified an innocent man. And you had the other thief on the cross. Jesus said of him, today you'll be with me in paradise. So those two lives were impacted. There was glory even on the cross. At the outset. Yeah, at the outset.

Don't you think the Transfiguration had a huge impact upon how John saw everything leading up to the Transfiguration? It's kind of like putting the emphasis on everything that Jesus had done in his life. Jesus invited Peter, James, and John to the Transfiguration. And John writes about it, and actually Peter, 1st and 2nd Peter, he actually writes about the Transfiguration.

That was a moment that caught them. They thought, I am actually seeing the glory of God. So aside from anything else, that specific revelation of the Transfiguration was something that stayed in their memories for decades. It makes me think of Peter's words. He says, even though I have seen his glory, I have a more sure word of testimony. He himself refers us to the scriptures.

I think that's a significant proof. An eyewitness testimony is not enough. Yes. Peter ends his second letter. with growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that grow, by the way, is an imperative. You must be growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

But he answers, how do you do that in 1 Peter 2.2. He says, long for, an imperative, the pure milk of the word that by it you may grow. By it he made growth. So he gives us the answer to how does that growth take place. His word is not incidental, it's essential.

Going back to he became flesh, so that must mean that he had a human nature, right? Yes. A sinless, but he was human. So let's look right to the verbiage just beside that text box we just looked at. The Word, the Son of God, who was in fact Deity, became a human being, and John the Apostle saw His glory, the radiant essence of who He is, having full divine qualities of grace and truth. You see, it's full of grace and truth, and it wasn't in some little limited mini-capacity. Here is grace and truth walking around on two legs in infinite capacity.

And so you would have some people look at that guy and say, I want him dead. But you'd have other people with their eyes open saying, wow, can you see the glory in that one man? That's what has grabbed John's heart and mind for all the rest of his days. Right, yup. That's in that same passage here. The particular word John chose for dwelt in verse 14 means to live in a tent. Isn't that interesting? So in the books of the New Testament, only John used the word four other times, and each case is used for God dwelling with men. God dwelling with men.

So, using 2 Corinthians 3.18 as a lens for viewing John 1.14, the expanded and explained form of 2 Corinthians 3.18 looks like the slide to the left.

For all of us who are in Christ with a faith that is not veiled by the law, having died in relationship to the law and living by God's amazing grace, we are right now continuing to behold as we read and hear the written word of God, seeing as one who looks into a mirror the glory, the radiant essence of who Christ is, the glory that comes from Christ himself. And we are, in fact, in the very process of being changed and transformed into the same spiritual character, growing from one level of Christ's glory to the next. And every part of this beholding and transformation is from the God-given ministries of the Holy Spirit.

See, John said, we beheld His glory. Do you and I still behold His glory? Yes, we do. And how? in the Word of God, and as we do so, as we behold the Lord through His Word, it is a ministry of the Holy Spirit to grow us from one level of glory to the next, Christ's glory. It's a ministry of the Holy Spirit as we behold the Lord through His Word to be transformed from one level of glory to the next. We beheld His glory and we behold His glory now. until the day that we behold him face to face. And he shares his glory with us.

So John 1.14, expand and explain, in light of 2 Corinthians 3.18, looks like this, And Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in God's communication of his essential being, came so as to be born in human form, And though total deity, he was dwelling in that human form even while among us, and beheld, we beheld his glory, that radiant essence of God himself, since Christ is the unique son of an expression from the Father, full of the grace and the truth, which are God's eternal and infinite character. As we behold John's description of how he and the disciples beheld Christ, we are beholding him as well, and as a work of the Holy Spirit, are being made to grow in and into the glorious character of Jesus Christ.

OK. Other thoughts, comments, questions, inspirations, exasperations? So the conclusion of what is in glory, what he Ultimately, what's the definition of glory? The radiant essence of who He is. In Christ, that was expressed in what He said and did. It was expressed in what He said and did, and to certain ones, like John and Peter and James, to certain ones, the radiant essence, the glory, was made visible in what's called the transfiguration.

Isn't it interesting, here we have Peter and James and John. James would be the first apostle to die, and that death is recorded in Acts, about halfway through. So James is going to die pretty soon, compared to the others, right? Why would God decide to include James among those who would see the transfiguration if he's not going to live very long? Because in the early days of the church, it was all Jews, basically. Yes, certainly that's true. And why else?

Does God do things the way we would? No. You know, one of the things we see, even in the Gospel of John, Jesus presents truth even to those he knows are going to reject it. Why would he do that? Why not just say, hey, I know you're not going to receive this, so I'm just not even going to bother presenting it to you. Why would God be inefficient like that? One is we see that others read about it and learn from it, so that would be one. Are there other reasons?

Yeah, this is something we would look at and say, boy, how can I get the biggest bang for the buck out of this thing? I'm not going to spend my time with you. I'm going to spend it over here with these people. I know you're not going to believe, so just forget it. Go away. I've got better things to do.

And yet, it's God's grace that presents the gospel even to those who will reject it. It's God's grace that has Christ die even for those who won't believe. God couldn't very well send anybody into separation from him for eternity if he had not ever convinced them of the truth of the cosmos. And why do you say that?

I'm not challenging it, I'm just... Because he's fair. And it appears in scripture that people don't appear before him and say, well gee, I didn't know, nobody ever told me. Yeah, I never had a chance. What they say is, okay, let's look at my works. And they're going to find out they're not good enough.

As far as the Transfiguration of the Mount, and James is the first to go, was that a revelation to them that all the promises of the Old Testament of the Kingdom were going to be, were real and were going to happen? Oh, I think it included that, yeah. I think it included that. You've been told about this, and you've even said and heard others say, you're the Christ, Here's what this is going to look like. That was a nice thing to do for James. Yes, yeah, yeah, yes. I'm just thinking that transfiguration for John and James and Peter led them to believe he's our king.

Yeah, it is a gospel of the kingdom issue, not a gospel of substitution issue. Yes, and that's why earlier on we said Jesus conveys Savior, that name conveys Savior, Christ conveys the Messiah at his second coming. So each of them has a different message, a different timing, Each of them has a different gospel that goes along with the name. The gospel of substitution is Christ is the Savior. The gospel of the kingdom is Christ the Messiah. And we have the heavens declaring his glory too. Yes, the heavens declare his glory and the earth is handiwork.

Yeah, you could ask the question, you know, what about someone out in some remote village in Africa or something like that? Nancy and I had the privilege some years back of hearing a fellow speak. He pronounced his name in his native tongue and it was full of a bunch of pops and clicks and things like that, you know. And he says, don't worry about trying to pronounce that. Just call me Gus. So, and he told his story.

He said, you know, I was raised in a remote village that barely had any contact with neighboring villages, and I was the village juvenile delinquent. He said I was constantly in trouble, and they would hold me down and force pepper water up my nose to burn out the demons. In this village, they only believed in the spirit of the tree, and the spirit of the grass, and the spirit of the river, and the spirit of the rock. It was animism, is what it's called.

But one day in his late teens, he said, God, if you're there, I want you to show yourself to me. And a few days later, his best friend said, hey, there's a guy in a village nearby who's telling people about God. And so Gus said, tell me more, tell me more. And his friend says, I don't want to talk about it.

Well, he did end up finding out where this village was and went there and became a believer. What happened is, here's a guy who was seeking God. And even, you know, I know there's a God, and God show yourself, and God did. And so the question about, what about the heathen in Africa? He says, I'm case in point. I was in a village where the gospel wasn't there, but I just asked God to reveal himself, and that's exactly what he did.

There's a verse that's used to be in the beginning of John where it says that God enlightens every man who comes into the world. Is that meaning spiritual enlightenment or is that meaning merely just giving? I think it's a matter of giving light to each one.

And what do you do with the truth you've been given? For some, what they have will be taken away because they reject the truth. But to others who pursue and respond to the truth, more will be given. So you have one that rejects the truth, rejects Christ's death on the cross for them, and another who says, give me all you got. And so it's a question, what do I do with the truth that I've been given for each person? And when a person pursues truth and asks God for more, God will grant it. God will grant it. Let's pray, okay?

Lord, we're thankful for the message of believing and beholding that are presented here in the Gospel of John. and such marvelous, wonderful truths. Truths that, in fact, we'll spend the rest of our lives catching up to. And thank you for your most astounding, amazing grace. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.