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JOHN CHAPTER 10 KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel See previous page Jn 10,1-16 (225ja) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Parables about nurturing the people of God >> Parables about a shepherd and his sheep (240a) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the knowledge of the kingdom >> Pastor (Shepherd) >> Jesus is the chief shepherd -- These verses teach us that we are little shepherds, while Jesus is the chief shepherd (1Pet 5:4). If there is a chief shepherd, then there are little shepherds. The little shepherds lead the sheep to the great shepherd (Heb 13-20), who leads his flock into all the truth. Jesus said that He was the chief shepherd of the flock and that He was the door of the sheep, who leads His flock into green pastures of truth that extend for miles in every direction, but there are also untruths about God that flow for miles in every direction, depending on which door we enter. Those who are not His sheep enter through the wrong gate that lead to the wrong field, where they eat toxic plants that produce toxic heresies, causing deafness, so they cannot hear the voice of the true shepherd. See also: Door of Christ; Jn 10,1-9; 140a Jn 10,1-13 (172c) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Tares among the wheat >> Devils among the saints >> Wolves among the sheep – Jesus said that the sheep know His voice, and a stranger they simply will not follow; that is, they know when someone is preaching and teaching amiss. We all have different versions and variations of the Scriptures and sometimes we don’t really know who is right, yet in many instances it doesn’t really matter, since the differences are benign. However, there are other teachings that are malignant. Genuine Christians recognize this and flee immediately, lest they be seduced. When someone starts teaching amiss on some of the more critical doctrines of the faith, it can cause a state of anxiety in a Christian, especially when there are other people at risk of being seduced by these false teachers after they have been deceived. However, the mature Christian really doesn’t have any worries about this, because he knows the voice of his shepherd. He doesn't go around looking for trouble, but when trouble comes to him, he knows it and immediately cuts off the conversation. Jn 10,1-9 (92i) Thy kingdom come >> The narrow way >> What kind of trail is this? >> All other paths are crooked – People are highly religious. When we look around the globe, every nation and culture has its own religion. Jesus said that His Father’s loyal servants worship Him in spirit and truth, suggesting that without the Holy Spirit leading us into the truth, man cannot know God. People who willfully remain in ignorance don’t really want to worship the true God, else they would have sought the truth and found Him. As it is, they are too busy worshipping their own version of God, which is nothing more than self-worship or the worship of demons, and worshipping God’s nemesis is the opposite of worshipping God. People like to be religious, because it appeases their conscience and makes them look good in society, so they go to church for the sake of posterity. (140a) Temple >> Temple made without hands >> Hiding place >> The doorway – Without the cross God could not have just handed us His Holy Spirit; He needed a way to forgive us and cleans us from all unrighteousness. The Holy Spirit is the very core of the gospel; outside Him there is just religion. The cross happened 2,000 years ago, but the administration of the Spirit has occurred since then. The cross acts as it were a door in a high wall that stands between God and mankind that we might walk through it to the other side, where God is waiting for us. Once we enter through the door, the ministry of the Holy Spirit begins. The blood of Jesus has saved us from the penalty of sin, then the Spirit takes over and saves us throughout our lives, who is the very substance of eternal life. Jesus said in Jn 10-7, “I am the door of the sheep.” Sin is like a wall, similar to the wall surrounding the New Jerusalem (Rev 21-12), designed to keep out the riffraff. Inside the wall is the great city, but “outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood” (Rev 22:15). He didn’t knock down the wall; instead, if we want access into the holy city we must pass through the door of Christ. See also: Door of Christ; Jn 10-1,2; 229f (208d) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Salvation verses >> The expectations of God >> God expects us to follow Him – Without living for Jesus and producing the fruit of His kingdom (see John chapter 15), the Bible teaches that we don't believe in Him. God might well be speaking to our hearts, but we are not listening. We don’t believe in inkblots on a page; we believe in the Son of God, who died for us and was raised on our behalf. We trust Him for eternal life, and for this reason we live for Him; we have that opportunity through the Spirit, who has come in place of Christ and dwells in our hearts. He is closer to us and is a better leader than Jesus was to His disciples. He led the disciples in the flesh, whereas the Holy Spirit leads our heart to eternal life. Jn 10,1-5 (73e) Authority >> Respect Positions Of Authority >> Respect Jesus’ Authority KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Jn 10-1,2 (5m) Responsibility >> Jesus’ yoke of obedience >> Our obligation to shepherd the flock (229f) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> Kingdom grows by itself >> God causes the growth >> God uses us to cause the growth -- Anyone who enters by the door is a sheep of God’s pasture, and Jesus said whoever enters by this door is also a shepherd of the sheep. That is, all Christians are sheep and shepherds at the same time. This means everyone should be participating in leading God’s flock. Every Christian should be participating in building up the body of Christ and helping establish the truth, but as we know the pastor does the vast majority of this work. While it is essential for every church to have a main shepherd, it should not take away from the fact that Jesus has called us all to be shepherds of his people. In most churches the pastor is the only one speaking the word that the people believe. This fact comes from a lack of trust in the sheep on the pastor’s part and from a lack of diligence on the people's part in seeking the truth. Consequently, the pastor is the only shepherd in the Church, but according to this passage Jesus didn’t want His Church set-up this way. If we fashioned our churches according to the will of God, all would be ministers in the congregation, not just cleaning toilets and vacuuming rugs, but having a part in building up one another. This model would foster trust and diligence in the body, and it would foster hope in people's efforts to seek the truth, being rewarded in opportunities to share their faith with their fellow sheep. Instead, there are no incentives in the Church for spiritual growth. The current model of church services causes anyone who desires to be a disciple of Jesus to follow Him alone. See also: Door of Christ; Jn 10-1; 25j / Building the Church; 1Cor 3-6,7; 140g Jn 10-1 (25j) Sin >> Poverty (Forms of fear) >> Thief >> Stealing from God -- This verse goes with verse 10. There are many people in the Church today who have not properly entered the Kingdom of God through the door of Christ, and so what is their motive? They are dangerous to the sheep; Jesus called them wolves! It’s one thing to steal from the saints, but it is quite another to steal from God, and that is what they are doing when they attempt to enter the Kingdom of God by means other than through the door of Christ. Jesus says there is only one motive that a person has for seeking a backdoor to the Kingdom of God, and that is to steal, kill and destroy. See also: Door of Christ; 180j (157g) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Evidence of being hell-bound >> Deceiving and being deceived >> Deceiving -- This verse goes with verses 7&8 (160b) Works of the devil >> Essential characteristics >> Counterfeit >> Counterfeit God >> Counterfeit spirit (167b) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Carnality/Secularism (mindset of the world) >> The carnal mind is set on the flesh >> Carnal mind cares only for itself -- This verse goes with verses 10-13. There are some people who want to go to church but don’t want to be Christians; they want to live their lives as lords of their own destiny, but don’t want to repent of their unbelief; they want to make a good showing in the flesh, but don’t want God telling them what to do; they want to live as they please, but they don't want the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. They may tithe, but this in no way compensates for the souls they disturb by their fleshly and humanistic philosophies. Eventually they will reveal their hearts and begin to speak what they believe, dissuading people from the faith. God takes it personally, no matter how many chairs they fold or how much money they give; when people attempt to steal His sheep, they are stealing from God. If any one of His sheep goes astray because of them, there will be literal hell to pay. They would be better off with a giant millstone hung around their neck and cast into the depth of the sea, than to hamper the faith of a single Christian. (180g) Works of the devil >> Practicing witchcraft >> Wolves steal, kill and destroy >> Wolves have a killer instinct -- This verse goes with verses 7-10. We hear about stranger-danger; such a thing is hardwired into us; we have an instinct to be afraid of people we don’t know, and that makes for a very disquieting world. It is the basis of our current isolationist society; the more sinful the world, the more insolated people get from each other. This deeply affects our psyche; we’re lonely, yet we are afraid. This is the reason people have friends and family around them. Anybody not in their close-knit group they don’t trust. It will be nice to be in heaven where strangers cannot come. We will be able to approach anybody without them questioning our motives. When it comes to spiritual danger, hearing the wrong voices trying to lie to us about the truth scares Christians more than the boogieman. (180j) Works of the devil >> Practicing witchcraft >> Rebellion >> Rebelling against God’s narrow way >> Rebelling against the ways of God -- This verse goes with verse 8. Which is easier, walk through an open door or climb over a wall? Those who try to circumvent God actually work harder than His children who love and obey Him. God is not asking us to do something difficult, for Jesus is the direct way to God. A line is the shortest distance between two points; those who work toward favor with God do it with ulterior motives, as opposed cultivating a simple faith in Jesus. Those who climb over the wall are not seeking God but are seeking to exploit His people. The believer's only input is to accept the finished work of the cross as full payment of their sins, but those who want to control God's favor will never receive it. They are rebellious; they want to go their own way and do their own thing their own way, but that is unacceptable to God. Believing in Jesus' blood sacrifice, we receive complete forgiveness and favor with God, and there is no room for boasting, so pride and ego have not been spared. They are the active ingredients of this world, but we check ours at the door. See also: Door of Christ; Jn 10,3-5; 105j (199f) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Rejecting Christ >> Throwing God away >> Rejecting Christ to steal His glory -- This verse goes with verse 8. Jesus said in Jn 14-6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” People try to get to heaven by various means, some through religion, others attempt to be good enough to be worthy of God. Had Jesus not sacrificed His body on the cross, these may have been viable options, but God has sacrificed His Son for the sake of our forgiveness, and by this means we obtain the inheritance of eternal salvation. Those who try to live a good life as a means of appealing to God at least know God wants them to be good, unlike some religions that call their adherents to murder people. Self-righteous religiosity has good intensions when compared to murderers, but the person who stands before God, having rejected the blood of Jesus, God will ask the sinner, ‘Why isn't My Spirit dwelling in you?’ He take up residence only in those who trust in Jesus' blood sacrifice. God has created a way of salvation through His Son, and we need to honor that. We need to fear God like we fear a saw blade that is rotating at 1500 rpm. We control whether the saw cuts the board to the correct length or whether it cuts off our hand, and we also control whether God accepts us into heaven or sends us to hell. Jn 10-2 (156i) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Evidence of salvation >> Confessing Jesus is evidence of salvation -- This verse goes with verse 9 KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Jn 10,3-5 (33j) Gift of God >> God is our Father >> God serves His people who serve Him >> He treats His people with special care -- These verses go with verses 9-11 (93g) Thy kingdom come >> Following Jesus >> Disciples follow Him -- These verses go with verse 27. When we go to church and hear a pastor teaching amiss, we leave and never return, and we continue searching for a church that teaches an accurate rendition of the Scriptures. We follow our pastor, because we know he is following Christ, but following the wrong pastor is like following a friend (Jesus) in a car on the freeway to a specific destination when a third car gets between us (the pastor). In our mind we start following the car in front of us instead of our friend, and if he exits the freeway and we keep following him, we get separated and lost, because our friend (Christ) knew the way and not us. (105j) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Led by the Spirit >> To the truth >> Led into the mind of Christ -- These verses go with verse 27. The doorkeeper is the Father, and Jesus is the true shepherd, who speaks with the voice of the Spirit. The Father thinks exclusively in terms of predestination; He opens the gate for the sheep, who are destined to become His children. This indicates how clear God speaks to His people, and how powerfully His voice reverberates in their hearts. It is a voice that causes their entire being to tremble, like the leaves of the quaking aspen in a subtle breeze. We have almost no choice but to follow Jesus who is the word of God. We follow His Spirit as sheep follow their shepherd. We all stumble in many ways but we never fall-away. Before we met Him we were free to sin, but now that we have come to know Him, we are free to do His will. We were in bondage to rebellion, but now we are obligated to Christ, having made us willing servants of His word. See also: Door of Christ; Jn 10,9-11; 33j (106a) Hearing From God (Key verse) – To follow the Holy Spirit is to follow Jesus. (106c) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Hearing from God >> Attaining the hearing ear >> Knowing the sound of His voice >> Flowing with the wind of His voice -- These verses go with verse 8. Jesus taught that being intimately acquainted with the voice of the Holy Spirit was to become one of God’s children. He taught that true Christians cannot be deceived because they do not listen to the voice of strangers. It is imperative that we develop a hearing ear in these last days, for He personifies the intimacy that God has with His people, and for this reason Jesus never discussed the Holy Spirit with anybody, except with His disciples. Jesus taught that the Holy Spirit is the beginning and the end of our relationship with God, and He is the central mantelpiece of our faith. We get most of our teachings of the Holy Spirit from Jesus, who regularly spoke about Him, not in passing, but as the main thrust of His ministry. Nevertheless, the teaching of the Holy Spirit is missing for the most part from the Church today. (213j) Sovereignty >> God is infinite >> Jesus owns you >> His will becomes our will >> As a master owns a servant -- These verses go with verse 11. The true Christian walks against the grain of this world and follows a voice that is foreign to all those around him who are in bondage to their unbelief. The true Christian is following a Spirit that the world does not understand; we are living a life that is incomprehensible to unbelievers; we live by faith. To the heathen, the Christian is lost in this world; yet to God, He calls us to walk with Him in a way that makes perfect sense to our faith. The world has a tendency to distrust, fear and even war against that which it doesn’t understand; how much more does it hate that which contradicts and even testifies against its deeds? We are truly a peculiar people (1Pet 2-9). (228g) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> God working in you >> God is working in you to place you in His will >> To lead you in His purpose Jn 10-4,5 (107j) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Hearing from God >> The church is of the truth >> God’s people can discern the truth -- These verses go with verses 14&15 (209a) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Personal relationship >> Being married to God >> We go where He goes -- These verses go with verses 27-30 Jn 10-5 (160a) Works of the devil >> Essential characteristics >> Counterfeit Christ -- This verse goes with verses 7&8. Talk about cults and those who get caught in them, Jesus said, “A stranger they simply will not follow....” The true children of God might occasionally wander into the wrong church and claim a pew for a season, but eventually he will leave, because he does not know the voice of strangers. God will deliver "you from the snare of the trapper and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you may seek refuge" (Psalm 91-3,4). It is truly a sad thing to walk into a church and recognize it as a cult, those who would use the name of Jesus to seduce people for sordid gain. The true children of God will have nothing to do with such ministries, for they know the voice of their Master, and they have familiarized themselves with His freedom, and they know bondage when they see it. KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Jn 10,7-10 (180g) Works of the devil >> Practicing witchcraft >> Wolves >> Wolves steal, kill and destroy >> Wolves have a killer instinct -- These verses go with verses 30-33 Jn 10-7,8 (157g) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Evidence of being hell-bound >> Deceiving and being deceived >> Deceiving -- These verses go with verse 12. When God’s people become students of the word, they become impregnable to the deception of liars. We hear about cults and those who flock to them, and we blame the cult leaders, but if the people didn’t follow them, the cults wouldn’t exist. This chapter takes away the excuse of those who join cults, but it also provides an explanation why they are attracted to them, because they are not of His sheep. We expect God to harshly judge cult leaders, and He will, but in fact He will also judge those who follow them. They are the blind leading the blind, but Jesus said of His children that this will not happen to them, for they can intrinsically discern His voice apart from all other spirits. That is an amazing gift, and it is one of the main proofs we have to identify each other as brothers and sisters in Christ, who know and listen to the Spirit of Christ and adhere to the truth. We are attracted to Him, but the world has an aversion to God. Those of the world do everything in their power to avoid Him, and when they hear the truth they stop their ears and run in the opposite direction. (160a) Works of the devil >> Essential characteristics >> Counterfeit Christ -- This verse goes with verses 10-13 Jn 10-8 (106c) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Hearing from God >> Attaining the hearing ear >> Knowing the sound of His voice >> Flowing with the wind of His voice -- This verse goes with verse 16. Just as the world is deaf to God, so the children of God are deaf to the cunning wolves and false shepherds of this world. We may hear their words, but we disagree with them when they don’t jive with what we know to be true about God. The true sheep may be students of the Scriptures and have learned what the Bible says, but Jesus is saying that His children already know what He would say, because God has placed in their hearts the ability to discern truth from error. While they are in the world and making the decision to live for God, they have their ears open and are listening for a specific message that will lead them to the good shepherd, and they are deaf to all other messages. Words that fall from heaven they recognize, but words that sprout from the earth they disregard. (180j) Works of the devil >> Practicing witchcraft >> Rebelling against God’s narrow way >> Rebelling against the ways of God -- This verse goes with verse 1. The voice of God is composed of His Spirit and His words that speaks to us. The sheep know the voice of the good shepherd and follow Christ, and a false shepherd they will not follow for long, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers. This may well be the most persecuted verse in the Bible, because it smacks at the religiosity of our time, which is naturalistic at its core, consisting of a lot of useless doctrines and traditions fit only for old women. False shepherds have nothing to say; all their motives are evil; Jesus called them thieves and robbers; they come to steal, kill and destroy. We tell them the truth and they will not listen; they tell us their religion, and we will not listen, so there is a stalemate between the true children of God and the religiosity of the Church. Their jaw moves up and down with blithering sounds, but no words enter the ears of the true sheep. His people want to know the truth; they want to follow in His ways; they want to hear His voice and understand His calling and fulfill it, but the false shepherds lead the masses into a vortex of religion that has a relationship with God excavated from it. As Jesus said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in” (Mat 23-13). This is a very accurate depiction of the Church today, people who hold to a form of godliness but have denied its power (2Tim 2,1-5). As it was then, so it is now; nothing has changed, but there have always been God’s true sheep in every generation, whom God has called to deny the world to become His true worshippers, and He gives them eternal life, and no one is able to snatch them from His hand (Vs28,29). (199f) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Rejecting Christ >> Throwing God away >> Rejecting Christ to steal His glory -- This verse goes with verse 1 Jn 10,9-11 (28h) Gift of God >> God is our advocate >> God protects His people -- These verses go with verses 27-29 (33j) Gift of God >> God is our Father >> God serves His people who serve Him >> He treats His people with special care -- These verses go with verses 14-16. It says that those who enter through the door of Christ are saved, and “they go in and out and find pasture.” We enter through the door, and once inside we go out one pastureland and into another, through endless fields of green grass, which to a sheep is the equivalent heaven. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst” (Jn 6-35). Located inside the door are vast panoramic fields, and we are like sheep whose main interest in life is grazing, but outside the door lies an empty wilderness of pain and the lack of all things spiritual, and we are looking for the exit to be saved from this hostile environment. These luscious fields full of green grass represent spiritual fertility in our relationship with God. Jesus is the door that if we seek God through Him, we will be saved, but if we seek Him by any other means, we will not be saved. Jesus said in Jn 14-6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” This is a deeply hated verse by many in the world, because it speaks of an exclusive salvation, and people want to feel free to seek God any way they please. This includes not seeking Him at all, as was the case of Israel in the days of Moses, whom God rejected from entering His promise land but made them wander in the desert for forty years, until the whole generation died. Those who were faithful and loved the Lord, like Joshua and Caleb, had to pay the price with those who rebelled. Jesus said that if anyone seeks to enter these pasturelands in any way other than through the door, his only intent is to steal, kill and destroy. When the wolf climbs up some other way, he exposes himself as a false shepherd. Sheep follow the True Shepherd, but wolves follow the flock. We know when someone is following the flock instead of the shepherd by their lack of spiritual insight and understanding of the Scriptures. See also: Door of Christ; Jn 10,1-16; 240a / Rev 3,8-10; 50h Jn 10-9 (119e) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Freedom >> Fences of freedom >> Freedom in Christ – What does it mean to go in and out to find pasture, in and out of what? After sheep graze one field, they are led to the next; they go out one pasture and into next. They have a good shepherd that leads them to fresh grass, and He watches over them. Another interpretation of going in and out to find pasture is this: we go in and out of prayer, in and out of the Most Holy Place. We walk past the menorah that hold the seven golden candlesticks that illumine the table of showbread located in the holy place, and proceed to the Golden Altar of Incense, which represents prayer. The veil acts as a fence in front of the Most Holy Place; the function of prayer leads behind the veil into the presence of God. The Golden Altar of Incense actually belongs in the Most Holy Place, but it was placed outside the inner sanctum so the priests could tend to it, daily removing the ashes and adding more incense. In the Most Holy Place we come to a revelation of Jesus Christ. See also: Temple of Worship (P lacement of the furniture); Jn 15,1-11; 139k (156i) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Evidence of salvation >> Confessing Jesus is evidence of salvation -- This verse goes with verse 2 (210g) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Jesus is our savior >> Jesus is the only savior KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Jn 10,10-16 (207f) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Salvation verses >> The Kingdom of God >> Children of God’s kingdom Jn 10,10-13 (160a) Works of the devil >> Essential characteristics >> Counterfeit >> Counterfeit God >> Counterfeit Christ -- These verses go with verse 5 (167b) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Carnality/Secularism (mindset of the world) >> The carnal mind is set on the flesh >> Carnal mind cares only for itself -- These verses go with verse 1 Jn l0-10,11 (35k) Gift >> God gives Himself to us >> Gifts from the Holy Spirit >> The gift of life -- These verses go with verses 14-18 Jn 10-10 (25f) Sin >> Poverty (Forms of fear) >> Satan and his children are murderers (25g) Thief (Key verse) (25j) Sin >> Poverty (Forms of fear) >> Thief >> Stealing from God -- This verse goes with verse 1. The “Abundant Life” is a phrase that is constantly used in prosperity circles; there are churches that even bear this name. If we go to prosperity churches or to some Pentecostal churches, we will hear the phrase “abundant life” thrown around like a rag doll, but sadly they are usually the ones who also steal, kill and destroy. They say God wants us to live an abundant life, and this is invariably interpreted to mean possessions: bigger houses, newer cars, better restaurants…. According to Scripture we know for an absolute fact that God wants us to have an abundant life in heaven, and we also know through Scripture that God has given us this present life as our offering to the Lord. Whatever we have and whatever He gives, we offer it back to Him, so the more He gives, the more we have to give, only not to charlatans but to God in ways that He would lead us. In return God will give us His life. (59e) Paradox >> Two implied meanings >> Natural life / Eternal life (157k) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Evidence of being hell-bound >> Having a murder spirit (158a) Works Of The Devil — Key verse for the entire chapter – The works of the devil are in direct opposition to God's commitment to building the righteousness of faith in His people. There are two spiritual kingdoms fiercely engaged in battle with the eternal destiny of mankind in the balance. This chapter outlines the downward spiral of demonic control and helps the reader troubleshoot the glitches of his/her relationship with God. It confirms the significance of putting away sin and cautions the reader that living in rebellion against God can lead to very serious consequences. (254f) Trinity >> Holy Spirit’s relationship between Father and Son >> Jesus is the life of the Spirit >> Jesus is the substance/manifestation of God’s life – The “Abundant Life” refers to our relationship with Christ. The more He gives, the more we have to show our allegiance to Christ and to His coming kingdom, for “you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col 3-3). If we come into a million dollars, are we supposed to spend it on ourselves? We would be much further ahead if we took the million dollars and found ways of helping others; wouldn't that be the reason He gave it to us? What we spend on ourselves is like eating the seed, but what we give to Christ is like sowing the seed. Prosperity teachers will tell us this, but then they tell us that we should give it all to them. No we shouldn't! We are to let God lead us how to invest our resources instead of ingratiating charlatans. If someone gave us a Bentley, we should sell it for a fair price and buy a more modest car and invest the left over money into the Kingdom of Heaven. We may need transportation, but we don’t need to drive a Bentley, nor do we need to wear the best clothes or eat the best food or live in a luxurious house; all we really need is enough, and that for the purpose of serving Christ. Serving the Lord intrinsically brings joy and all the fruits of the Spirit, so who needs surplus? KJV WEB / Navigation Bar / Parallel Gospel Jn 10,11-14 (180cb) Works of the devil >> Practicing witchcraft >> Wolves >> Be shrewd as wolves and more innocent than they appear >> Fighting off wolves with a clever innocence >> Being more bold than their cleverness – It is not always a wolf that is a false shepherd; sometimes it is a hireling. There are many shepherds who are full-blown wolves, but Jesus is saying they don’t have to be wolves to be bad pastors. He defines a hireling as someone who runs at the threat of danger. A true shepherd will stay and fight the wolf. Take King David, for example; he had good-looking brothers all older than him, and they were distinguished soldiers; people looked up to them and honored them among the great men of Israel, and then there was David, a little shepherd-boy. He spent his days in the field, tending the sheep. What happens to sheep without a shepherd? Sheep need leadership; they are odd that way; all they really know is to follow. God placed David among the sheep to teach him the lessons he would use for the rest of his life as king of Israel. He fought the lion and the bear to protect the sheep, and he killed them both. He was an unsuspecting young lad to look at him, but war was in him. Why did he care so much about the sheep; why did he risk his life for livestock? God was with him, and he fought the wild beasts on principle that if he can beat the lion and the bear, then he can take on God's enemies that defy the ranks of Israel. Jesus is the good shepherd; He doesn’t run from the wild animals, representing Satan that would threaten the sheep, and Satan is the one that Jesus came to destroy. Therefore, Jesus is our good shepherd because He defeated our enemy, who defied the ranks of heaven. See also: King David; 2Tim 1-6; 104d Jn 10,11-13 (2d) Responsibility >> Avoid offending God >> Keeping your commitments >> Complete God’s calling in your ministry as Christ did – The problem with cult leaders and hirelings is that they either have never received a calling from God, or they are frivolously throwing it away. And again, the problem with these kind of people in charge of the house of God is that because they are so willing to piddle away their own gifts, they also have no problem with frustrating the gifts of the people in the Church. This is the travesty of it all. The only redeeming fact about hirelings is that they do leave when trouble comes. Jn 10-11 (34a) Gift of God >> God’s generosity >> Believer owns everything >> Jesus belongs to us -- This verse goes with verses 14&15 (35a) Gift of God >> God is willing to Give >> He is generous with the flesh of His Son -- This verse goes with verses 14-18. Jesus prophesied His own death, suggesting that He willingly gave His life; nobody took it from Him. When Jesus was raised from the dead, He came back as the same person with the same body. Jesus’ appearance in heaven, according to the testimony of John, is nothing like it was in the flesh, for He has since been glorified. (100j) Thy kingdom come >> Devotion >> In your ministry to God >> Fulfill God’s calling in your life -- This verse goes with verses 17&18 (189i) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Martyr >> Jesus was a martyr -- This verse goes with verse 15. The “old man” (Eph 4-22; KJV) refers to our old ways before we were saved. Since Jesus didn’t need to be saved, he never had any old ways, but He did have a former manner of life prior to His ministry, and so in that sense He had as it were an “old self.” His version of the old man did not refer to sin, whereas ours does. Jesus was a carpenter, and so He laid aside His hammer. He once participated in the world; He had a job; He worked for a living; He had all the pressures that revolved around maintaining a career, but He put them all away and picked up a new set of difficulties in His ministry, and at the end of His life He died for us. Jesus gave His life for us, and now He is calling us to lay down our lives for Him and for the sake of our brothers and sisters in Christ. (192a) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Result of putting off the old man >> Gain by losing >> Life for life >> Losing your life to gain God’s life -- This verse goes with verses 14-18. Jesus laid down His life for us, and now He is calling us to do the same for Him. We must lay down our sinful passions and desires. A martyr is somebody who is murdered for his faith, but when Paul talks about dying to self in Romans chapter six and seven, he says that we kill the old man, the sinful passions and desires of the flesh. A man who martyrs a Christian hates God, but the person who dies to his sinful nature doesn’t hate God, but his flesh does; and for this reason he puts to death that part of Himself that hates God. The sinful nature of the Christian tries to lead him to commit sin, and so the disciple must put the old man to death, and the method is starvation. The Christian hates his sinful nature and his old ways, which should be incentive enough to die to self. We love the things God loves, and we hate the things He hates; God has given us a hatred for the sin nature that dwells in our flesh, its ways expressed as harmful tendencies and caustic behaviors. Jesus fought the sin nature in His flesh all through His life and being God He miraculously never submitted to its demands, but remained sinless, so when He gave His life a ransom for us, His sacrifice was acceptable to the Father. Later, He raised Jesus from the dead. Similarly, when we die to self, God will give us an anointing, symbolic of the resurrection, full of life and Spirit. (210b) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Jesus is our sacrifice >> Jesus goes to the cross willingly -- This verse goes with verse 15 (213j) Sovereignty >> God is infinite >> Jesus owns you >> His will becomes our will >> As a master owns a servant -- This verse goes with verses 14-16 Jn 10-12,13 (158i) Works of the devil >> Essential characteristics >> Divide and conquer >> Division (Cliques) >> Satan is the origin of division – The hireling flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep, but Jesus is the owner of the ranch. Some ranchers own thousands of livestock, and they can’t afford to let wolves and coyotes kill and eat them, because it just creates more of them that increasingly eat away at his profits. Therefore, the rancher goes to great lengths to protect his sheep, because he has stock in them; they are his investment, whereas the hired hand has not made an investment. He receives a paycheck at the end of the week, and if a wolf comes to take the sheep, the hireling will not risk his life to save it, but will turn-tail and run. The owner knows everything that is happening on his ranch, and he doesn’t go anywhere without a gun strapped to his hip; so when he sees a wolf, he kills it. Jn 10-12 (157g) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Evidence of being hell-bound >> Deceiving and being deceived >> Deceiving -- This verse goes with verse 1 KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Jn 10,14-18 (35a) Gift of God >> God is willing to Give >> He is generous with the flesh of His Son -- These verses go with verse 11 (35k) Gift >> God gives Himself to us >> Gifts from the Holy Spirit >> The gift of life -- These verses go with verses 27-30 (192a) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Result of putting off the old man >> Gain by losing >> Life for life >> Losing your life to gain God’s life -- These verses go with verse 11 Jn 10,14-16 (33j) Gift of God >> God is our Father >> God serves His people who serve Him >> He treats His people with special care -- These verses go with verses 27-29 (213j) Sovereignty >> God is infinite >> Jesus owns you >> His will becomes our will >> As a master owns a servant -- These verses go with verses 3-5 Jn 10-14,15 (34a) Gift of God >> God’s generosity >> Believer owns everything >> Jesus belongs to us – These verses go with verse11. Many of Jesus’ statements the world simply doesn’t understand, but for those of us who get saved, His words have more meaning than anything we know. The words Jesus spoke to the people of His day were incomprehensible even to His disciples. Pentecost marks the day when their eyes were finally opened, and it is by this same Spirit that we too come to know God. This is how Jesus was able to say, “I know My own and My own know Me,” and it suggests that knowing God is our most valid proof that we belong to Him. God's spiritual presence in our hearts is better proof to us than our works, though it proves to no one else. Instead, to others our works are more convincing than our faith that we are the children of God. (107j) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Hearing from God >> The church is of the truth >> God’s people can discern the truth -- These verses go with verses 24-30 (208g) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Personal relationship >> Being the friend of God >> Father & son relationship – We know Jesus the same way that Jesus knew His Father when He walked the earth. That is quite a statement! Jesus has had a relationship with His Father throughout eternity past, so in that sense it is not the same, yet there are many similarities in our relationship with God that Christ had with His Father. For this reason we are the brothers and sisters of Christ, and at the same time because He is our big brother, He treats us as His children. Imagine a son who is seventeen caring for his brothers and sisters two, three and four years old; he would essentially treat them as his own children, being their second father. He would have his father’s blessing and authority to do whatever was needed, so Jesus is both our brother and our father. Paul alluded to this in Gal 4-6 when he said, “Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!” Sometimes when we spend extensive amounts of time with unbelievers, and we feel our spirit vexed by their unbelief, it reminds us that we are living in a world that has rejected God and it weighs on us until we must cry, “Abba Father!” This cry originates deep within us, the indwelling Holy Spirit indelibly interwoven into us grieving over the world's unbelief. Most People don’t know that this is one of the many unpublished facets of Christian suffering. Jn 10-15 (189i) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Martyr >> Jesus was a martyr -- This verse goes with verses 17&18 (210b) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Jesus is our sacrifice >> Jesus goes to the cross willingly -- This verse goes with verses 17&18 Jn 10-16 (57f) Paradox >> Opposites >> To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord -- This verses goes with verse 28 (106c) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Hearing from God >> Attaining the hearing ear >> Knowing the sound of His voice >> Flowing with the wind of His voice -- These verses go with verse 8 This verse goes with verse 27 (210ib) Salvation >> Jews and gentiles are being saved >> Salvation is from the Jews >> Jews are believers >> Jew and Gentile believers are one flock with one shepherd (118m) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Freedom >> Law of the spirit >> Newness of the spirit transcends oldness of the letter – Jesus merged two flocks into one, the old covenant believers with the new covenant believers, also gentiles with Jews. This convergence has occurred in heaven. Old covenant believers who died in the Lord went to a place called Abraham’s bosom (Lk 16-22), another word for paradise. It is a place that nobody really knows was even a place at all but possibly just a temporary dimension. Jesus, after His death, emptied this dimension of souls and brought them to heaven at his ascension (Eph 4,8-10). From then on, every soul that dies in the Lord will go directly to heaven and join the single sheepfold under His care (2Cor 5-8). The souls of the righteous will hear His voice and follow Him to heaven, and then at the first resurrection He will speak again and this time the bodies of the righteous will hear His voice and come forth, not the same body they had in the flesh, but a spiritual body made of a completely different substance. Resurrection day is when people will receive their spiritual and eternal bodies, for prior to this day mankind has lived in the afterlife as disembodied spirits. Human souls right now are without form in heaven and in Hades, so resurrection day will be a day of jubilation and great joy for the saints who have died in the Lord. There will be a feast called the Marriage Supper of the Lamb on that day, and they will rejoice in taking another big step in manifesting the eternal Kingdom of God. (211a) Salvation >> Jews and gentiles are being saved >> Gentiles included >> Fellow heirs with Israel (Spiritual Jew) >> We are one in Christ -- Jesus said in Matthew 10-6 that He came for the lost sheep of the house of Israel. His main role was that of the Jewish Messiah, but He says here that He has other sheep which are not of this fold, “I must bring them also, and they shall become one flock with one shepherd,” referring to the gentiles. This will be the case in heaven, but He wants it first to happen here on earth, according to Mat 6-10. There is a prophecy in Romans chapter 11 predicting that Israel will repent of their unbelief in the last days and will accept Jesus as their Messiah. When the Jews repent, they will become leaders of a gentile revival. These things will be accomplished before Jesus returns. KJV WEB / Navigation Bar / Parallel Gospel Jn 10-17,18 (39a) Judgment >> Jesus defeated death >> Resurrection of Jesus Christ (66e) Authority >> Jesus’ authority >> His position with the Father >> Jesus is under His authority (71i) Authority >> Ordained by God >> Jesus is ordained by God – Jesus said He had authority to lay down His life and he had authority to take it up again, saying, “This commandment I received from My Father.” This is something Jesus knew in the very depths of His spirit, and this is where we will find our calling. What is it that He is calling us to do? We don’t go into the world looking for it, and we don’t go to our pastor; instead, we go to the very person who created us and discover His purpose through extended periods in the word of God and prayer as though fishing from a deep well. Once we discover our calling, the rest is just a matter of stepping into it and focusing all our resources and energy on it. Even then, there is still much soul searching, for He may not want us plunging headfirst immediately into it. Instead, He may call us to allow His vision to germinate for a season, which may last years, as in Jesus’ case. He didn’t step into His ministry the moment He understood it but waited until the time was right; meanwhile God was working with Him to prepare Him. This calling on our lives is elusive, something that we must search with all our might, not half-heartedly. See also: Calling (knowing His will); 1Cor 15-58; 90l (87g) Thy kingdom come >> Obedience is logical to your spirit >> It makes sense to your spirit to obey God (100j) Thy kingdom come >> Devotion >> In your ministry to God >> Fulfill God’s calling in your life -- These verses go with verse 11. The vast majority of Christians’ favorite verse is Eph 2-8,9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” The very next verse quoted in a moment is my favorite. We have faith in the gracious blood of Jesus that He shed on the cross for us, and to believe in Him makes us pleasing to God. However, so long as we are still in the flesh we have a job to do. “Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it” (Col 4-17), and Eph 2-10 says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” These good works are our purpose in life. They are like the fairytale, Hansel and Gretel, who dropped breadcrumbs to mark the trail so they could find their way back, only for us it is God who lays the breadcrumbs for us to consume along the way, which represent the good works that God has prepared for us beforehand, that we should walk in them. Jesus had a specific calling and so do we, and to discover it is to find our purpose for being born. If we don’t fulfill our calling, it won’t get done, but if we finish the course that God has prepared for us, it will help build the structure upon which others may continue the work, edifying the body of Christ. (117h) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Eyes of your spirit >> Vision >> Real-eyes God’s purpose >> Understand God’s purpose for your life (119i) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Curse of sin is broken >> Curse of death is broken (189i) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Martyr >> Jesus was a martyr -- These verses go with verse 11 (206e) Salvation >> God makes promises on His terms >> Conditions to promises >> Conditions to the love of God >> Conditions to the father’s love – The moment Jesus was conceived in Mary's womb, the only way back to heaven was through the cross. Jesus said, “For this reason the Father loves Me....” That is a conditional statement, meaning take away the reason and the Father would no longer love Him. Jesus walked in obedience to His Father, who called Him to give up His life for the sins of the world, but had Jesus not obeyed His Father, He would no longer love Him. So, the Father loved His Son because He was obedient, and our relationship with Him is no different, meaning that our favor with God is based on observable faith. If we choose not to obey Him, our disobedience will turn to doubt, and if doubt is allowed to persist, it will turn to unbelief. To commit one sin is hardly relevant; to live in sin is hardly faith. There are lots of people who think they can live any way they want and still go to heaven, but our relationship with God is conditioned on a fruit- bearing faith. Therefore, if we don’t do His will, our faith will dry-up and disappear. How then are we supposed to get to heaven if our means of getting there is dead? Jesus said five times in the gospel of John, “He who believes in Me” as the condition of eternal life. What then did Jesus mean by the word “believe”? We believe in Jesus by doing what He said, and what He said was to be born-again and love one another. Consequently, if we don’t obeying Him, we will not see the Kingdom of Heaven (Jn 3-36). (207i) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Salvation verses >> The Kingdom of God >> Salvation authority of Jesus Christ – Jesus said that He had authority to lay down His life. That is not how His persecutors viewed Him. They didn’t see Him with authority when they were beating Him and nailing Him to a cross. Rather, they saw Him as a person who was robbed of everything and condemned to death, but what they didn’t know was that Jesus was walking in authority more while they were crucifying Him than while He was raising Lazarus from the dead. The very fact that they were persecuting and martyring Him was the very purpose to which He was called, so when we think that our calling has a few wrinkles in it, don't be surprised when the grace of God becomes more apparent than ever. No matter what people do to us, they cannot deter His calling in our lives, for the more they fight against us the more grace God gives to fulfill His calling. They tried to kill Jesus’ purpose in life, and all they did was fulfill it. (210b) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Jesus is our sacrifice >> Jesus goes to the cross willingly -- These verses go with verse 11 (216h) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> God’s will over man >> Compelled by the Spirit >> Following God in fear of losing the anointing (247g) Priorities >> God’s priorities >> God’s interests >> God is interested in the cross Jn 10-17 (248j) Priorities >> God’ s preeminence >> Values >> The Highest Values >> Top Priority – Jesus said that He laid down His life that He may take it again. This statement is full of meaning, reaching to the very root of our faith to deposit a deeper meaning about God in the garden of our hearts. We can say the same thing about ourselves that the Father loves us because we fulfilled His calling. This suggests that all other matters pertaining to Christianity are trivial compared to this one. We have pervasive and continuous sins that we struggle to overcome that often get in the way of our relationship with God and man, but the sin issue pales in comparison to fulfilling His purpose and calling in our lives, which begins with the acceptance of Jesus' blood sacrifice as propitiation for our sins. KJV WEB / Navigation Bar / Parallel Gospel Jn 10,19-21 (65d) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Jesus brings division >> He divides a society along it’s natural fault lines – It was a false argument to say that Jesus was demon-possessed. Why anyone would even come to this conclusion is ridiculous on its face; no one would say that today. Truth was arguing with error, in that one side was absolutely right and the other side was absolutely wrong, ignoring the fact that Jesus regularly performed miracles. These were common folk who were arguing with the Pharisees and had a more valid point than their spiritual leaders, showing that the religious establishment was actually more lost than the people. Before Jesus came, the people were in the palm of their hand, and it made the religious establishment very wealthy and powerful. Nobody could argue with them, because no one could say with any certainty the mistakes they were making in their dogma. However, Jesus not only rebuked the Pharisees, He proved them wrong in just about everything they believed. Jn 10-20 (186b) Works of the devil >> The result of lawlessness >> Blasphemy >> Cursing the Holy Spirit >> Consider the work of the Holy Spirit to be sin -- This verse goes with verses 30-33 Jn 10-21 (146i) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> Purpose of Miracles, Signs And Wonders >> Proof that Jesus is the son of God >> That the world may be saved -- This verse goes with verses 37&38 Jn 10,22-27 (223f) Kingdom of God >> The elusive Kingdom of Heaven >> Miss God >> Missing the point >> Miss the meaning of the truth -- Perhaps the religious establishment would have accepted Jesus had He remotely resembled their preconceived notions of their Messiah, or maybe they just weren’t ready for Him under any circumstances. The biblical definition of their Messiah was God in human flesh, so what would He have to look like in order for them to accept Him? They should have known He would come to them as a man, so why was Jesus excluded from the possibility of being their Messiah after performing so many miracles? Jn 10,22-26 (19m) Sin >> Nature of sin >> Unwilling to believe >> Spirit of unbelief -- In verse 19 a division arose among the Jews because of the words that Jesus was saying. They were complaining that this man must be demon possessed. Others asked how he could be possessed and open the eyes of the blind. Finally they gathered around him and asked Him how long He planned to keep them in suspense, “'If you are the Christ then tell us plainly?' Jesus answered them, 'I told you, and you do not believe.'” Jesus never came out and said, ‘I am the Christ!’ Performing so many miracles in the presence of so many people, He shouldn’t need to say that after His works and His superior teaching and wisdom have spoken for Him. These Jews who were asking this of Him knew he was the Christ. They wanted him to be emphatic about His identity so they could accuse Him of violating their Jewish laws and hand Him over for crucifixion. They had no capacity to believe any truth about God, but planned to use His words against Him. Instead of saying what they wanted to hear, Jesus told them, “You do not believe because you are not of my sheep.” They probably had no idea how big of a slap in the face that was and the eternal implications that it bore. (168k) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world has deaf ears to God >> You cannot hear God while you listen to the devil (186j) Works of the devil >> The result of lawlessness >> The reprobate >> God’s role in forming a reprobate >> Marked out for destruction Jn 10,24-30 (107j) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Hearing from God >> The church is of the truth >> God’s people can discern the truth -- These verses go with verses 4&5 KJV WEB / Navigation Bar / Parallel Gospel Jn 10,26-30 (219a) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> The elect >> Man is a spectator of his own salvation >> God elects us through His sovereign will – Man is a spectator of his own salvation in that God elects us through His own sovereign will. If we saw some of the people God did not elect, we would think they were incapable of salvation, but those He did choose were no better. It says God chose the twelve from the foundation of the world, so He foreknew them to be His disciples. This is how the Bible speaks about God choosing His people: “You did not choose Me, but I chose you” (Jn 15-16); it speaks actively about this. The Father foreknew those who would become the twelve; He then led His Son to choose them from the multitudes. Judas was the Father’s choice along with the other eleven, and Jesus actively picked them from the crowd (though it is better understood that Jesus passively allowed Judas to join the group). Throughout the Scriptures when it speaks about the elect, it depicts God as actively choosing us, and His choice begins before birth. He not only molded us in our mother's womb, He also molded our circumstances, and then prepared us for a moment that was predestined before the foundation of the world that we should fall on our knees and give our heart to Jesus. We dedicated our lives to serving Him, and that simple act of dedication is enough for God to place His Spirit in us and we are born-again. It is better to dedicate our lives to His service than to ask the Holy Spirit to come dwell in us, for that is His business, but the act of dedication is our business. Jn 10-26 (217j) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> God’s will over man >> I never knew you >> Because you are not of His sheep – When we look at the religious establishment of Israel at the time of Christ, they were some of the most contemptuous people who ever lived, literally incapable of salvation. How could God have chosen them? They had separated themselves from God such a distance that even the godless heathen were nobler. They were supposedly the spiritual leaders of Israel, and Israel was the spiritual nation of the world, making them head in all things pertaining to God, but they were so corrupt they couldn't discern their Messiah when He stood in front of them, let alone lead the world to Christ. It was a shame what happened to Israel and to the Jews, or perhaps the better word is “sham”. The gospel then chose the gentiles, which three hundred years later mutated into the Catholic Church, who claimed to be the only true Church, and that all other sects were heretical, and they became just as corrupt as the Jews, another sham. The Catholic faith states a deep contempt for the Jews, and so again we must borrow from the sayings of Paul, “Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things” (Rom 2-1). This is the running theme throughout the generations for centuries upon centuries of mankind regardless of race; those who condemn others condemn themselves. This is why Jesus taught not to judge (hate) anybody, so their sins would not become ours. Jn 10,27-30 (35k) Gift >> God gives Himself to us >> Gifts from the Holy Spirit >> The gift of life -- These verses go with verses 10&11 (114i) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Jesus does God’s work >> All His works are what the Father does (117f) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Rest in Jesus (Sabbath) >> Rest in His mercy (205aa) Salvation >> Verses useful in evangelism – Salvation and the rebellious way of man are like two trains running parallel to each other with the tracks diverging shortly ahead, and we are on the wrong train. The tracks suddenly end at a steep cliff, and we need to make the jump now while the trains are running together before they separate, representing our natural death. The runway train we abandoned will someday become a wreckage of twisted metal and smoke, and we would have been on it, our lives destroyed. The jump may have been scary, and there may be bumps and scrapes along the way, and we still have problems with sin, but the train we now enjoy is destined for the kingdom of heaven, and we have made the right decision. See also: Analogies (Train and railroad tracks); Act 24,1-9; 202a (207k) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Salvation verses >> The generosity of God’s salvation >> Salvation is eternal life – Jesus said of His sheep, “No one will snatch them out of My hand,” ‘much less My Father’s hand,’ equating Himself with His Father, saying, “I and the Father are one.” By this passage we see the difference in perspective and ministry between Father and Son. We know that Jesus has felt the road under his feet as we have; He took on sinful flesh without sinning, and He suffered and died for our sins, and then came back to life, proving that He is indestructible, and believing in Him we will inherit these characteristics. Jesus is our brother and His Father is our Father, who has predestined us to adoption as sons (Eph 5-1). The Father thinks entirely in terms of predestination and foreknowledge, whereas Jesus thinks on our terms, who submits to His Father, who supplies everything He needs. All things belong to the Father, and He has given all things to the Son, and He has turned and given all things to us. We see this hierarchy of authority in heaven where everything returns to the Father, who is the origin of all things, as rivers return to the ocean. Jesus has always existed, happy with His place as second in command, and the Father is competent to rule. (209a) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Personal relationship >> Being married to God >> We go where He goes -- These verses go with verses 4&5 (224f) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Description of heaven >> The joyful kingdom >> We shall always be with the Lord (228d) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> God working in you >> Comforted >> We are comforted in the presence of God >> God comforts us in His company – For Jesus to say He knows us is to say He doesn’t know everyone. He doesn’t know unbelievers, saying to them who come knocking on His door, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness” (Mat 7-23). Jesus only knows and prays for those whom God has given Him, but He doesn’t pray for the world (Jn 17-9). Jesus never claimed to love the world; instead, His Father “so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (Jn 3-16). The Father loves us and sent His Son that we might believe in Him, but if we reject Him, then we are not in the circle of His love. The whole point of being in Christ is that we might go to heaven at the end of this life, but if we don’t believe in Him, then we can’t go there, because we are not of His sheep. The identifying mark of His sheep is that they follow Him wherever He goes. He may lead them in places they don’t wish, but if they will follow Him wherever He leads, even if it means death, it is the only safe place, for we will rise again in the resurrection. See also: Jesus is perfect; Lk 24-4,5; 113c (244d) Kingdom of God >> The eternal kingdom >> Eternal life of the trinity >> Jesus is the source of eternal life – Jesus’ definition of life goes far beyond mere existence, whereas hell is a place of merely existing. People in hell want to die and their existence to end, but they can’t die because they already did that, being how they got there in the first place, neither can they say they are alive. They are between life and death, between somewhere and nowhere, and it invokes great angst. In contrast, the Holy Spirit distinguishes us from those who merely exist. If we have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, then we are alive in a spiritual sense, and to have the essence of life flowing in our midst is more significant than being physically alive. The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father (Mat 10-20). Just as we have a spirit, so God has a Spirit who is big enough to encompass the entire creation. The Holy Spirit possesses all the characteristics of God, except of course that which is physical. God will one day give us a spiritual body wherein the spiritual and physical realms are married. In our resurrected bodies we will be alive in ways we cannot now comprehend, and may never fully fathom. Our biology in this life is unfathomable even to biologists who have studied it their entire lives. To this day scientists cannot agree on the point when inert material ends and life begins, let alone know how it works. In other words, they don't have a working definition of biological life. The level of mystery that our biology poses doesn’t hold a candle to the mysteries of the resurrection. See also: Resurrection (Spi ritual body); 1The 5-10,11; 117g KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Jn 10,27-29 (28h) Gift of God >> God is our advocate >> God protects His people -- These verses go with verses 9-11 (33j) Gift of God >> God is our Father >> God serves His people who serve Him >> He treats His people with special care -- These verses go with verses 3-5 Jn 10-27 (93g) Thy kingdom come >> Following Jesus >> Disciples follow Him -- This verse goes with verses 3-5 (105j) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Led by the Spirit >> To the truth >> Led into the mind of Christ -- This verse goes with verses 3-5 (106c) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Hearing from God >> Attaining the hearing ear >> Knowing the sound of His voice >> Flowing with the wind of His voice -- This verse goes with verses 3-5. The hearing ear is rarely taught in the Church today. There are some who are listening, and they can hear His voice, but they are few in number. Many people hand-pick certain passages and discard the rest of Scripture, recalling their favorite verses to rejuvenate their belief that they are heaven-bound, but this is not how to conduct a relationship with God. We don't pick and choose our favorite verses as the only ones that matter to us. When Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice,” it means that a person who is born of God is able to hear the voice of the Spirit, but those who have never heard His voice are not born of God. On the day of their salvation they heard the Holy Spirit and followed Him. They got on their knees and dedicated their lives, promising that whatever plans He has for them they will see come to fruition. This is the mindset of those who possess eternal life, and when we couple that with the hearing ear, we see sheep following their Shepherd. Jn 10-28 (57f) Paradox >> Opposites >> To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord -- This verses goes with verse 16. We know the word “perish” means to die, yet people disagree, saying when a person dies, they go into a sleep state as though hibernating, being unconscious of their existence until the resurrection; then they come back to life, whereas Jesus said they would never perish. Bears hibernate and wake up the next spring to resume their lives, and during that time it is like their life doesn’t exist; they perish for a season, which contradicts what Jesus said. A bear’s life means nothing to himself during these months; he grows older, but he does not live or enjoy his life. There are many passages in the Bible that teach when a believer dies, his soul goes directly to heaven (2Cor 5-8). Jesus said of Lazarus, “I go, so that I may awaken him out of sleep” (Jn 11-11). The disciples pressed Him, and finally He said, “Lazarus is dead.” This happened before the resurrection of Christ, when everything changed. Before His resurrection and ascension, there was a place called Abraham’s bosom, where people who died in faith went, and maybe then they slept in a state of hibernation. Their salvation had not yet been paid, so they were not yet allowed in heaven. They had not yet been made perfect (Heb 12-23), but after Jesus rose from the dead and ascended to the Father, he brought with Him a host of captives and gave gifts to men (Eph 4-8). That is, He emptied "Abraham’s bosom" and brought the people to heaven with Him. Now when a person dies in faith, he goes directly to heaven, not in a sleep-state but as disembodied spirit in a spiritual place, the New Jerusalem, where they live and enjoy their lives, awaiting the First Resurrection. See also: What happens to people when they die; Jn 14-16,17; 244f Jn 10-29 (214a) Sovereignty >> God is infinite >> Jesus owns you >> God owns everything KJV WEB / Navigation Bar / Parallel Gospel Jn 10,30-39 (62n) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Righteous deception >> Jesus deceives the lost -- They still had stones in their hands, when Jesus said to them, “Has it not been written in your law, ‘I said you are gods?’” Jesus took this Old Testament verse completely out of context, essentially saying, ‘If your Old Testament claims that you are gods (and the Scriptures cannot be broken), then why do you say I am blaspheming when I say I am the Son of God?’ On the one hand, Jesus was comparing His divinity to man's sinful nature, and of course there is no comparison. On the other hand, He was comparing His flesh to the flesh of all men, and of course they were exactly the same. Nevertheless, Jesus was being a little deceitful about this. Psalm 82-6 did not exactly say that men are like God. In the resurrection of the righteous God will raise His children in the likeness of His own resurrection, but they will be miles from being near the status and power of almighty God. To compare God to the children of God is a little ridiculous; rather, it is more accurate to compare man with Lucifer. He was great and mighty before he fell, but when God took away his glory, he resembled an exhaled balloon. Therefore, we will be great only because God made us great, but who made God great? No one! He stands alone without help from anyone. This is the difference between God and man, and that difference represents the level of deceit Jesus proposed to His enemies to avoid being stoned on the spot. Now we are at a fork in the road. We must either call Jesus a deceiver or redefine our concept of deception. I think it would be wise to redefine our concept of “deception.” People are deceptive based on their intent, not based on the words themselves. Jesus told a half-truth here to avoid being stoned to death, which was not in the cards for Him. Virtually everything they said was a lie, because their hearts were deceitful, but Jesus couldn’t lie, because his heart was true. See also: Jesus deceives His enemies; Jn 10,34-36; 59f Jn 10,30-38 (62b) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Being clever >> Responding with wisdom to your enemies >> Lie to them – When we take a hard look at this passage and see what is really happening here, we have no choice but to come to the conclusion that Jesus was not being 100 percent honest with His enemies who wanted to kill Him. Jesus had to think fast on His feet or they would have stoned Him on the spot, and faced the consequences later with the Romans. He was giving Himself a little more time before His actual death, not wanting to go at the hands of those few, who would have misconstrued the story of what really happened. He wanted all Israel to make the decision to execute Him, who represents all of mankind. Jn 10,30-33 (170c) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Seeking the glory of man >> Pursuing the glory of man turns us in the wrong direction >> Fighting God to keep the glory of man – Those in their right mind believed in Jesus, who could not do the works of God and then speak lies about Himself. The fact that God performed miracles through Him proved He was not lying. Nevertheless, the Pharisees refused to believe in Him because they wanted to remain leaders of Israel. Jesus was never going to join their club; they knew the divide between He and them would forever remain wide as the Grand Canyon; they would never find common ground. If Jesus continued in what He was doing, gaining rapport with the people who were listening to Him and ignoring the Pharisees after He repeatedly rebuked them in public, calling them hypocrites and stripping them of their spiritual authority and exposing their business of religion, they were already in the process of losing their power and prestige in society. Israel's religion and their government were one and the same (theocracy), so there was no higher place in Israel than to be in a position of spiritual authority. (177b) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> False doctrine >> Distorting Scripture to avoid the truth -- Just as they were looking for an excuse to hand Him over to the Romans for crucifixion, Jesus gave them an even bigger reason to kill Him through their unbelief, saying “I and the Father are one.” It was amazing they knew he was talking about His Father. They didn’t ask Him to clarify; they just picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus spoke quickly on His feet and escaped their hands. At other times they pretended they didn’t understand, such as earlier in this chapter when they asked Him to speak plainly about Himself. He asked them, 'For which good work are you stoning me?' Then the Jews made a tremendous statement, “For a good work we do not stone you, but for blasphemy, being a man you make yourself out to be God.” So they understood He was claiming to be God; that is more than what most people believe about Him today. They automatically assumed He was blaspheming, instead of considering the possibility that a man who could raise the dead and heal the blind could also be one with God. (180g) Works of the devil >> Practicing witchcraft >> Wolves >> Wolves steal, kill and destroy >> Wolves have a killer instinct -- These verses go with verse 1 (186b) Works of the devil >> The result of lawlessness >> Blasphemy >> Cursing the Holy Spirit >> Consider the work of the Holy Spirit to be sin -- These verses go with verse 20 (253d) Trinity >> Relationship between Father and Son >> Jesus is equal with the Father >> Jesus has all the internal qualities of the Father >> Jesus is the exact representation of the Father – We can talk to Jehovah Witnesses or Mormons or anybody in a cult who doesn’t believe Jesus is God, and they will fabricate a different meaning to this statement, “I and the Father are one.” They will say that Jesus and His Father were united but not equal. Contrary to their beliefs, Jesus is not part of God’s creation but has always existed with the Father as a constituent of the Godhead. The Father and Son are one in the sense of being equal, except that the Father is in authority over the Son, just as the husband is over the wife and they are one flesh. In heaven there will be the Marriage Supper of the Lamb where the Church will be married to Christ, and we will have the same relationship with the Father as Jesus. When He said, “I and the Father are one,” He meant it in two ways, that He is in unity with His Father and that they are intrinsically the same. However, there are differences between the Father and the Son, such as the Father is the final authority of all things and He is omniscient and omnipotent. Jesus submits to the Father, but He is a greater servant, making them equal. (255i) Trinity >> Father, Son and Holy Spirit >> Three in one >> God is one – Jesus could have told the Pharisees what He told Judas Iscariot after he denied being the devil, “You have said it yourself” (Mat 26-25). They denied His divinity in the process of confessing His divinity. Try to imagine a man who would say things in attempt to convince others that he was God. This has actually happened many times, and often these imposters have received a following, showing man’s gullibility and willingness to believe a lie. Meanwhile, Jesus was God and very few believe Him. Based on the Pharisees’ reaction, Jesus told them things that only God could say. This very same scenario occurred at the end of chapter eight; the Pharisees picked up stones to throw at Him again and He ran for his life. The Pharisees would have been Israel’s heroes, totally justified in everything they said and did to Jesus; they would have protected the people from false prophets had Jesus not been God (Deuteronomy 18-20). This is what Saul was doing before he met Jesus on the road to Damascus; he rounded up Christians and threw them in prison awaiting sentence for the capital crime of believing in Jesus (Deuteronomy 28-14). KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Jn 10,31-33 (176i) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Zeal without knowledge (Spirit w/o the word) >> Passion without principles – Jesus quoted Psalms 86-6, “I said, ‘You are gods…’” stopping there, but the verse continues, “…Nevertheless you will die like men and fall like any one of the princes.” We need to start at the Old Testament and understand what this verse means. According to the context of the Old Testament, mankind was indeed made in the image of God, but we cast a poor reflection of God in our sinful nature, for we are utterly depraved, having a body of sin that is destined for the grave. In verse 33 the Pharisees said to Jesus, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God.” They wanted to stone Him right then and there, which would have been a crime according to the Romans; most likely they would have been crucified for it, but they were so mad they were ready to sacrifice their lives to stone Jesus to maintain a sense of justice in Israel according to their interpretation of the law of Moses, indicating the level of devotion to their beliefs and how much they hated Jesus (Deuteronomy 13,5-11). (195d) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Idolatry >> Serving two masters (destroying your conscience) >> You cannot serve righteousness and sin together – Jesus made them realize they were about to stone Him for doing good, which made them look evil in their own eyes. Not even psychopaths want to believe they are evil. There was no sin they could name against Jesus, and the Jews could not stone an innocent man. In the end it was their own conscience that kept them from killing Him, also knowing Roman law that they would have been crucified for stoning Jesus, and they didn't want to be executed for violating their own law on top of violating Roman law, that discarded any nation's law under their authority. It was critical for the Jews and Pharisees to justify themselves before killing Jesus, because in their hypocritical minds, they could not live with an evil conscience. Some may be surprised to hear that the Pharisees had a conscience, since they sure didn't act like they had one. In fact, they were very conscientious people; the problem was they had so thoroughly manipulated their conscience for the sake of getting their own way that their conscience no longer worked properly. They captured it at an early age and tamed it, so it no longer condemned them for the evil they practiced, but made up their own rules and applied their conscience to them instead. They determined what was right and wrong and what was good and evil, and in so doing misinterpreted just about everything in their ancient manuscripts in order to preserve their adaptation of "truth". That is, they hijacked their own conscience, but that does not negate the fact that they had a conscience; it just means it worked in their world but not in the real world or in relation to God's word. Regardless how savagely they afflicted themselves, they still had to give Jesus an answer before they could stone Him. Jn 10-32,33 (241h) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Persecuting the kingdom >> Persecution to the death >> Kill Jesus because of who He is – Jesus did what His Father commanded of Him; He performed signs and wonders, and the Pharisees wanted to kill Him, 'because He was making Himself out to be God.’ The Pharisees systematically set aside all the things they refused to acknowledge about Him, blocking them from their minds and emphasizing only the parts they wanted to believe, and they isolated His words that only God could claim and looked only at the weakness of His flesh. The very works of the Father that Jesus performed ‘made Him out to be God.’ What condemned the Pharisees most was the fact that they could not recognize the word of God in Jesus’ mouth. He combined the works of His Father with His words and presented them together, and His enemies were unwilling to see and hear that His divinity was completely validated. Jn 10-32 (63k) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Sarcasm >> Answering a fool according to his folly – Jesus verbally slapped the Jews in the face when He asked them this question, requiring from them a reason for murdering Him, and their conscience had to meet His request, because their Old Testament Scriptures did not allow a man to die without a trial (Numbers 35,22-24), bound by their perverted interpretation of the Law, not by their demon-controlled logic. He asked them an impossible question that cut them to the quick and revealed their insanity, and their answer was, “because… you make yourself out to be God.” According to Jewish law, it was a crime to confess to be the Son of God, unless of course you were the Son of God. Had He made this confession, they would have stoned Him on the spot, probably at the cost of their own lives, for they were under Roman rule and they did not permit the Jews to pass sentence against anyone according to their own law, especially without a court hearing. Consequently, if Jesus was playing chess with these guys, His rhetorical question was checkmate! He never confessed to be the Son of God to them, but the Pharisees were well aware of the miracles He performed that would have led a sane person to the right conclusion, but these were not sane people. (185d) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Mystery of lawlessness >> Denying Christ in spite of His proven identity – All the Old Testament prophecies of a coming age that the Pharisees recognized were about the Millennium that is still to come. Had Jesus delivered Israel from their enemies and ushered in this expectant age, making Israel greater than the empire of King David, becoming the capital of the world, and if all nations came and worshipped God at their altar, even if Jesus made the Pharisees His magistrates so they received more power and glory than ever, they may have received their Messiah for a season, but they would have become jealous of all the attention going to Him and eventually would have sought to overthrow Him in hope of taking His place, which they were doing without any mention of becoming their King. He was their Messiah, and they knew it, and they hated Him, because He would not give them what they wanted, all of which pertained to this world, but God sent His Son to reveal that the world was fatally flawed, the the Pharisees proved it. KJV WEB / Navigation Bar / Parallel Gospel Jn 10,34-36 (59f) Paradox >> Two implied meanings >> We are gods as created in His image / Jesus is God’s Son, Creator of any so-called god – Had the Father allowed the Jews to stone His Son that day, the historical significance of Jesus’ death would have been lost, and the Pharisees would have been hailed as the good-guys who sacrificed their lives for the cause of “justice” (the Romans would have crucified them instead of Jesus). It would have been a complete disaster. Jesus was staying on track with His Father’s agenda; after they accused Him of being equal with God, in order to stop them Jesus had to think on His feet. His divinity was something He hid under His hat for this very reason, because the Jews did not accept Him, though He fit the prophetic description of their highly anticipated Messiah. Besides, He didn’t expect Israel to accept Him, since He came to die for their sins, not to deliver them from the Romans. When Jesus said, “Has it not been written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’?” He was telling them they were like gods, comparing them with Himself as the Son of God, but there was really no comparison. That is, Jesus literally deceived His enemies by that comparison, and He did it on purpose to get out of trouble. Essentially, He lied to them, taking liberties with the Scriptures, tickling their pride, which is a surefire way of stroking narcissistic egos like the Pharisees, who merely used their "belief" in God as a front to obtain fame and fortune. Was lying to His enemies ethical of Jesus? How did He explain this to His Father? Wasn’t it a sin? The Bible says that Jesus was without sin, so what He said to them was not a sin, though it was a lie, suggesting that not all lying is sinful. Essentially, Jesus used the word of God in a way not so different from Lucifer against Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden; the only difference was motive. Parents routinely lie to their children for their own good, but if they lie to cover their sin, their lying is sin. Then they are not seeking God’s will but their own selfish interests, and this is what makes lying evil. See also: Jesus deceives His enemies; Jn 10,30-39; 62n (70ja) Authority >> Believer’s authority >> We have been given authority over all creation >> We are the children of God >> We have a place on His throne – The Father has no intension of withholding anything from His Son, and the Son has no intension of withholding anything from us. When God said He created us in His image (Genesis 1-26,27), most people figure it means we look like Him somehow. We may look like Him in some ways, but to be made in His image has ramifications that virtually will never end, and when we couple that with the statement Paul made in Eph 2-6,7, He “raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus,” we start getting a clearer picture of God’s purpose for us. He seated us on His very throne, and it says repeatedly throughout the Scriptures that we were created for the express purpose of wielding His authority. We will reign with Him. How this will actually materialize is not something we can fully know with much detail at this time, but we do know that we will not reign over each other. God did not create a people and then die for them just so they can reign over themselves. In the transfiguration (Lk 9-28,29), For Jesus to show the disciples His glory was to show them the glory that they too would receive in part. (243n) Kingdom of God >> The eternal kingdom >> There shall be no end to His increase >> God's kingdom is Infinite >> We will be married to Christ – Who will mistake us for God? Certainly no one of this creation! However, there will be those of the new creation who will mistake us for God, and we will have to tell them that we are not God but merely represent Him. This is how close we will resemble Him in power and authority. The Bible calls us the bride of Christ (Rev 21-2,9). When the Bible describes the bride, it begins talking about the city where we live, meaning that we and the city are one. That is, we will be defined by our address. we will be married to God. How can God marry a wife unlike Himself? That would be like a man marrying a dog! We will never literally be gods, for we will forever remember our derivations, that we once consisted of sinful flesh, squirming in our blood (Ezekiel 16-6), but God raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph 2-6,7). Jn 10-35,36 (191h) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Result of putting off the old man >> Set apart >> God sanctifies us through His calling Jn 10-35 (152h) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> Witnesses of the father >> Prophets >> Jesus is a prophet >> Jesus prophesies about the fulfillment of Scripture KJV WEB / Navigation Bar / Parallel Gospel Jn 10-37,38 (20e) Sin >> Nature of sin >> Having a hardened heart – What are the works of the Father but the miracles, signs and wonders He performed and the word of God He spoke. Jesus was saying, 'If you don’t believe My words, then believe My works, for both originated from My Father.' His words and His works were one, so that to believe in His signs and wonders was to believe in His word, and to believe in His word was to believe in His miracles. It is also fair to say that if we believe in the truth, God will allow us to perform signs and wonders too, as confirmation of our faith in the truth. The two of them are a package deal. This suggests that the reason the Church rarely performs miracles is that the truth is missing; therefore, if we replace the truth, miracles will return. As it is, people don’t believe in the truth because of a hardened heart. The truth demands humility and submission to God in order to understand it, let alone to obey it. At the center of a hardened heart is pride and arrogance, the desire to be first and the longing to be adored, instead of worshipping and adoring God. They didn’t want to believe in Jesus because they knew God would require their sinful nature be put under constraint, and they were seeking freedom for their flesh to live and walk as they pleased, and they were seeking a corresponding truth to that. Jesus came opposing their belief systems, and they resisted Him on every level, because they didn’t want their sinful ways to die, so they hardened their hearts against the word of God, even to the point of refusing to acknowledge His signs and wonders that He performed in their presence. That is an abrupt rejection of reality. (146i) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> Purpose of Miracles, Signs And Wonders >> Proof that Jesus is the son of God >> That the world may be saved -- These verses go with verse 21. Jesus said, “If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe me.” This explained the reason He performed miracles, not for the blind man to see or for Lazarus to live again, but so people would believe in Him as their Messiah. Sometimes people seek God for healing and they don’t get it, and they blame God for not helping them, and they blame the sick person for having no faith. Sometimes we don’t receive our healing, because there would be no divine purpose in it. God doesn’t heal us for no reason; He has a purpose for everything he does. Jesus performed His miracles as a way of proving His identity as the Son of God, saying, ‘If you don’t believe my words, then believe my works.’ Jesus made it very simple for people to believe in Him, but they still would not believe. An endtime revival is coming in the last days, and God will place His seal on it by performing many miracles, signs and wonders to prove that this revival is from God. Will anyone believe it is a divine work of God after they witness miracles performed in their very presence? (149h) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness to Jesus >> Evangelism >> Authority of the rhema given to evangelism >> Preaching the gospel by the power of God (231c) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> Mystery of godliness >> God’s grace is the mystery of godliness >> God working in you is a mystery Jn 10-39 (28l) Gift of God >> God is our advocate >> Father protects His Son (89f) Thy kingdom come >> Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom >> Deeds of wisdom (214d) Sovereignty >> God controls time >> God’s timing >> God’s timing transcends our comprehension >> No one can interrupt God’s timing – Perhaps we could say that Jesus eluded their grasp because He was tricky, and the Lord was helping Him, or maybe He had devised some kind of a plan of escape and put it into action and disappeared into the crowd, but the bottom line is that it simply wasn’t His time. When we think of the anxiety that anybody else would have had about this; had He been captured before the time and stoned to death in a dark corner and His body disposed, it would have been disastrous. The Jews were intending to stone Him right then and there, but Jesus wanted to die publicly; He wanted everybody to see Him hanging on the cross, and He wanted both the leaders of Israel and the people to share the responsibility of His death. God had a plan, and when we think about the sovereignty of God and predestination, we could almost say that it was impossible for the Jews to capture Him until He was ready to give His life for the sins of the world. However, to think this way is to see things as God sees them and not us, and so to us these matters are irrelevant, except to know that God thinks this way. He sees everything already completed from the beginning. He knows exactly what is going to happen in every situation; that is the concept of foreknowledge. Jn 10,40-42 (8h) Responsibility >> Preparing to interact with God >> Preparing for revival – The Bible doesn’t give us any direction on how to prepare for the last days, except to hone our relationship with Christ; that is all we need to do. He never gave us a set of instructions on how to prepare for endtimes, because He plans to provide for us during the great tribulation (during the Trumpets), just as He did for Israel during the exile of Moses from Egypt. He sent them manna, and He will do the same for us. God will effect a Great Endtime Revival, and through that revival He will give us everything we need to survive, that we may partake of the Rapture in His time. However, the foolish were lazy, having roots in the doctrines of easy-believism. They were actually taught that doing the will of God was an option; they didn't think they needed to prepare, because they were trusting in the Pre-Tribulation Rapture to save them, allowing them to live any way they wanted. It was all fun and games until there was a shout from heaven. See also: Seal and Trumpet judgments; Mat 13,39-42; 15j See next page