The Devotional – Excerpts from the Gospel of John (5)

The Devotional – Excerpts from the Gospel of John (5)

Comment: The Prophets of God spoke of the coming Messiah. The Holy Bible in the dispensation of Israel which ‘begins with the call of Abram; Genesis 12:1 and continues through Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Acts 1:1-8 temporarily concludes with the ascension of Jesus. Acts 1:9 the Church dispensation in its infancy begins. You and I today are living in the church dispensation. We; like John the Baptizer of the Jewish dispensation, ought to be anticipating the return of Jesus/Messiah. Someone once said and I agree, that the return of the Messiah is only seven years from this moment in time, which means this! The Seven Year Tribulation (a return to the final seven years of the Jewish dispensation) can begin in the world at any moment; that is, when this church dispensation ends (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). This can happen at any moment, even before we finish the devotional this morning! Even so COME LORD JESUS!

Devotional: John the Baptizer has a testimony, he was a man who seems obscure, but is not. John’s testimony of the True LIGHT penetrates its way into the heart of Herod, Tetrarch ruler of a fourth part of Judea; (mainly Galilee). Of course, this was humanly fatal for John since he becomes the first martyr as a witness of TRUTH and is beheaded, much like the martyrdom we witness today. Matthew 14:1-12. 

The boldness of the witness of Truth found in John the Baptizer’s testimony ought to be found in the “church” today, yet it is NOT! We ought to be the VOICE of the return of MESSIAH, but we are NOT! I believe that God is very displeased with the functions and the participants in churches all across this land and for that part throughout the non-persecuted areas of the world. So where are the witnesses of the True Light?

Are we not the remnant of saints stuffed into the ‘wilderness’, are we not crying out to a people like the people of John’s day? Do not the religions say; “who are you to say that the return of Jesus is soon” are you a Prophet, or Elijah, or better yet “who do you think you are The Christ”? The answer of course is emphatically; NO! So why does the Church today in the United States of America suffer this blindness of Truth? It is corrupted with Idolatry and with the filth of immorality, and truly; only the blind religious leaders and their followers of today are those who cannot see this.

There is coming a day soon when Jesus will return in the air for His Church, for the LORD Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. then the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the LORD in the air. And thus we shall always be with the LORD. Therefore, comfort one another with these words; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18.

Since the Word of God reveals this Truth, we ought not be ignorant, if you chose to remain ignorant, then simply put… you are not saved by the grace of God since you have no faith in God, thus you are BLIND. Twenty, twenty vision in the kingdom of God is “GRACE, FAITH” Ephesians 2:8 and Hebrews 11:6.

The Devotional – Excerpts from the Gospel of John (4)

The Devotional – Excerpts from the Gospel of John (4)

Comment: in the community where we live, we no doubt know people who are of a certain nationality, but also a citizen of the United States of America. Also that person may be a prominent person in town with a certain title, he or she could also own a business. The point is that all of us would know that person by title, by nationality, by profession, by friend or even closer than that, we may even be related to him or her. So humanly speaking it is not hard for us to understand natural things, yet when it comes to spiritual matters we want to build walls of reasoning or paint false replicas of religion! Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by IT the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we UNDERSTAND that the worlds were FRAMED by the word of God, so that the things which are SEEN were not made of things which are VISIBLE (Hebrews 11:1-3).

Devotional: As we move through these passages in John’s gospel who is recording the revealing of God’s Son to the nation Israel (and to the world) through the voice and witness of John the Baptizer (a relative of Jesus, see Luke 1:35-38) and beginning in John 1:6 we see that John’s testimony is that of the TRUE LIGHT, the ETERNAL WORD and the CREATOR. He JESUS is additionally identified as the glory of God Himself, full of GRACE and TRUTH.

John 1:18 – No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son (GOD, as the context reveals) who is in the bosom of the Father, HE (GOD) has declared Him. So in these scriptures; John 1:1-18 we observe so very important things regarding the birth of Jesus and His Earthly Temporal Ministry and His Eternal Deity. Again… Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

If we are willing to exercise FAITH toward God, God will be willing to exercise GRACE toward us. John 1:14-18 is the testimony of how the fullness of God reveals to ALL, the Eternal Word, the True Light and the Flesh of man coming together as ONE and of that FULNESS the world has received GRACE and to those who are willing to believe this by FAITH, these are the ones who are identified in John 1:12 as the children of God, that is to those who BELIEVE/FAITH in His NAME. What then is His Name: JESUS YES, the WORD, YES. The TRUE LIGHT, YES, yes and much more.

Jesus/Messiah, wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace, Mighty God and Everlasting Father – Isaiah 9:6-7) I sometimes wonder if we understand that word, GRACE; well without FAITH, grace has no place in our heart to understand God, or the LOVE of God as revealed in John’s Gospel.

The Devotional – Excerpts from the Gospel of John (3)

The Devotional – Excerpts from the Gospel of John (3)

Comment: What is LIGHT? Light is by definition the absence of darkness. There is a light that governs the world in which we live, it is a created light, created by our Omnipotent and ever Present God, who in the beginning spoke these words. “Let there be light”; and there was light, see Genesis 1:3. This statement and command of God would have no relevance to the world if “darkness” the absence of light was not present see Genesis 1:1-2 – In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. The earth, created by God, needed True Light as revealed by God the Holy Spirit, thus God spoke. As it takes FAITH to believe this Truth, it also takes FAITH to believe further references from the Holy Bible of additional LIGHT, which is not another, but one in the same!

Devotional: John the Baptizer was born for the sole purpose of revealing LIGHT, this Light is by biblical definition the LIGHT OF THE WORLD, the TRUE LIGHT which is revealed to all who might BELIEVE. This is not another light like that of the created world, but in reality it is the SAME light, notice John 1:9 – That is/Or the (Isaiah 49:6) true LIGHT which gives light to every man coming into the world.

If we were to study the first three chapters of Genesis 3 we could easily see that while Adam and Eve enjoyed the Pure Light. That it was the temptation of deception that entered their heart through the lie of Satan, which darkened the Pure Light “God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be open and you will be like God, knowing good and evil”. Biblical definitions of “good” is light and “evil” is darkness. Satan had already fallen from his position in heaven, God knew and Satan knew this; Adam and Eve did not.

Immediately when sin entered the lives of Adam and Eve, so did (for the first time) darkness; the TRUE LIGHT retreated and the only light left was the natural light of creation. This as we know in the study of Genesis is the condition of all humans born after the sinful fall of Adam and Eve. John 1:10 – He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know him. This is the condemnation that came upon the world in that the Light, even though it shines in the darkness, the darkness did not comprehend it (John 3:19).

Yet, even in these early words of John’s gospel we see the wonderful grace of God shining through the darkness in that even though the PURE LIGHT was put out in His own (creation) and His own (nation) did not receive Him, but rejected Him. But to as many as would receive Him, TO THEM, He gave the RIGHT (authority) to become children of God, to those who believe in His Name. (Jesus the TRUE LIGHT of the world). These children were not born of blood (nationality), nor of the will of the flesh (likeness of Adam) nor of the will of man (heritage), but of God (by grace through faith). Ephesians 2:8.