Isaiah

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  The Unique Purpose
  of John's Gospel




  SABBATH AFTERNOON

          ave you ever wished you could have known Jesus in the flesh,

  H       as His disciples did? Have you ever wished He lived at your
          house? Wouldn't it be great to take your problems directly to
  Him, face to face? To go to Him and share what's on your heart and
  then see Him go to His knees and pray earnestly to His Father for you?
  Wouldn't it be easier to have a relationship with Jesus if He lived,
  breathed, walked, and talked at your house?
    But that privilege has not been ours. Yet, the good news is that the
  Gospel of John helps assure us that we don't need physical contact with
  Jesus in order to have a relationship with Him. We don't need physical
  contact to obtain all the blessings He is willing and able to give. John
  even recalls Jesus telling His disciples " 'It is for your good that I am
  going away' " (John 16:7, NIV). Through the presence of the Spirit, the
  work of Jesus is enhanced by His absence (John 14:12).
    This week we take our first look at this good news.

 How the Gospels Were Written                              (Luke 1:1-4).

    From what Luke tells us, "many" individuals had already under-
  taken to tell the story of Christ. The stories about Jesus and His say-
  ings were remembered and handed down by "eyewitnesses and serv-
  ants of the word" (Luke 1:2, NIV). The word translated "servants"
  seems to have been a technical term in the ancient world for profes-
  sional memorizers who would make it a point to record significant
  sayings in their minds for future use. It should not surprise us that
  such individuals might be chosen to memorize the sermons, parables,
  and deeds of Jesus in order to repeat what the Lord said and did.
    The stories and sayings of Jesus were passed along by word of
  mouth for many years after His ascension to heaven. Luke, inspired
  by the Holy Spirit, apparently had talked with eyewitnesses and those
  who had memorized the sayings and stories of Jesus. Guided by the
  Spirit, he then selected those sayings and stories that enabled him to
  put together an "orderly account." The final result is the Gospel of
   Luke as we know it today.

    John's point is that most of the Jesus story had to be left out of his
  Gospel. Each of the four Gospels offers selections of the sayings and
  deeds of Jesus that fit that particular writer's purpose. "It is seldom
  that two persons will view and express truth in the very same way.
  Each dwells on particular points which his constitution and education
  have fitted him to appreciate."—Ellen G. White, Selected Messages,
  book 1, p. 22.

   Look at the Ellen White quote, particularly in the context of
   today's study. What does this tell us about the need to give oth-
   ers some flexibility in their understanding of truth?

                                                                           7

 Selecting With a Purpose Read John 20:30,31. Why did John say he wrote what he did about
 the life of Jesus? In what ways does the whole Bible reflect that
 same purpose?


    Jesus' ministry from His baptism to His ascension covered about
 three and a half years (1,260 days!). Out of all the things Jesus said
 and did during that time, John records incidents that occurred on a
 total of only 29 days. And in most cases, even these accounts cover
 only a small fraction of what Jesus may have said and done on those
 days. More than ninety-seven percent of Jesus' ministry is left out of
 John's Gospel. Led by the Holy Spirit, John chose what was needed to
 achieve his stated purpose: to convince us to believe in order that we
 may have eternal life.
   Notice for whom John wrote his Gospel. It is for "you" (plural in
 the original). John wrote so that "you" might believe and that "you"
 might have life. With the word "you", he clearly had his readers in
 mind. But which readers? All of them? Or was there a special focus
 to this "you" group?

    Thomas clearly feels that his faith depends on a hands-on experi-
 ence with a physical Jesus. Once he had seen Jesus, he had no prob-
 lem believing. In John 20:24-31, Thomas represents all the disciples,
 the first generation, those who had seen and touched Jesus.
    Jesus' statement in verse 29, on the other hand, indicates that there
 is a special blessing reserved for those who believe without seeing.
 Evidently seeing and contact are not crucial to the development of
 faith; in fact, they even may hinder it. Verse 29 pronounces a blessing
 on later generations who have been denied hands-on contact with
 Jesus and yet believe anyway. We are of those later generations, those
 who have had no physical contact with Jesus nor with anyone who
 knew Him in the flesh.

  Look up 2 Corinthians 4:18. How does this fit in with today's
  study? What message is there for us today, who have not seen
  Jesus in the flesh?

 The Occasion of the Gospel                           (John 21).

   According to John 21, Jesus employs a threefold sequence of
 question and response to confront Peter about his three denials in
 the high priest's courtyard a short while before (vss. 15-19). Not
 only does Peter need to work through his sense of guilt and failure
 for denying Jesus, but this confrontation probably also gives him the
 opportunity to regain the confidence of his fellow disciples. Later,
 as Jesus and Peter walk along the beach, an incident occurs that may
 have had a large impact on John.

     Jesus has just explained to Peter the circumstances that would one
  day surround his death. Peter is curious about whether his experience
  would be similar to that of the beloved disciple, the one who wrote the
  Gospel of John (vs. 24). Jesus evades the question with a cryptic "If I
  should prefer that he remain alive until I come, what business is that
  of yours?" (principal contributor's translation).
     Jesus' cryptic comment was misunderstood in the years that fol-
  lowed. People came to believe that the beloved disciple, John, would
  live to see the second coming of Jesus. As disciple after disciple died,
  many became excited over the "obvious" nearness of Jesus' return. As
  John entered old age and began to approach death, a crisis of confi-
  dence loomed: Would John's death make Jesus appear to be a false
  prophet? After all, didn't Jesus say that John would be alive at His
  return?
     Some believe that at this decisive moment, in which the church
  faced a crisis, the Lord moved upon John to leave the legacy of a writ-
  ten gospel, one that would correct the unfounded rumor regarding the
  timing of John's death in relationship to the Second Coming. His
  Gospel would provide what the next generation of Christians needed
  to survive his passing. His Gospel would teach us all how to have a
  living relationship with Someone you cannot see, hear, or touch.

   Read again what Jesus told Peter in John 21:22. He never says
   that John would not die, though that meaning is what some
   have read into the text itself. In what ways are we in danger of
   doing the same thing; that is, reading into texts what is not
   there?


                                                                        9

 Second Generation
   In a number of different ways, the Gospel of John expresses an
 interest in the second generation of Christians.
   In the Fourth Gospel, the disciples usually are not gathered directly
 by Jesus but through the invitation of someone else who knows Jesus.
 Perhaps this is meant to symbolize how most of the world will come
 to first know Jesus, not through personal contact with Him but
 through the witness of another.

 John 1:40-42



 John 13:20



   Today, of course, people learn about Jesus through the witness of
 others who first tell them about Jesus and, as in the first example
 above, "lead" them to Him. How crucial, then, that we as professed
 followers of Christ, as those whom God has chosen to spread the truth
 to others, be prepared to do just that.
   In John 17 Jesus prays for Himself first of all and then for His dis-
 ciples (vss. 1-19). After this He turns to the second generation, and
 beyond. His prayer is not for His disciples alone but for " 'those who
 will believe in me through their message' " (vs. 20, NIV). Most peo-
 ple throughout history have gained a relationship with Jesus not
 through personal contact but through the writings of those who had
 such contact. Jesus prayed that the Written Word would be the means
 of uniting all believers, those who had seen Him and those who had
 not (vss. 21-23).

  Prayerfully read through Christ's prayer in John 17 (specifically
  verses 11-19), which He offered in behalf of His disciples. What
  are the key points He is praying for? On the lines below, write a
  summary of what Jesus wanted for His followers. What message
  is in there for us, today, as well?

 His Word is as Good as His Touch According to Luke 4:40, what does Jesus do whenever He heals
 people? (See Matt. 9:29, 30; 20.•34; Mark 1:29-31; 9:25-27; Luke
 7:14, 15; 13:13 for further examples.)

    Jesus uses touch in about half the miracles recorded in Matthew,
 Mark, and Luke. By way of contrast, in John's Gospel, Jesus is rarely
 described as using touch in order to accomplish His miracles.
    Why the difference?
    Perhaps the Spirit moved upon John to select stories in which there
 is an absence of touching or in which the distance between Jesus and
 the healed person is emphasized (in John 4:46-54 Jesus is 16 miles
 away from the individual He heals at the time of the healing), all in
 order to help express the point that one doesn't need immediate phys-
 ical contact with the Lord in order to be blessed, or even healed, by
 Him. These accounts, where there is no touching, are consistent with
 John's theme that Jesus' word is as good as His touch. This is espe-
 cially good news for those, such as we, who can have the assurance
 that although Jesus isn't here in the flesh, He still can be close to us
 in all our trials and sorrows, whatever they happen to be. Through
 these accounts John shows us that heaven is, indeed, closer to earth
 than we might, on sight alone, believe.

    What comes through in these scenes is the power of Jesus' words to
  overcome barriers of space. Distance is no problem for the Lord, who
  created the universe. Jesus' word is as powerful close at hand as at a
  distance. Though now manifested to us through the printed page,
  Christ's Word still retains the power to save and heal. It is through His
  Word that He ministers to the needs of later generations.

   Instead of Jesus in the flesh, we have His Word, the Bible. Why,
   then, is study of the Word crucial in forming a close relationship
   with Him? Without the Bible, what could we know about Jesus?

                                                                        11

  o How could different writers portray Jesus from different per-
  spectives? Do these different perspectives make you more or less
  likely to accept their accounts as truthful? If all accounts said the
  same thing, would that not tend to make us think they merely
  were copying one another as opposed to telling the story of Jesus
  as they, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, understood or
  even remembered it? Explain your position.

    What does the gist of this week's lesson tell us about the
  importance of witnessing in the mission of the church?

  Jesus Is
  the      Best


  SABBATH AFTERNOON

      esus is the ultimate revelation of God. John 1:1-18 functions as a

  J   prologue to the story of Jesus in the Gospel. It tells an amazing
      story. The King of the universe, the eternal Creator, became a
  human being. The One who walked this earth, who became sweaty,
  tired, and hungry, was intimate with God before the world began,
  because He Himself was one with God. Although He became part of
  the human race and was subject to human limitations, He was the One
  who created the human race and the world in which it lived. The
  Creator came to serve the creation, even to the point of death. The
  prologue to John, therefore, interprets everything that happens in the
  Gospel in the light of the larger perspective of eternity.
     The Creator Himself came down and walked among us, spoke our
  language, and showed us in human terms what God is like. Through
  the Fourth Gospel, we escape from a narrow world of limited percep-
  tion into the vast universe of ultimate reality, a view that revelation
  alone can offer.

 The Word as Eternal God (John 1:1, 2). The prologue to the Gospel of John (John 1:1-18) is beautifully
 structured in the style of Hebrew poetry, which often uses paral-
 lel words and ideas. The simple, yet majestic, grandeur of the lan-
 guage is a fitting complement to the awesome magnificence of the
 ideas expressed in this section of the Gospel.

   The concept of "the Word" would have been readily recognizable to
 the ancient Greeks, whether or not they ever had heard of Jesus. For
 centuries the Greeks had conceived that a divine figure they called
 "the Word" (logos in Greek) was the Creator and Sustainer of the uni-
 verse, the Source of reason and intelligence, and the Mediator between
 the great God and the creation. In applying the term Logos to Jesus,
 John was appealing to the Greeks in terms they could understand.

    The first words of the Gospel combine "in the beginning" (from the
  Creation story of Gen. 1:1) with a verb that expresses continuous
  existence in past time. At the very beginning, at the point when
  Creation began, the Word was already in continuous existence. He is,
  therefore, eternal.
    But the eternity of the Word is not based on some kind of pre-
  creation origin in the Father; Jesus was not created by the Father.
  Instead, from eternity, Jesus, the Word, was distinct from the Father
  (called "God" in John 1:1 but "Father" in verse 18) but in no sense
  inferior. "What God was, the Word was" is the brilliantly accurate
  translation of The New English Bible. The intimate relationship
  between the Word and the Father was an intimacy of equals. We are
  not dealing with "Gods" here; there is full unity in the Godhead at the
  same time that there is intimate relationship among the personalities
  of the Godhead. (See quotations in Friday's section.)



                                                                      15

 Creator and Sustainer (John 1:3-5). How does John make it clear that the preexistent Word was not a cre-
 ated being? John 1:3.


    This text is so devastatingly clear that one denomination was forced
 to change the wording of their own Bible translation (adding the word
 other—"all other things were made by him") in order to maintain
 their beliefs. The clear intention of this text as it reads is to assert that
 everyone and everything in all creation was made by "the Word." He
 is the Source of everything created. If "not a single thing" was made
 apart from His action, then He is not the result of an act of creation.
 As John 1:1 points out, before any creation took place, the Word was
 already in continuous existence.
    This teaching may seem academic or irrelevant, but it is extremely
 important to Christian faith. It establishes the incredible value that
 God placed on us at the Cross. The Person who died there was not just
 another part of God's creation, such as the sun, the moon, or angels;
 if He were, the sacrifice would not have the same kind of value it does
 with Jesus as Creator.
    This, then, is no minor sacrifice. At the Cross our value is estab-
 lished in infinite terms: The infinite Son of God died in order to save
 us; that's how important we are in the sight of God. This fact is the
 truest and most stable basis for self-worth.

   " 'His name shall be called Immanuel . . . God with us.' The light
 of the knowledge of the glory of God' is seen 'in the face of Jesus
 Christ.' From the days of eternity the Lord Jesus Christ was one with
 the Father; He was 'the image of God,' the image of His greatness
 and majesty, 'the outshining of His glory.' It was to manifest this
 glory that He came to our world. To this sin-darkened earth He came
 to reveal the light of God's love—to be 'God with us.' There-
 fore it was prophesied of Him, 'His name shall be called Immanuel.' "
 —Ellen G. White, The Desire ofAges. p. 19.

  Meditate on what the full deity of Christ means for us, that God
  Himself died for our sins. Why does that give us so much hope,
  as compared to a view of the universe in which there is no God
  or caring Creator?

 Rejection and Reception (John 1:4-13). What other function does the Word perform? John 1:4, 5.

   In the original Creation, the Word was the Author of physical light.
 He is the One who uses light (the rays of the sun) as part of the
 process of plant production that sustains physical life on this earth.
 But the author of our Gospel has more than physical light and life in
 mind here. He's talking about light in the spiritual sense, as well.

    Without the Word, there would be no rain, no sunshine, no air, no
 life. The amazing reality is, however, that when the Creator and
 Sustainer of the universe appeared on earth, He was unknown and
 unrecognized as such. Even His "very own" rejected the One who
 gave them life. In light of these verses, the actions of so many people
 toward Jesus in the Gospel of John, including His disciples (John
 12:16, 14:6-9), are foolish and tragic.
    Yet, the message of this prologue is not all dark.

    In the original language of John 1:12, it is the one who "received" (a
  point in past time) Him and who "believes" (continuous action) in His
  name who gains the right to become a child of God. This language points
  to two aspects of becoming right with God. There is the initial point of
  reception, and there is the ongoing relationship of believing. There is no
  "once saved always saved" here. Being a child of God has a beginning,
  but it is also a process that continues as long as a Christian lives.
     This "new birth," however, is not achieved by human effort; it is as
  much a miracle as the original act of creation. And just as the original
  act of creation must be sustained by the continual miracle of the Word's
  watchcare (vss. 4, 5), so the relationship of the child of God with Jesus
  involves ongoing belief resulting in an ongoing miracle of spiritual life
  (vss. 12, 13).

   In verse 12, John says that those who receive Him become sons
   of God. Why do some receive Him and some do not? What role
   does free choice have in the answer? What role does free choice
   have in the continuation of our spiritual life, as well?

                                                                        17

 The Humanity of Jesus (John 1:1, 2, 14).
   Compare John 1:1, 2 with what is said in verse 14. While verses
 1-5 focus on the divine preexistence of the Word, verse 14 turns to His
 nature and status as One who walked on earth as a part of human his-
 tory. These texts express an incredible paradox. A man of a particular
 ethnic background, living at a particular time in history, subject to
 human frailty, turns out to be the divine Word, who created the entire
 universe.

         Eternal (John 1:1)                Earthly (John 1:14)

               "was"                           "among us"
            "was God"                           "became"
            "with God"                       "became flesh"


    The language here is simple yet profound. In John 1:1 the Word
 "was." The Greek tense implies continuous past existence. He always
 "was." But verse 14 tells us that at a point in time the Word "became"
 flesh. The word translated "became" in verse 14 is the same as the one
 translated "made" in verse 3. When the Word became flesh, it was an
 act of creation, something added to His ongoing, eternal nature.
 Though He "was" God, He also "became" flesh. In the process, the
 Word went from being "with God" to being "with us." The entire
 Gospel of John becomes an expression of Jesus' humanity while He
 was here on earth. One struggles here to express truth that is simply
 stated in John 1 yet is so profound that "the whole world would not
 have room for the books" that could be written about it (John 21:25,
 NIV). In simple language John has articulated the full range of both
 the Word's divine and human natures. He is the God-man. He is from
 heaven yet of earth. He always was, yet He also became. He was eter-
 nal, yet He also has a created existence.
    Because He is fully God, Jesus could reveal what God is like in the
 highest sense. Because He became fully human, that revelation is
 accessible to us at a level we can grasp and follow. " 'Anyone who has
 seen me has seen the Father' " (John 14:9, NIV). In the Gospel of
 John, this difficult but glorious truth is revealed in the prologue but
 also brought home to our hearts by the Spirit (John 16:13-15).

  If possible, obtain some facts on the size of the visible universe.
  After reading those figures, dwell on the texts and the study for
  today. How does this help you begin to understand the incredi-
  ble love that God has for us?

 The Greatest Revelation                       (John 1:14-18).

   The phrase "made his dwelling" translates from the Greek word for
 "pitch one's tent" to mean a reminder of the tabernacle in the wilder-
 ness (Exod. 25:8, 9). The glory of Jesus that the disciples saw recalls
 the glory of God's presence in that tabernacle (Exod. 40:34, 35).
 Things become even more interesting when we discover that in
 Hebrew the word "to dwell" (shachan) and the word for God's glory
 in the sanctuary (shechinah) come from the same root.
   The Old Testament sanctuary was a marvelous source of grace and
 blessing and continues to instruct us today. But when the Word
 became flesh, the Old Testament sanctuary was eclipsed by an even
 greater Source of grace and blessing (John 1:16). Jesus is a better rev-
 elation of God than even the sanctuary, because in Jesus, God dwelt
 directly in human flesh, and "we" could behold what was before hid-
 den behind curtains.

    In Jesus' day the two greatest human figures were John the Baptist
 and Moses. John was revered by many as a contemporary prophet,
 Moses as the great deliverer of Israel and giver of the Law.
    But the prologue makes clear that Jesus is no ordinary human
 being. He is greater than the greatest men known to the people of the
 time. He was the best, because He was God made flesh. In His person
 it became possible for human beings to know what God was like. He
 came to reveal a world far beyond the ability of our senses to know
 and comprehend.
    Moses was a man given an incredible revelation of God (Exod.
 33:19-23), and yet, even he was allowed to see God only briefly and
 from the back. In contrast, the Word came to earth as One who had
 been in continual residence "at the Father's side"—the Greek implies
 continual close communion with God.

   Think of the infinite humiliation the incarnation of Christ
   required. How does that rebuke, in the most powerful way,
   human pride and arrogance? In light of the truth about Christ
   and the Incarnation, why are these such horrendous sins?


                                                                       19

      As we saw this week, John uses sanctuary imagery in referring
   to Christ (John 1:14). And though the earthly-sanctuary service
   was ended after Christ's death, what role did the sanctuary have
   that is so important in helping us understand just what Christ
   did for us when He was in the flesh and also what He is doing for
   us now as our High Priest?

      How would you answer someone who rejects the Deity or pre-
   existence of Christ on scientific or logical grounds?

                                                                           6,1 The Difference Jesus Makes by J. H. ZACHARY    Yohana was a farmer living in Rwanda. In the forest near his home live the Twa people, pygmies, who are descendants of the original inhabitants of Rwanda. Today their numbers have dwindled to just a few thousand. These people do not farm, but move from place to place searching for food. When there is not enough food, they steal from the farmers. They earn a small wage making pottery for neighboring tribes.    Yohana learned that there were no Christians among the Twa in his area. He had a burden to reach them for Christ. For days he prayed for these neighbors who live hidden in the dense forests.    One day Yohana met a Twa man. Yohana invited him to church, but the man told him, "I cannot come to church because I do not have clothing." Yohana and another elder gave the man a shirt and trousers, and two weeks later the man appeared in church. The Holy Spirit touched his heart, and he responded to the call to accept Jesus as his personal Savior.    Yohana and a friend visited the new believer in his jungle home. "Why have you come here?" the surprised villagers asked.    Yohana replied, "We have learned that Jesus is coming soon to give peo- ple a new life in a wonderful place in the sky. We want you to come with  us." The loving friendship of Yohana and his friend touched their hearts.  As a result of the testimony of the converted tribesman, 14 Twa visited  Yohana's church the next Sabbath.
The Holy Spirit spoke to these searchers, and they began studying the  Bible with the Adventist men. As they studied God's eternal truths, they  accepted Christ's invitation to "follow Me."
The government moved the Twa to a new location. Yohana helped them  find Adventist believers in their new area, and he continues to visit them  regularly. He is looking forward to their baptism.
The rest of the Twa are seeing the difference that Christ makes in the  lives of the 15 Twa believers. They are changing the way they live. They  no longer steal from the farmers; friendships are replacing former hostil-  ity. The power of the gospel is changing the entire community. Even  Yohana's fellow villagers are amazed at how dramatically this group of  Twa has changed.
Seeing how God has changed him and those for whom he has labored,  Yohana became a literature evangelist, so he can sell gospel literature and  seek for more souls to lead to Christ.

   Something
  Better



  SABBATH AFTERNOON

     n John 1:1-18 we saw that Jesus was the best revelation of God

  I  possible. He was there with God from the beginning (vss. 1, 2). He
     created the whole universe, placed life in it, and keeps it going
  (vss. 3-5). In His flesh He embodied the very glory of God (vs. 14).
  He came to us direct from face-to-face intimacy with God (vs. 18).
    The passages in this week's lesson are a natural extension of the
  prologue to John's Gospel. If Jesus is the best, He is naturally better
  than all substitutes. Thus, it's unfortunate that people have developed
  many substitutes for Jesus. They seek to find life by accumulating an
  abundance of possessions. Others seek life in performance and worldly
  success. Still others seek life in the esteem of the rich, the brilliant, the
  beautiful, or the famous. Many, despairing in the failure of these,
  drown life in drugs, alcohol, and addictive games and habits. Some
  pursue various mystical religions. But no matter which path people
  may choose, Jesus offers something better than what they
  possibly could have apart from Him.

 Living Parables (John 2:1-22).
    At first glance there seems to be little spiritual food in this section
 of the Gospel. There is a simple story about a wedding, during which
 the drink runs out before the end of the feast. Jesus rescues a couple
 and their caterer from embarrassment. Then Jesus drives some ani-
 mals and money changers out of the temple. The stories are well
 known and offer no surprises. There are few "quotable quotes" that
 cry out for memorization. Are these stories a digression from the spir-
 itual theology of the Gospel, or is there something deeper going on?
    Also, an interesting feature of the beloved Gospel is the absence of
 parables (see Friday's section). Because parables were a major basis
 for Jesus' teaching, their absence is remarkable. Instead, under the
 guidance of the Holy Spirit, John took actual events from Jesus' min-
 istry and portrayed them as living parables. Beneath the surface of
 each historical account, the Lord has placed a deeper meaning that
 teaches us something special about Jesus.
    And, as the first miracle in the Gospel, the wedding-of-Cana story
 is the first of these living parables.

    While ancient parallels suggest that Jesus was not speaking disre-
  spectfully to His mother, He clearly differed with her on this occa-
  sion. "There was danger that Mary would regard her relationship to
  Jesus as giving her a special claim upon Him, and the right, in some
  degree, to direct Him in His mission. . . . As Son of the Most High,
  and Saviour of the world, no earthly ties must hold Him from His mis-
  sion, or influence His conduct. He must stand free to do the will of
  God. . . . The claims of God are paramount even to the ties of human
  relationship."—Ellen G. White, The Desire ofAges, p. 147.

   As believers, how do we balance out the commandment to
   honor our parents when it conflicts with our duty to God?

                                                                         23

  From Water to Wine (John 2:1-11). With what activity was the water that Jesus used associated?
  John 2:6.


     An interesting point lies just below the surface of this brief Bible
  study. Changing water into wine symbolized something bigger than a
  mere physical miracle. The water was not just any water; it was water
  set aside by the Jews for ceremonial washings. The wine was not just
  any wine, it was "the best."
     John uses this story as a gentle criticism of a major alternative to
  the faith of Jesus. Religious people of Jesus' day were obsessed with
  washing rituals (see also Matt. 15:1, 2). Washing is good. On a prac-
  tical level, it is sanitary. As a religious expression, it can remind you
  to think about God. Water is necessary for life; without it, we could
  not exist, just as, without God, we could not exist, either.
      But Jesus replaces the water of ceremonial washings with some-
  thing better, the tasty juice of the grape.

  Lev. 17:11

  Col. 1:14

  Heb. 10:19

    The first miracle Jesus does, then, is to turn water into wine, and
  wine is a symbol of His shed blood, the blood that would be poured
  out for the sins of the world, the only means of salvation. Though
  inspiration does not tell us why this was the first miracle recorded,
  perhaps it was because the Lord wanted right away to present the idea
  of Christ's blood. What we see here, then, however faintly, are sym-
  bols and an image of what is to come.

   If someone were to ask you to explain the meaning of Christ's
   shed blood and what it meant to you, what would you say?

  Foretaste of the Cross When Jesus says " 'My time has not yet come' " (John 2:4, NIV), what
  does He mean by "my time"? John 7:30, 8:20.


   The Greek word translated "time" in all these texts is actually the
  word for "hour." "Mine hour is not yet come." This hour, of course,
  was the "hour" of His arrest and crucifixion.

     The glory of Jesus and the "hour" of Jesus point to the same thing
  in the Gospel of John. The hour of His suffering and death is the very
  occasion in which Jesus is glorified. The Cross is the ultimate mani-
  festation of Jesus' self-sacrificing divine character. The Cross is the
  place where the character of God is most clearly revealed. Here we
  see the glory of God in its fullest manifestation.
     The wedding story, therefore, contains a number of indirect refer-
  ences to Jesus' death and resurrection. The wedding took place "on
  the third day," a reference to Jesus' resurrection (see Matt. 16:21;
  Luke 24:7, 21, 46; Acts 10:40; 1 Cor 15:4). Jesus turns water into
  wine, a symbol of His blood (Luke 22:20; 1 Cor 11:25, 26).
  References to both Jesus' "time" and His "glory" are pointers to the
  Cross. And the only two times in the Gospel that Jesus is described as
  speaking to His mother, He calls her "woman": in the wedding story
  here (John 2:4) and later at the cross (John 19:25-27).
     In a special way, therefore, this charming wedding story is a "living
   parable" of the Cross and of the glory of God's character that would
  be manifested there. The sign Jesus performs at the wedding feast of
  Cana is a foretaste of the ultimate sign He performs in submitting to
   suffering and death. In John 2:11 the disciples' response to that sign
   foreshadowed not only their future response to the Cross (John 20:8,
   24-29) but also the response of all who would come to believe in Jesus
   through their word (John 17:20; 20:30, 31).

   How would you explain to a nonbeliever how God's glory was
   revealed by the Cross?

                                                                       25

  Cleansing the Temple (John 2:13-22). Read over the account of Jesus in the temple as expressed by John in
  John 2:13-22. Then answer these questions:

 • When does Jesus go to the temple? What is the meaning of that
 special time? See Exod. 12:24-27.




 • How does Jesus respond to those who challenge His authority
 (John 2:19), and how does that answer fit in with the true mean-
 ing of the Passover service? See 1 Cor. 5:7.




 • Read John 2:21. Why is Christ's body compared to the temple?
 See Exod. 25:8, 9; vss. 17-22; John 1:14.




    The animals being sold in the temple courts were available for sac-
 rifices, making the "marketplace" a genuine and needed service to
 long-distance travelers. The money exchanging was necessary,
 because the temple did business only in a unique temple currency.
    While other sources suggest that there was a lot of deception and
 corruption involved in the temple-court sales, that doesn't seem to be
 the issue here in John. The problem here is that the activity, though
 meeting a legitimate need, was located in a place that should have
 been devoted exclusively to teaching, worship, and prayer.
    Thus, what we see here, in this companion story of the wedding at
 Cana, is the twin theme of "something better," as well as a foretaste of
 the Cross. The temple was good, it was ordained by God; yet, Jesus is
 here offering something even better than the temple: His body. The
 meaning of the Cross transcends all other expressions of religion.

  Think again about the selling of the animals for sacrifice.
  Though itself not bad, it was the context in which it was hap-
  pening that made it bad. In what ways can things in our own
  life, not bad in and of themselves, nevertheless be harmful
  because of the context in which they appear?

 The Meaning of the Cross (John 2:21, 22; Gal.
 6:14).

    In John's account of the cleansing of the temple, he uses the story,
 as he did with the wedding of Cana, as a parable of the Cross. Not
 only is the Cross superior to the waters of religious ritual, it is supe-
 rior even to the temple in Jerusalem, which, outside of Christ Himself
 in the flesh, was the greatest manifestation of true religion.

     In John 2:1-22, we see good things getting in the way of the best. It
  is no different today. Everyone seeks meaning and a sense of value
  out of life, but few seek it in Jesus. Instead, people try to find "life"
  by accumulating things, by performing in ways, including religious
  performance, that bring praise, and by developing relationships with
  admired people.
     Possessions, performance, and people are good things. They are
  part of the spice of life, but they are not life itself. No matter how
  many possessions you may have, they are never enough. And those
  you have rust, rot, break, crash, or become hopelessly scratched up.
  Athletes become broken and frail, beauty queens grow old and wrin-
  kled, and teachers become mindless and forgetful. Loved ones some-
  times leave you, disrespect you, divorce you, and/or die when you are
  least prepared. Life is frightfully insecure if based on such good
  things as possessions, performance, and relationships with other peo-
  ple.
     To those jaded by a desperate search for life, John offers something
  better: the Cross. The Cross tells us there is a God who knows every-
  thing we have ever done yet loves and values us so much that He gave
   His life for us. "At the foot of the cross, remembering that for one sin-
   ner Christ would have laid down His life, you may estimate the value
  of a soul."—Ellen G. White, Christ's Object Lessons, p. 196. "The
   hand that sustains the worlds in space . . . is the hand that was nailed
   to the cross for me."—Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles,
   p. 472. This insight is the source for an incomparable sense of per-
   sonal worth and satisfaction, no matter the circumstances of daily life.

   Though, as Christians, we know these truths, why do we still
   allow ourselves to become caught up in earthly things that can-
   not ultimately satisfy our needs? See Rom. 3:10-20. What is the
   only way out of that trap? See Gal. 6:14.


                                                                         27

                         TARS MASYUK    (left) has recently completed his studies at
                          Zaoksky Theological Seminary in Russia.

  Grace Is
  All-Inclusive



  SABBATH AFTERNOON

           race is all-inclusive. In John, chapters 3 and 4, we encounter

  G       a pair of living parables in the stories about Nicodemus and
          about the Samaritan woman. Jesus encounters two individu-
  als who are as opposite as can be. Differing in race, religion, reputa-
  tion, gender, wealth, location, and behavior, both encounter Jesus
  away from the crowds. Both find the encounter bewildering and life
  changing.
     In these two stories we see a living parable that unfolds the prom-
  ise of John 3:16, perhaps the most beloved text in the Bible. God
  loved the world so much that He gave His beloved Son in order that
  "whosoever" believes might not perish but have eternal life. In
  Nicodemus and in the Samaritan woman, we see the opposite
  extremes of that "whosoever" illustrated. God does not play favorites
  (see Acts 10:34, 35). No matter who you are, no matter what you have
  done, no matter what your pedigree, no matter how others treat you,
  Jesus exhibits a glorious lack of prejudice. He is truly the "Savior of
  the world" (John 4:42, NIV).

 When Miracles Aren't Enough                             (John 2:23-25).

   Words such as faith can be used in more than one way in the Gospel
 of John. Faith can refer to the saving faith in Jesus that the disciples
 gained after He turned the water into wine at Cana (John 2:11). The
 same disciples attained an even deeper and more lasting faith after the
 Cross (vs. 22) and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (John 7:39).
   But there is another type of faith that is in view in John 2:23-25 and
 other places: inadequate or superficial faith that is based upon mira-
 cles but does not result in a saving relationship with Jesus. In John
 2:23-25 Jesus sees right through some followers' profession of faith
 and discerns their real motives.

   People sometimes think that if they could see miracles, they would
 have more faith. But miracles are no cure for superficial faith; they
 even can get in the way of true faith, hindering us from perceiving the
 deeper aspects of a relationship with Jesus.
   Even with all the miracles Jesus had performed throughout His
 ministry, many still refused to accept Him, and many turned away
 when they saw that He wasn't going to do everything they expected
 Him to do. (See John 6:51-66 and Ellen G. White, "The Crisis in
 Galilee," in The Desire of Ages.) What this should tell us is that while
 a personal experience with Jesus is crucial for a saving faith, faith
 needs to go beyond mere experience; it needs to be rooted and
 grounded in a living knowledge of who we are, what our condition is,
 and what Christ has done in order to spare us from the fate that our
 condition would otherwise bring to us.

   Look at your walk with the Lord. On what is it based?
   Miracles, experience, reason, emotion? Is your faith grounded
   in a reality deeper than mere emotions or experience alone?
   Write out a paragraph describing why you believe what you do.




                                                                      31

 He Came by Night (John 3:1-21).
   In the Gospel of John, the narratives become living parables of the
 spiritual realities offered in Jesus. In Nicodemus ("a witness of the
 scene when Jesus drove out the buyers and the sellers"—Ellen G.
 White, The Desire ofAges, p. 168), we see a living example of a per-
 son who, though a highly esteemed religious leader, had inadequate
 faith.

    When Nicodemus says "We know," he represents those in the pre-
 vious passage (John 2:23-25) who saw what Jesus did in the temple
 but came to have inadequate faith as a result. "His [Nicodemus's]
 words were designed to express and to invite confidence; but they
 really expressed unbelief."—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages,
 p. 168.
    The Greek word for "night" in this verse comes in a form that
 emphasizes not so much the dark part of the day as the quality of
 darkness, the darkness in Nicodemus's soul at the time he comes to
 Jesus. He has seen what Jesus did in the temple, but he doesn't per-
 ceive the real truth about Jesus, that He is the Word made flesh.

   This story shows Jesus reading the heart of another human being
 (see John 2:25). Nicodemus cannot hide his spiritual ignorance behind
 the veneer of religiosity, of forms and customs, at least not from Jesus.
   In the Nicodemus story, John continues the themes emphasized in
 chapter 2. Jesus replaces Nicodemus's religious ideas with the truth
 about the new birth, with the Cross as the ground for everything that
 Jesus offers. The kingdom of God is entered not by physical birth but
 by a personal decision that everyone, even a leader of the Jews, such
 as Nicodemus, has to make.

  We might be very religious, faithful in all the forms and tradi-
  tions of our faith, but according to today's study, what is the one
  thing we must have? Ask yourself which category you fall in10. If
  it is not the right one, what must happen for you to be changed?

 The New Birth (John 3:3-8).
   The name Nicodemus means "leader of the people." He was
 undoubtedly a pious man, an example of the best that Judaism could
 offer. As a Pharisee, he took the Scriptures and his faith seriously. He
 no doubt would have made a good neighbor. Jesus' response to this
 good man, this faithful and godly man, is, therefore, somewhat sur-
 prising.

    If Nicodemus had been part of the delegation of Pharisees who
  questioned John the Baptist (John 1:24-28), he would have been
  aware of John's claim that baptism by water heralded the coming of
  the One greater than John—of the Messiah. As good and pious as
  Nicodemus was, he needed a new birth that could come only from the
  Messiah through baptism and the work of the Holy Spirit.
    Water and Spirit are closely related in Jesus' teaching (John 4:10-
  14, 23, 24; 7:37-39). And the concept of being "born from above" is
  related to the ministry of John in John 3:22-36. So Jesus' statement
  here suggests the need for a double baptism, an outward one by water
  and an inward one by the Holy Spirit.

    Though we saw in Sunday's section how experience alone (such as
  witnessing miracles) isn't enough for a saving faith, Christ's words to
  Nicodemus show at the same time just how crucial experience is to
  the Christian. A new birth is, indeed, nothing if not an experience.
  Jesus is telling Nicodemus, and us, that a knowledge of forms, cus-
  toms, even correct doctrine, isn't enough. We must experience, per-
  sonally, His saving power in our lives.

   If someone asks you, Have you been born again? what would
   you answer? And if the answer is Yes, what grounds do you have
   for saying so?




                                                                      33

 She Came by Day (John 4:1-42). Read over the entire account of Jesus with the woman at the well and
 then answer these questions:

 • How does the woman at the well react to Jesus at first? John 4:9,
 11, 12.


 • What makes the woman believe that Jesus is a prophet? John
 4:17-19, 29.


   Put yourself in the place of this woman: Here is this stranger, some-
 one from a rival religion, in fact, who quickly reveals that He knows
 some of her darkest, most personal secrets. No wonder she had a
 change of attitude! Thus, it is not the physical presence of Jesus that
 convinces the woman that He is the Messiah (His physical appearance
 apparently meant nothing to her)—it is His word. Here, again, John
 underlines the theme that Jesus' word is as good as His touch.

    John 4:23, 24 recalls the cleansing of the temple in chapter 2. Jesus
 has come to earth to restore the proper worship of God. A localized
 temple favors one people over another; worship in spirit, however, is
 universal. It is not tied to any geographical place or particular people.
 Jesus brings out that the location of worship is not nearly as important
 as the attitude of the worshiper. It is not so much where we worship as
 whom we worship.
   In the story of the Samaritan woman, John continues the themes of
 chapters 2 and 3. For one thing, Jesus knows all about the Samaritan
 woman. He reads her heart and her history, as He did with Nicodemus.
 This knowledge gives her the confidence to proclaim Him. In return,
 Jesus replaces the worship of the Samaritans with a more adequate
 faith based on Spirit and truth.

  Notice something not explicit in this story: Jesus exposes the
  woman's darkest sins, and yet when she leaves, she tries to get
  others to come to Jesus. Why did she not keep quiet about this
  Man who could do her much harm? What does her attitude
  about Jesus tell us about how Jesus must have treated her,
  despite her sin? What lessons are here for us in how we deal
  with sinners?

 The Attraction of Opposites. As a result of the woman's testimony and of their own encounter
 with Jesus, what do the Samaritans come to believe about Jesus?
 John 4:42. Also, what was it about Jesus that causes them to
 believe?


   " 'Savior of the world' " means that salvation is no longer bound by
 ethnic or geographic considerations. In Jesus all peoples, including
 despised groups such as the Samaritans, can claim the fullness of
 God's favor. For the scorned and rejected, this kind of salvation comes
 as a great and welcome surprise. To those who oppress and exclude,
 this great salvation comes as the shattering of a world in which every-
 one knows his or her "place."

     It is said that in relationships opposites attract. The stories about
  Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman portray these two in stark con-
  trast to each other. Nicodemus is a man, the Samaritan a woman. He
  is a Jew, a Pharisee no less, she a lowly Samaritan. He comes by night;
  she comes at noon. He is rich (John 19:39); she is poor (or she would
  not have been fetching her own water in the heat of the day). He is
  highly educated ("the" teacher of Israel [John 3:10]); she is, as a
  woman in first-century Palestine, probably illiterate. He is pious (a
  Pharisee), she an adulteress. He is highly respected; she is (probably)
  despised and rejected, even by her own Samaritan neighbors. He has
  a great name, known from ancient writings outside the Bible; she is
  anonymous. He lives in the holy city, Jerusalem; she lives in Sychar,
  (which means "drunkenness"). He is open to believe yet slow to
  accept; she is suspicious at first yet quick to embrace Jesus when she
  realizes who He is.
     In these two stories, we see a living parable of John 3:16. God sent
  His Son so that "whoever believes" might have eternal life. In these
   two individuals we see the opposite extremes of that "whoever." No
   matter who you are, your station in life, or your sinful condition, you
   are welcome to receive Him. He is truly the "Savior of the world"
   (John 4:42 NIV). See the quotation in Friday's section.

   Considering what we have studied today, why is racism so offen-
   sive in the sight of God?



                                                                       35

   e To what degree is it possible for Christians today to have the
   kind of discernment of others' thoughts, motivations, and feel-
   ings that Jesus had? If we can't, what should that fact tell us
   about why we need to be very careful not to judge the hearts of
   others?

Tars was tired; he had just one more apartment to visit in the building, but one look at the door and he was tempted to skip it. Then he reminded himself of his promise to visit every apartment.
Tars raised his hand to knock on the aging and broken door. Surely the person living here spends their meager earnings on things other than his or her home, he thought.
A man answered the knock and opened the door. He hesitated before he let Tars come in, saying his apartment was untidy. And it was. Plastic bags filled with empty alcohol bottles littered the floor. Tars decided that the man must collect empty vodka bottles to earn money for his own alcohol.
Tars wondered what he should say to the man. "Do you believe in God?" he asked.
The man answered, "Yes, somewhere in my heart I believe in God, but I do not think there is anything that can help me in my situation."
Tars shared stories of others whose lives God had rescued from drugs, alcohol, and other vices. He assured the man that Christ can change his heart, too. Tars sensed that the man wanted his life to change but was not sure it was possible. Tars showed the man Steps to Christ and told him that of all the books he had, this one was the most powerful and could show him how much God wanted him as His child. The man was interested, and when Tars told him the book was $1, the man began searching for money. He dug into his pockets, into the couch, every place he had ever left money, until he found enough to buy the book.
Tars knew that to buy this book the man would go hungry, but the man wanted the book. "Now I have no money for bread," he said, handing the money to Tars.
"Take out a few rubles for bread, and I will make up the amount myself," Tars answered. The man agreed and began asking many questions about religion. Tars hesitated, then showed him The Great Controversy, and said  it would answer many of his questions.
The man wanted that book too, but had no money. "I know!" he said. "I  will collect enough bottles to buy this book, too!" And he did.
The names of everyone who bought literature or showed an interest in  religion were given to the local church to visit. Great harvests will be  reaped as people turn their hearts to God instead of alcohol.

  The Struggle to
  Be Real



  SABBATH AFTERNOON

      n this lesson we encounter a man whose faith in Jesus is sufficient

   I  to propel him to journey 16 miles uphill in order to find Jesus and
      ask Him to heal his son. If we had observed him, we would have
  called him a man of faith. Yet, Jesus labels the man's faith as the kind
  that's merely seeking after miraculous signs and wonders. Jesus
  exposes his faith as something other than what it seemed to be.
    The human heart is deceptive by nature (Jer 17:9). Even at our best
  we sometimes deceive ourselves and others. But John tells the story
  of One who not only sees past our image building to the true need of
  the soul but helps us to a fuller and deeper knowledge of both self and
  God through His Word.
    In this lesson we will examine a living parable of the One whose
  word is as good as His touch. In the process, we will gain a deeper
  insight into a more authentic Christian faith.

 No Honor at Home (John 4:43-45).
   This passage forms the transition between the story about the
 woman of Samaria and the story about a royal official in Galilee who
 approaches Jesus in behalf of his son. It is a startling passage in
 which, at first glance, two separate assertions seem to contradict each
 other.

    As Jesus approaches Galilee, He is mindful that "a prophet has no
  honor in his own country"; yet, the Galileans welcome Jesus. In the
  original language, the word then occurs at the beginning of verse 45,
  suggesting that verse 45 is somehow the natural result of verse 44, "A
  prophet has no honor in his own country. When Jesus arrived in
  Galilee, therefore, the Galileans welcomed Him!" The welcome of the
  Galileans is somehow "without honor" to Jesus.

     The welcoming response of the Galileans is just like that of the
  Judeans, who showed faith in Jesus because they had seen miracles
  and signs. The Galileans thought they were welcoming Jesus in a pos-
  itive way. But enthusiasm for Jesus that is based on miracles only is
  no honor. The Galileans prove to be a people who are awed by mira-
  cles and spectacular works but who are slow to believe in Jesus'
  words. Their excitement about Jesus is based more on selfishness
  than on faith in who He was.

   In probably all of us, there are some selfish motives in our faith
   (after all, Why do we want salvation, if not to gain something for
   ourselves?). Must our motives always be pure in our walk with
   the Lord? Can the Lord still work with those whose motives
   might not be exactly what they should be?



                                                                      39

  It Is Hard to Be Real (John 4:46-49).
    As is so often the case in John's Gospel, this new story functions as
  an acted parable, demonstrating the truth of the earlier statement. The
  problematic, Galilean welcome of Jesus (John 4:43-45) is illustrated
  with a story about a royal official who believes in Jesus yet struggles
  in his expression of that faith.

    Jesus and the royal official had probably spent some time as
  neighbors in a very small town (Capernaum was little more than one
  hundred meters across). The man's combination of faith and doubts
  well illustrates a prophet's difficulty in finding honor at home.

     Jesus' initial response indicates that the man, like Nicodemus
  before him, was an example of inadequate faith. It seems that the
  Galileans on the whole welcomed Jesus outwardly but did not really
  believe in Him (John 4:43-45). The miracles Jesus performed actually
  may have become stumbling blocks to the people on their way to a
  true appreciation of Jesus.
     A Galilean himself, the royal official is confronted by the reality of
  his partial, inadequate faith. He is not relying on the word of Jesus but
  requires physical evidence before he would believe. He is startled to
  discover that he could not hide his unbelief from Jesus (remember the
  theme of John 2:23-25: Jesus knows!). Realizing that he might lose
  all on account of unbelief, he finally throws himself at the feet of
  Jesus in desperation.

   What are some helpful ways of dealing with doubt? Is doubt
   always a negative thing, or can it sometimes play a positive role
   in a Christian's experience? Why?

  The Path to Faith (John 4:50-54). What does Jesus say in response to the man's second and more des-
 perate request, and how does the royal official react? John 4:50.


    "The nobleman left the Saviour's presence with a peace and joy he
  had never known before. Not only did he believe that his son would
  be restored, but with strong confidence he trusted in Christ as the
  Redeemer."—Ellen G. White, The Desire ofAges, pp. 198, 199.
     The shocking word that Jesus speaks to the man is that He does not
  need to travel to Capernaum; Jesus can heal at a great distance. This
  is a living parable of the Gospel's message to the second generation
  of Christians that Jesus' word is as good as His touch. He does not
  need to be present physically to meet any need.
     The second statement of Jesus is the final piece that brings faith to
  the royal official. He grasps the word of Christ, and he believes. But
  belief brings with it a test. Would he act on that newfound faith?
  Would he head home believing that his son will live, or would he con-
  tinue to beg Jesus to come to his home and heal his son with a touch?
  His actions demonstrate his newfound faith.

     It was about one o'clock in the afternoon when the royal official
  encountered Jesus. If he had hurried downhill (Cana is some six hun-
  dred meters higher than Capernaum, twenty-five kilometers away), he
  could have made it back to Capernaum that night (see Ellen G. White,
  The Desire ofAges, p. 199). One would think that he would have hur-
  ried home to find out whether his son were, in fact, healed. Instead,
  the fact that the servants were sent out to look for him the day after he
  met Jesus indicates that he took his time heading home, stopping
  somewhere for the night. The man not only headed home at Jesus'
  command; he did so in a manner that indicated he had fully accepted
  Jesus' word. The evidence of faith is action. If the only reason to
  hurry was worry about his son, his deliberate journey was the living
  expression of his confidence in Jesus' word.

   Though we are not saved by works, how do works manifest and
   express our faith? In your own experience, how have works
   strengthened your faith in the Lord? What is it about good
   works that strengthens faith? Also, in your experience, how do
   sinful works weaken faith and add to doubt?


                                                                        41

 The Solution to Life's Problems                               (Rom.
 10:17, Hebrews 11).

    Faith came to the royal official by hearing Jesus' word from His
 own mouth. For the second generation of Christians, faith comes when
 the word of Christ is grasped in written form or in the oral presenta-
 tions of those who bring that Written Word to us.
    Under the surface of the story in John 4 lies the divine solution to
 life's problems. The story begins with a point of need. The royal offi-
 cial's son lay dying. When the official heard that Jesus was accessible,
 he did not linger at home hoping that something good might happen;
 he brought his problem directly to Jesus. He assumed that if Jesus
 accompanied him back to Capernaum, His touch would banish the ill-
 ness that threatened the life of his son.
    Instead, Jesus speaks the shocking word that He does not need to
 travel to Capernaum; He can heal at a great distance. His word is as
 good as His touch. The man not only takes Jesus at His word; his
 actions from that time on are a bodily demonstration of his faith in
 Jesus' word.

    How can we apply this faith lesson to our problems today? Four
 steps seem to emerge: (1) Acknowledge the problem. This is not as
 simple as it sounds but will be discussed further in the next day's
 study. (2) Take your problem to Jesus in prayer. (3) Receive the word
 that your need has been met. The words of Jesus to us are found in the
 Bible. If we want to hear those words, we need to know the Word. That
 is why continual Bible study is important. (4) Speak and act out God's
 answer. It is not enough simply to hear the Word. The Word becomes
 real to us when we act on it and when we tell others about our faith.
 Genuine belief results in corresponding action.
    But what if we are like the royal official? What if our belief is mixed
 with unbelief? What if we have doubts? This story suggests that the
 doubts need to be confronted with words of faith and action. Take God
 at His word. Do what the Bible says, and faith will come.

  Why is the actual practice and exercise of faith so important for
  maintaining faith?

  Steps to Authenticity What is the natural condition of the human heart? Jer. 17:9. What is
  Laodicea's fundamental problem? Rev. 3:17. How do these two
  factors work together against us?


     "Like a flash of light, the Saviour's words to the nobleman laid bare
  his heart. He saw that his motives in seeking Jesus were selfish. His
  vacillating faith appeared to him in its true character."—Ellen G.
  White, The Desire of Ages, p. 198.
     The royal official did not know the depths of his unbelief until con-
  fronted directly by Jesus. We, too, are often unaware of our sinfulness
  and unbelief. We are like Laodicea, the church in Revelation whose
  self-concept is not confirmed by reality (Rev 3:17). How can you
  bring a problem to Jesus when your heart is deceiving you, when you
  do not even know that you have a problem?
     The most effective path to true authenticity before God is a devo-
  tional encounter with Him.
     1. Through Bible study we discover that God works with real people
  who make mistakes, such as David and Peter and Nicodemus. We do
  not have to be afraid to confess sins and problems to Him; He already
  knows them. And we find out that He does not give up on people who
  make mistakes. So, we gain the courage to get real with God.
      2. Through prayer we seek to be real with God. God prefers that we
  be totally honest with Him in prayer. Jesus certainly was. "Why have
  You forsaken Me?" If Jesus could be that honest with God, it cannot
  be a sin for us! The Lord wants to hear our deepest needs, our deep-
  est feelings, yes—even our anger.
      3. Through journaling (a spiritual diary) we can bring both our
  Bible study and our prayers into sharp focus. The writing process
  draws out depths of self-understanding that often go untapped with-
   out it. The writing process can help us develop a deeper understand-
   ing of our need for God in specific areas of life.
      4. Accountability to others can enhance our accountability to God.
   Authentic Christians usually can point to specific people who under-
   stand and love them yet can share frankly regarding the quality of
   their behavior.
      Through exercises such as the ones above, we can gain a more
   accurate awareness of the barriers we set up against God in our lives.

   If we know our own hearts are corrupt, if we know our own
   motives are not pure, if we know we are sinners to the core, why
   must we place our whole hope only in what Christ did for us at
   the Cross? See Rom. 5:8, Col. 1:14, 1 Tim. 1:15, 2:6.


                                                                       43

  0 How does the attitude of the Galileans toward Christ compare
  with that of the Samaritans in the same chapter? What lessons
  should that comparison have for us?

  0 If faith is a gift from God (Eph. 2:8), why is the exercise of
  faith so important? Why does the Lord not just keep renewing
  the gift, regardless of what we do?

                             ANNA BONDORETZ (left). J. H. ZACHARY is coordinator
                             of international evangelism for The Quiet Hour.

  Putting the Past Behind You




  SABBATH AFTERNOON

          ew life in Christ includes "putting the past behind you." In

  N       John 5 we read a story about a man who had sunk as low as a
          human being could go and still be alive. Paralyzed in body,
  sin-stricken in mind and heart, he doesn't even appeal to Jesus for
  healing. Jesus chooses to make the man a Sabbath-day example of His
  awesome power to bring life to those as good as dead. Not only does
  He restore the man physically, He challenges the man to cooperate in
  extending that healing to his whole person.
     When confronted by the religious leaders regarding His "desecra-
  tion" of the Sabbath, Jesus reveals the Godlike nature of His action.
  In healing the man at the pool on the Sabbath, Jesus offers stunning
  testimony with regard to His divine origin and mission. He is more
  than just a man, more than even a Messiah; He is the creative Life-
  Giver Himself. So, the story of the healing at the Pool of Bethesda
  becomes another living parable of the divine Creator who became
  flesh and dwelt among us.

  The Pool of Bethesda (John 5:1-4).

     The name Bethesda may be interpreted as "House of Mercy," so
  Jesus shows mercy at the place where people looked for mercy. The
  Pool of Bethesda was located just north of the temple complex. The
  pool was fed by an intermittent stream, which may explain the trou-
  bling of the waters from time to time.

    Your answer to this question may depend on the version of the Bible
  you use. In English, many older translations, such as the King James
  Version, state that an angel of the Lord stirred up the healing waters,
  but the more ancient biblical manuscripts leave out that element of the
  story (hence, no verse 4 in many translations). Although Ellen White
  generally used the King James Bible, she apparently rejected the
  implication that angels were involved in the troubling of the waters.
    "At certain seasons the waters of this pool were agitated, and it was
  commonly believed that this was the result of supernatural power, and
  that whoever first after the troubling of the pool stepped into the
  waters, would be healed of whatever disease he had."—Ellen G.
  White, The Desire of Ages, p. 201 (emphasis supplied). If the tradi-
  tional reading were to prove correct, it certainly would be a strange
  thing for God to arrange a healing mechanism in which the least sick
  are favored over the truly needy. In direct contrast, Jesus enters a
  place of merciless mercy and picks out the least-likely candidate to
  achieve healing along the lines of the popular tradition.

   All around us we see vast multitudes similar to those at the Pool
   of Bethesda, sick, damaged, hurt by the warfare of life, and
   waiting in vain for help from sources that really cannot give it.
   As Christians, what is the one thing that we, perhaps just as
   damaged, have been given that they need, as well? See Rom.
   8:24, Col. 1:5, Titus 2:13.



                                                                      47

 Healing the Paralytic (John 5:5-15). Review the story of Jesus healing the paralytic, as presented in
 John 5:5-15. Summarize the essence of what happened, dwelling
 specifically on what this story tells us about the character of God.




    Several aspects of this story cry out for attention. First of all, Jesus
 healed the man arbitrarily. He picked one man out of a whole crowd
 of people—a man who had not sought Jesus out, a man who did not
 even know Him, a man who expressed no faith in Him before being
 healed. His only claim to Jesus' attention may have been that he was
 the most pitiful of all the cases present.
    How typical of God to act this way! To act in this way at decisive
 points in our lives, God's hand often is felt in ways we have not asked
 for and do not deserve. God does things such as this, not to excuse sin
 but so we can experience His grace, which reminds us of our total
 dependence on Him.
    A second startling aspect to the story is that Jesus chose to heal the
 man on the Sabbath. The rabbis allowed for special acts on the
 Sabbath in emergencies, but this was no emergency. After all, the man
 had been crippled for 38 years; surely a day's delay for the sake of the
 Sabbath would not have made a major difference. Jesus was deliber-
 ately making a point here. " 'It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath,' "
 Jesus had said in Matthew 12:12 (NIV). What was said there is acted
 here. "The Sabbath is not intended to be a period of useless inactiv-
 ity. . . . The work of Christ in healing the sick was in perfect accord
 with the law."—Ellen G. White, The Desire ofAges, p. 207.
    The story in John 5 became a living parable illustrating the truth of
 John 5:21: " 'The Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it' "
 (NIV). Jesus can give life to anyone He wishes, because there are no
 limits to His life-giving power.

  After healing the paralytic, Jesus tells him not just to arise and
  walk but to take up his bed, as well, knowing that this action
  would arouse the indignation of the religious leaders. What do
  you think Christ's motives were in that command, and what
  message could that have for us, we who take the Sabbath com-
  mand seriously?

 Dealing With Sin and Its Consequences
 (John 5:14).

    When Jesus tells the man to "stop sinning" (N/I9, He implies, first
 of all, that the man's illness was caused by sin in some sense.
 Continued sin might result in a relapse of the paralysis.
    There is, however, an even deeper element here. The form of the
 word translated "sinning" is extremely continuous. Jesus commands
 the man to stop something that he had been doing continuously, right
 up to the time of this encounter in the temple. This implies that the
 man had somehow been continuing in sin, even in a paralyzed state.
 What kind of sin was Jesus talking about? A paralyzed man cannot
 rob banks, commit adultery, or kill anyone. Jesus must have been
 referring to sin of the mind—his thoughts, his attitudes, his imagina-
 tion.

     But while the healing of the man's body was totally an act of grace
  on Jesus' part, there was a part for him to play in his recovery, as well.
  Sin not only separates us from God; it produces ongoing conse-
  quences that eventually destroy the quality of all aspects of a person's
  life.
     The consequences of sin include not only physical injuries and dis-
  ease; there are emotional, spiritual, and psychological effects, as well.
  All these can and should be addressed by a relationship with Jesus.
  All other things being equal, a genuine walk with Jesus brightens the
  facial expressions, soothes the emotions, warms the heart, and brings
  renewed energy to the body. This is why Seventh-day Adventist
  Christianity is so concerned with things such as diet, exercise, and
  attitude. Genuine faith involves every part of life—mental, physical,
  and emotional—as well as spiritual.
     Nevertheless, most Christians readily acknowledge that their inner
  lives, particularly the emotional aspect, can be quite unstable even
  after conversion. This passage tells us we have an active role to play
  in cooperating with Jesus in our recovery from sin and its effects on
  our life.

                                                                         49

 Jesus, the Life-Giver (John 5:16-30). How does Jesus justify His act of healing on the Sabbath? John 5:16-
 18.


    In response to the persecution He experienced, Jesus says He is sim-
 ply following the example of His Father, who is "always" at work on
 the Sabbath. God's action provides the model for human activity on
 the Sabbath.
    Jewish writers of the time recognized that God's work on the
 Sabbath could be detected in births, deaths, sunshine, rain, and the
 continued flowing of rivers (see William Barclay, The Gospel of John
 [Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1975], vol. 1, p. 183). The Jews,
 therefore, recognized that Jesus was claiming the same privileges on
 the Sabbath that God has claimed. By healing on the Sabbath, Jesus
 was claiming equality with God.
   "Should God forbid the sun to perform its office upon the Sab-
 bath? . . . Must the wheat and corn stop growing, and the ripening
 cluster defer its purple bloom? . . . In such a case, men would miss the
 fruits of the earth, and the blessings that make life desirable. . . . He
 will not be held guiltless who neglects to relieve suffering on the
 Sabbath. God's holy rest day was made for man, and acts of mercy are
 in perfect harmony with its intent. God does not desire His creatures
 to suffer an hour's pain that may be relieved upon the Sabbath or any
 other day."—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, pp. 206, 207.

    In John 5:19-30 Jesus demonstrates that He is doing the same work
 as His Father, the work of giving life (vss. 20, 21, 26, 28, 29) and the
 work of judging (vss. 22, 27, 30). By doing what His Father says on
 this earth, He not only shows that the Father is life but demonstrates
 the truth of His own claim to divinity (vss. 19-23). He does not leave
 anyone the option of believing in the Father while ignoring His claims
 about Himself (vs. 23).

  Here is Jesus, who performs an incredible miracle; however, so
  caught up in their own religious forms and customs, the leaders
  focus, instead, on the "minor" things, missing the bigger pic-
  ture. In what ways could we be focusing on "minors" while
  missing the important principle unfolding before our eyes?

  The Greatest Witnesses to Jesus (John 5:31-47).
    In yesterday's study, we saw that Jesus made some powerful claims
  about Himself, claims that would ring false in the mouth of every
  other human being who ever lived. Jesus, obviously, saw the need to
  justify the kind of testimony He gave about Himself.

    Jesus acknowledges that uncorroborated testimony about oneself is
  inadequate (5:31). One of the fundamental principles of Judaism is
  that truth can be established only in the mouths of at least two wit-
  nesses (Deut. 19:15; see also Rev. 11:3-13). So, Jesus adds to His
  own testimony the testimony of John the Baptist, His works, His
  Father, and the Scriptures, thereby doubling the minimum testimony
  needed to establish truthfulness within Judaism (John 5:31-40).

     When it is clear the religious leaders are not willing to accept the
  testimony of these witnesses (vss. 43, 44; see also 8:13, 14), Jesus
  calls forth the ultimate witness within Judaism, Moses. Moses had
  served as an intercessor with God in behalf of Israel (Exod. 32:7-14).
  But in the mouth of Jesus, Moses is transformed into a judge (John
  5:45-47). The words of Moses will condemn those who reject Jesus,
  because Moses wrote about Jesus and prepared the way for Him. Jesus
  closes with the parting shot, " 'Since you do not believe what [Moses]
  wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?' " (vs. 47, NIV).
     With this encounter, the battle is joined between Jesus and some of
  the leaders of Israel, a battle that continues in the Gospel until Jesus
  is arrested, suffers, and dies on the cross. In the hostility of these peo-
  ple, John portrays the hostility of all who reject the gospel, regardless
  of their background.

   How is your perception of Jesus shaped by the attitudes of
   believers whom you know and admire? How would your life be
   different if you did not know these people? And what about the
   people who admire and look up to you? How do your attitudes
   toward the Lord impact their lives?




                                                                          51

  ef Forgiveness is a major component in dealing with sin and its
  consequences. Why, then, do most people find it so hard to for-
  give?

  O The paralytic evidently suffered as a consequence of his own
  sinful actions. What do you think Jesus would have told the vic-
  tim of rape or of abuse? What would He say to one who causes
  others to suffer?

  0 Jesus violated human-made rules about Sabbath keeping to
  heal a man. To what degree are your personal rules for living
  God-made or man-made? How can you know the difference?

                           MARTIAL RAKOTONIAINA    (left) is a farmer and lay
                           worker in Madagascar.

                  • From Asia to the Americas, the South
                    Pacific to Europe and Africa, church
                    members are joining hands to distribute
                    1,000 million Bible study invitations.

                  • One billion small brochures. One billion
                   opportunities to spark questions about the
                   big issues in life. One billion people pointed
                     to the one big answer—Jesus Christ.

                       • You're invited to take up the Sow
                           1 Billion challenge, through
                            distributing Bible study
                             invitations, and being a part of a
                             local church Bible study ministry.

                           • Contact your local conference for
                             more information on how you can
                             participate in Sow 1 Billion.

         MISSI N
          The Thirteenth Sabbath Offering on March 27
        supports projects in the Trans-European Division.




                                                             The Avokaya have
                                                               been difficult to
                                                            evangelize, but now
                                                            they have the bible
                                                                   in their own
                                                                      language.

  The Sacred and the
  Common


  SABBATH AFTERNOON

         hroughout John, chapter 6, the people relate to Jesus on a ma-

  T      terial level. They are not searching for spiritual food; rather,
         they want their physical needs satisfied. They want to see more
  miracles such as the feeding of the 5,000. In spite of that awesome
  event, when the people looked at Jesus, they saw a common every-
  day human being like themselves, not Someone who came down
  from heaven. They were unable to see the sacred shining through the
  common.
    In chapter 6, Jesus tries to direct their eyes away from the common
  toward spiritual things, the food that endures to eternal life. Life is not
  found in miracles and in the things of this world. Life is found by
  accepting the claims Jesus makes about Himself. One of the secrets
  of the devotional life is to learn how to see the presence and the power
  of Jesus working in the common things of everyday life, to sense that
  He is there with us, even though we cannot see, hear, or touch Him.

  The Miracle of the Fish and Loaves
  (John 6:1-13).

    Notice, too, the timing of this account: It took place around the time
  of Passover (John 6:4), when the Lord worked a mighty deliverance for
  His people. Though the feeding of the 5,000 certainly was not as dra-
  matic as the Exodus from Egypt, it was still a powerful manifestation
  of God's power in behalf of His people, even in their spiritual igno-
  rance. John makes it clear that many of those who had followed Christ
  did so only because of the miracles they already had seen (vs. 2) and
  not because of any deep, spiritual conviction that this Man was the
  Messiah or that He could bring them spiritual freedom.
     Nevertheless, the Lord still worked in their behalf. In other words,
  though He knew their hearts were still not right, He ministered to
  them anyway. How grateful we can be that our God is like that. What
  does that tell us about how we should act toward those who aren't
  where they should be spiritually?

   Though Jesus ministers here to their physical needs, is that an
   end in itself or a means to an end? After all, a few hours later, all
   those people would be hungry again. What is Jesus doing with
   that miracle? In what ways are we called to do the same thing?




                                                                       57

 Miracle at Sea              (John 6:16-21).

   It is interesting that Christ would perform such a powerful miracle,
 especially after what just happened on the mountain with the multi-
 tude, who did not respond in a positive manner to the miracle He had
 performed there. (Read John 6:14, 15: They wanted to make Him a
 king, by force; Christ did not come to allow Himself to be set up as
 King. Their reaction caused Him to leave the area.)

    In the story of the disciples on the sea (John 6:16-21), Jesus accom-
 plishes a deed similar to those done by the God of the Exodus (see
 Exod. 14:20-22). To people schooled in the Old Testament, therefore,
 Jesus' ability to walk on water and to control wind and wave was a
 powerful affirmation of His divinity, something the disciples needed
 after their disappointment with Christ's refusal to be made king.
   In The Desire of Ages, Ellen White writes that the disciples are
 eager for Christ to be crowned the Davidic King, and when He for-
 bids it, they become upset. "The disciples had long hoped for a pop-
 ular movement to place Jesus on the throne; they could not endure the
 thought that all this enthusiasm should come to nothing. . . .
   "Unbelief was taking possession of their minds and hearts. Love of
 honor had blinded them. They knew that Jesus was hated by the
 Pharisees, and they were eager to see Him exalted as they thought He
 should be."—Pages 379, 380.

  By performing the miracle of walking on the water, Jesus
  strengthens the faith of His disciples. But do we always need
  miracles to have our faith strengthened? What are some things
  that have happened in your life that have helped your faith
  grow yet would not necessarily be called "miracles"?

 Bread From Heaven (John 6:22-35).
   After that stormy night (John 6:16-21), the crowd crosses the lake
 and finds Jesus in the synagogue of Capernaum, where all the preach-
 ing and the dialogue of the rest of the chapter take place.

   A consistent theme in the background of John 6 is the Exodus from
 Egypt. The feeding of the 5,000 recalls the original Passover when the
 Israelites escaped from the immediate grasp of the Egyptians. Then
 the storm episode (vss. 16-21) recalls the perils the Israelites faced at
 the Red Sea. Now comes a reference to God's guiding of their expe-
 rience in the desert of Sinai. As with the Israelites in the desert, the
 hearers of Jesus react to miracles they can see or touch, but their faith
 remains inadequate. Jesus directs their attention away from the manna
 the Israelites received in the desert to the spiritual bread He has come
 to offer them.

     The clear implication of the sermon is that seeing Jesus and believ-
  ing in Him is what produces real life in the spiritual sense now and in
  the fullest sense " 'at the last thy' " (vs. 40; 5:21). Just as food con-
  stantly must be eaten in order to sustain physical life, so it is necessary
  to invite Jesus into our daily experience in order to sustain spiritual life.
  "Believing" in the Gospel of John (see also John 1:12, 6:47) always has
  a continuous sense. It must be an ongoing and daily experience.

   Read in verse 35 of John 6 where Jesus says that those who
   come to Him and who believe in Him will never hunger nor
   thirst. How have these promises been manifested in your life? If
   they have not, then you need to ask yourself, How can I come to
   Jesus and believe in Him?

                                                                            59

  Talking to Deaf Ears (John 6:36-50). Why do many people in the following text have a hard time accepting
 Jesus' claims? John 6:41, 42. How do the words of the people here
 reflect the words of Nicodemus in John 3:4?

    Throughout this chapter the crowds relate to Jesus on a material and
 physical level. They want to see more miracles such as the feeding of
 the 5,000. When Jesus refuses to accommodate them, they all too
 quickly conclude that Jesus is a common everyday human being like
 themselves, not Someone who came down from heaven. The common
 keeps them from seeing the sacred. The very physical presence of
 Jesus becomes a stumbling block to them.
    Like the second generation of Christians, we think that we would be
 better off knowing Jesus in the flesh instead of struggling to have a
 relationship with Someone we can't see, hear, or touch. But the phys-
 ical presence of Jesus caused the first generation not to take Him as
 seriously as they certainly should have.
    Who really was Jesus? He was much more than just a good man
 who grew up in Nazareth with Joseph and Mary. But what kind of
 man would claim to be the Son of God who came down from heaven?
 To make such a claim, he would have to be either crazy, a deceiver (in
 neither case would people designate him a "good man"), or exactly
 what he claims to be. There is no middle ground; we must either
 accept Him and all that He stands for or reject Him as insane, or even
 worse, the perpetrator of the greatest scam of all time. The foolishness
 of the people in this story is that they insist on seeing Jesus as just a
 good man. This is not really an option as far as Jesus is concerned.
    It is crucial, therefore, that people recognize exactly who Jesus is.
 He brings from heaven a revelation of God and about God that is of
 life-and-death importance to the human race. To partake of Jesus as
 bread, flesh, and blood is a graphic way of expressing that only through
 an intimate relationship with Jesus—as close as food that has been
 eaten is to the body—can one gain the eternal life that He promises.


  In what ways might we be in danger of doing the same thing
  as the crowds in John 6; that is, not distinguishing the sacred
  from the common? For example, do our attitudes toward the
  church, its leaders, or our message reflect this same spiritual
  principle?

 The Sacred and the Common                              (John 6:51-71).

     Time and again in the Gospel of John symbols are drawn from
  everyday experiences, symbols such as bread, water, and light. These
  symbols help us to connect Jesus' words with things in the context of
  our everyday lives. No matter how ordinary our lives may be, our rela-
  tionship with Jesus will deepen and grow as we learn to remember
  Him in the course of everything we do. As the Bread of Life, Jesus
  brings us a foretaste of eternal life, which makes physical food and
  drink seem insignificant by comparison.
     As the body craves food and drink and sunlight, so the soul craves
  the presence of Jesus (whether or not one is aware of that), and if
  Jesus is not allowed to be present, human beings will go to all kinds
  of ridiculous lengths to fill the gap with something else.

     When we sit down at a table to eat, we can remember that rain, life,
  and sunshine, and the food production that they make possible, would
  all have ceased with sin were it not for the Cross of Jesus. When we
  lift up a glass to drink, we can remember the Water of Life. When we
  get dressed in the morning, we can think about the robe of Christ's
  righteousness. One of the keys to a living relationship with Jesus is
  recognizing His sacred touch at work in common things, to make all
  the ordinary events of our lives reminders of the words and actions of
  Jesus.

   Read again the text for today. Time and again Jesus talks about
   life and living. What, ultimately, has Jesus promised those who
   eat His flesh and drink His blood, and why is this promise so
   important to us?

                                                                      61

   e Why was Jesus' teaching in John 6 so hard for the listeners to
   accept? Could it be because they had preconceptions about what
   they expected from a divine Deliverer? If so, what does that tell
   us about the danger, as Christians, of having certain ideas about
   what God should or should not do? What happens when those
   expectations are not met?

  The Good                   Shepherd



  SABBATH AFTERNOON

           ur life springs from His death. At the direction of His Father,

  0        Jesus belatedly attends the Feast of Tabernacles at the temple
           in Jerusalem. He comes as the living Presence of the great I
  AM. He offers Himself as the embodiment of the water and light that
  the feast celebrated (John 7:37-39, 8:12, 9:5), but He is largely
  rejected by those in attendance. Having failed to make a positive
  impact at the heart of the religious system, He reaches out to a blind
  man, an outcast of that system, and creates a living parable of the
  Good Shepherd, who cares for even the outcasts. In reaching out to
  the blind man, Jesus "showed the contrast between His own character
  and that of the leaders in Israel."—Ellen G. White, The Desire of
  Ages, p. 477.
     As the Good Shepherd, Jesus offers life to those who have strug-
  gled to find it elsewhere. He promises that His sheep will " 'know his
  voice' " (John 10:4, NIV). Those who commit everything to Jesus
  receive the privilege of a deep and intimate relationship with Him. He
  is the caring Friend who will never leave us nor forsake us. He will
  guide us in our thoughts and impressions. And He will provide life to
  the full, an abundance of meaning, joy, and fulfillment.

 The Feast of Tabernacles                        (John 7 and 8).

    In John 7-10 Jesus participates in the Feast of Tabernacles at the
 temple in Jerusalem. His presence at the feast draws Him into
 repeated confrontations with the religious leadership. These con-
 frontations are recorded in the Gospel of John, because they offer the
 opportunity for Jesus to clarify His mission.
    In Palestine there are two basic seasons of the year, an extremely
 dry summer of four to five months (virtually no rain) and a rainy sea-
 son of equal length spanning the winter. The Feast of Tabernacles
 comes at that time of year when the summer drought is usually end-
 ing (our months of September and October). The winter grains are
 planted and the harvest of summer fruits is celebrated.
    The Feast of Tabernacles commemorated the Exodus and the time
 of Israel's wandering in the wilderness (Lev. 23:43), when God pro-
 vided Israel with water and light (Exod. 13:21, 22; 17:1-7). So two
 major themes of the feast were water (a water ceremony was a major
 feature of each day's festivities) and light (torchlight processions at
 night). People lived outside in temporary structures, tents made from
 palm branches, reminding them of God's watchcare in the wilderness.
 They were to remember that just as God provided water, light, and
  food to Israel in the wilderness, so He can provide for the needs of the
  present, as well.

    By His announcements at the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus made it
  clear that He is what the feast was all about. The mighty acts of God
  celebrated at the Feast of Tabernacles become present realities in the
  Person and teachings of Jesus. God is willing to do so much more for
  us than merely provide food, water, and natural light. In Christ the
  mighty power of the Exodus becomes real in our lives through the
  divine presence of the Holy Spirit. More than this, Spirit-filled
  Christians are enabled to pass the Spirit on to others.

   Christ made statements concerning Himself (John 7:37-39 and
   8:12). If someone asked you what it means to do the things
   Jesus said here, what would you answer? How have you experi-
   enced these statements and promises in your own life? How has
   your life been changed by them?
                                                                       65

 The Great "I AM" (John 8:24, 28, 58).
   In John 7 and 8 Jesus engages in a number of debates with His
 brothers, with the religious leadership, and with various segments of
 the crowd. One of the major features of this section is the presence of
 a number of special "I AM" statements on the part of Jesus.

    The words " 'the one I claim to be' " in the NIV represent a help-
 ful interpretation supplied by the translators; the original simply says
 "I AM."
    In the Old Testament, "I AM" statements are applied to God. In the
 Gospel of John, Jesus applies the "I AM" statements of the Old
 Testament to Himself. The future salvation that was promised in the
 books of the Old Testament prophets has become a present reality in
 Him. He is the Good Shepherd revealed in Ezekiel 34 (John 10:11).
 He is the divine One (John 8:24, 28, 58) who knows the future (Isa.
 46:9, 10; John 13:19).
    In Jesus' "I AM" statements we see an assertion of His divinity. He
 is the Yahweh of the Old Testament, come down to shepherd His peo-
 ple just as He promised through the prophets. He is fully and truly
 God in the highest sense, even while walking on earth clothed in
 human flesh. He has preexisted throughout eternity (John 8:58).
    In Christ's "I AM" statements is the assertion that the future has
 become present in Christ. He can deliver the promised glories of the
 Old Testament future kingdom to those who believe in Him now. To
 be in relationship with Jesus is to have the abundance of the future
 kingdom now by faith. In a real sense, we are already living in heav-
 enly places in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:6). In Old Testament times God
 did mighty things on earth from time to time. But on account of the
 Cross and through the work of the Spirit, God's mighty acts are now
 available everywhere to everyone who is in Christ.

  Look up each of the following texts. What are they telling us
  about Christ? Isa. 9:6; Mic. 5:2; John 3:13, 31, 32; Col. 1:16.
  What does this truth mean to us? What does it tell us about our
  God?

 An Amusing Blind Man                          (John 9:1-41).

    John 9:1 through 10:21 continues John's description of events dur-
 ing Jesus' visit to the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem. Jesus heals a
 blind man and then uses the experience as a living parable to illustrate
 His life and teachings.

     By healing the man, Jesus offered a living parable to illustrate His
  earlier statement, " 'I am the light of the world' " (John 8:12, NIV;
  9:5). As the Light of the world, Jesus brings physical sight to a man
  who was born blind. But there is a deeper meaning behind this story.
     The healing creates a serious dilemma for the Pharisees. On the one
  hand, the healing points to the work of a man approved by God. But
  by a nonemergency healing on the Sabbath, Jesus appears to be act-
  ing like a false prophet (Deut. 13:1-5). The humor of the story lies in
  its biting irony. The man who was blind sees more and more clearly
  that Jesus represents the true God of Israel. On the other hand, the
  Pharisees, who see clearly in the physical sense, and who are sup-
  posed to be the guardians of the faith of Israel, become more and
  more blinded to the truth about Jesus.

    The Pharisees' rejection of the healing symbolizes their rejection of
  the truth about God, which Jesus brought into the world. Their rejection
  was rooted in their willful blindness with regard to the claims of Jesus.

   Even today, few people reject Jesus out of a lack of evidence.
   Usually they reject Him out of an unwillingness to let Him
   "tamper" with their lifestyle. It is easy to find excuses not to
   believe when we are protecting some cherished sin or attitude
   (John 3:20, 21). The root reality of the unbeliever is unconfessed
   and unforsaken sin. These things "blind" one to the truths
   about Jesus. How do you help someone who seems to be in this
   spiritual trap?


                                                                       67

  Jesus, the Good Shepherd                          (John 10:1-21).

    Verses 35-41 of chapter 9 set the stage for the Good Shepherd dis-
  course of John 10. Jesus cares for the outcasts. When the leaders of a
  religious system cast people out on the basis of the leaders' enmity for
  Jesus, they demonstrate their own blindness (John 9:39-41) and give
  Jesus the opportunity to collect these outcasts for Himself.
    John 10:1-21 is made up of two parts. First, there is the story of
  shepherds and their sheep (vss. 1-5), the closest thing to a parable in
  the Gospel of John. Then, Jesus reflects on the meaning of the story
  in verses 7-21.

     Sheep pens in ancient Palestine were usually natural caves. The
  sheep would be led into the cave in the evening, and the shepherd
  would take his position at the entrance to the cave and sleep there. Any
  robber or wild animal that physically sought access to the sheep
  would have to get past the shepherd to do it. Where caves were not
  available, a fieldstone enclosure would be built with an opening at one
  end just big enough for the shepherd to block with his body as he
  slept. So, when Jesus described Himself as the Good Shepherd and as
  the gate for the sheep, listeners would have recognized that these con-
  cepts were two different ways of describing the same activity.
     When Jesus describes Himself as the Gate through which the sheep
  must pass in order to be saved, He is replacing all other methods of sal-
  vation. There is no other way into the sheepfold, except by the Gate.

   Read John 10:1-5. How do the sheep know the voice of the
   shepherd? How do you know the voice of your Shepherd, as
   opposed to the voice of a stranger, a hireling, or a wolf?

  Hired Hands and Thieves (John 10:1, 5, 10-13). What do the thieves and robbers do to the sheep? What do the
hirelings do to the sheep? Contrast this to what Jesus promises to
do to the sheep.


    Jesus contrasts the Good Shepherd with two other types of people
  who relate to sheep. One type is the thieves and robbers. These invest
  nothing in the sheep; they are interested only in what they can gain for
  themselves. Jesus probably had in mind the chief priests of the tem-
  ple who put on a show of piety in order to receive the offerings and
  fees the worshipers brought to the temple with them.
    The other contrasting type is the hired hand, who does not own the
  sheep, and, therefore, has no personal concern for them. He watches
  them only to make a living. When a wild animal comes, he protects
  the only thing that really matters to him, which is himself. Jesus prob-
  ably had in mind the Pharisees of chapter 9. Although more involved
  in the needs and concerns of the people than the chief priests were,
  they did not truly care for the sheep. They did not know them inti-
  mately nor were they willing to lay down their lives, nor even their
  reputations, for the sheep.

    As the Good Shepherd, Jesus claimed the outcasts of the religious
  leaders for Himself (John 9:34-38). The Good Shepherd story was a
  rebuke to those who, in their rough handling of the man born blind,
  betrayed their true character as hired hands (John 9:40).
     Jesus invites us to have the same kind of caring concern for others
  as the Good Shepherd has for His sheep. The one who truly cares
  about family, neighbors, and friends will never be pushy and abusive
  (as the Pharisees were in John 9) but will seek to act out of caring
  concern for the benefit of others. The world is full of sorrow, crying,
  pain, and dying. There is a bottomless need for people who, out of the
  strength they have received in Christ, will reach out to build up and
  encourage others. Such undershepherds will find, in this work, abun-
  dant life for themselves, as well.

   Maybe we are not pastors, but in what ways can we act the part
   of a shepherd? How can we guard against, even unwittingly,
   becoming either a thief or a hireling?



                                                                        69

  © Compare what happens to the sheep when the hireling or the
  thief gets hold of them. What's the difference?

  O In what ways are sheep like or unlike human beings? Which
  aspect of sheep behavior is most likely to have caused Jesus to
  draw the analogy He did?

  0 Is your church a friendly place for "outcasts"? Are some types
  of people in your church more "acceptable" than others? Why is
  that so?

                            JOEL SANDOVAL,   19, is preparing for the ministry in
                            Costa Rica.

  A Devoted Soul and an
  Impending Cross


  SABBATH AFTERNOON

             e love Him because He first loved us. In John 11 and 12 the

  W          author of the Gospel begins a transition from the earthly
             ministry of Jesus to the events associated with the Cross.
  The two main incidents in these chapters occur in Bethany, just across
  the Mount of Olives from Jerusalem. In Jesus' raising of Lazarus
  from the dead and His anointing with perfume by Mary, John pre-
  pares the reader for the tragic but necessary events to follow shortly
  in Jerusalem.
     The raising of Lazarus from the dead provokes contradictory
  reactions. For the Sanhedrin, it is seen as a threat to their own self-
  interest. As a result, they begin plotting the death of Jesus. In con-
  trast stands Mary's glorious act of devotion. Her devotion was well
  timed. "As [Jesus] went down into the darkness of His great trial,
  He carried with Him the memory of that deed, an earnest of the love
  that would be His from His redeemed ones forever."—Ellen G.
  White, The Desire of Ages, p. 560. *Study this week's lesson to prepare for Sabbath, February 28. 72

 The Raising of Lazarus (John 11:1-44). Read John 11:1-44 and then answer these questions:
   1. Why does Jesus wait so long before going to Bethany? See
 verses 15-17, 37, and 39. How did the delay make what He does
 even more miraculous?


   2. Read what Jesus says in verses 25, 26. How does the act of
 raising Lazarus help prove the truth of those words?



   3. Read what Jesus says in verses 41, 42. What do they reveal
 about the source of Christ's power? See also verse 22.



   4. Read verse 27. What is so important about this confession of
 faith, particularly in regard to the time in which it was expressed?


    The bottom line of Christian faith is that there is real power in the
 gospel. The power that raised Lazarus from the dead is real, and it is
 still available today. While tragedies always are not reversed in this
 life, the resurrection power of God will bring meaning and comfort to
 our souls if we allow it 10.
    We will all have the John 11 experience at one time or another; that
 is, death, betrayal, and destruction leave behind a real sense of loss
 that cannot be explained away. We are troubled by the sense that Jesus
 could have intervened to prevent them but did not. We struggle to
 understand what "glory to God" might possibly come out of tragedy.
 At low points such as these, we can remember that the God who
 raised Jesus from the dead is still able to create something out of noth-
 ing. Even when all seems hopeless, we still can place our trust in Him.
 We have to, for what else is there? Fortunately for us, we have
 accounts such as this in the book of John that can give us even more
 reasons to trust in God.

   Read verse 37. Who has not found himself or herself thinking a
   similar thing in the face of personal tragedy? What is the only
   answer we can give?




                                                                        73

   Mary and Martha. What is the first thing that both Martha and Mary say to Jesus when
 they first approach Him? How do those words reveal both faith
 and doubt at the same time? See John 11:21, 32.




   For Mary and Martha, the death of Lazarus itself was not the worst
 thing. The worst part about the situation was the delay of Jesus! The
 two sisters seem to have had a very different reaction to Jesus. When
 news of Jesus' arrival outside of town comes, Martha goes out to meet
 Him, but Mary stays at home until Martha comes and gets her. While
 both sisters are upset and distressed, Martha combines her statement
 of frustration (vs. 21) with strong statements of continued faith in
 Jesus (vss. 22, 24, 27). In response to her expressed faith, Jesus offers
 one of the most magnificent descriptions of His life and mission: " 'I
 am the resurrection and the life' " (vss. 25, 26, NIV).

   When Mary finally goes out to meet Jesus, she repeats Martha's
 complaint but without any affirmation of continued faith. She
 receives no revelation from Jesus, and He draws no expression of
 faith from her (compare verses 32, 33 with verses 22-27). Jesus has
 come to invite them to behold the Resurrection and the Life, but their
 minds are fixed on their loss instead.
   Beneath the surface of this story, it is not hard to catch a glimpse of
 the inner life of these sisters. Their hearts were a raging sea of turbu-
 lent emotions. The pain of sudden loss has all but crushed them. The
 actions of Jesus have piled doubts on top of their sorrows. While
 Martha seems to have been more successful at maintaining a sem-
 blance of emotional stability, even she did not grasp in advance what
 Jesus had come to do (vs. 39).

  This story has a happy ending, of course. What hope do you
  find in this account for deaths that do not, at least for now, end
  as this one does?

 The Plot to Kill Jesus (John 11:45-57). Read John 11:45-57 and then answer the following questions:

   1. Did the leaders believe that Jesus had really performed this
 miracle, or did they think it was a trick? Explain the importance
 of the answer.




  2. What justification did they give for having to stop Jesus?
 Does that argument not make sense?




    In these texts we see the reactions of the religious leaders to the
 resurrection of Lazarus. Instead of the unlimited possibilities the res-
 urrection of Lazarus would seem to open to the human race, the reli-
 gious leaders can focus only on the threat to their own position and
 interests.
   With delicious irony, John uses the leaders' own words against
 them. They plot to kill Jesus, because they fear that if they allow Him
 to continue His ministry, " 'everyone will believe in him, and then the
 Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation' "
 (vs. 48, NIV). To the first readers of the Gospel, the foolishness of this
 statement would have been plain. The very thing the religious leaders
 sought to prevent, the death of Jesus brought about: worldwide belief
 in the teachings of Christ and the destruction of Jerusalem and its
 temple. Even their leader, Caiaphas, prophesies that they " 'know
 nothing at all' " (vss. 49-52, NIV). The council determines that,
 although Jesus has done nothing to deserve death, His death is the
 only way to maintain their position and the security of their nation.

   However dramatic their example, the religious leaders here
   symbolize the danger we all face: rationalizing our actions, even
   those that fly in the face of what we know is right, for personal
   expediency. How have you done the same thing in your own life?
   What can we do to stop ourselves from falling into this com-
   mon, but deadly, trap? Some verses that might help are
   Matthew 16:24, Philippians 2:4, and 1 Peter 4:1.



                                                                        75

  Mary of Bethany                 (John 12:1-8).

   The anointing at Bethany probably took place on Saturday night,
 the week before the Crucifixion (John 12:1). Bethany was located
 about two miles east of Jerusalem, on the other side of the Mount of
 Olives.

    The heart of the narrative at the beginning of John 12 lies in the
 deliberate contrast between Mary's wholehearted faith in, and love
 for, Jesus and the coldhearted calculations of Caiaphas (at the end of
 chapter 11) and Judas. Mary's anointing of Jesus' feet is motivated by
 unselfish love and sacrifice. The opponents of Jesus, on the other
 hand, are motivated by greed and self-interest.
    In this scene we see Mary's total devotion of soul. Whatever doubts
 she may have had before the resurrection of Lazarus are gone now.
 Every emotion trembles with gratitude to the One who raised her
 brother and who is about to die for her. The perfume she pours on
 Jesus cost her a year of hard work, but it represents her whole life,
 gratefully offered to Jesus. Such total devotion is rarely popular, as
 Judas's reaction makes clear. "What a waste," people say. "You could
 have done great things with your life, but you chose to waste it on
 Jesus!"
    Judas's reaction is normal and human. Mary's action does seem a
 waste. What church board would approve such an expenditure? To
 human reasoning, Mary seems emotionally disturbed. But notice
 again how Jesus feels about it, this time as recorded in Mark 14:6-9:
 " 'She has done a beautiful thing to me. . . . She did what she
 could. . . . I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached
 throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in mem-
 ory of her' " (NIV).

  Look at the reaction of Judas to Mary's anointing of Christ. In
  what ways can we be guilty of doing the same thing; that is, hid-
  ing our own spiritual weaknesses and defects behind a veneer of
  piety and self-sacrifice?

 The Impending Cross (John 12:9-27).
   John portrays three main reactions to the miracle of raising Lazarus
 from the dead.
    • The religious leaders want to kill Jesus and even Lazarus for fear
 of what will happen to them if they do not (John 11:47-53).
    • Mary, on the other hand, responds with gratitude and devoted,
 self-sacrificing love (John 12:1-9).

   Of the three reactions, Mary's is clearly the one the author of the
 Gospel wishes the reader to see as the great model of response to
 Jesus and His miraculous signs.

    John 12:26 shows that to follow Jesus is to disown self-centeredness.
 When our lives are filled with striving for advantage, security, and
 pleasure, we do not experience the fullness of life Jesus offers. In fact,
 what Jesus seems to be saying in verse 25 is that the only way we can
 truly follow Christ is to disown ourselves; this has to be a full, complete
 death to self. This, of course, is something only the Lord can do for
 us, if we allow Him, if we make the choice to follow Him; and to do
 that we must, like the kernel of wheat, first die. There is no other way.
 Judas, the leaders of Israel, and the crowd that came to Jesus as He
 entered Jerusalem all represent, to one degree or another, those who (at
 least at that point) did not make the full surrender.
    Of those whom we have looked at in today's study, only Mary seems
 to have understood this, an understanding clearly made manifest by her
 works.

   How would you explain to a non-Christian that what Jesus is
   saying in John 12:25 is to our immense advantage? How could
   you express it in a way to help him or her understand this in a
   positive manner?




                                                                         77

      Read John 12:26. How do those words debunk the notion that
   Jesus wants us only as friends, not as servants? Why must we be
   both?

   41) Look up these texts: Matthew 19:29, Mark 8:36, Galatians
   6:14, Philippians 3:8. How do they express the same idea that we
   see revealed in Mary's actions? What must happen in our own
   lives so we can have that kind of devotion?

  True
  Greatness



  SABBATH AFTERNOON

         rue greatness is to follow Jesus in the path of service and humil-

  T      ity. For many, greatness consists in the accumulation of wealth,
         fame, and power. To such, the opportunity to "wash feet" rep-
  resents the ultimate humiliation. Jesus here does the opposite of what
  seems natural to human experience.
    With chapter 13 the entire tone of the Gospel of John is trans-
  formed. Instead of public ministry, Jesus retires to an unspecified
  place to quietly instruct His disciples at great length.
    This lesson and the next cover John 13-17, the portion of the
  Gospel that deals with the "upper-room experience." Because of space
  limitations, we will deviate from the order of the Gospel here. In this
  lesson we highlight the common elements of chapters 13 and 17,
  where Jesus' concern for His disciples is expressed in the foot wash-
  ing (John 13) and in a marvelous prayer (John 17). In the next lesson,
  we cover chapters 14-16, where Jesus' concern for His disciples is
  expressed in the gracious provision of the Comforter.

 The Foot Washing                    (John 13:1-11).

   It was the custom in New Testament times for people to bathe them-
 selves before attending a feast. Upon arrival, they would not need to
 bathe again; they needed to have only their feet washed. The washing
 of the feet, then, was like a ceremony that preceded entry into the
 house where they were to be guests. In this case, however, something
 so much greater was going on.

    The full-body bath represents the complete cleansing that a person
  receives at the beginning of the Christian life (baptism). Foot wash-
  ing, on the other hand, represents the Christian's ongoing need to deal
  with the soiling that comes from daily contact with the sinful world
  and its contamination. The foot is the part of the body that in ancient
  times came in regular contact with the earth and, therefore, needed
  continual cleansing.
    The beautiful lesson that comes through in Jesus' action is that our
  daily shortcomings as Christians do not call our original cleansing
  into question. It is not necessary to be rebaptized or to start all over
  every time we make a mistake. One who has bathed needs only to
  wash the feet again! We are secure as long as we do not choose to turn
  away (see also John 10:27-29).
     The image of Jesus washing the feet of His disciples represents His
  forgiveness of sins committed after baptism. The image of the disci-
  ples washing one another's feet signifies our willingness to forgive
  those daily irritations and transgressions that threaten the unity in love
  that Jesus purposed for His disciples (see also John 13:34, 35).

   What does it mean to "wash feet" in the context of everyday
   life? How can we be willing to "wash" one another's feet? What
   does it take to be able to do that?




                                                                         81

  True Greatness                (John 13:12-17).

    True greatness is the King of the universe walking over to the cor-
 ner of a room, picking up a towel and a basin of water, and stooping
 down to wash the feet of an unstable disciple such as Peter and a trai-
 tor such as Judas. True greatness does not need to brag or assert itself.
 It takes true greatness to exercise self-control or to act the role of a
 slave. It takes true greatness to do the right thing when everyone
 laughs at you or despises you in his or her heart.
    True greatness is to have the same attitude as Jesus (Phil. 2:5), who
 was "in very nature God" (vs. 6, NIV) yet took "the very nature of a
 servant" (vs. 7) and "humbled himself" (vs. 8). True greatness is to
 "consider others better than yourselves" (vs. 3). True greatness is to
 follow Jesus in the path of service and humility.
    In contrast, if our first thought in any situation is of our own advan-
 tage and self-interest, we are pursuing a false greatness. If our first
 reaction to any situation is to nag, belittle, criticize, and complain, we
 are exhibiting the opposite of humility and true greatness. Putting
 other people down says "I am better than you." Considering others as
 better than yourself causes you to uplift, encourage, and praise.

  Does the way your local church practices foot washing capture
  the spirit of Jesus' command? If not, how can you change that
  situation? Does your local church carry out Jesus' example in
  its relationships with people inside and outside the church
  body? How can the foot-washing service become a more mean-
  ingful part of our Christian experience?

 Judas: The Other Path to "Greatness"
 (John 13:18-30).

    "The disciples knew nothing of the purpose of Judas. Jesus alone
  could read his secret. Yet He did not expose him. Jesus hungered for
  his soul. He felt for him such a burden as for Jerusalem when he wept
  over the doomed city. His heart was crying, How can I give thee
  up?"—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 645.
     But Judas chose to follow a different path to "greatness" than that
  exhibited by Christ in the foot-washing service. On this particular
  point he considered himself wiser than Christ. Surely it was obvious
  to anyone that greatness came from power, wealth, and the esteem of
  others! But his logical course of action led only to personal destruc-
  tion.
     "The prospect of having a high place in the new kingdom had led
  Judas to espouse the cause of Christ. . . .
     "It was he who set on foot the project to take Christ by force and
  make Him king. . . .
     "[He hoped to secure] the first position, next to Christ, in the new
  kingdom."—Pages 718-721.
     Judas failed to realize that anybody can act great or demand to be
  treated as great. Anybody can spend money or command others, given
  the opportunity. It takes true greatness to act the part of a servant and
  do tasks that others should have done. It takes true greatness to put
  others first, to treat others as better than yourself.

   Is the typical view of greatness in today's world more like that
   of Jesus or Judas? How can one best present the message of
   Jesus to people who are used to a different kind of greatness?

                                                                        83

  Jesus Prays for His Disciples                          (John 17:1-19).

    The farewell gathering of Jesus and His disciples (John 13-17)
 draws to a close with an intercessory prayer in three parts. In John
 17:1-5 Jesus prays for Himself. In verses 6 to 19 His attention turns to
 His disciples and to their need for support in the absence of His phys-
 ical presence (the third part we'll look at tomorrow).
    The initial goal of Jesus' prayer is for help in completing the task of
 glorifying the Father on earth (vss. 1-5). This task will be accom-
 plished on the cross. There never has been a clearer picture of the
 character of God than that exhibited by Jesus in His humiliation and
 death. But Jesus prays for strength to complete this task, not to bene-
 fit Himself or His Father only but for the sake of all who will believe
 in Him. When Jesus and His Father are glorified on the cross, eternal
 life becomes available to those in relationship with Jesus (vss. 2, 3).
 So, even in His prayers for Himself, Jesus' ultimate goal is the glory
 of His Father and the benefit of others.
    Jesus then focuses His prayer directly in behalf of His disciples,
 who soon will have to learn how to live without His physical presence
 among them. He does not pray for the world but only for those who
 have renounced the world (vs. 9). He prays for His disciples, because
 they will have to remain in the world when He goes away, and they
 will become the object of the world's evil attention. As in chapter 13,
 Jesus' coming humiliation does not draw out concern for Himself;
 rather, it directs His attention to the consequences of His "going
 away" for His disciples.

 "But for Them Also Which Shall
 Believe" (John 17:20-26). Whom else does Jesus pray for in John 17? John 17:20.

    In the last part of Jesus' prayer, He turns to the second generation
 of Christians. In the fullest sense, this second generation includes all
 Christians who have never had an encounter with Jesus in the flesh.
    When the love that Jesus prays for produces unity in the church, the
 world will come to know that Jesus is truly the One who represents
 the character of the Father on earth (see also John 13:34, 35). On the
 other hand, the world never will be seriously attracted to Christ
 through the instrumentality of a church that is bitterly divided.
    In Jesus' prayer we catch a glimpse of one reason prayers do not get
 answered. Every provision has been made for the church's unity. But
 the evident disunity of the church in general shows that even Jesus'
 prayers can be frustrated by the stubborn and self-serving human
 spirit. There are many things God would long to do for the church if
 only His people were willing to allow Him to do them.
     Another remarkable thing about this chapter is the idea of Jesus
 praying for His disciples and for us. With all the power Jesus dis-
 played in the course of His ministry on earth, He still saw great value
 in praying for others. Prayer for others accomplishes things in this
 world that never would happen otherwise.
     For most Christians, however, prayer for others can be an up-and-
  down experience. So, it helps to have a regular time set aside for
  prayer. It also can be helpful to make a prayer list, as long as the list
  is not so long that it becomes unmanageable. But most important of
  all, it helps to have some kind of accountability in the prayer life, a
  prayer partner or a prayer group that encourages one to keep on when
  the going gets tough.

   Look carefully at John 17:26. Jesus prayed that the love the
   Father had for Him would be in us, we who claim to follow
   Jesus. What is that love? Would it not be the most perfect love
   possible? How, then, can we manifest that love in our lives? Is
   perhaps the lack of unity among Christians one manifestation
   of this lack of love?

                                                                        85

     Why is knowing Jesus the key to eternal life? When Jesus talks
  about eternal life in John 17:3, is He thinking in terms of quality
  of life now, or is He thinking only of heaven?

     Read carefully John 17:17. What is Jesus saying there that
  shows how crucial the Bible is to our spiritual life?

                            NARANTSETSEG and RAVDANDORG live   in Darhan.
                            Mongolia.

  The Spirit "Replaces"
  Jesus


  SABBATH AFTERNOON

         he Spirit was sent to continue and enhance Jesus' work on

  T      earth. After the foot washing, the shadow of the Cross began
         to hang over the room where Jesus and His disciples were
  reclining. Christ's last moments with them had come. They began to
  realize that Jesus was about to leave them. In John 13 to 16 Jesus
  delivers a farewell speech to His disciples in which He teaches them
  how to live without His physical presence, just as the second gener-
  ation of Christians would have to live without the physical presence
  of the disciples.
     How important for us, many generations removed from the time of
  Christ, to realize that the physical absence of Jesus is no handicap to us
  or to our walk with Him. We can be all He wants us to be, here and now,
  even while He is not among us as He was among the disciples. Through
  the presence of the Holy Spirit, Jesus' word is still as good as His touch.

 Going Away (John 13:31-14:31).
   Jesus waited until the departure of Judas (John 13:28-30) to begin
 His farewell speech to His disciples. What followed was spoken for
 their encouragement—and ours.

    Jesus is going away, and the disciples are feeling abandoned. How
  can they possibly continue without Him? But Jesus makes it clear that
  His going away to the Father will benefit them.

    A key to understanding how the departure of Jesus would benefit
  the disciples is found in the statement that the disciples would do
  greater works than Jesus did (John 14:12). At first glance this state-
  ment seems preposterous. How could anyone do greater works than
  Jesus did? Yet, the earthly Jesus was subject to human limitations. He
  could be only in one place at a time. When He was with the disciples,
  the Father could be seen only in His person (vs. 9). But when He went
  to the Father, those specific limitations were left behind. Through the
  Spirit (vss. 16, 17), His disciples could represent the character of God
  throughout the world.
     Because Jesus went to the Father and sent the Spirit, millions of dis-
  ciples have extended Jesus' work. And through the works and the
  writings of the disciples, Jesus has become real to millions around the
  globe. In a sense, the disciples of Jesus took His place in the world.
  The words and actions of believers may be the only picture of Jesus
  some people will ever see.

   Think of those with whom you have been in personal contact in
   the past 24 hours. Was your influence on them such that they
   would have been more interested in knowing the God whom you
   profess to serve, or would you have turned them off? Be honest
   with yourself.



                                                                        89

 Remaining Connected to Jesus (John
  15:1-16:33).

   The relationship of Jesus with the Father is the model for the dis-
 ciples' relationship with Jesus. Jesus loves the disciples the way the
 Father loves Him (John 15:9). On the other hand, the disciples are to
 obey His commands just as He obeys the commands of His Father
 (vs. 10).

    The relationship of Jesus with the world is paralleled in the rela-
 tionship of the disciples with unbelievers (John 15:18). The world's
 hatred of the disciples is rooted in its hatred of Jesus (vss. 22-25). The
 values of the world are often the opposite of God's values; at times,
 they are in direct conflict. Thus, the disciples need to be ready to face
 the hostility of the world.
    For the disciples, the negative experience of hatred and persecution
 (vss. 18-25, 16:1-4) is counterbalanced by the benefits that will come
 because Jesus has gone to the Father and has sent His Spirit (John
 15:26, 27; 16:7-15).
    Why was it better that Jesus was going away? (1) He would send
 the Holy Spirit, who would not be subject to human limitations.
 (2) Through the efforts of the disciples, the work of Jesus would be
 spread throughout the world and would impact every people and place.
 (3) The love they would have through the Spirit (John 15:12-15) would
 have convincing power in the world (John 13:34, 35). (4) Coping with
 the absence of Jesus would enable the disciples to provide a solid foun-
 dation for those who followed their generation (John 15:1-8).

  Read John 14:21, 23 and 15:10-14. What link does the Lord
  show between love and the commandments? In your own expe-
  rience, how have you seen the inseparable link between love and
  the commandments? How are these linked with "remaining in
  the vine"?

 Seeds of the Spirit (John 1:32, 33; 3:5-8; 4:23, 24;
 6:63; 7:37-39).

   There are eleven passages in the Gospel of John that refer either
 directly or indirectly to the nature and work of the Holy Spirit. Five of
 these passages are located in the narrative section of the first half of
 the book. These passages mention the Spirit only in passing. It is as
 though John were using these passages to plant seeds in the reader's
 mind that would sprout only in the fertile soil of Jesus' farewell
 speech (John 13-16).

     Although the Spirit makes several appearances in the first half of
  this Gospel, there is little information about Him. The Spirit makes it
  possible for the Baptist to identify Jesus at the Jordan (John 1:32, 33).
  He is an essential part of human participation in the kingdom of God
  (John 3:5, 6). Although His work cannot be controlled by human
  beings, His effect on people can be seen (vs. 8). Worship is no longer
  tied down to specific locations or temples, nor is it limited to any par-
  ticular people (John 4:23, 24). He is available in every place and to
  anyone of any background through the words of Jesus (John 6:63).
      The exact nature of the Spirit's work would become manifest only
  in the context of the Cross (John 7:39). So, John 7:37-39 is a transi-
  tional passage, preparing the reader for the clearer, more-detailed
  information about the Spirit's work that comes in the farewell dis-
  course of John 13-16. John 20:22 ("And . . . he breathed on them and
  said, 'Receive the Holy Spirit' " [NIVJ) shows that the promise of
  John 7:39 in fact began to be fulfilled right after Jesus' "glorifi-
  cation" on the cross.
      In John 14-16, the title given to the Spirit is a Greek noun that can
   be translated as "Comforter" or "Counselor." The root meaning of
  paraclete is a person who is called alongside to help someone. So the
   word can be used in the legal sense of a defense attorney at a trial who
   appeals in behalf of another or as one who comes to comfort some-
   one who is overwhelmed with grief at a time of loss. Both meanings
   fit well into the context of John 14-16.

                                                                        91

  Just Like Jesus              (John 14:16, 17, 26, 27).

    Jesus calls the Holy Spirit " 'another Counselor' " (John 14:16,
 NIV). This means the Holy Spirit is not the only Counselor (or
 Comforter); He is another Counselor. The original language empha-
 sizes the similarity between Jesus and the Spirit. The Spirit is another
 Counselor just as Jesus is. Jesus is also the Counselor.
    The disciples are feeling depressed. Jesus has said that He is going
 away, and they are distressed (John 13:33, 36; 14:2-5). So, Jesus
 assures them they will not be left as "orphans" (John 14:18, NIV).
 Through the Spirit, He will continue to be with them. The Spirit will
 do for them the same things Jesus did when He was physically on
 earth. The ultimate targets of this message, of course, are those who
 have come after, those who have come to believe through the words
 of the written Gospels, not through physical contact with Jesus or
 with anyone who knew Jesus in the flesh.
   "Cumbered with humanity, Christ could not be in every place per-
 sonally. Therefore it was for their interest that He should go to the
 Father, and send the Spirit to be His successor on earth. No one could
 then have any advantage because of his location or his personal con-
 tact with Christ. By the Spirit the Saviour would be accessible to all.
 In this sense He would be nearer to them than if He had not ascended
 on high."—Ellen G. White, The Desire ofAges, p. 669.
    Jesus also calls the Holy Spirit the "Spirit of truth" (John 14:17).
 The person and work of the Spirit are authentic and real; they can be
 trusted. The Spirit will not guide us contrary to the truth about Jesus
 nor about ourselves. Truth can be painful to hear but is necessary to
 spiritual growth. Only those who are committed to truth, as mani-
 fested in obedience to the truth they already know, will receive the
 Spirit (vss. 15, 16, 21). And how can we understand obedience apart
 from the commandments?

  Look again at John 14:21. Jesus says that those who keep His
  commandments are those who love Him and that to these He
  will manifest Himself. How have you experienced this manifes-
  tation of Christ in your own life?

  The Ultimate Guide                      (John 15:26, 27; 16:7-15).

     Jesus does not need the Holy Spirit to glorify Him in His person;
  the Father did that when He exalted Jesus to His right hand at the
  Ascension. The role of the Spirit is rather to exalt and glorify Jesus in
  the estimation of humanity here on earth. There are no revelations
  from the Spirit except those that exalt and glorify Jesus. As valuable
  as the work of the Spirit is, therefore, attention to the Spirit is not
  healthful if it directs our attention away from Jesus.
     The Spirit is Christ's Successor and Representative with the disci-
  ples and to the world. It is in this sense that the Holy Spirit can be said
  to "replace" Jesus. The Spirit extends the presence of Jesus to the new
  generation that never knew His physical touch. The instruction that
  Jesus no longer could give in the flesh, the Spirit would do every-
  where in His behalf. The witness that He would no longer bear, the
  Spirit would bear in His behalf. Through the Spirit, Jesus would con-
  tinue to be glorified.
     On the other hand, as Jesus brought judgment and conviction to all
  who were exposed to His light, so the Holy Spirit has a ministry also
  to the world, to bring conviction of sin, the offer of righteousness, and
  a warning of judgment to come. The world rejected Jesus and still
  does so today. But in spite of the world's continued rejection, the
  Spirit continues to convict, and people hear Jesus' voice through the
  voice of the Spirit.
     Above all else, therefore, it is through the Spirit that the presence
  of Jesus is made real in our lives, even though we cannot see Him or
  touch Him. Although others may not share our experience, the Spirit
  changes the lives of those who enter into relationship with Jesus and
  yield themselves to the guidance and comfort of the Holy Spirit.

   If someone were to ask you how the Holy Spirit has touched
   your life, what would you answer? What does your answer say
   to you about the state of your walk with the Lord? What
   changes might you need to make?


                                                                          93

   0 What happens to Christians when they lose a major spiritual
   leader or mentor? What can one do to find new sources of spir-
   itual strength? How much weight should we put upon anyone,
   no matter how much of a spiritual encouragement he or she has
   been?

                            Rum SCHNEIDER TESCHE (left) lives with her family in
                            Maringa, Parana, Brazil, where she is active in prison
                            ministries.

  Jesus Lays Down His Life
  for His Friends




  SABBATH AFTERNOON
                                  T Read for This Week's Study: John 18:1-19:42.

          he Cross forever establishes the value of the human soul.

  T       Human beings have experimented with a variety of ways to
          establish a sense of worth and meaning in their lives. But, ulti-
  mately, there is only one place on earth where human value and mean-
  ing are forever established. And that place was on a hill called Calvary
  (Golgotha).
     Here, in a way unseen or even unimagined (except within the
  Godhead), the worth of human beings before God was forever revealed
  to human beings, angels, and the onlooking universe. Here, more than
  anywhere else in the universe, the true nature and character of our
  Creator are revealed.
     The story of Jesus' crucifixion in the Gospel of John begins and ends
  in a garden (John 18:1, 19:41). The story itself falls into three parts.
  First, there is a section describing the betrayal, arrest, and indictment of
  Jesus (John 18:1-27). The central section of the story is concerned with
  the trial before Pilate (John 18:29 to 19:16). Finally, the Crucifixion
  itself and then burial of Jesus are described in John 19:16-42.
     Let us take a look at the greatest event in all cosmic history.

 Betrayed and Denied                        (John 18:1-11, 15-18, 25-27).

    In John 18:1-11, the main point seems to be that Jesus is in full con-
 trol of the situation, in fulfillment of John 10:18: " 'No one takes [my
 life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord"' (NIV). Although
 about to be murdered, Jesus is not a victim; all this had to happen. See
 John 3:14. If Jesus had wanted to avoid arrest, He could have simply
 gone somewhere else other than the Garden where Judas would look
 for Him. He leads His disciples to the Garden, even though He knows
 what is coming. He does not wait for the mob to come to Him; He
 moves forward and addresses them, capable of intimidating them
 fully should that have served His purpose. His death is voluntary.
 They could not have arrested Him had He not allowed it.

     Under these circumstances, the reaction of Peter is almost comical.
  Although Jesus is fully in control of the situation, to Peter things look
  totally out of control. He whips out his sword and tries to protect Jesus,
  but Jesus tells him to put the sword away. Jesus must go to the cross, or
  God's plan of salvation would fail. The very actions by which Peter
  sought to gain control of the situation only would have moved things
  truly out of control. In fact, Peter's rash action in the Garden jeopardizes
  the validity of Jesus' appeal to Pilate later in the chapter (John 18:36).

   Jesus knew the future, knew what was going to happen before
   it did. He does today, as well. What kind of comfort does that
   give you, knowing that nothing that happens, even in your own
   life, takes God by surprise? At the same time, what kind of trou-
   bling questions does it raise?


                                                                           97

  Before Annas and Pilate                        (John 18:12-40).

    Only in the Gospel of John does more than one disciple follow
  Jesus into the high priest's courtyard (John 18:15, 16). Presumably,
  the girl at the door knew that John (the "other disciple") was a disci-
  ple of Jesus but didn't challenge him because he had privileged
  access.

    Jesus is quite assertive in His encounter with Annas (John 18:20-
 23, NIV). He challenges both the secretiveness of His arrest ("I said
 nothing in secret") and the legal procedures being followed ("Why
 question me?"). He even tosses in a dash of ironic humor ("If I spoke
 the truth, why did you strike me?"). In this instance Jesus does not fol-
 low an extreme interpretation of "turning the other cheek" (Matt.
 5:39). He protests His opponent's abuse of authority (John 18:23).
 There is sometimes a fine line between being humble and taking
 abuse.
    After being taken to Caiaphas, Jesus is brought before Pilate, the
 central figure of this part of the narrative. At the time, Pilate was in a
 position of considerable political weakness. A series of blunders had
 repeatedly offended the Jews. He was unpopular, therefore, and his
 fitness to rule even had come under suspicion in Rome. One more
 major conflict with the religious leaders, and he probably would be
 out of office. This made him extremely vulnerable to blackmail.
    In approaching Pilate, the priests first formulate their charge
 against Jesus in the political terms that a Roman governor could
 appreciate. Jesus must be executed, because His kingship is a threat to
 Caesar. But Jesus' statement " 'My kingdom is not of this world' "
 and the supporting evidence (vs. 36, NIV) make it clear to Pilate that
 Jesus' claim to kingship is no political or military threat to Rome. He
 determines to free Jesus and at the same time provide the Jewish lead-
 ers a face-saving way out, offering to release Jesus on the basis of a
 traditional prisoner release rather than a judgment of innocence.

  Read what Jesus says to Pilate in John 18:36. How do you
  understand what Jesus means when He says that His kingdom
  is not of this world? What implications do His words have for
  you, if you claim to be part of His kingdom? Write out your
  answer in a short paragraph. Be prepared, if willing, to share it
  with your Sabbath School class.

 Political Expediency                   (John 19.1-16).

     Things get complicated for Pilate when the Jewish leaders reject his
  offer to release Jesus on terms favorable to them. They want Jesus
  dead at any cost. That means Pilate either must persuade them against
  their set opinion or release Jesus in the face of their wrath, which
  would cost him his job. Pilate was caught in a dilemma between jus-
  tice and self-interest.
     Pilate seeks, therefore, to engage his opponents' sympathy by flog-
  ging Jesus and presenting Him before them. But they refuse to be
  moved. Sensing that Pilate's self-interest has weakened him, the reli-
  gious leaders start playing dirty; they argue that Jesus should die
  because He has broken their religious law. They know that Pilate can-
  not afford to be seen as acting against their religious interests.

     Pilate seems to realize at this point that indecision has been his
  weakness. He cannot save both himself and Jesus. He determines
  finally to save himself at Jesus' expense. He will consent to the reli-
  gious leaders' request, but they will pay dearly for it. He condemns
  Jesus in exchange for a public confession of their obligation to serve
  Caesar: "We have no king but Caesar."
     Earlier Caiaphas had insisted that one Man had to be sacrificed so
  the nation might not be destroyed (John 11:48-52). Now Pilate is
  ready to sacrifice the nation in order to destroy one Man. The reli-
  gious leaders reject Jesus' kingship with such passion that they now
  rejoice in a king whom they always have hated. Pilate intends to hold
  them to that pledge in the future. They will have no more power over
  him. From this point on in the Gospel story, Pilate is unmovable. In
  one of the Gospel's fascinating ironies, the death of Jesus makes
  Pilate strong!

   Look at Pilate, doing what he knows is wrong, all for personal
   gain. What can we learn from his example in order to spare us
   from making a similar mistake when confronted with a similar
   dilemma, that of being pressured to compromise on a moral
   issue?


                                                                      99

  Humiliation, Death, and Burial                                (John
  19:16-42).

    Crucifixion was used by the Romans to intimidate potential oppo-
  nents. In order to breathe, victims had to push up with their feet to raise
  their bodies. Death came by suffocation when they were too weary to
  raise themselves anymore. Death was, therefore, slow and agonizing.
  Breaking the legs would hasten the process, when that was for the exe-
  cutioner's convenience. An additional element of torture was shame and
  exposure, being hung naked in front of family and friends.

    In these verses we see a stronger, bolder version of Pilate, energized
  by the sacrifice of Jesus. The wording he chose for the inscription
  placed on the cross made the crucifixion of Jesus symbolic of Rome's
  dominance over Palestine and its native religion. With the inscription
  he turned the Crucifixion into a blow against the prestige of the Jews
  and their religious leaders.

     Although Pilate now feels in control of matters, there are repeated
  reminders in this part of the text that everything is happening accord-
  ing to the predictions placed in the Scriptures. God is in control, even
  when human beings feel they are. Jesus' death is voluntary, purpose-
  ful, and according to the Scriptures.
     In John 19:30, Jesus says, " 'It is finished.' " But what exactly was
  finished at the Cross? The particular emphasis in chapter 19 seems to
  be that the Cross is the fulfillment of the Bible prophecies pointing
  toward the Messiah. Prophecy was fulfilled down to the minutest detail
  of just what type of garment was divided, what type was wagered for
  (vss. 23, 24), and just how the body of Jesus was handled after His death
  (vss. 35-37). The Cross makes it clear that even when bad things hap-
  pen in our lives things are not out of God's control. Followers of Jesus
  do not need to live in fear of what they cannot control.

   What did Christ finish, in your behalf, at the Cross? See also
   Mark 10:45, Heb. 9:26, 1 John 2:2.

 In Search of the Cross                      (John 12:20-32).

   John offers additional interpretations of the Cross in other parts of
 the Gospel.

   What is so special about the Cross that Paul refused to glory in any-
 thing else (Gal. 6:14)? Through the words of Caiaphas, John
 expresses that in some sense the death of Jesus stands in place of
 every other human being.
   According to Paul, at the Cross the wages of sin (Rom. 6:23) were
 placed upon Jesus as the Representative of the sinful human race. If the
 law of God could have been changed, humanity could have been saved
 without a cross; thus, in the truest, most dramatic sense, the Cross
 affirms the perpetuity of the law. The Cross condemned human sin in the
 person of Christ (Rom. 8:3, 1 Pet. 2:24); the resurrection of Christ paves
 the way for our resurrection at the end of the world (1 Cor 15:12-23).

   Jesus expresses the "one in place of many" theme in terms of seeds.
 Then in verses 31-33 He shows that the Cross results in the condem-
 nation of Satan and of sin in a mighty act of judgment. The Cross also
 becomes a wonderful magnet of attraction that draws "all men" (vs.
 32, NIV—in the original, the implication may include the entire uni-
 verse!) to Jesus.
   What is so attractive about the Cross? Above all else, the Cross
 affirms the incredible value of the human person. "One soul is of
 infinite value; Calvary speaks its worth."—Ellen G. White, Gospel
 Workers, p. 184. God so loves every human being that Jesus would
 have died for even one (John 3:16).
   As Creator of the entire universe, Jesus possesses in His Person
 infinite value. In dying for you and for me, Jesus testified to the infi-
 nite value He places on every one of us. And the value we have in the
 Cross is a value that does not change, no matter what we do or whom
 we become. If we should, in the end, choose to reject the Cross, our
 value in eternity will be measured by the pain of our absence that is
 felt in the heart of God.

   What should the Cross do to our pride, self-sufficiency, and
   arrogance—and why?

                                                                       101

  SABBATH AFTERNOON

         he power of the Resurrection is real. John 20 brings us to a

  T      crucial point in the Gospel of John. There is a sense in which
         the story is "finished" with Jesus' death on the cross (see
  John 19:30).
    But there is also a sense in which it is unfinished. There would be no
  Christian church if Jesus had remained in the tomb. The resurrection of
  Jesus turns apparent defeat into victory. The Resurrection is a mighty
  act of God on the level of the Creation and of the Exodus.
    The New Testament records eleven separate post-Resurrection
  appearances of Jesus, four of which are recorded in chapters 20 and
  21 of the Gospel of John, three of them in chapter 20 (John 20:10-18,
  19-23, 24-29). And, perhaps, the most important message here is one
  that's been seen all through the book: A true Christian experience
  comes not by seeing and touching but by believing in the words of
  Jesus, whether spoken in the flesh or in the written testimonies of His
  disciples.

 At the Tomb             (John 20:1-18).

    The many witnesses to the Resurrection help assure us the accounts
 of the Resurrection were not made up by the disciples in order to save
 face. As long as these witnesses lived, their stories could be compared
 and checked out (Luke 1:1-4).
    For the second generation, however, the greatest evidence of Jesus'
 resurrection was the empty tomb. The empty tomb is a central feature
 of this Gospel. Indeed, given the circumstances, the emptiness of the
 tomb is extremely hard to understand unless Jesus was, in fact, raised
 from the dead. Did the enemies of Jesus come and remove His body
 from the tomb? Did the disciples steal His body in order to create the
 illusion of a resurrection? We will see in tomorrow's study that none
 of these scenarios makes sense. The best explanation for the empty
 tomb (unless one is predisposed to deny the possibility of resurrec-
 tion) is that Jesus was, in fact, raised from the dead.

    To the next generation of Christians, the message in the little scene
  between Jesus and Mary was powerful. Although Mary was in the
  personal presence of Jesus, her eyes were so blinded by tears that she
  had no idea with whom she was talking. His physical presence was of
  no use to her until she gave attention to His word. We, too, have that
  word, through the Gospel of John.

   Look at the initial reaction of those who found the empty tomb.
   Despite everything that Jesus had taught them, all thought
   there was a natural explanation: Someone took away His body.
   With all the supernatural things they had seen with Jesus, their
   first reaction was toward doubt and skepticism. What lessons
   can we learn from this for ourselves?


                                                                     105

  In the Upper Room                      (John 20:19-29).

     The first generation of Christians was very slow to believe, despite
  the evidence of the empty tomb and the witness of Mary. All needed
  to see Jesus for themselves before they could forsake other explana-
  tions for the empty tomb. Only the beloved disciple believed without
  seeing Jesus first (John 20:8), representing the kind of faith the sec-
  ond generation would have to exercise and Jesus would bless.

     How did the tomb become empty? Certainly the enemies of Jesus
  had no motive for removing His body from the tomb, and if they had
  done so, why did they not produce the body to prove He had not
  risen?
     It is equally clear that the disciples had neither the ability nor the
  intention of stealing Jesus' body. The fact is that the disciples did not
  believe that Jesus would allow Himself to die, in spite of His repeated
  assertions of what lay ahead. On top of this, if the disciples had stolen
  the body of Jesus, their later behavior is totally unexplainable. Who
  would suffer ridicule, torture, and death over an event that never took
  place?
     Thus, the Lord has given us, besides the clear testimony of the Bible,
  rational and historical evidence to help us believe in the resurrection of
  Christ. And if Jesus rose from the dead, no other miracle is impossible.
  Anything we possibly could ask of Him can be done when it is accord-
  ing to His will. Our own resurrection also is guaranteed by the certainty
  of His. The same divine power that raised Jesus from the dead can bring
  life and healing into even the most hopeless human situations.

   Who has not, in his or her walk with the Lord, at some time
   experienced some struggle with faith? How, by our focusing on
   the Cross and the Resurrection, can our faith be strengthened?

 The Power of His Resurrection                               (John 2:22;
 7:37-39; 12:16).

   "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection," Paul writes
 to the Philippians (Phil. 3:10, NIV). The resurrection of Jesus was the
 most awesome event of all time. With all our science and technology,
 we still have no clue how to bring life back from the dead. Anyone who
 has the power to raise the dead would (one would think) have the power
 to accomplish anything else the human race might need.
    At the heart of Christian faith is the testimony of the New Testament
 that Jesus rose from the dead. The power of Jesus' resurrection became
 the basis for the mighty acts of God in the lives of Christians ever since
 (2 Cor 5:14-17). The power of the Resurrection is the basis for limit-
 less power in the lives of Christians today. Why, then, are these "limit-
 less powers" so invisible in many churches today?
    One of the major themes of the Old Testament has to do with remem-
 bering and forgetting. Whenever the Israelites forgot the mighty things
 God had done for them, they lost the sense of His power and presence.
 When they remembered what He had done for them in the past, the
 power of the original action was reactivated in their lives. In fact, the
  very essence of Old Testament spiritual life was recounting the mighty
 acts of God in their past history.

    Indeed, when the Israelites told of the mighty acts of God in their
 past history, the power of the original act was unleashed again in their
 experience (2 Chron. 20:1-30).
   What was true in Old Testament times is also true of the New
 Testament. The greatest mighty act of God is the action He did at the
 Cross and the resurrection of Jesus. There is power in the constant
 retelling of the Christ event. That is why sharing our faith is such an
 essential part of the Christian experience. Where there is no retelling
 of the mighty acts of God, there is no power. But telling what God has
 done brings revival and reformation. The power of the Resurrection
 turns a formal religion into a living and powerful one!

   How, in your own walk with the Lord, has recounting the Lord's
   actions in your past helped strengthen your faith?

                                                                       107

  Gone Fishing               (John 21:1-14).

     John 21 is often described as the epilogue to the Fourth Gospel,
  because it comes after a passage that reads like the concluding words
  of the Gospel (John 20:30, 31). John 21 tells the story of how the dis-
  ciples encountered Jesus in Galilee after His resurrection. Jesus pro-
  vides a huge catch of fish (vss. 1-6), fixes breakfast (vss. 7-14), and
  then holds a serious conversation on the beach with Peter (vss. 15-23).
     The impression one gets, particularly in the Gospel of John, is that
  Jesus' postresurrection appearances were occasional and rather unex-
  pected. Mary, the ten, Thomas, and now seven disciples are all startled
  at the suddenness of Jesus' appearances. In a real sense, the ministry
  of Jesus to His disciples was completed in the upper room (John
  13-17). He says very little to them after the Resurrection, at least, that
  is recorded. The purpose of His appearances, perhaps, is not so much
  to teach as to validate the reality of His resurrection.

     It appears that breakfast that morning was pretty silent (see also
  Ellen G. White, The Desire ofAges, p. 810). The disciples didn't seem
  to know what to make of Jesus' behavior since they had been with
  Him in the upper room. On that day they experienced the same uncer-
  tainties the second generation Christians would experience over the
  death of the beloved disciple. The disciples were in the presence of
  Jesus in the flesh, yet His physical presence seems to have offered no
  advantage to them. Only the coming of the Spirit would provide solid
  assurance, and the coming of the Spirit proved to be equally effective
  for both the first and the second generation.

   Imagine being in the presence of Jesus and it giving you no
   advantage! That could happen if someone were to allow formal
   religion alone—creeds, rules, doctrines—without a living expe-
   rience with the Lord, to dominate his or her religious life. What
   lesson is here for us?

 Getting Peter Back on Track (John 21:15-23). Read the exchange between Jesus and Peter in John 21:15-17.
 Compare it with what happened in Luke 22:55-62. What was
 Jesus doing here with Peter?


    Verses 15-17 describe a threefold repetition of question, reply, and
 response. This approach could seem rude on the part of Jesus. Its
 effect is to probe Peter to the depths of his being, at the cost of con-
 siderable pain. Peter's self-confidence is gradually chipped away,
 until he is left with nothing but the certainty that Jesus knows his
 heart and will be fair in His judgments.
    There is something about pain, loss, poverty, and emotional anguish
 that brings people to the place where major gains in spiritual develop-
 ment are possible. And sometimes, as in the case of Peter, the author of
 that pain is Jesus who, like a loving surgeon, wounds so that He might
 heal. Jesus does not settle for quick, superficial answers. He insists on
 getting down to the true feelings and motives of those He loves.
    The experience of Peter shows that any relationship with Jesus will
 tend to have its ups and downs. What would Jesus have us do when
 we fall? How can we know we are accepted in spite of what we have
 said, thought, or done?
     I. Know what kind of God you are dealing with. God loves sinners!
 This is not to say that sin does not matter but that no matter what we
 have done in the past, we can start over today. It is at those very times
 when you feel the worst that you have the greatest claim on His
 mercy!
     2. Tell the truth about yourself. The Bible calls this confession.
 Confession simply is facing reality and being honest with God about
 it. Confession can be difficult, because our natures will rebel against
 it, but if we are grounded in the value that we have at the Cross, it will
 be less painful than the consequences of not confessing!
     3. Ask for forgiveness. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just
  and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness"
  (1 John 1:9, NIV). God does not require a whole list of conditions
  before He becomes willing to forgive. The conditions were already
  met in Jesus Christ.
     4. Plan to forsake sin forever. How can you do this when many sins
  seem attractive? Total up in advance some of the consequences of con-
  tinuing in sin. Read the list to yourself every time you are tempted.

  Take a spiritual inventory of yourself, based on those four steps
  listed above. How have you done? Better with some steps than
  with others? What changes must you make in your own life?


                                                                         109

   • How do we know whether the pain in our lives is something
   God is allowing to happen in order to teach us something? Or do
   we need to know? Is it not enough simply to ask the Lord, If the
   pain, whatever its source, does not go, could You at least allow me
   to learn from it?

   e If someone asked you to give evidence of the resurrection of
   Christ, what would you say?

    This quarter, we take a look at Isaiah, at his words, his times, his
  predicaments, but mostly at His God, the God who back then, as
  well as today, cries out to us, "Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I
  have called thee by name; thou art mine" (Isa. 43:1). Roy E. Gane,
  author of this quarter's Bible Study Guide, called Isaiah: "Comfort
  My People," leads us in our exploration of the message of a prophet
  who still speaks so powerfully to us today.

  Memory Text —Isaiah 1:18, NRSV.

  Sabbath Gem: Sadly, the Judeans forgot they belonged to the
  Lord and thus lost their true identity as the covenant people. This
  week we'll look at God's work to restore His people to Himself.

  Memory Text —Isaiah 6:1, NRSV.

  Sabbath Gem: This week we'll look at Judah's crisis of leader-
  ship and the unfortunate results that followed.


    Lessons for the Visually Impaired The regular Adult Sabbath School
    Bible Study Guide is available free each month in braille and on audiocassette to
    sight-impaired and physically handicapped persons who cannot read normal ink
    print. This includes individuals who, because of arthritis, multiple sclerosis, paralysis,
    accident, old age, and so forth, cannot hold or focus on normal ink-print publications.
    Contact Christian Record Services, Box 6097, Lincoln, NE 68506-0097.

           Available at your local ABC, 1-800-765-6955.
           Or read a sample chapter first and order online:
           www.adventistbookcenter.com

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