Author: michael

John 6:1-15 1 Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), 2 and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. 3 Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. 4 The Jewish Passover Festival was near. 5 When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” 6 He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. 7 Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” 8 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, 9 “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” 10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). 11 Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. 12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” 13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. 14 After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” 15 Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

Jesus feeding five thousand people is the only miracle recorded in all four Gospels. Here it says that many people followed Jesus because they saw the miracles he performed on the sick. Here, the five thousand people do not include women and children, there will be many more people if women and children are included. Philip said: “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” The Lord Jesus fed five thousand people with five small barley loaves and two small fish, and the disciples filled twelve baskets with the left over. The Lord Jesus gave thanks before distributing the bread. This is also what we do every day before meal, that is, pray and give thank. When the crowd saw the miracle performed by Jesus, they said, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” Moses predicted in the Old Testament about the coming of the Prophet, the coming of the Lord Jesus.
May God bless you and your family. 😀

John 5:30-47 ³⁰ By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me. ³¹ “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. ³² There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is true. ³³ “You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth. ³⁴ Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved. ³⁵ John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light. ³⁶ “I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to finish—the very works that I am doing—testify that the Father has sent me. ³⁷ And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, ³⁸ nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. ³⁹ You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, ⁴⁰ yet you refuse to come to me to have life. ⁴¹ “I do not accept glory from human beings, ⁴² but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. ⁴³ I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. ⁴⁴ How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? ⁴⁵ “But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. ⁴⁶ If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. ⁴⁷ But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?”

Here the Lord Jesus said that what he did was not to please himself, but to please God the Father. John the Baptist testified about him, but there is a greater testimony than John, that is, what God the Father wants him to accomplish, the Lord Jesus performed many sings and wonders, etc. All these things testify that he was sent by God the Father. Heavenly Father has himself testified about the Lord Jesus. When the Lord Jesus was baptized, there was a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” The Old Testament also testifies about the Lord Jesus, but people still don’t believe. The Lord Jesus came in the name of the Father, and people did not receive him. If someone else comes in his own name, people will receive him. People receive glory from each other, but do not seek the glory from the only God, don’t seek praise and approval from God, so they cannot believe in Jesus. In the Old Testament Moses wrote about the Lord Jesus. If they believe in what Moses wrote, they will believe in the Lord Jesus. If they don’t believe what Moses wrote, they will not believe in what the Lord Jesus says. The Jews said that they believed in Moses, but they did not believe in the Lord Jesus, so they did not really believe in Moses.
May God bless you. 😀

John 5:19-29 ¹⁹ Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. ²⁰ For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. ²¹ For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. ²² Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, ²³ that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him. ²⁴ “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. ²⁵ Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. ²⁶ For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. ²⁷ And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. ²⁸ “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice ²⁹ and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.

Here the Lord Jesus talked about what God the Father does He also does. The Father raises the dead and gives them life, The Son does the same things. The Lord Jesus used to raise people from death, He said a word Lazarus who had been dead for four days was raised. Now there are testimonies about people who were resurrected by the Lord after they died. People should honor the Lord Jesus as they honor God the Father. Those who believe in the Lord Jesus and believe in God the Father who sent the Son have eternal life. They have passed from death to life, have received new life, resurrected life, and can experience the power of resurrection now. On the last day, the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and will be resurrected. Those who have done good will rise to live, to eternal life, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.
May God bless you and your family. 😀

John 5:1-18 1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. ² Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. ³ Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. ⁵ One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” ⁷ “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” ⁸ Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” ⁹ At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, ¹⁰ and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.” ¹¹ But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ” ¹² So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?” ¹³ The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there. ¹⁴ Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” ¹⁵ The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well. ¹⁶ So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. ¹⁷ In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” ¹⁸ For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

Here we see that a man who had been sick for 38 years. The Lord Jesus took the initiative to ask him if he wanted to be healed. He wanted, so the Lord Jesus healed him. The Lord Jesus healed him on the Sabbath. According to the Old Testament law, one must rest, cannot work on the Sabbath, The Jewish leader didn’t allow people to do anything on the Sabbath and told the healed man not to carry his mat. The man later told the Jewish leader that it was Jesus who had healed him. So the Jews persecuted Jesus. The Lord Jesus healed the sick on the Sabbath, they said that he broke the Sabbath, and they did not believe that the Lord Jesus was the Son of God.  They claimed that he made himself equal with God, so they wanted to put him to death.

⁹ Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, ¹⁰ and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” ¹¹ He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? ¹² How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” ¹³ Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. ¹⁴ But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus. (Matthew 12:9-14)
Here the Lord Jesus said that it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath, so it is lawful for him to heal people on the Sabbath.
Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was

John 4:43-54 43 ⁴³ After the two days he left for Galilee. ⁴⁴ (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) ⁴⁵ When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, for they also had been there. ⁴⁶ Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. ⁴⁷ When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death. ⁴⁸ “Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.” ⁴⁹ The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” ⁵⁰ “Go,” Jesus replied, “your son will live.” The man took Jesus at his word and departed. ⁵¹ While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. ⁵² When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, “Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him.” ⁵³ Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he and his whole household believed. ⁵⁴ This was the second sign Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee.

The Lord Jesus said that the prophet has no honor in his own country, so he did not perform many miracles there. Jesus went to Cana in Galilee, where he had turned water into wine. Turning water into wine was the first miracle performed by the Lord Jesus. He didn’t intend to perform it. He did it because of the request and intercession of his mother Mary . This passage talks about the second miracle performed by the Lord Jesus: Healing an official’s son who was sick and dying. The official begged the Lord Jesus to heal his son. With a word from the Lord Jesus, his son lived. Then the official and his whole family believed. The purpose of miracles is to make people believe, but some people still do not believe after they see miracles. The Lord Jesus continues to perform miracles because there are always people who believe. The Lord Jesus did not only perform miracles in the Bible times, he did it through the ages, and is still doing it now.
¹⁴ Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. ¹⁶ Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. (James 5:14-16)
Here, James said that the sick should ask the elders of the church to pray for healing in the name of the Lord Jesus. Lay believers can also confess sins to each other and pray for each other so that they may be healed.
May God bless you and your family. 😀

John 4:21-42 21 21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” 25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” 26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.” 27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?” 28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him. 31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” 33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?” 34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.” 39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers. 42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”

Last week we talked about the Lord Jesus talking with a Samaritan woman. We saw God’s great love and mercy, He fully accepted a sinful woman. Today we study the second part. The Lord Jesus told a very important truth to this Samaritan woman: God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth. What does this mean? Let’s look at the following verses first:
8 These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 9 They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules. (Matthew 15:8-9)
Here the Lord Jesus quoted the Old Testament Isaiah’s prophecy concerning the Pharisees, that they honor God with their lips, but their hearts are far away from God. They taught people human rules, not the truth of God. Therefore, to worship God in spirit and in truth means to worship God with our spirit, with our heart, according to the truth, according to the truth of the Bible, and according to the truth of God.
When the Samaritan woman mentioned about the Messiah, Christ, the Lord Jesus told her that he was the Christ. In the Bible, the Lord Jesus rarely took the initiative to tell people that he was the Christ. When the disciples came back from buying the food and gave some to the Lord Jesus, he said: My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.
The Lord Jesus here is talking about the spiritual

John 4:1-20 1 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— ² although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. ³ So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. ⁴ Now he had to go through Samaria. ⁵ So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶ Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. ⁷ When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” ⁸ (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) ⁹ The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) ¹⁰ Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” ¹¹ “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? ¹² Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” ¹³ Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” ¹⁵ The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” ¹⁶ He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” ¹⁷ “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. ¹⁸ The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” ¹⁹ “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” 

Here it says that the Lord Jesus left Judea and went to Galilee. He had to go through Samaria, Samaritans are Gentiles, Jews had no association with them. Jesus was tired from the journey, so he sat down by the well. Here we see that the Lord Jesus as a human being also got tired. At this time, a Samaritan woman came to the well to draw water. The Lord Jesus asked her for a drink, then he talked about the living water. What does the living water represent? The living water represents the Holy Spirit received when a person believes in the Lord and is baptized. The Holy Spirit lives in the person as the living water which makes him no longer hunger and thirst, and the living water flows to eternal life. The Lord Jesus is God. He knows everything. He knew that this woman had had five husbands, but the man she had then was not her husband.  This woman was not satisfied with her life, and the Lord Jesus promised her the living water that would satisfy her. With the living water, the Holy Spirit in one’s life, he will no longer hunger and thirst, and he will be satisfied. A person will have an abundant life, a life with the presence of the Lord, the presence of the Holy Spirit. From this passage we see God’s great love and mercy, he is willingness to accept the sinners. He does not look at a person’s past sins and gives people a chance to repent.
May God bless you and your family. 😀

John 3:31-36 ³¹ The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. ³² He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. ³³ Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. ³⁴ For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. ³⁵ The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. ³⁶ Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever does not believe in the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.

Here it says: The one who comes from above is above all, Jesus comes from above, from heaven, he was with God the Father from the beginning. He is the Son of God and is above all. He is the King of kings, the Lord of the lords.
The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. Jesus comes from heaven, and he testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. Those who accept his testimony and believe in him become children of God. The Lord Jesus said earlier: I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? He speaks what God the Father told him, God gives him the Holy Spirit without limit, because he is the Son of God, and God never gives anyone Holy Spirit without limit. The Father loves the Son and and has placed everything in his hands. Those who believe in the Son have eternal life, and those who do not believe in the Son don’t have eternal life. Other versions of the Bible say that those who reject the Son, those who disobey the Son don’t have eternal life.
 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)
Here we see that believe, faith is important. Those who do not have faith cannot please God. Those who believe in God, those who seek God will be rewarded by Him.
May God bless you and your family. 😀

John 3:22-30 ²² After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized. ²³ Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were coming and being baptized. ²⁴ (This was before John was put in prison.) ²⁵ An argument developed between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. ²⁶ They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.” ²⁷ To this John replied, “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. ²⁸ You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’ ²⁹ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. ³⁰ He must become greater; I must become less.

Here it says that Jesus and his disciples went to Judea and baptized there. In fact, Jesus did not baptize people himself. It was his disciples who baptized people. At this time, Jesus had not yet ascended to heaven and the Holy Spirit had not been given at baptism. Therefore, the baptism was water baptism, not the baptism of the Holy Spirit.  John was also baptizing, asked people to repent. John’s disciples told John that everyone was going to Jesus. John said that he was not the Messiah, he was preparing the way for Christ, which was prophesied in the Old Testament:
The voice of one calling out, “Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. (Isaiah 40:3)
The prophecy here is about John the Baptist.
John went on to say that Jesus is the bridegroom and he is the bridegroom’s friend. The Bible says that Jesus is the bridegroom and the church is the bride. Christ is the head of the church, and the church is the body of Christ, just as the husband is the head of the wife and the wife is the body of the husband.
John the Baptist continued to say that Jesus must become greater; he must become less. He wanted to bring people to Jesus, not to himself. We saw earlier that he brought his disciples to Jesus and became disciples of Jesus.
May God bless you and your family. 😀