# John 1–21 — Complete O·I·A Study — Berean Dashboard Study _Seeking God diligently — “examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.” (Acts 17:11)_ Started: 2026-11-10 · Each chapter integrated with its John Deep Dive (Guzik, Sproul, Spurgeon, Henry) ## Marking legend - **gold** — God — His character & actions - **green** — Command / instruction - **sky** — Key repeated word - **rose** — Sin / warning - **violet** — Promise / blessing - **amber** — Time / place / contrast ## Chapters - John 1 — The Word Became Flesh - John 2 — The Good Wine and the True Temple - John 3 — You Must Be Born Again - John 4 — Living Water for a Thirsty Town - John 5 — The Son Who Gives Life - John 6 — The Bread of Life - John 7 — Rivers of Living Water - John 8 — Before Abraham Was Born, I Am - John 9 — Once Blind, Now I See - John 10 — The Door and the Good Shepherd - John 11 — I Am the Resurrection and the Life - John 12 — The Hour Has Come - John 13 — Loved to the End - John 14 — Do Not Let Your Heart Be Troubled - John 15 — The True Vine - John 16 — Sorrow Turned into Joy - John 17 — The Prayer of the Son - John 18 — The Cup, the Fire and the King - John 19 — Behold the Man, Behold Your King - John 20 — My Lord and My God - John 21 — Breakfast on the Shore, Follow Me ## John 1 — The Word Became Flesh ### Marked in the text - v1 — **“the Word was God”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v3 — **“All things came into being through Him”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v3 — **“All things were made by him”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v4 — **“In Him was life”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v4 — **“In him was life”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v5 — **“the darkness did not comprehend it”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v5 — **“the darkness comprehended it not”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v6 — **“a man sent from God”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v11 — **“those who were His own did not receive Him”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v11 — **“his own received him not”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v12 — **“the right to become children of God”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v12 — **“power to become the sons of God”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v13 — **“but of God”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v14 — **“the Word became flesh”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v14 — **“the Word was made flesh”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v14 — **“dwelt among us”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v14 — **“full of grace and truth”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v16 — **“grace upon grace”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v16 — **“grace for grace”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v17 — **“the Law was given through Moses”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v17 — **“the law was given by Moses”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v18 — **“He has explained Him”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v18 — **“he hath declared him”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v20 — **“I am not the Christ”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v23 — **“MAKE STRAIGHT THE WAY OF THE LORD”** (green: Command / instruction) - v23 — **“Make straight the way of the Lord”** (green: Command / instruction) - v27 — **“I am not worthy to untie”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v27 — **“I am not worthy to unloose”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v29 — **“the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v29 — **“the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v32 — **“the Spirit descending as a dove”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v32 — **“the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v33 — **“the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v33 — **“he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v39 — **“Come, and you will see”** (green: Command / instruction) - v39 — **“Come and see”** (green: Command / instruction) - v41 — **“We have found the Messiah”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v41 — **“We have found the Messias”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v42 — **“you shall be called Cephas”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v42 — **“thou shalt be called Cephas”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v43 — **“Follow Me”** (green: Command / instruction) - v43 — **“Follow me”** (green: Command / instruction) - v46 — **“Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v46 — **“Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v47 — **“in whom there is no deceit”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v47 — **“in whom is no guile”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v49 — **“You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v49 — **“thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v51 — **“the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v51 — **“the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v4 — **“Light”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v7 — **“testify”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v15 — **“testified”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v19 — **“testimony”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v7 — **“witness”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v19 — **“record”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v29 — **“The next day”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) — every occurrence in the chapter - v43 — **“The day following”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) ### Observation **Setting.** John writes last of the four Gospels and starts earliest — “In the beginning” (v1), before creation. Verses 1–18 are the prologue; verses 19–51 move to the Jordan, at “Bethany beyond the Jordan” where John was baptizing (v28), and then toward Galilee (v43). John tells us his purpose at 20:31: that we may believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and have life in His name. **Structure:** - vv1–5 — **the eternal Word:** with God and was God (v1); all things came into being through Him (v3); in Him was life, the Light of men; the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it (vv4–5). - vv6–13 — **witness and response:** a man sent from God, John, to testify about the Light (vv6–8). The true Light came into the world; the world did not know Him; His own did not receive Him (vv9–11). But as many as received Him received the right to become children of God — born of God (vv12–13). - vv14–18 — **the Word became flesh:** He dwelt among us; we saw His glory, full of grace and truth (v14). John’s testimony (v15); grace upon grace (v16); Law through Moses, grace and truth through Jesus Christ (v17); the only begotten God has explained the Father (v18). - vv19–28 — **day 1, the voice:** priests and Levites ask, “Who are you?” Not the Christ, not Elijah, not the Prophet (vv19–21); “a voice of one crying in the wilderness” (v23, Isaiah 40:3); not worthy to untie His sandal (v27). - vv29–34 — **day 2, the Lamb:** “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (v29). The Spirit descended as a dove and remained on Him (v32); He baptizes in the Holy Spirit (v33); “this is the Son of God” (v34). - vv35–42 — **day 3, the first followers:** two disciples follow; “What do you seek?” — “Come, and you will see” (vv38–39). Andrew finds Simon: “We have found the Messiah”; Simon is named Cephas (vv40–42). - vv43–51 — **day 4, Philip and Nathanael:** “Follow Me” (v43); “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” — “Come and see” (v46); “an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit” (v47); the fig tree; “You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel” (v49); the angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man (v51). **Repeated words, with counts:** - “God” ×13 — vv1 (×2), 2, 6, 12, 13, 18 (×2), 29, 34, 36, 49, 51. - “Jesus” ×12 — vv17, 29, 36, 37, 38, 42 (×2), 43, 45, 47, 48, 50. - “see / saw / seen” ×15 — see vv33, 39, 46, 50, 51; saw vv14, 29, 38, 39, 47, 48, 50; seen vv18, 32, 34. - “John” ×9 — vv6, 15, 19, 26, 28, 32, 35, 40 (the Baptist) and v42 (Simon’s father). - “testify / testified / testimony / witness” ×7 — vv7 (×2), 8, 15, 19, 32, 34. - “Light” ×6 — vv4, 5, 7, 8 (×2), 9; “darkness” ×2 — v5. - “baptize / baptizing / baptizes” ×6 — vv25, 26, 28, 31, 33 (×2). - “world” ×5 — vv9, 10 (×3), 29. - “found” ×5 — vv41 (×2), 43, 45 (×2). - “Word” ×4 — vv1 (×3), 14; “grace” ×4 — vv14, 16 (×2), 17; “Christ” ×4 — vv17, 20, 25, 41. - “follow / followed / following” ×4 — vv37, 38, 40, 43. - “Behold” ×3 — vv29, 36, 47; “Lamb of God” ×2 — vv29, 36. - “The next day” ×3 — vv29, 35, 43. - “believe” ×3 — vv7, 12, 50; “Spirit” ×3 — vv32, 33 (×2). - “Son of God” ×2 — vv34, 49; “Son of Man” ×1 — v51; “He existed before me” ×2 — vv15, 30. **Contrasts:** Light ⟷ darkness (v5). The world made through Him ⟷ the world did not know Him (v10). Did not receive Him ⟷ as many as received Him (vv11–12). Born of blood, flesh, the will of man ⟷ born of God (v13). Law through Moses ⟷ grace and truth through Jesus Christ (v17). No one has seen God ⟷ the only begotten God has explained Him (v18). “I am not” (vv20–21) ⟷ “This is the Son of God” (v34). Water baptism ⟷ baptism in the Holy Spirit (v33). “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” ⟷ “You will see greater things than these” (vv46, 50). **Shape of the chapter:** an overture in eternity (1–18), then four dated days on earth (19–51). The prologue says who He is; the days show men finding it out — by testimony, by following, by being found. **Chapter theme (my words):** The eternal Word, who is God and made all things, became flesh to show us the Father and to take away the sin of the world as God’s Lamb. Some refuse Him, but everyone who receives Him becomes God’s child — and every man who comes to see Him goes and brings someone else. ### Interpretation **Who is “the Word”?** John uses a word both Jews and Greeks already had. Guzik: for Jews, God’s self-expression; for Greeks, the reason behind the universe — and John fills it with a Person. Sproul: “In Hebrew thought, the Logos is personal.” Henry pictures a man’s thought becoming speech: Christ is the mind of God made known. **“The Word was God” — or “a god”?** In Greek the word order is *theos ēn ho logos*; *theos* without the article tells us what the Word is (God in nature) without saying He is the Father. Guzik calls the Jehovah’s Witness rendering “a wrong and misleading translation.” Verse 1 gives the whole doctrine of the Trinity in seed: the Word is distinct from God (“with God”) and is God. Sproul: “That sentence alone was enough to keep the theologians busy for three hundred years.” **“Comprehend” or “overcome” (v5)?** *Katelaben* can mean either. The darkness did not understand the Light, and it could not put it out. Guzik: “The light cannot lose against the darkness; the darkness will never overcome it.” Spurgeon: “How should darkness understand light?” **Which comes first — receiving or new birth (vv12–13)?** Verse 12 says those who receive and believe get the right to become God’s children; verse 13 says they were born “not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” Spurgeon reads the new birth as first: “no man lets Christ into his heart until first God has made him to be born again.” Guzik stresses the same source — “born of God, but not of human effort or achievement” — while describing faith simply as receiving. Christians differ on the order; all four teachers agree the birth is God’s work, and the invitation to receive Him is real. **“Dwelt” — the tabernacle (v14).** *Eskēnōsen*: He pitched His tent. The glory that filled the tabernacle (Exod 40:34) now lives in flesh. Spurgeon: the tabernacle “was full of law rather than full of grace”; Christ “is not the shadow, but the substance.” Henry: “He dwelt here as in a tent, not as at home.” **“Only begotten God” or “only begotten Son” (v18)?** The oldest manuscripts (and the NASB, SBLGNT) read *monogenēs theos*; the KJV follows later manuscripts. Either way the Son who is God has *explained* the Father — Jesus is God’s exegesis. Guzik: “Jesus, the Word, is the perfect declaration of the unseen God.” **Was John Elijah (v21)?** John says “I am not.” Jesus later says John came in Elijah’s spirit and power (Luke 1:17; Matt 11:14). Sproul holds both: not Elijah in person, but the Elijah-like forerunner. I hold, with my futurist reading, that Malachi 4:5 still has a fuller fulfillment before the day of the LORD. **The Lamb of God (v29).** Sproul answers critics who call the title John’s invention: Isaiah 53, the ram God provided in Abraham’s son’s place (Gen 22), and the Passover. Guzik lists the lamb from Eden to Isaiah. Henry: Christ takes away both the guilt and the power of sin. “The sin of the world” does not mean every person is automatically forgiven; it means the Lamb’s sacrifice is big enough for every sinner who comes (Guzik: it “has all the capacity to forgive every sin and cleanse every sinner”). **Jacob, Nathanael and the ladder (vv47–51).** “No deceit” contrasts Nathanael with Jacob the deceiver; Jesus then gives him Jacob’s vision (Gen 28:12) with Himself as the ladder. Guzik suggests Nathanael may have been meditating on that very passage under the fig tree. “Son of Man” is from Daniel 7:13 — Sproul: a title of heavenly glory and authority, “by far Jesus’ favorite self-designation.” **Word study (Greek):** - **Word — *logos* (G3056):** God’s speech and reason, now a Person (vv1, 14). - **comprehend — *katalambanō* (G2638):** grasp, seize; “comprehend” or “overcome” (v5; 12:35). - **testify — *martyreō* (G3140):** bear witness of what one has seen; seven times in the chapter. - **right — *exousia* (G1849):** granted authority, legal standing (v12). - **received — *lambanō* (G2983):** take hold of, welcome (v12). - **children — *teknon* (G5043):** born ones; ties to verse 13’s birth. - **dwelt — *skēnoō* (G4637):** pitched a tent, tabernacled (v14; Rev 21:3). - **only begotten — *monogenēs* (G3439):** unique, one of a kind (vv14, 18; 3:16). - **grace — *charis* (G5485):** “grace upon grace” (v16); four times in vv14–17. - **explained — *exēgeomai* (G1834):** led out, made known; our “exegesis.” - **voice — *phōnē* (G5456):** the carrier, not the message (v23). - **make straight — *euthynō* (G2116):** level the road (v23). - **lamb — *amnos* (G286):** sacrificial lamb; John 1:29, 36; Acts 8:32; 1 Pet 1:19. - **takes away — *airō* (G142):** lifts and carries off; present tense. - **remained — *menō* (G3306):** stayed, abode (vv32, 33, 38, 39). - **Messiah — *Messias* (G3323):** Anointed One; only John 1:41; 4:25. - **deceit — *dolos* (G1388):** cunning, guile (v47). **Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):** 1. **John starts before Genesis** — the Word already *was* when the beginning began. 2. **“The Word was God,” not “a god”** — distinct from the Father, equal in nature. 3. **The darkness neither grasped nor quenched the Light** (v5). 4. **Rejection is not the end of the story** — “but as many as received Him” (v12). 5. **The glory moved into a tent of flesh** (v14; Exod 40:34). 6. **Jesus is God’s exegesis** — no one has seen God, but the Son has explained Him (v18). 7. **The greatest man born of women called himself a voice** (vv20–23). 8. **God provides His own lamb** (v29; Gen 22:8). 9. **Every disciple in this chapter came through someone** — John, Andrew, Philip. 10. **Jesus saw him first** — under the fig tree (v48). **Cross-references:** Gen 1:1–3; 22:8; 27:35; 28:12; Exod 12:13; 33:20; 40:34; Deut 18:15; Ps 33:6; Isa 9:2; 40:3; 53:7; Dan 7:13; Mal 4:5; Matt 11:14; Luke 1:17; John 3:16–19; 12:35; 20:31; Acts 8:32; Col 1:16; Heb 1:2–3; 11:17; 1 Pet 1:19; 1 John 1:1; 4:9; Rev 21:3. ### Application **Truth to believe — the Word was God and became flesh.** Jesus isn’t a good teacher I add to my life; He is the One through whom my life came into being (v3). And He didn’t stay far off. He pitched His tent in the middle of us (v14). For the men I walk with who think God is up there and they are down here — in a cell, in a relapse, in a mess — this verse says He came down here. **Promise to trust — “as many as received Him.”** I know men whose own families did not receive them. Verse 11 says Jesus knows that pain: His own did not receive Him. Verse 12 is the promise: everyone who receives Him gets the right to become a child of God — not by bloodline, not by willpower, not by somebody else’s decision, but of God (v13). **Sin to confess — making myself the center.** John the Baptist could have had a following of his own. He kept saying “I am not.” I confess the ways I want to be the light in my family, my group, my ministry, my recovery story. I am at best a voice. My job is to point and say, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” **Command to obey — “Come, and you will see” / “Follow Me.”** Jesus didn’t hand those two men a doctrine sheet; He invited them to spend the day with Him (v39). This week I will give Him unhurried time — not to get through a reading plan, but to stay where He is staying. **Example to follow — Andrew.** The first thing Andrew did was find his own brother (v41). Spurgeon: “Let thy religion begin at home.” Andrew had two talents and found Peter. I will name one man — a brother, a son, a cellmate, a coworker — and say “Come and see.” **Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):** 1. If Jesus is the eternal Word through whom all things came into being, what part of my life am I still treating as outside His authority? (1:1–4; Col 1:16) *Outside of Him there is no life (Sproul); He made all things, and He is not a lesser god.* 2. Verse 12 says the right to become children of God is given to those who receive Him. What does receiving Him look like for a man who has been rejected by his own family? (1:11–13) *Born not of blood or the will of man, but of God — a new family and a new name.* 3. “The Word became flesh” — He came all the way down. Where do I need to believe that God has come close to me, not just to good people? (1:14–17) *He dwelt as in a tent among us; grace upon grace, not law upon law.* 4. John the Baptist kept saying “I am not.” Where am I tempted to make myself the center of a ministry, a family or a recovery story? (1:19–27) *A voice, not the Word; John hides himself behind his Master.* 5. What changes when I stop trying to take away my own sin and look at “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”? (1:29; Gen 22:8; Isa 53:7) *God provides His own lamb; the Lamb is taking it away — present tense.* 6. Who is the one person I could say “Come and see” to this week, the way Andrew went for his brother? (1:39–46) *Found Christ, finds others — and religion begins at home.* **Worship.** Before there was a sunrise, there was the Word. He made the light, then walked into the dark as a Man. He is the Lamb God provided, the Son of God, the King of Israel, the ladder between heaven and earth — and He saw Nathanael under a fig tree before anybody called him. He sees me too. **Prayer.** Lord Jesus, eternal Word, You were with God and You are God, and You became flesh for me. Thank You for coming close. I receive You — make me Your child, not by my effort but by Your birth. Behold, the Lamb of God: take away my sin, the sin I’ve carried and the sin I keep picking back up. Let me be a voice that points to You, not a light that competes with You. Give me Andrew’s heart for my own brother, and let me say to the men around me, “Come and see.” Amen. ## John 2 — The Good Wine and the True Temple ### Marked in the text - v1 — **“On the third day”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v1 — **“the third day”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v3 — **“They have no wine”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v4 — **“My hour has not yet come”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v4 — **“mine hour is not yet come”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v5 — **“Whatever He says to you, do it”** (green: Command / instruction) - v5 — **“Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it”** (green: Command / instruction) - v6 — **“for the Jewish custom of purification”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v6 — **“after the manner of the purifying of the Jews”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v7 — **“Fill the waterpots with water”** (green: Command / instruction) - v7 — **“they filled them up to the brim”** (green: Command / instruction) - v10 — **“you have kept the good wine until now”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v10 — **“thou hast kept the good wine until now”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v11 — **“This beginning of His signs”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v11 — **“This beginning of miracles”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v11 — **“manifested His glory”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v11 — **“manifested forth his glory”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v11 — **“His disciples believed in Him”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v11 — **“his disciples believed on him”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v14 — **“the money changers seated at their tables”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v14 — **“the changers of money sitting”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v15 — **“He made a scourge of cords”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v15 — **“he had made a scourge of small cords”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v16 — **“stop making My Father’s house a place of business”** (green: Command / instruction) - v16 — **“make not my Father's house an house of merchandise”** (green: Command / instruction) - v17 — **“ZEAL FOR YOUR HOUSE WILL CONSUME ME”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v17 — **“The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v18 — **“What sign do You show us”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v18 — **“What sign shewest thou unto us”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v19 — **“Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v21 — **“the temple of His body”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v21 — **“the temple of his body”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v22 — **“they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v22 — **“they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v24 — **“was not entrusting Himself to them”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v24 — **“did not commit himself unto them”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v25 — **“He Himself knew what was in man”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v25 — **“he knew what was in man”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v3 — **“wine”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v14 — **“temple”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v11 — **“believed”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v11 — **“signs”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v18 — **“sign”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter ### Observation **Setting.** “On the third day” (v1) after Jesus set out for Galilee (1:43) — a wedding in Cana of Galilee, with Jesus, His mother and His disciples as guests. Then a few days at Capernaum (v12), and up to Jerusalem for “the Passover of the Jews” (v13), where the rest of the chapter takes place in and around the temple. **Structure:** - vv1–5 — **the need:** the wine runs out; Mary: “They have no wine”; Jesus: “Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come”; Mary to the servants: “Whatever He says to you, do it.” - vv6–10 — **the sign:** six stone waterpots for purification, twenty or thirty gallons each; “Fill the waterpots with water” — filled to the brim; drawn out and taken to the headwaiter, who calls the bridegroom: “you have kept the good wine until now.” - vv11–12 — **the result:** “This beginning of His signs … manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him”; down to Capernaum for a few days. - vv13–17 — **the cleansing:** sellers of oxen, sheep and doves and money changers in the temple; a scourge of cords; all driven out, coins poured out, tables overturned; “stop making My Father’s house a place of business”; the disciples remember “ZEAL FOR YOUR HOUSE WILL CONSUME ME” (Ps 69:9). - vv18–22 — **the sign demanded:** “What sign do You show us?” — “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” “It took forty-six years to build this temple.” He spoke of the temple of His body; after He was raised, the disciples remembered and believed. - vv23–25 — **the hearts:** many believed, observing His signs; but Jesus was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men and knew what was in man. **Repeated words, with counts:** - “Jesus” ×10 — vv1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 11, 13, 19, 22, 24. - “wine” ×6 — vv3 (×2), 9, 10 (×3); “water” ×3 — vv7, 9 (×2); “waterpots” ×2 — vv6, 7. - “temple” ×5 — vv14, 15, 19, 20, 21. - “disciples” ×5 — vv2, 11, 12, 17, 22. - “mother” ×4 — vv1, 3, 5, 12. - “believed” ×3 — vv11, 22, 23; “sign / signs” ×3 — vv11, 18, 23. - “headwaiter” ×3 — vv8, 9 (×2). - “Jews” ×3 — vv13, 18, 20. - “knew” ×3 — vv9, 24, 25; “man” ×3 — vv10, 25 (×2). - “raise / raised” ×3 — vv19, 20, 22; “three days” ×2 — vv19, 20. - “remembered” ×2 — vv17, 22; “house” ×2 — vv16, 17; “Passover” ×2 — vv13, 23; “wedding” ×2 — vv1, 2. **Contrasts:** water for purification ⟷ the good wine (vv6, 10). Every man serves the good wine first ⟷ you have kept the good wine until now (v10). My Father’s house ⟷ a place of business (v16). A temple forty-six years in building ⟷ raised up in three days (vv19–20). The temple of stone ⟷ the temple of His body (v21). They believed in His name ⟷ He was not entrusting Himself to them (vv23–24). **Shape of the chapter:** joy in Galilee (1–12), zeal in Jerusalem (13–22), discernment at the feast (23–25). Two scenes, one direction: the old vessels — the jars and the temple — are filled and replaced by Jesus Himself. **Chapter theme (my words):** Jesus’ first sign turns the water of ritual washing into the best wine, and His first public act in Jerusalem clears His Father’s house and points to His body as the true temple. Signs are meant to lead to faith in Him, and He knows the difference between real faith and a crowd’s excitement. ### Interpretation **“Woman” — rude or respectful (v4)?** Guzik and Sproul hear respect: Sproul, “this was a title of respect”; Guzik, Jesus used a term of respect “but He did not call her “mother”” — the relationship was changing as His public ministry began. Henry reads it as a check on Mary’s presumption and a warning against later devotion to her. The same word comes from the cross (19:26), with obvious love. I take it as respectful but firm: from now on Jesus acts on His Father’s timing, not even His mother’s. **What is “My hour” (v4)?** Not merely the moment for a miracle. Through John the hour is “not yet” (7:30; 8:20) until it comes at the cross (12:23; 13:1; 17:1). Sproul: “It’s not yet time for Me to enter into My glory.” Cana gives an early taste of that glory (v11). **Was it really wine?** Sproul says plainly that it was real, fermented wine, that the Bible condemns drunkenness rather than wine, and that each believer must follow his conscience. Guzik: well-made wine, not a statement about strength. Spurgeon sets the argument aside to look at the grace and the command. For the men I serve in recovery, the point of Cana is not permission but provision: Jesus saves a family from shame and gives joy without hangover. For a man whose drinking destroyed him, sobriety is the wise and loving way to honor this Lord. **Why the purification jars?** Six stone jars “for the Jewish custom of purification” (v6). Guzik: they belong to the system of Law; Moses turned water to blood (Exod 7:20), Jesus turned water to wine — “The wine was better than the water; and the New Covenant is better than the Old Covenant.” Sproul: the water of washing gives way to the new wine of the kingdom. Henry: where the law brought bitterness, the gospel brings blessing. **One cleansing or two?** John puts a cleansing at the first Passover; Matthew, Mark and Luke put one in the last week. Sproul and Guzik both conclude Jesus did it twice — Sproul argues the traders would have been back quickly. Some scholars think John moved the event to the front for theological reasons; I find two cleansings the most natural reading of two different settings. **Was Jesus out of control?** No. Guzik: “He did not do it in a flash of anger. He carefully took the time to make a whip of cords.” Sproul: the whip was for the animals. Henry: “Discretion must always guide and govern our zeal.” Righteous anger is real — but it is deliberate, aimed at what dishonors God, and it protected the one court where Gentiles could pray. **“Destroy this temple” (v19).** The listeners took it literally (v20) and later twisted it at His trial (Matt 26:61). John explains: He spoke of His body (v21). Guzik: “the religious leaders themselves would be the means by which the prophecy was fulfilled.” Sproul: “the supreme sign is the resurrection,” and “Christ is the temple.” Henry: “The body of Christ is the true temple, of which that at Jerusalem was a type.” I also hold that Scripture speaks of a future temple in Jerusalem (Ezekiel 40–48; 2 Thess 2:4), but its meaning will always be Christ, who is the presence of God among His people — and the city to come needs no temple at all because “the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple” (Rev 21:22). **Why didn’t Jesus trust believers (vv23–25)?** Their faith rested on spectacle. Guzik: “thin, superficial belief.” Henry: some insincere, some weak, some wanting a political Messiah. John’s wordplay: they *believed*; He did not *entrust* Himself — same verb. Sproul links this to chapter 3: “He knew what was in Nicodemus.” Not all faith is saving faith; faith that stops at the sign has not yet reached the Person. **Word study (Greek):** - **sign — *sēmeion* (G4592):** a pointer to who Jesus is (vv11, 18, 23). - **beginning — *archē* (G746):** the first and pattern of the signs (v11). - **manifested — *phaneroō* (G5319):** made visible (v11). - **glory — *doxa* (G1391):** the glory of 1:14 seen at Cana (v11). - **woman — *gynē* (G1135):** respectful address; again at 19:26. - **hour — *hōra* (G5610):** the appointed hour of His death and glory. - **whip — *phragellion* (G5416):** Latin loanword; only here. - **money changers — *kollybistēs* (G2855); coins — *kerma* (G2772).** - **temple (courts) — *hieron* (G2411):** the whole complex (vv14–15). - **zeal — *zēlos* (G2205):** burning devotion; **consume — *katesthiō* (G2719):** eat up. - **temple (sanctuary) — *naos* (G3485):** the dwelling of God; His body (vv19–21). - **destroy — *lyō* (G3089):** loose, break up. - **raise — *egeirō* (G1453):** raise up, resurrect (vv19, 20, 22). - **believe / entrust — *pisteuō* (G4100):** they believed; He did not entrust Himself (vv23–24). - **know — *ginōskō* (G1097):** He knew all men (vv24–25). **Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):** 1. **A sign is a signpost** — sign → glory → faith (v11; 20:31). 2. **Moses turned water to blood; Jesus turned water to wine** (Exod 7:20). 3. **The jars were for washing** — the old system’s vessels filled with new joy. 4. **“Whatever He says to you, do it”** — Mary’s greatest sermon (Sproul). 5. **We fill; He turns** (Spurgeon). 6. **The best is kept for last** — the world reverses it; Christ doesn’t. 7. **Zeal with a whip He took time to make** — deliberate, not a tantrum. 8. **The market was in the Gentiles’ court** — the nations’ place of prayer spoiled. 9. **Hieron and naos** — He cleared the courts; He called His body the sanctuary. 10. **Not every believer is trusted with Him** — He knew what was in man. **Cross-references:** Exod 7:20; Ps 16:10; 69:9; Isa 25:6; Amos 9:13; Mal 3:1; Matt 21:12–13; 26:61; Mark 11:15–17; Luke 19:45–46; John 1:14, 43; 3:1; 7:30; 12:23; 19:26; 20:30–31; Rom 8:11; 1 Cor 3:16; 6:19; Gal 1:1; Rev 19:9; 21:22. ### Application **Command to obey — “Whatever He says to you, do it.”** Mary didn’t tell Jesus how to fix it; she told the servants to obey Him. The servants didn’t understand why He wanted water in washing jars. They filled them anyway, to the brim. This week I will take one thing Jesus has clearly told me — forgive, confess, make the call, go to the meeting, read the Word — and do it all the way, not halfway. **Promise to trust — “you have kept the good wine until now.”** The world serves its best first: the first drink, the first high, the first thrill, the first lie that works. Then comes the cheap stuff, and then the bill. Jesus reverses it. For the men I walk with who think their best days are behind them, Cana says the Lord keeps the good wine for later. The best is not behind a man in Christ; it is ahead. **Sin to confess — a place of business in the Father’s house.** My body is a temple of God (1 Cor 3:16). I confess the tables I’ve set up there — the deals I make with sin, the things I sell my attention to, the religion I use to get something. I ask Him to come with His zeal and turn them over, and I won’t fight Him when He does. **Truth to live in — Jesus is the temple.** I don’t meet God by getting to the right building or the right ritual. I meet Him in Jesus, the One whose body was destroyed and raised in three days. That empty tomb is the sign He gives me when I demand one. **Warning to heed — He knows what is in man.** Excitement about Jesus is not the same as trusting Him. I’ve seen men light up at a revival or in a crisis and drift when the signs stopped. Jesus knows what is in me — and the good news is that He came anyway. I don’t have to impress Him; I need to come to Him honestly, like Nicodemus is about to. **Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):** 1. Where in my life has “the wine run out” — a marriage, a family, a job, a recovery — and have I simply told Jesus, “They have no wine”? (2:3–5) *Never pray as if we were dictators (Spurgeon); the delays of mercy are not denials (Henry).* 2. What has Jesus told me to do that I am doing halfway? What would filling the waterpots “to the brim” look like this week? (2:5–8) *Christ’s commands are never meant to be done in a half-hearted manner.* 3. The world serves its best wine first and its worst last. Where have I tasted that in my own life — and where have I seen Jesus keep the good wine until now? (2:9–10; Isa 25:6) *Christ seeks no disciples dazzled with first appearances; the best is yet to come.* 4. If my body is a temple of God, what tables need overturning — what has turned His house into a place of business? (2:14–17; 1 Cor 3:16) *Zeal guided by discretion; God is particular about how He is approached.* 5. Jesus pointed to His resurrection as the sign. How does the empty tomb answer the question I keep asking God — “What sign do You show us?” (2:18–22; Ps 16:10) *The supreme sign is the resurrection (Sproul).* 6. Jesus “knew what was in man.” Does it frighten me or comfort me that He knows exactly what is in me — and still came? (2:23–25; 3:1) *He knows the worst, and still sees the image of God (Guzik).* **Worship.** The Lord of the feast came to a village wedding and saved a family from shame. The Lord of the temple came with zeal and cleared His Father’s house. The Lord of life let them destroy the temple of His body and raised it up in three days. He knew what was in every man in Jerusalem — and He knows what is in me — and He still keeps the good wine for those who come to Him. **Prayer.** Lord Jesus, the wine has run out in places in my life, and I bring them to You — I won’t tell You how to fix them. Whatever You say to me, I will do it, to the brim. Turn the water of my religion into the wine of real joy. Come into the temple of my body with Your zeal and overturn every table that doesn’t belong there. Thank You that the sign You give is Your empty tomb. You know what is in me; make my faith more than excitement — make it trust in You. Amen. ## John 3 — You Must Be Born Again ### Marked in the text - v2 — **“came to Jesus by night”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v3 — **“unless one is born again”** (green: Command / instruction) - v3 — **“Except a man be born again”** (green: Command / instruction) - v5 — **“born of water and the Spirit”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v5 — **“born of water and of the Spirit”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v6 — **“That which is born of the flesh is flesh”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v7 — **“You must be born again”** (green: Command / instruction) - v7 — **“Ye must be born again”** (green: Command / instruction) - v8 — **“The wind blows where it wishes”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v8 — **“The wind bloweth where it listeth”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v10 — **“the teacher of Israel”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v10 — **“a master of Israel”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v13 — **“He who descended from heaven”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v13 — **“he that came down from heaven”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v14 — **“even so must the Son of Man be lifted up”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v14 — **“even so must the Son of man be lifted up”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v16 — **“God so loved the world”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v16 — **“He gave His only begotten Son”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v16 — **“he gave his only begotten Son”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v16 — **“shall not perish, but have eternal life”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v16 — **“should not perish, but have everlasting life”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v17 — **“that the world might be saved through Him”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v17 — **“that the world through him might be saved”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v18 — **“has been judged already”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v18 — **“is condemned already”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v19 — **“men loved the darkness rather than the Light”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v19 — **“men loved darkness rather than light”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v21 — **“he who practices the truth comes to the Light”** (green: Command / instruction) - v21 — **“he that doeth truth cometh to the light”** (green: Command / instruction) - v23 — **“Aenon near Salim”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v23 — **“AEnon near to Salim”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v27 — **“A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v27 — **“A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v29 — **“the friend of the bridegroom”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v30 — **“He must increase, but I must decrease”** (green: Command / instruction) - v34 — **“He gives the Spirit without measure”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v34 — **“God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v35 — **“The Father loves the Son”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v35 — **“The Father loveth the Son”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v36 — **“He who believes in the Son has eternal life”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v36 — **“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v36 — **“the wrath of God abides on him”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v36 — **“the wrath of God abideth on him”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v3 — **“born”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v12 — **“believe”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v15 — **“believes”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v18 — **“believed”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v15 — **“believeth”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v19 — **“Light”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v11 — **“testimony”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v32 — **“testifies”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v32 — **“testifieth”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter ### Observation **Setting.** Jerusalem at Passover (2:13, 23), right after Jesus cleansed the temple and “knew what was in man” (2:25). Nicodemus — a Pharisee, a ruler of the Jews, “the teacher of Israel” — comes at night (vv1–2). Then the scene moves to the Judean countryside, where Jesus’ disciples are baptizing, and to Aenon near Salim, where John the Baptist is still baptizing before his arrest (vv22–24). **Structure:** - vv1–8 — **born from above:** Nicodemus’s compliment (v2); “unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (v3); “How can a man be born when he is old?” (v4); born of water and the Spirit (v5); flesh gives birth to flesh, Spirit to spirit (v6); “You must be born again” (v7); the wind (v8). - vv9–15 — **the Son of Man lifted up:** “How can these things be?” (v9); the teacher of Israel does not understand (v10); earthly things and heavenly things (vv11–12); the only One who descended from heaven (v13); Moses’ serpent and the Son lifted up, so that whoever believes has eternal life (vv14–15). - vv16–21 — **love and light:** God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son (v16); sent to save, not to judge (v17); believer not judged, unbeliever judged already (v18); men loved the darkness (vv19–20); the one who practices the truth comes to the Light (v21). - vv22–30 — **the friend of the bridegroom:** Jesus and John both baptizing (vv22–24); a dispute about purification; “all are coming to Him” (vv25–26); a man receives nothing unless given from heaven (v27); “I am not the Christ” (v28); the bridegroom and his friend, joy made full (v29); “He must increase, but I must decrease” (v30). - vv31–36 — **the One from above:** He is above all (v31); He testifies to what He has seen, and few receive it (vv32–33); He speaks God’s words and has the Spirit without measure (v34); the Father has given all things into His hand (v35); life or wrath (v36). **Repeated words, with counts:** - “born” ×8 — vv3, 4 (×2), 5, 6 (×2), 7, 8 (all in vv3–8). - “believe / believes / believed” ×8 — vv12 (×2), 15, 16, 18 (×3), 36. - “Son” ×8 — vv13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 35, 36 (×2); “Son of Man” ×2 — vv13, 14. - “God” ×12 — vv2 (×2), 3, 5, 16, 17, 18, 21, 33, 34 (×2), 36. - “testify / testimony / witnesses” ×7 — vv11 (×2), 26, 28, 32 (×2), 33. - “world” ×5 — vv16, 17 (×3), 19. - “Light” ×5 — vv19 (×2), 20 (×2), 21; “darkness” ×1 — v19. - “heaven / heavenly” ×5 — vv12, 13 (×2), 27, 31; “above” ×3 — v31; “earth / earthly” ×4 — vv12, 31 (×3). - “Spirit” ×4 — vv5, 6, 8, 34 (+ “spirit” v6). - “judge / judged / judgment” ×4 — vv17, 18 (×2), 19. - “baptizing / baptized” ×4 — vv22, 23 (×2), 26. - “must” ×4 — vv7, 14, 30 (×2). - “eternal life” ×3 — vv15, 16, 36 (“life” ×4 with v36’s “will not see life”). - “Truly, truly” ×3 — vv3, 5, 11; “kingdom of God” ×2 — vv3, 5. - “love(s) / loved” ×3 — vv16, 19, 35; “deeds” ×3 — vv19, 20, 21. **Contrasts:** night (v2) ⟷ Light (vv19–21). Born of the flesh ⟷ born of the Spirit (v6). Earthly things ⟷ heavenly things (v12). Ascended ⟷ descended (v13). Perish ⟷ eternal life (v16). Saved ⟷ judged (vv17–18). Darkness ⟷ Light; does evil ⟷ practices the truth (vv19–21). Bridegroom ⟷ friend of the bridegroom (v29). Increase ⟷ decrease (v30). From above ⟷ of the earth (v31). Believes ⟷ does not obey; life ⟷ wrath (v36). **Shape of the chapter:** a conversation (1–21) and a testimony (22–36). It moves from a man who must be born from above to the Son who came from above, and from a teacher in the dark to a friend who rejoices in the Light. **Chapter theme (my words):** The kingdom of God is entered only by a new birth from above, worked by the Spirit and received by looking in faith to the Son lifted up. The one who believes has life now; the one who refuses remains under wrath; and the one who has seen Him gladly gets smaller. ### Interpretation **What does “born again” mean?** *Anōthen* means both “again” and “from above” (Guzik, Henry). Nicodemus hears only the first and pictures a second physical birth (v4). Jesus means a birth God gives — “born of the Spirit” (vv5–8). Sproul: “There is no such thing as a non-born-again Christian or an unregenerate Christian.” “Born-again Christian” is a redundant phrase. **What is the “water” in verse 5?** Honest teachers differ. Guzik lists five readings — baptism, physical birth, the Word (Eph 5:26), the Spirit as living water (7:38–39), and the cleansing water of Ezekiel 36:25–27 — and gives Ezekiel “the most weight (though it is a tough call).” Sproul admits he does not know for sure, reads it through Ezekiel 36–37, and thinks a baptism reading less likely. Henry: “of the Spirit working like water.” Spurgeon flatly rejects baptismal regeneration. Ezekiel’s promise of clean water *and* a new spirit, given to Israel, is what a “teacher of Israel” should have known (v10). **Which comes first, new birth or faith?** Sproul, Spurgeon and Henry read the chapter in the Reformed way: the Spirit must give life before a dead man can believe (Sproul: Lazarus cannot bring himself out of the tomb). Others read verses 14–16 as faith receiving the new life. Both agree on what matters most for my men: you cannot birth yourself (Guzik), and whoever looks to Christ lives (Spurgeon). **Why the bronze serpent?** Israel was dying of a judgment they deserved (Num 21:4–9). God’s remedy looked like the very thing that was killing them, lifted on a pole, and all they had to do was look. Guzik: “a bronze serpent does speak of sin, but of sin judged.” Sproul: “the substitute serpent.” “Lifted up” in John always means the cross first (12:32–33), then the glory. **Who is speaking in verse 16?** The original Greek has no quotation marks. NASB prints Jesus speaking through v21; Sproul notes that “Usually, commentators see John 3:16 as an editorial comment made by John.” Either way it is the Word of God, and the point is the same. **What does “the world” mean in verse 16?** Guzik notes that many Jews assumed God loved Israel alone, so “the world” was revolutionary. Sproul warns against reading it as universalism: God loves the world by giving one Son, and refusing Him leaves a man judged already (v18). Spurgeon: “while every unbeliever is excluded, every believer is included.” **Why do men stay in the dark?** Not lack of evidence but love of darkness (v19). Guzik: “there is a moral compromise at the root of their rejection.” Henry: “Christ is hated because sin is loved.” The Light exposes (*elenchō*), and that is what we fear. **Who speaks verses 31–36?** NASB keeps John the Baptist speaking through v36; Guzik notes others read it as the evangelist’s comment. The teaching does not change: the Son is from above, has the Spirit without measure, and holds all things in His hand. **Word study (Greek):** - **again / from above — *anōthen* (G509):** both senses; John 3:3, 7, 31; 19:11, 23. - **wind / Spirit — *pneuma* (G4151):** the same word in v8; wind, breath, Spirit. - **must — *dei* (G1163):** divine necessity; 3:7, 14, 30; 4:4, 24. - **lift up — *hypsoō* (G5312):** in John always the Son of Man — 3:14; 8:28; 12:32, 34; it means the cross (12:33). - **only begotten — *monogenēs* (G3439):** one of a kind; John 1:14, 18; 3:16, 18; Heb 11:17 (Isaac); 1 John 4:9. - **exposed — *elenchō* (G1651):** brought to light and convicted; 3:20; 8:46; 16:8. - **bridegroom — *nymphios* (G3566):** John 2:9; 3:29 (×3); the LORD as Israel’s bridegroom (Isa 62:5). - **wrath — *orgē* (G3709):** settled opposition to sin; only here in John’s Gospel. - **does not obey — *apeitheō* (G544):** refuses to be persuaded; only here in John. **Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):** 1. **The chapter begins after a warning** — Jesus did not entrust Himself to sign-impressed believers (2:23–25). 2. **“Again” and “from above” are one word** — *anōthen*. 3. **You cannot birth yourself** (Guzik); Lazarus cannot raise himself (Sproul). 4. **The water is probably Ezekiel’s water** — none of the four makes it baptismal regeneration. 5. **Saved by a look** — Christ “hung on the cross on purpose to be looked at” (Spurgeon). 6. **The cross is a divine “must”** — the same *dei* in vv7, 14, 30. 7. **Love came before we turned** (Guzik). 8. **Men run from the Light because it exposes** (Sproul, Henry). 9. **Joy in decreasing** — John was happy to lose his congregation to Jesus (Guzik). 10. **Wrath abides — and so does life** — both present tense in v36. **Cross-references:** Gen 22:2; Num 21:4–9; Isa 45:22; 54:5; 62:5; Ezek 36:25–27; 37:1–14; Dan 7:13; Hos 2:19–20; John 1:12–13; 2:23–25; 5:24; 7:37–39, 50–51; 8:28; 12:32–33; 19:39; Rom 1:18–21; 5:8; Eph 5:26; Titus 3:5; Heb 11:17; 1 Pet 1:23; 1 John 1:7; 4:9. ### Application **Command to obey — “You must be born again.”** This is not a suggestion to try harder. I have sat with men who have been “religious” since childhood, who know the songs and the verses, and who have never been born from above. Nicodemus had everything a man could have on the outside. If that wasn’t enough for him, it isn’t enough for me. The first question isn’t “am I doing better?” but “have I been born of the Spirit?” **Promise to trust — “whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.”** The bitten Israelite didn’t have to understand bronze or theology. He had to look. When a man tells me he is too far gone, I point him to the pole: the remedy was for people dying of the very thing they had done. “Whoever” has no fine print. And the life is present tense — “has eternal life” (v36) — not a reward I earn at the end. **Sin to confess — loving the darkness.** Verse 20 is honest about me: I have kept things out of the Light because I didn’t want them exposed. The phone, the money, the resentment, the drink. Jesus says that is not a lack of information; it is a love of darkness. I confess it, and I bring it into the Light, because the Light came to save, not to condemn (v17). **Example to follow — John the Baptist.** “He must increase, but I must decrease.” I want credit. I want the men to say I helped them. John lost his crowd and called it joy. This week I will do one thing for another man’s good where I get no credit at all, and I will thank God when someone else gets the attention. **Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):** 1. Nicodemus had religion, position and reputation, and still had to be born again. What have I trusted in that cannot give me new birth? (3:1–7; Titus 3:5) *A man’s first birth does not assure him of the kingdom (Guzik).* 2. Where have I seen the “wind” of the Spirit at work in a man I know — not the wind itself, but what it moved? (3:8; Ezek 37:9–10) *You hear its sound; you see its effects.* 3. The bitten Israelites only had to look. What am I still trying to do, instead of looking to Christ lifted up? (3:14–15; Num 21:8–9) *All you have to do is to look (Spurgeon).* 4. Is there a part of my life I keep out of the Light “for fear that [my] deeds will be exposed”? What would it take to bring it in? (3:19–21; 1 John 1:7) *The Light comes to save before it judges (v17).* 5. Where am I competing for credit or attention in ministry, at home or at work? What would “I must decrease” look like this week? (3:27–30) *The friend of the bridegroom rejoices at the Groom’s voice.* 6. Verse 36 says the believer has eternal life now. How would I live differently today if I believed that is already true of me? (3:36; 5:24) *Present tense: has life; present tense: wrath abides.* **Worship.** God so loved the world — not a world that was looking for Him, but a world loving darkness — that He gave His only begotten Son. The Son came down from heaven, was lifted up on a cross like the serpent on the pole, and now holds all things in His hand. The Spirit blows where He wishes, and He blew on me. **Prayer.** Father, thank You for loving me before I ever turned to You, and for giving Your only Son. Lord Jesus, I look to You lifted up for me; I cannot birth myself. Holy Spirit, blow where You wish — through me, and through the men I serve. Drag my hidden deeds into the Light, and let them be wrought in God. Make me glad to decrease, so that You increase in my home, my group and my heart. Amen. ## John 4 — Living Water for a Thirsty Town ### Marked in the text - v4 — **“He had to pass through Samaria”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v4 — **“he must needs go through Samaria”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v6 — **“being wearied from His journey”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v6 — **“being wearied with his journey”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v6 — **“about the sixth hour”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v9 — **“Jews have no dealings with Samaritans”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v9 — **“the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v10 — **“If you knew the gift of God”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v10 — **“If thou knewest the gift of God”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v14 — **“shall never thirst”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v14 — **“a well of water springing up to eternal life”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v14 — **“a well of water springing up into everlasting life”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v16 — **“Go, call your husband”** (green: Command / instruction) - v16 — **“Go, call thy husband”** (green: Command / instruction) - v18 — **“you have had five husbands”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v18 — **“thou hast had five husbands”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v22 — **“salvation is from the Jews”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v22 — **“salvation is of the Jews”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v23 — **“the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth”** (green: Command / instruction) - v23 — **“the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth”** (green: Command / instruction) - v23 — **“the Father seeks to be His worshipers”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v23 — **“the Father seeketh such to worship him”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v24 — **“God is spirit”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v24 — **“God is a Spirit”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v26 — **“I who speak to you am He”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v26 — **“I that speak unto thee am he”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v28 — **“left her waterpot”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v29 — **“Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done”** (green: Command / instruction) - v29 — **“Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did”** (green: Command / instruction) - v34 — **“My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v34 — **“My meat is to do the will of him that sent me”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v35 — **“lift up your eyes and look on the fields”** (green: Command / instruction) - v35 — **“Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields”** (green: Command / instruction) - v35 — **“white for harvest”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v35 — **“white already to harvest”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v42 — **“the Savior of the world”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v42 — **“the Saviour of the world”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v44 — **“a prophet has no honor in his own country”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v44 — **“a prophet hath no honour in his own country”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v48 — **“Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v48 — **“Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v50 — **“Go; your son lives”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v50 — **“Go thy way; thy son liveth”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v52 — **“Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v53 — **“he himself believed and his whole household”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v53 — **“himself believed, and his whole house”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v54 — **“a second sign”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v54 — **“the second miracle”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v10 — **“living water”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v20 — **“worship”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v20 — **“worshiped”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v23 — **“worshipers”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v20 — **“worshipped”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v23 — **“worshippers”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v21 — **“believe”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v39 — **“believed”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter ### Observation **Setting.** Jesus leaves Judea because the Pharisees have heard He is making more disciples than John (vv1–3). On the road north He stops at Sychar in Samaria, at Jacob’s well, about the sixth hour (vv4–6). He stays two days with the Samaritans (v40), then goes on to Galilee and to Cana, where a royal official from Capernaum begs Him to heal his son (vv43–54). **Structure:** - vv1–6 — **the road and the well:** the Pharisees hear; Jesus leaves Judea; “He had to pass through Samaria” (v4); Sychar, Jacob’s land and Jacob’s well; Jesus, wearied, sits by the well at the sixth hour. - vv7–15 — **living water:** “Give Me a drink” (v7); “How is it that You, being a Jew …?” (v9); the gift of God and living water (v10); “the well is deep” — greater than Jacob? (vv11–12); this water vs. the water I will give (vv13–14); “Sir, give me this water” (v15). - vv16–26 — **spirit and truth:** “Go, call your husband” (v16); five husbands (vv17–18); “I perceive that You are a prophet” — this mountain or Jerusalem? (vv19–20); an hour is coming; salvation is from the Jews; the Father seeks true worshipers; God is spirit (vv21–24); “I know that Messiah is coming” — “I who speak to you am He” (vv25–26). - vv27–42 — **the harvest:** the disciples are amazed (v27); she leaves her waterpot — “Come, see a man” (vv28–30); “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me” (vv31–34); fields white for harvest, sower and reaper (vv35–38); many Samaritans believe because of her word, many more because of His; “the Savior of the world” (vv39–42). - vv43–54 — **the second sign:** a prophet has no honor in his own country (v44); the Galileans receive Him (v45); Cana, a royal official, a dying son (vv46–47); “Unless you people see signs and wonders” (v48); “Go; your son lives” — he believed the word (vv49–50); the slaves meet him; the seventh hour (vv51–52); he and his whole household believed (v53); the second sign (v54). **Repeated words, with counts:** - “come / comes / coming / came” ×14 — vv5, 7, 15, 16, 25, 27, 35, 40, 45, 46, 47 (×2), 49, 54. - “harvest / reap / sow / labor” ×11 — vv35 (×2), 36 (×3), 37 (×2), 38 (×4). - “worship / worshiped / worshipers” ×10 — vv20 (×2), 21, 22 (×2), 23 (×3), 24 (×2). - “water” ×9 — vv7, 10, 11, 13, 14 (×3), 15, 46; “living water” ×2 — vv10, 11. - “Samaria / Samaritan(s)” ×8 — vv4, 5, 7, 9 (×3), 39, 40. - “know / knew” ×8 — vv1, 10, 22 (×2), 25, 32, 42, 53. - “believe / believed” ×7 — vv21, 39, 41, 42, 48, 50, 53. - “son(s)” ×7 — vv5, 12, 46, 47, 50, 51, 53; “Galilee / Galileans” ×7 — vv3, 43, 45 (×2), 46, 47, 54. - “give / gave / gift” ×7 — vv5, 10 (×2), 12, 14 (×2), 15. - “drink / drank / drinks” ×6 — vv7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14; “thirst / thirsty” ×3 — vv13, 14, 15. - “hour” ×6 — vv6, 21, 23, 52 (×2), 53. - “food / eat” ×6 — vv8, 31, 32 (×2), 33, 34. - “lives / living” ×5 — vv10, 11, 50, 51, 53; “well” ×5 — vv6 (×2), 11, 12, 14. - “husband(s)” ×5 — vv16, 17 (×2), 18 (×2). - “Sir” ×4 — vv11, 15, 19, 49; “Father” ×3 — vv21, 23 (×2); “spirit” ×3 — vv23, 24 (×2). - “told me all the things that I have done” ×2 — vv29, 39. **Contrasts:** Judea ⟷ Galilee, with Samaria between (vv3–4). A Jew ⟷ a Samaritan woman (v9). This water ⟷ the water I will give; thirst again ⟷ never thirst (vv13–14). This mountain ⟷ Jerusalem ⟷ spirit and truth (vv20–24). What you do not know ⟷ what we know (v22). Physical food ⟷ the Father’s will (vv32–34). Four months ⟷ white for harvest now (v35). Sower ⟷ reaper (vv36–38). Because of what you said ⟷ we have heard for ourselves (v42). Signs and wonders ⟷ the word that Jesus spoke (vv48–50). **Shape of the chapter:** a long conversation (7–26), a harvest (27–42) and a short miracle (43–54). It moves outward — one woman, one town, the Savior of the world — and then back to one father and one boy, and in both halves people believe His word. **Chapter theme (my words):** Jesus crosses every wall to give living water to the thirsty, tells the truth about sin so He can give a new kind of worship, and gathers a harvest from the people nobody expected. His word is enough — enough to save a town and to heal a dying boy at a distance. ### Interpretation **Why “had to” go through Samaria?** The direct road from Judea to Galilee ran through Samaria, and Sproul reads it simply: “Jesus may have been in a hurry.” Guzik and Henry read divine purpose — “there were people there who needed to hear Him” (Guzik). John uses *edei*, the same “must” as 3:7, 14, 30. I land with purpose: a woman and a town were waiting. **What time was “the sixth hour”?** Guzik and Sproul both take it as noon, counting from sunrise (“That means it was high noon”). Some commentators argue John used Roman reckoning (6 p.m.). Noon fits the woman coming alone in the heat, likely avoiding the other women (Sproul). **What is “living water”?** The woman hears “running water” (v11). Jesus means the life He gives by the Spirit — John explains the phrase in 7:38–39. Guzik: “Jesus made a play on words.” The water becomes a spring that “leaps up” (*hallomai*) inside a man (Sproul). Spurgeon: “You must be the emptiness, and he must be the fulness.” **Why bring up her husband?** Not to shame her but to heal her. Guzik: “her sinful life had to be confronted.” Henry: “Reproofs are ordinarily most profitable when they are least provoking.” Sproul thinks her “prophet” remark was a deflection — and Jesus let her ask, then answered. **Does the place of worship matter?** Henry and Guzik stress that worship is no longer tied to a mountain (v21). Sproul presses the other half: Jesus “answers that question” — “It is the Jewish way that is the correct way, the way God has ordained,” because “salvation is of the Jews.” Both are true. God’s plan of salvation came through Israel’s covenants, prophets and Messiah, and I believe God is not finished with Israel (Rom 11:1–2, 26). But the hour has come when true worshipers worship the Father in spirit and truth, wherever they are. **What is worship “in spirit and truth”?** Sproul: “the worship we offer is to come from the depths of our souls,” and it must follow God’s Word, not felt needs — or it ends at a golden calf. Guzik: “To worship in truth means you worship according to the whole counsel of God’s word.” Henry: “God is a spirit, for he is an infinite and eternal mind.” **“I who speak to you am He” (v26).** The plain sense is “I am the Messiah.” But it is the first *egō eimi* in John, and it will grow into 8:58 and the name of Exodus 3:14. Sproul: “But here, to a despised Samaritan, a despised woman, Jesus reveals Himself.” **What is the harvest?** The Samaritans crossing the fields (v30). Jesus’ disciples reap what others sowed — the prophets, John the Baptist, the woman (vv37–38). Henry: “gospel time is harvest time.” Guzik and Bruce wonder whether this is the town Philip later reached (Acts 8:5). **Is verse 44 a contradiction?** Sproul: “it would be surprising to me if John contradicted himself.” Whether “his own country” is Judea or Galilee, the Galilean welcome in v45 was for signs, not faith. Henry: pride and envy scorn the hometown prophet. **What kind of faith did the official have?** Spurgeon traces four stages — spark, fire, flame, blaze. Sproul: the man believed God, not just in God, and that is saving faith. Guzik: “In fear, the nobleman ran from Capernaum to Cana; in faith he walked from Cana back to Capernaum.” **Word study (Greek):** - **had to — *edei* (G1163):** the divine “must” again (3:7, 14, 30; 4:4, 24). - **well — *pēgē* (G4077):** a spring or fountain; 4:6 (×2), 14. - **well (dug) — *phrear* (G5421):** a shaft or cistern; 4:11, 12. - **living — *zaō* (G2198):** living water, running and alive (Jer 2:13; John 7:38–39). - **springing up — *hallomai* (G242):** leaping; John 4:14; Acts 3:8; 14:10. - **worship — *proskyneō* (G4352):** to bow down; NASB “worship” words ×10 in vv20–24. - **I am — *eimi* (G1510):** *egō eimi*, “I am [He]” (4:26; 6:35; 8:58; Exod 3:14). - **waterpot — *hydria* (G5201):** only John 2:6, 7; 4:28. - **food — *brōma* (G1033):** “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me” (v34). - **Savior — *sōtēr* (G4990):** only Luke 1:47; 2:11; John 4:42 in the Gospels; 1 John 4:14. - **royal official — *basilikos* (G937):** a king’s man, probably of Herod Antipas. - **signs — *sēmeion* (G4592) / wonders — *teras* (G5059):** *teras* only here in John. **Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):** 1. **“Had to” is the same word as the cross** — *edei* (4:4). 2. **God was weary at a well** — and would not work a miracle for His own comfort (Spurgeon). 3. **He asks before He gives** — “Give Me a drink” breaks three walls. 4. **A spring, not a cistern** — *pēgē* that leaps up, not a deep shaft (Jer 2:13). 5. **Jesus exposes in order to heal** — 0 for 5 (Sproul), reproof least provoking (Henry). 6. **Not where, but whom and how** — the Father, in spirit and truth; salvation from the Jews. 7. **The first “I am” goes to an outcast** (v26). 8. **She left her waterpot** — and gave Him drink by believing (Spurgeon). 9. **Testimony leads to His word** — vv39, 41, 42. 10. **Faith takes Jesus at His word** (Guzik, Sproul). **Cross-references:** Gen 24; 29:1–12; 33:18–19; 48:22; Exod 2:15–21; 3:14; Deut 18:18; Josh 24:32; 2 Kings 17:24–41; Isa 12:3; 55:1; Jer 2:13; John 2:1–11; 3:16; 6:35; 7:37–39; 8:58; 20:30–31; Acts 1:8; 8:5–25; Rom 11:1–2, 26; Heb 11:1; 1 John 4:14; Rev 22:17. ### Application **Example to follow — Jesus at the well.** He was tired, and He still had time for one woman everybody else avoided. Some of the men I serve have been that woman — the one the others won’t sit with, the one with the record. Jesus “had to” go there. This week I will go where I would rather not, and sit with someone I would rather avoid, and ask him a simple question. **Sin to confess — drinking from broken cisterns.** I have gone back to the same wells over and over — approval, pleasure, numbing out, staying busy — and I have been thirsty again every time (v13). Jeremiah called that forsaking the fountain of living waters for broken cisterns. I confess it by name, and I ask Jesus for His water: “Sir, give me this water.” **Truth to face — He knows all the things that I have done.** When He told her about the five husbands, she did not run home in shame; she ran home with good news: “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done.” The One who knows everything about me still offers me living water. That is the only kind of honesty that doesn’t crush a man. **Command to obey — worship in spirit and truth; lift up your eyes.** God is not looking for a better building from me; He is seeking worshipers (v23) — from the heart, by His Word. And He tells me to lift up my eyes and look at the fields (v35). The men in my group, the guys at the facility, my own neighbors — the fields are white now, not in four months. **Promise to trust — “Go; your son lives.”** The official had only a word to walk home on. So do I. Much of what I pray for, I don’t get to see answered right away. Saving faith is “trusting that what God says is the truth” (Sproul). I will take Him at His word today, before I see anything. **Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):** 1. Jesus “had to pass through Samaria” — the place good Jews avoided. Who is the person or place I avoid that Jesus might be sending me toward? (4:4–9; Acts 1:8) *A divine appointment waited at the well.* 2. What “wells” have I kept going back to that leave me thirsty again — and what would it look like to ask Jesus for living water instead? (4:13–15; Jer 2:13) *Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again.* 3. When Jesus put His finger on her past, the woman changed the subject. What subject do I raise when God gets close to my sin? (4:16–20) *He was more interested in winning a soul than an argument (Guzik).* 4. Is my worship “in spirit” (from the heart) and “in truth” (by God’s Word)? Which one am I weaker in? (4:23–24) *The Father seeks such people to be His worshipers.* 5. The woman’s whole testimony was “He told me all the things that I have done.” What would my honest one-sentence testimony be? (4:28–30, 39) *Those are most likely to do good that can tell what God has done for their souls (Henry).* 6. The official had nothing but a word to walk home on. Where is God asking me to believe His word before I see anything? (4:48–53; Heb 11:1) *Not believing in God but believing God (Sproul).* **Worship.** The Lord of glory sat tired on a well in Samaria and asked a sinner for a drink. He is the fountain of living waters, the Messiah who said “I am He” to an outcast, the Savior of the world whom Samaritans named first, and the Lord whose word reached across the miles to a dying boy at the very hour He spoke it. **Prayer.** Lord Jesus, You know all the things that I have done, and You still offer me living water. Sir, give me this water — I am tired of broken cisterns. Teach me to worship the Father in spirit and truth. Lift up my eyes to the fields, and make me a man who leaves his waterpot to tell others where You are. And when all I have is Your word, help me believe it and start walking. Amen. ## John 5 — The Son Who Gives Life ### Marked in the text - v5 — **“ill for thirty-eight years”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v5 — **“an infirmity thirty and eight years”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v6 — **“Do you wish to get well?”** (green: Command / instruction) - v6 — **“Wilt thou be made whole?”** (green: Command / instruction) - v8 — **“Get up, pick up your pallet and walk”** (green: Command / instruction) - v8 — **“Rise, take up thy bed, and walk”** (green: Command / instruction) - v9 — **“Immediately the man became well”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v9 — **“immediately the man was made whole”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v9 — **“Now it was the Sabbath on that day”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v9 — **“on the same day was the sabbath”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v10 — **“it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v10 — **“it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v14 — **“do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v14 — **“sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v17 — **“My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v17 — **“My Father worketh hitherto, and I work”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v18 — **“making Himself equal with God”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v18 — **“making himself equal with God”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v20 — **“the Father loves the Son”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v20 — **“the Father loveth the Son”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v21 — **“the Son also gives life to whom He wishes”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v21 — **“the Son quickeneth whom he will”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v22 — **“He has given all judgment to the Son”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v22 — **“hath committed all judgment unto the Son”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v23 — **“He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v23 — **“He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v24 — **“has eternal life”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v24 — **“hath everlasting life”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v24 — **“has passed out of death into life”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v24 — **“is passed from death unto life”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v25 — **“an hour is coming and now is”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v25 — **“The hour is coming, and now is”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v28 — **“all who are in the tombs will hear His voice”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v28 — **“all that are in the graves shall hear his voice”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v29 — **“a resurrection of life”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v29 — **“the resurrection of life”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v29 — **“a resurrection of judgment”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v29 — **“the resurrection of damnation”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v30 — **“I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v30 — **“I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v35 — **“the lamp that was burning and was shining”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v35 — **“a burning and a shining light”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v39 — **“it is these that testify about Me”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v39 — **“they are they which testify of me”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v40 — **“you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v40 — **“ye will not come to me, that ye might have life”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v44 — **“you receive glory from one another”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v44 — **“receive honour one of another”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v46 — **“he wrote about Me”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v46 — **“he wrote of me”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v26 — **“life in Himself”** (gold: God — His character & actions) — every occurrence in the chapter - v26 — **“life in himself”** (gold: God — His character & actions) — every occurrence in the chapter - v9 — **“Sabbath”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v9 — **“sabbath”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v31 — **“testimony”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v32 — **“testifies”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v31 — **“witness”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter ### Observation **Setting.** Jerusalem, at an unnamed “feast of the Jews” (v1), between Jesus’ ministry in Galilee (4:43–54) and the feeding of the five thousand (6:1). The pool of Bethesda by the Sheep Gate, with five porticoes full of the sick (vv2–3); then the temple (v14). It is the Sabbath (v9) — the day the conflict turns deadly (v18). **Structure:** - vv1–9 — **the healing:** a man ill thirty-eight years; “Do you wish to get well?”; “I have no man to put me into the pool”; “Get up, pick up your pallet and walk”; immediately well. (vv3b–4, the angel, are bracketed in NASB — not in the oldest manuscripts.) - vv10–18 — **the charge:** “not permissible … to carry your pallet”; the man doesn’t know who healed him; Jesus finds him in the temple — “do not sin anymore”; the man tells the Jews; persecution; “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working”; now they seek to kill Him, for “making Himself equal with God.” - vv19–30 — **the defense:** the Son does what the Father does (v19), is loved and shown all (v20), gives life (v21), has all judgment (vv22, 27), receives equal honor (v23). The believer has eternal life and has passed out of death into life (v24). The dead hear now (v25); all in the tombs will hear (vv28–29). “I can do nothing on My own initiative” (v30). - vv31–47 — **the witnesses:** John (vv33–35), the works (v36), the Father (vv37–38), the Scriptures (v39), Moses (vv45–47). The verdict on the hearers: unwilling to come (v40), no love of God (v42), seeking glory from one another (v44). **Repeated words, with counts:** - “Father” ×16 — vv17, 18, 19 (×2), 20 (×2), 21, 22, 23 (×2), 26, 36 (×2), 37, 43 (“My Father’s”), 45. - “testify / testifies / testified / testimony” ×11 — vv31 (×2), 32 (×2), 33, 34, 36 (×3), 37, 39. - “Son” ×10 — vv19 (×2), 20, 21, 22, 23 (×2), 25 (“Son of God”), 26, 27 (“Son of Man”). - “life” ×9 — vv21 (×2), 24 (×2), 26 (×2), 29, 39, 40. - “judge / judges / judgment” ×7 — vv22 (×2), 24, 27, 29, 30 (×2). - “sent” ×7 — of the Father sending the Son ×6 (vv23, 24, 30, 36, 37, 38), and v33 (“You have sent to John”). - “believe(s)” ×7 — vv24, 38, 44, 46 (×2), 47 (×2). - “well” ×6 — vv4, 6, 9, 11, 14, 15 (Greek *hygiēs*). - “hear(s) / heard” ×6 — vv24, 25 (×2), 28, 30, 37; “voice” ×3 — vv25, 28, 37. - “pallet” ×5 — vv8, 9, 10, 11, 12. - “work(s) / working” ×5 — vv17 (×2), 20, 36 (×2). - “Sabbath” ×4 — vv9, 10, 16, 18; “honor” ×4 — all in v23. - “Truly, truly” ×3 — vv19, 24, 25; “glory” ×3 — vv41, 44 (×2); “marvel” ×2 — vv20, 28; “Moses” ×2 — vv45, 46. **Contrasts:** waiting at the pool (v7) ⟷ “Get up … and walk” (v8). The mat (v10) ⟷ the man made well (v11). Breaking the Sabbath ⟷ the Father working until now (vv16–17). Death ⟷ life (v24). The hour “now is” (v25) ⟷ the hour “coming” (v28). A resurrection of life ⟷ a resurrection of judgment (v29). Testimony from man ⟷ testimony from the Father (vv34, 37). Glory from one another ⟷ glory from the one and only God (v44). Coming in My Father’s name ⟷ coming in his own name (v43). **Shape of the chapter:** a sign (1–9), a charge (10–18), a defense (19–30), a summons of witnesses (31–47). It begins with one man who could not walk to the water and ends with a nation unwilling to come to the Son. **Chapter theme (my words):** The Son does what only God does — He heals with a word, gives life to whom He wishes, and will judge all. Every witness points to Him; the only thing standing between a man and life is his unwillingness to come. ### Interpretation **Verses 3b–4 — was there an angel?** The NASB brackets the angel stirring the water because the oldest manuscripts lack it. Guzik and Sproul both think it a very early addition (Sproul: likely reflecting local superstition; the pools were fed by artesian wells). Henry, working from the KJV, takes it as genuine: “Expositors generally agree that the virtue this pool had was supernatural.” Either way verse 7 shows what the sick believed — and Jesus bypassed the pool entirely. Spurgeon: “‘Wait at the pool,’ is man’s gospel, and has destroyed its thousands.” **“Do you wish to get well?” — a real question.** Guzik: “This was a sincere question.” After thirty-eight years a man can make peace with his condition. Sproul: healing would bring new responsibilities, and some men prefer the security of confinement. Henry hears the man’s answer as the cry of the friendless: “It is not for want of a good will, but of a good friend, that I am unhealed.” **What law did the man break?** Not God’s. Guzik: “It was not a breaking of God’s law of the Sabbath, but the human interpretation of God’s law.” Jeremiah 17:21 forbade carrying loads of trade through the gates; the rabbis widened it to a healed man’s mat. Sproul: “Where in the Word of God does it say…?” Spurgeon calls the complaint “a mere pretense, an idle excuse for their enmity.” **Is sickness caused by sin (v14)?** Jesus says, “do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.” Sproul links it to Luke 13 — calamity can follow sin — while warning against assuming every disaster is a direct punishment (compare John 9:3). The “worse thing” is more than a relapse: Guzik, “Living a life of sin is worse, and will bring a worse result, than being crippled for thirty-eight years.” **“Equal with God” (v18).** Jesus’ accusers understood the claim of verse 17 perfectly, and He did not retreat (Guzik: “Jesus did not try and explain that He had not truly worked on the Sabbath”). Sproul answers how the Son can be equal yet say “the Son can do nothing of Himself”: in being, Father and Son are equal; in the work of redemption, the Father sends and the Son obeys. “From all eternity, the Father sends the Son.” Guzik: “not one of master and slave.” **Life now, resurrection later (vv24–29).** Verse 24 is present and perfect tense: the believer *has* eternal life and *has passed* out of death into life (Spurgeon’s “Verily, Verily”). Verse 25 (“and now is”) is the spiritually dead hearing the gospel; verses 28–29 are the bodily dead hearing His voice (Henry sees both). Jesus echoes Daniel 12:2. In my futurist reading, Revelation 20:4–6 shows that the “resurrection of life” and the “resurrection of judgment” are separated by the thousand years — one “hour” as Daniel’s “many … will awake,” unfolded in stages. **“Those who did the good deeds” (v29) — saved by works?** No. Verse 24 has already said life comes by hearing and believing; and 6:29 will call believing “the work of God.” The deeds show which resurrection a man belongs to; they do not buy it. Spurgeon: “good works without faith are childish vanities.” **“You search” or “Search” (v39)?** The Greek form can be either. NASB reads it as a statement (they did search — and still would not come); KJV as a command, which Henry follows: “not only read them, and hear them, but search them.” Both are true; the point is that the Scriptures “testify about Me.” Spurgeon: for them “the Scriptures themselves became a sepulcher.” **Why didn’t they believe?** Not for lack of evidence. Guzik: “The religious leaders were not willing, even though they had all the testimony one could have wanted.” Sproul calls it moral resistance, not intellectual doubt. Spurgeon (1855) goes further: by nature no man will come to Christ — and yet “It is sin that has brought you into this condition that you will not come.” Our teachers are Reformed or near it here; others read verse 40 as proof that the will is free to refuse. All agree the blame lies with the hearers, not with God. **Word study (Greek):** - **well — *hygiēs* (G5199):** sound, whole; seven of twelve NT uses in John 5 (plus 7:23). - **pallet — *krabattos* (G2895):** the poor man’s mat (Mark 2:4–12; John 5:8–11). - **is working — *ergazomai* (G2038):** present tense; the Father never stopped (v17). - **equal — *isos* (G2470):** equal in rank or measure (5:18; Phil 2:6). - **gives life — *zōopoieō* (G2227):** to make alive; God’s prerogative claimed by the Son (5:21; 6:63). - **judgment — *krisis* (G2920):** v24 (no judgment for the believer) and v29 (resurrection of judgment). - **has passed — *metabainō* (G3327):** to change place; perfect tense (5:24; 1 John 3:14). - **testimony / testify — *martyria* / *martyreō* (G3141, G3140):** eleven times in vv31–39. - **search — *eraunaō* (G2045):** examine, track down; statement or command in v39. - **glory — *doxa* (G1391):** the approval they sought from men (vv41, 44). **Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):** 1. **Grace chose one man out of a multitude** — who did not ask and did not know His name (vv3, 13). 2. **“Well” is the word of the first half** — *hygiēs* in vv6, 9, 11, 14, 15. 3. **The command came with the power to obey it** (Guzik; Henry: “not … into the waters, but rise and walk”). 4. **They saw the mat and missed the man** — no law of God forbade it (Sproul). 5. **A healed body is not a saved soul** — “how not to receive the blessings of Christ” (Sproul). 6. **His accusers understood Him exactly** — equal with God, and He did not correct them (v18). 7. **Eternal life is a present possession** — has, has passed (v24). 8. **Two hours, one voice** — souls now (v25), bodies then (vv28–29). 9. **You can study the Bible and miss its subject** (v39; Spurgeon’s “sepulcher”). 10. **Unbelief is a matter of the will** — unwilling, loveless, glory-seeking (vv40–44). **Cross-references:** Exod 20:8–11; Num 21:8–9; Deut 18:15–19; 19:15; Neh 3:1; Ps 33:6; Isa 35:6; Jer 17:21–22; Dan 7:13–14; 12:2; Matt 12:1–14; Mark 2:1–12; Luke 13:1–5; 24:27, 44; John 1:4; 3:14–18; 7:21–24; 9:3; 10:30; 11:25; Acts 17:30–31; Rom 4:17; Phil 2:6; Heb 1:3; 1 John 3:14; 5:9–12; Rev 20:4–6, 11–15. ### Application **Question to answer — “Do you wish to get well?”** I’ve sat at that pool. Thirty-eight years is a long time, and some of the men I walk with have been lying by the water longer than that — addiction, anger, a prison sentence that ended years ago but still runs their lives. The honest answer isn’t always yes. Getting well means picking up the mat and walking: a job, a family to face, no more excuses. Jesus asks anyway, and He doesn’t ask me to crawl to the water first. This week I want to answer Him out loud: Yes, Lord. Make me well, and I’ll carry the mat. **Example to follow — be the man who puts him in the water.** “I have no man to put me into the pool” (v7). Henry: “It is not for want of a good will, but of a good friend.” Jesus became that man’s Friend. I can’t heal anybody, but I can be the brother who shows up, sits by the pool, and points him to the One who can. **Sin to confess — caring more about the mat than the man.** The leaders looked at a healed man and saw a rules violation (v10). I confess the times I’ve judged a brother by his slip instead of rejoicing in what God has done in him — and the times I’ve hidden behind religious form while my heart was cold. **Command to obey — “do not sin anymore.”** Jesus went looking for this man in the temple to warn him (v14). Mercy received is not a license; it’s a reason. Whatever Jesus has lifted me out of, I don’t go back to it. **Promise to trust — “has passed out of death into life.”** If I hear His word and believe the Father who sent Him, I have eternal life now, I will not come into judgment, and I have already moved out of death’s house (v24). On the days I feel like a dead man, the verb is still perfect tense. **Warning to heed — Bible without Jesus.** I can read my Bible, know my verses, and still not come to Him (vv39–40). And I can live for the approval of the men around me — “glory from one another” (v44) — instead of the approval of God. The test is not how much I know but whether I keep coming to Him. **Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):** 1. Jesus asked a man who had been sick thirty-eight years, “Do you wish to get well?” What in my life have I grown used to, and do I really want Him to change it? (5:5–7) *Sproul: healing brings new responsibilities; some prefer the security of their chains.* 2. The man said, “I have no man to put me into the pool.” Who in my life is lying by the pool with no one to help — and what would it look like to be that man for him? (5:7; Gal 6:2) *Henry: not a good will he lacked, but a good friend.* 3. The leaders cared more about the mat than the man. Where do I care more about rules and appearances than about people being made whole? (5:10–16) *Guzik: human interpretation of God’s law, not God’s law.* 4. Jesus found the man in the temple and warned him, “do not sin anymore.” What sin is He warning me about after He has already shown me mercy? (5:14; Rom 6:1–2) *A worse thing than thirty-eight years of paralysis is a life of sin.* 5. Verse 24 says the one who believes “has passed out of death into life.” Do I live like a man who has already moved out of the house of death? (5:24; 1 John 3:14) *Perfect tense: the move is made and the result stands.* 6. I can know the Bible and still not come to Jesus. Whose approval am I living for — men’s or God’s? (5:39–44) *“How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another…?”* **Worship.** The Son who stood by a pool in Jerusalem has life in Himself. He gives life to whom He wishes. All judgment is His. One day every grave will hear His voice. The Father has testified, the works have testified, John and Moses and all the Scriptures have testified — and they all point to Him. He deserves the same honor as the Father. **Prayer.** Lord Jesus, You found me lying by the pool with no one to help me in. Thank You for asking if I wanted to be well, and for making me well with a word. Keep me from going back to the sin You lifted me out of. Make me the friend who carries a brother to You. Let me search the Scriptures to find You, not to impress anyone, and let me seek the glory that comes from God alone. Amen. ## John 6 — The Bread of Life ### Marked in the text - v6 — **“to test him”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v6 — **“to prove him”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v9 — **“five barley loaves and two fish”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v9 — **“five barley loaves, and two small fishes”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v11 — **“having given thanks”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v11 — **“when he had given thanks”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v12 — **“so that nothing will be lost”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v12 — **“that nothing be lost”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v13 — **“filled twelve baskets”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v15 — **“take Him by force to make Him king”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v15 — **“take him by force, to make him a king”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v20 — **“It is I; do not be afraid”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v20 — **“It is I; be not afraid”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v26 — **“because you ate of the loaves and were filled”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v26 — **“because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v27 — **“Do not work for the food which perishes”** (green: Command / instruction) - v27 — **“Labour not for the meat which perisheth”** (green: Command / instruction) - v29 — **“This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent”** (green: Command / instruction) - v29 — **“This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent”** (green: Command / instruction) - v32 — **“the true bread out of heaven”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v32 — **“the true bread from heaven”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v35 — **“I am the bread of life”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v35 — **“will not hunger”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v35 — **“shall never hunger”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v35 — **“will never thirst”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v35 — **“shall never thirst”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v37 — **“All that the Father gives Me will come to Me”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v37 — **“All that the Father giveth me shall come to me”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v37 — **“I will certainly not cast out”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v37 — **“I will in no wise cast out”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v39 — **“I lose nothing”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v39 — **“I should lose nothing”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v44 — **“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v44 — **“No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v51 — **“I am the living bread”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v51 — **“for the life of the world is My flesh”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v51 — **“which I will give for the life of the world”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v53 — **“you have no life in yourselves”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v53 — **“ye have no life in you”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v56 — **“abides in Me, and I in him”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v56 — **“dwelleth in me, and I in him”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v60 — **“This is a difficult statement”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v60 — **“This is an hard saying”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v63 — **“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v63 — **“It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v66 — **“withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v66 — **“went back, and walked no more with him”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v68 — **“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v68 — **“Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v69 — **“the Holy One of God”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v69 — **“that Christ, the Son of the living God”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v70 — **“one of you is a devil”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v5 — **“bread”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v39 — **“last day”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) — every occurrence in the chapter - v41 — **“grumbling”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v43 — **“grumble”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v61 — **“grumbled”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v41 — **“murmured”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v43 — **“Murmur”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter ### Observation **Setting.** Galilee, “after these things” (v1) — around the Sea of Galilee (Tiberias), with the Passover near (v4), a year before the cross. A grassy hillside on the far shore (vv3, 10); the lake at night (vv16–21); Capernaum and its synagogue (vv24, 59). **Structure:** - vv1–15 — **the feeding:** a large crowd following the signs; Jesus tests Philip (“Where are we to buy bread…?”); Philip counts 200 denarii; Andrew finds a lad with five barley loaves and two fish; the men sit on the grass, about five thousand; Jesus gives thanks and distributes; “Gather up the leftover fragments”; twelve baskets; “This is truly the Prophet”; they would take Him by force to make Him king; He withdraws alone. - vv16–21 — **the storm:** dark, a strong wind, three or four miles rowed; Jesus walking on the sea; fear; “It is I; do not be afraid”; immediately at land. - vv22–40 — **the bread from heaven:** the crowd finds Him at Capernaum; “you seek Me … because you ate of the loaves”; “Do not work for the food which perishes”; “This is the work of God, that you believe”; they demand a sign and cite the manna; “My Father … gives you the true bread out of heaven”; “I am the bread of life” (v35); all the Father gives will come, none cast out, none lost, raised on the last day (vv37–40). - vv41–59 — **drawn and fed:** grumbling — “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph?”; “No one can come to Me unless the Father … draws him” (v44); “taught of God” (Isa 54:13); “he who believes has eternal life” (v47); the fathers ate manna and died; “I am the living bread”; “My flesh”; the Jews argue; eat My flesh, drink My blood (vv53–58). - vv60–71 — **the sifting:** “This is a difficult statement”; the Son of Man ascending; “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing”; “no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him”; many withdraw; “You do not want to go away also, do you?”; Peter: “Lord, to whom shall we go?”; “one of you is a devil” — Judas. **Repeated words, with counts:** - “bread” ×17 — vv5, 7, 23, 31, 32 (×2), 33, 34, 35, 41, 48, 50, 51 (×3), 58 (×2). - “eat / eats / ate / eaten” ×16 — vv5, 13, 23, 26, 31 (×2), 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 56, 57, 58 (×2). - “life” ×12 — vv27, 33, 35, 40, 47, 48, 51, 53, 54, 63 (×2), 68; “eternal life” ×5 — vv27, 40, 47, 54, 68. - “Father” (God) ×11 — vv27, 32, 37, 40, 44, 45, 46 (×2), 57 (×2), 65; plus “father and mother” (Joseph’s family) v42; “fathers” (Israel’s) ×3 — vv31, 49, 58. - “heaven” ×10 — vv31, 32 (×2), 33, 38, 41, 42, 50, 51, 58; “came / comes down out of (from) heaven” ×7 — vv33, 38, 41, 42, 50, 51, 58. - “give / gives / gave / given” ×13 — vv11, 23 (“given thanks”), 27, 31, 32 (×2), 33, 34, 37, 39, 51, 52, 63. - “disciples” ×10 — vv3, 8, 12, 16, 22 (×2), 24, 60, 61, 66. - “believe(s)” ×9 — vv29, 30, 35, 36, 40, 47, 64 (×2), 69. - “flesh” ×7 — vv51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 63; “blood” ×4 — vv53–56; “drink(s)” ×4 — vv53–56. - “come to Me / comes to Me” ×6 — vv35, 37 (×2), 44, 45, 65. - “live / living” ×6 — vv51 (×2), 57 (×3), 58. - “raise … on the last day” ×4 — vv39, 40, 44, 54. - “sign(s)” ×4 — vv2, 14, 26, 30; “loaves” ×4 — vv9, 11, 13, 26; “twelve” ×4 — vv13, 67, 70, 71. - “Truly, truly” ×4 — vv26, 32, 47, 53; “I am” (with predicate) ×4 — vv35, 41 (quoted), 48, 51 — and “It is I” (*egō eimi*) v20. - “work(s)” ×5 — vv27, 28 (×2), 29, 30; “grumble” ×3 — vv41, 43, 61; “manna” ×2 — vv31, 49. **Contrasts:** 200 denarii not enough (v7) ⟷ twelve baskets left over (v13). A king by force (v15) ⟷ withdrawn alone (v15). Food which perishes ⟷ food which endures to eternal life (v27). Moses ⟷ My Father (v32). Manna — ate and died ⟷ this bread — live forever (vv49–51, 58). The son of Joseph (v42) ⟷ the bread that came down out of heaven (v41). The Spirit gives life ⟷ the flesh profits nothing (v63). Many withdrew (v66) ⟷ “to whom shall we go?” (v68). “I Myself … choose you, the twelve” ⟷ “one of you is a devil” (v70). **Shape of the chapter:** two signs (1–21), a sermon (22–59), a sifting (60–71). It starts with five thousand eager to crown Him and ends with twelve — and a betrayer among them. The bread in their hands becomes the Bread in front of them. **Chapter theme (my words):** Jesus gives bread to show that He is the Bread. Everything depends on coming to Him and feeding on Him by faith — and no one comes unless the Father draws him, and no one who comes is ever cast out. ### Interpretation **Was the miracle real?** Sproul ridicules the old liberal reading that the real wonder was people sharing their lunches — “That was the most prodigious magical act in the history of the world if that is actually what happened.” John calls it a sign (v14), and the crowd’s reaction (v15) makes no sense if nothing happened. Guzik: the multiplying happened in Jesus’ hands, and the disciples carried it out — “He could have created bread and fish in the pocket or bag of every person, but He didn’t.” **Why did Jesus refuse to be king (v15)?** Not because He is not King, but because they wanted the wrong kind. Sproul: “They were looking for the kingdom of man, and He came to bring the kingdom of God.” Henry calls their zeal misguided. In my reading His kingdom is real and will come visibly on earth at His return (Acts 1:6–7; Rev 11:15; 20:4) — but on His terms and in His time, and through a cross first. **“It is I” — an “I am” saying?** Sproul hears the divine name in *egō eimi* (Exod 3:14) and says scholars often leave verse 20 off the list: “I am who I am is here.” Only God walks on the waves (Job 9:8) and stills the storm (Ps 107:29). Spurgeon and Henry make it comfort — “When trouble is nigh Christ is nigh.” **What is “the work of God” (v29)?** The crowd asks what to do; Jesus answers with one work, to believe. Guzik: “not to do, but to trust.” Henry: “The work of faith is the work of God.” Sproul would add that faith is itself God’s gift (vv37, 44, 65); Guzik that faith is the foundation of obedience, not a replacement for it. **All that the Father gives (vv37–40).** Sproul calls verse 37 the key verse on election: the Father gives people to the Son, so their coming is certain and none are lost — “It is the perseverance of the saints with a vengeance.” Spurgeon holds the “high doctrine” and the “broad doctrine” together: the gift guarantees that some will come, and the invitation shuts out no one who comes — “The King’s highway is for all.” Whatever my men believe about election, the promise in the second half of verse 37 is for every one of them. **What does “draws” mean (v44)? — where Christians differ.** The verb *helkō* can mean drag (Acts 16:19) or draw (John 12:32). Sproul, citing Kittel, argues for “compel” and against the Arminian view that we choose first. Guzik, with Clarke, reads “alluring, not dragging,” and cites Alford against irresistible grace. Spurgeon is as Reformed as Sproul on inability, yet says “Do not imagine that any man will go to heaven kicking and struggling all the way against the hand that draws him”; Henry: “a cheerful compliance.” Arminian readers add that 12:32 says Christ draws “all men.” Common ground: no one comes on his own, God takes the initiative, and verse 45 shows He draws by teaching — the Father’s voice in His Word. **Eating His flesh, drinking His blood (vv53–58) — the Lord’s Supper?** All four of our teachers say the passage speaks first of faith-union with Christ, not of the sacrament. Henry: “It is a spiritual eating and drinking that is here spoken of, not a sacramental,” and he rejects transubstantiation; Spurgeon notes the Supper had not yet been given; Guzik quotes Bruce, “not indeed speaking directly of the Lord’s Supper”; Sproul agrees but “with less than dogmatic certainty.” Roman Catholic and Lutheran readers take the passage sacramentally; fair to say so. My anchor: verse 47 and verse 54 promise the same eternal life — one to the believer, the other to the eater. To eat is to believe. The Supper (1 Cor 11:26) pictures and proclaims that feeding. **“The flesh profits nothing” (v63).** Not Jesus’ flesh — which He has just given for the world — but human nature on its own. Sproul: “The flesh cannot produce spiritual reality.” “Church attendance will not do it.” Life comes by the Spirit through the words of Jesus, which “are spirit and are life.” **Why did Jesus choose Judas (v70)?** Jesus “knew from the beginning” (v64). Judas was chosen to the apostleship, not to salvation; he “was going to betray Him” (v71). Henry: “Judas not only had a devil, but he was a devil”; “The star that falls never was a star.” Guzik quotes Boice: “There are Judases among the apparent followers of the Lord in our day.” **Word study (Greek):** - **sign — *sēmeion* (G4592):** a miracle that points beyond itself (vv2, 14, 26, 30). - **fragments — *klasma* (G2801):** broken pieces; “so that nothing will be lost” (v12; compare v39). - **baskets — *kophinos* (G2894):** small wicker food baskets; twelve. - **It is I — *egō eimi* (G1473, G1510):** “I am” — the divine name (v20; Exod 3:14). - **set His seal — *sphragizō* (G4972):** to certify, authenticate (v27; 3:33; Eph 1:13). - **work — *ergazomai* (G2038):** “Do not work … what shall we do, so that we may work…?” (vv27–30). - **bread — *artos* (G740):** loaf bread; seventeen times. - **cast out — *ekballō* (G1544):** with *ou mē* — “never, by no means” (v37). - **grumble — *gongyzō* (G1111):** Israel’s murmuring word (vv41, 43, 61). - **draws — *helkō* (G1670):** pull, haul, draw (6:44; 12:32; 18:10; 21:6, 11; Acts 16:19). - **eats — *trōgō* (G5176):** to chew, eat; vv54–58. - **difficult — *sklēros* (G4642):** hard, harsh — hard to accept (v60). - **Holy One — *hagios* (G40):** “the Holy One of God” (v69; Mark 1:24). - **devil — *diabolos* (G1228):** slanderer, adversary (6:70; 8:44; 13:2). **Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):** 1. **The miracle was a sign, and they missed it** — they wanted more bread (vv2, 14, 26, 30). 2. **Little is much in His hands** — five barley loaves, twelve baskets left. 3. **He walked across the storm with God’s name** — *egō eimi*. 4. **The work God wants is faith** (v29). 5. **Moses gave bread; the Father gives the Bread** — a Person, not a portion (vv32–35). 6. **Verse 37 has two halves, and both are true** — the Father’s gift and the open door. 7. **“Drawn” — the teachers differ** — compel, allure, cheerful compliance; but no one comes without it. 8. **Eating is believing** — compare vv47 and 54. 9. **Hard to accept, not hard to understand** (v60). 10. **There is nowhere else to go** (v68). **Cross-references:** Exod 3:14; 16:4, 15; Num 11:1–9; Deut 8:3; 18:15; 2 Kgs 4:42–44; Job 9:8; Neh 9:15; Ps 78:24; 107:23–30; Isa 54:13; 55:1–3; Matt 14:13–33; 16:16; Mark 1:24; 6:30–52; Luke 9:10–17; John 1:14; 3:33; 4:34; 8:44; 10:27–29; 12:32; 13:2, 18; Acts 16:19; 1 Cor 10:3–4; 11:23–26; Eph 1:13; Rev 7:16–17. ### Application **Example to avoid — Philip’s calculator.** Jesus asked Philip where to buy bread “to test him” (v6), and Philip ran the numbers. I do that. A man gets out with nothing, a family is behind on rent, a ministry needs what we don’t have — and I count denarii instead of looking at the One who “knew what He was intending to do.” Sproul: “Philip flunks the test.” This week, before I calculate, I’ll pray. **Command to obey — give Him the loaves.** The boy didn’t have much, but he gave it, and Andrew brought it (vv8–9). Spurgeon: “Christ’s additions mean subtraction—and Christ’s subtractions mean additions.” My story, my time, my small gifts — I put them in His hands and let Him break and distribute them. And I gather the fragments: nothing God gives is meant to be wasted, including the years I thought were lost. **Promise to trust — “It is I; do not be afraid.”** The disciples were in the storm because they obeyed (vv16–19). Obedience doesn’t mean calm water. Some of the men I serve are rowing in the dark right now — court dates, cravings, a marriage on the edge. He walks across exactly that, and He doesn’t force His way into the boat. I welcome Him in. **Sin to confess — seeking Him for loaves.** “You seek Me … because you ate of the loaves and were filled” (v26). I confess the times I’ve wanted Jesus for what He gives — relief, a job, a way out — more than for who He is. I want the Bread, not just the bread. **Promise to trust — “I will certainly not cast out.”** Men in recovery and men behind walls often believe they are the exception — too far gone, too many relapses. Verse 37 has no exception clause. *Ou mē*: never. If he comes, he is received; if he is received, he is kept, and Jesus will raise him up on the last day (vv39–40). **Choice to make — “To whom shall we go?”** When the teaching got hard, many walked (v66). Peter didn’t say he understood it all. He said there was no one else (v68). I’ve tried the other places — the bottle, the bed, the money, my own strength — and none of them had words of eternal life. **Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):** 1. Jesus asked Philip a question He already knew the answer to, “to test him.” What need in my life looks as impossible as feeding five thousand — and am I counting my money or looking to Him? (6:5–9) *Sproul: “Philip flunks the test.” Little is much in His hands.* 2. What “five loaves” — time, talent, story, money — am I holding back because it seems too small to matter? (6:9–13; 2 Kgs 4:43) *Spurgeon: “Christ’s additions mean subtraction—and Christ’s subtractions mean additions.”* 3. Where am I rowing hard in the dark right now, and what would it mean to hear Him say, “It is I; do not be afraid”? (6:16–21; Ps 107:29–30) *Obedience doesn’t guarantee calm water, but He comes across the storm.* 4. Do I follow Jesus for what He gives or for who He is? What “loaves” keep bringing me back? (6:26–27) *“You seek Me … because you ate of the loaves and were filled.”* 5. Jesus says He will “certainly not cast out” anyone who comes. What do I think would make Him turn me away — and what does verse 37 say about that? (6:37–40; John 10:28) *Ou mē — the strongest “never” in Greek.* 6. When a teaching of Jesus is hard to accept, what do I do — walk away quietly, or say with Peter, “Lord, to whom shall we go?” (6:60–69) *Hard to accept, not hard to understand.* **Worship.** He fed five thousand with a boy’s lunch and had twelve baskets left. He walked on the sea and said, “I am.” He came down from heaven as the true bread, gave His flesh for the life of the world, and promised to lose none whom the Father gave Him. He is the Holy One of God. He alone has the words of eternal life. **Prayer.** Lord Jesus, Bread of life, I come to You. Forgive me for chasing loaves instead of You. Take the little I have and make it enough for the men around me. When I’m rowing in the dark, come to me across the water and say, “It is I.” Draw the men I love, Father, the way You drew me. And when Your words are hard, keep me from walking away — to whom else would I go? You have words of eternal life. Amen. ## John 7 — Rivers of Living Water ### Marked in the text - v1 — **“the Jews were seeking to kill Him”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v1 — **“the Jews sought to kill him”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v2 — **“the Feast of Booths”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v2 — **“feast of tabernacles”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v5 — **“not even His brothers were believing in Him”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v5 — **“neither did his brethren believe in him”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v6 — **“My time is not yet here”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v6 — **“My time is not yet come”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v7 — **“it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v7 — **“me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v16 — **“My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v16 — **“My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v17 — **“If anyone is willing to do His will”** (green: Command / instruction) - v17 — **“If any man will do his will”** (green: Command / instruction) - v24 — **“Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment”** (green: Command / instruction) - v24 — **“Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment”** (green: Command / instruction) - v28 — **“He who sent Me is true”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v28 — **“he that sent me is true”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v30 — **“because His hour had not yet come”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v30 — **“because his hour was not yet come”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v31 — **“many of the crowd believed in Him”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v31 — **“many of the people believed on him”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v34 — **“where I am, you cannot come”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v34 — **“where I am, thither ye cannot come”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v37 — **“If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink”** (green: Command / instruction) - v37 — **“If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink”** (green: Command / instruction) - v37 — **“the last day, the great day of the feast”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v37 — **“the last day, that great day of the feast”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v38 — **“rivers of living water”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v39 — **“this He spoke of the Spirit”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v39 — **“this spake he of the Spirit”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v42 — **“from Bethlehem, the village where David was”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v42 — **“out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v43 — **“a division occurred in the crowd because of Him”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v43 — **“there was a division among the people because of him”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v46 — **“Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v46 — **“Never man spake like this man”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v49 — **“this crowd which does not know the Law is accursed”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v49 — **“this people who knoweth not the law are cursed”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v51 — **“Our Law does not judge a man unless it first hears from him”** (green: Command / instruction) - v51 — **“Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him”** (green: Command / instruction) - v16 — **“sent”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v26 — **“Christ”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v25 — **“kill”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter ### Observation **Setting.** Some months after the Bread of Life discourse (John 6). Jesus stays in Galilee because the Jews in Judea are seeking to kill Him (v1; cf. 5:18). The Feast of Booths (Tabernacles) — seven days in the seventh month, plus a holy eighth day (Lev 23:34–36) — brings the pilgrims to Jerusalem. Jesus goes up “not publicly” (v10), teaches in the temple “in the midst of the feast” (v14), and cries out “on the last day, the great day of the feast” (v37). **Structure:** - vv1–13 — **the brothers and the time:** His brothers taunt Him to go public; “not even His brothers were believing in Him” (v5). “My time is not yet here” (vv6, 8). He goes up in secret; the crowds grumble — “He is a good man” / “He leads the people astray” (v12). - vv14–24 — **whose teaching:** “How has this man become learned?” (v15). “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me” (v16). The test: “If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know” (v17). Circumcision on the Sabbath vs. making “an entire man well” (vv22–23). “Do not judge according to appearance” (v24). - vv25–36 — **where is He from:** the people of Jerusalem think they know His origin (v27); Jesus cries out that He is from the One who sent Him (vv28–29). They seek to seize Him, but “His hour had not yet come” (v30). Many believe (v31). The Pharisees send officers (v32). “A little while longer … I go to Him who sent Me” (vv33–36). - vv37–39 — **the cry:** “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink” — rivers of living water from within — “this He spoke of the Spirit” (v39). - vv40–53 — **division:** the Prophet? the Christ? not from Galilee? (vv40–42). “A division occurred in the crowd because of Him” (v43). The officers return: “Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks” (v46). The Pharisees scorn the crowd (vv47–49); Nicodemus asks for a fair hearing (vv50–51) and is mocked (v52). Verse 53 opens the bracketed passage (7:53–8:11). **Repeated words, with counts:** - “seek / seeking / seeks” ×11 — vv1, 4, 11, 18 (×2), 19, 20, 25, 30, 34, 36; “kill” ×4 — vv1, 19, 20, 25. - “know / knows / known” ×11 — vv4, 17, 26, 27 (×2), 28 (×3), 29, 49, 51. - “from” ×13 — vv17, 18, 22 (×2), 27 (×2), 28, 29, 41, 42 (×2), 51, 52 — the chapter’s question of origins; “where” ×6 — vv27 (×2), 28, 34, 36, 42. - “feast” ×7 — vv2, 8 (×2), 10, 11, 14, 37. - “sent / send” ×6 — vv16, 18, 28, 29, 32, 33 (five times of the Father sending the Son; v32, the rulers sending officers). - “Christ” ×6 — vv26, 27, 31, 41 (×2), 42. - “the Jews” ×6 — vv1, 2, 11, 13, 15, 35; “crowd(s)” ×6 — vv12, 20, 31, 32, 43, 49. - “Law” ×5 — vv19 (×2), 23, 49, 51; “Moses” ×4 — vv19, 22 (×2), 23. - “believe / believing / believed” ×5 — vv5, 31, 38, 39, 48. - “Galilee” ×5 — vv1, 9, 41, 52 (×2); “Pharisees” ×5 — vv32 (×2), 45, 47, 48. - “teach / teaching” ×5 — vv14, 16, 17, 28, 35. - “publicly / openly” ×4 — vv4, 10, 13, 26; “in secret” ×2 — vv4, 10. - “judge / judgment” ×4 — v24 (×3), v51. - “time” ×3 — vv6 (×2), 8; “hour” ×1 — v30; “seize” ×3 — vv30, 32, 44. - “glory / glorified” ×3 — vv18 (×2), 39; “Spirit” ×2 — v39. **Contrasts:** His time ⟷ your time (v6). Publicly ⟷ in secret (vv4, 10). From Himself ⟷ from the One who sent Him (vv16–18). Appearance ⟷ righteous judgment (v24). We know where He is from ⟷ you do not know Him (vv27–28). The water poured at the altar ⟷ rivers of living water from within (vv37–38). The officers sent to seize ⟷ the officers who come back amazed (vv32, 46). The rulers who have not believed ⟷ the crowd that does not know the Law (vv48–49). **Shape of the chapter:** a slow approach to Jerusalem (1–13), three rounds of argument in the temple (14–36), one great cry (37–39), and a city split down the middle (40–52). Everyone is asking “Who is this man, and where is He from?” **Chapter theme (my words):** Jesus lives on His Father’s schedule and speaks His Father’s words, so no one can hurry Him, catch Him or explain Him away. To every thirsty man He offers Himself, and the Spirit He gives turns a dry life into a river. ### Interpretation **Why didn’t His brothers believe (vv3–5)?** They had grown up in the same house and seen the same works, yet their advice — go public, show Yourself to the world — reveals that they wanted a celebrity, not a Savior. Sproul hears in it a hope for worldly power, not saving faith; Spurgeon calls it “a very painful truth, that those who were the near relations of the Saviour” did not believe; Henry: “Many that have the same external privileges and advantages do not make the same use of them.” The good news is that unbelief in John 7 was not the end: after the resurrection Jesus appeared to James (1 Cor 15:7), and His brothers were praying with the church (Acts 1:14). **Did Jesus deceive His brothers (vv8–10)?** He says “I do not go up to this feast,” then goes up. Some manuscripts read “not yet” (the KJV follows them: “I go not up yet”). Either way the point is timing, not travel: He would not go up *their* way — publicly, as a pilgrim show — or on *their* schedule. He went later, quietly, when His Father’s time had come. Guzik: “God’s timing is an important expression of His will.” **Whose teaching (vv15–18)?** The scholars’ question — “How has this man become learned, having never been educated?” — is half admiration, half dismissal. Jesus’ answer is that His teaching is not self-made: Guzik, “He was not self taught; Jesus was God taught.” Sproul paraphrases, “I brought it with Me from heaven.” He also guards the two natures: as man Jesus learned and grew (Luke 2:52), but what He taught was the Father’s word, without error. **The test of verse 17.** “If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching.” This is the most practical apologetic in the Gospels. The problem with unbelief is usually not information but willingness. Sproul: “If you wanted to do the will of God, you would hear My voice, and you would listen to Me.” Henry: “Those who resemble God are most likely to understand him.” Spurgeon: godly living makes “a far better critic as to what truth is” than learning. **Circumcision and the Sabbath (vv21–24).** The “one deed” is the healing at Bethesda (5:1–9), still causing a stir. Jesus argues from the lesser to the greater: the Law requires circumcision on the eighth day even when it is a Sabbath; if one part of a man may be put right on the Sabbath, how much more “an entire man” (v23)? Hence the command: do not judge by appearance (*kat’ opsin*), but with righteous judgment. **Where is He from (vv27–29, 41–42, 52)?** The crowd holds two contradictory traditions — no one will know where the Christ is from (v27), and the Christ comes from Bethlehem (v42). They “know” Jesus is from Nazareth, so He can’t be either. John lets the irony stand: his readers know Jesus was born in Bethlehem (Matt 2:1; Luke 2:4–7), and His true origin is the Father (v29). As for “no prophet arises out of Galilee” (v52), Guzik notes the obvious exception — Jonah, of Gath-hepher in Galilee (2 Kgs 14:25). **What is “the last day, the great day of the feast” (v37)?** Either the seventh day, the climax of the water ceremony, or the eighth day, the holy convocation (Lev 23:36). Guzik understands the water was poured on the earlier days and apparently not on the eighth; Sproul sets Jesus’ cry “while the Jews are pouring the water out, remembering the water that came from the rock.” I don’t need to settle it to see the point: in the middle of the feast’s remembering, Jesus stands up and says the water is Him. **Whose “innermost being” (v38)?** NASB and most readers take it of the believer: the one who drinks becomes a channel. Some early writers took it of Christ: the rivers flow from Him (cf. 19:34; Rev 22:1). John’s comment settles what the water is — the Spirit (v39) — and when it flows: after Jesus is glorified. Henry holds both together: “Believers drink of a rock in them, Christ in them.” **“The Spirit was not yet given” (v39).** Not that the Spirit did not exist — He moved over the waters in Genesis 1 and filled the prophets — but that the promised outpouring of the new covenant waited for the cross, resurrection and ascension (John 16:7; Acts 2:33). Sproul: “Today, that is the chief ministry of the Holy Ghost: to take the work of the Son and bring it to fruition in us.” **The Feast of Booths and the future.** Zechariah 14 sees living waters flowing out of Jerusalem (14:8) and the nations going up year by year to keep the Feast of Booths before the King (14:16). I read that as a real future for Jerusalem and Israel in the Messiah’s kingdom. What Jesus offered at the feast in John 7 to “anyone” He will one day display before the whole world from the same city. **Nicodemus (vv50–52).** The man who came by night (3:2) now asks a legal question in the open — “Our Law does not judge a man unless it first hears from him … does it?” Sproul: “Excuse me. Is this the way we operate with our law?” Henry: “Facts, and not faces, must be known in judgment.” It’s a small step, and he is mocked for it; by 19:39 he is carrying spices to Jesus’ tomb. **Verse 53 and the bracket.** NASB opens a bracket at 7:53 — “[Everyone went to his home.” — because 7:53–8:11 is not found in the earliest manuscripts of John. I deal with that honestly in the John 8 study; here I just note that 7:52 reads straight on to 8:12. **Word study (Greek):** - **time — *kairos* (G2540):** the fit, appointed moment (vv6, 8). - **hour — *hōra* (G5610):** John’s word for the cross and glory (v30; 2:4; 12:23; 17:1). - **Feast of Booths — *skēnopēgia* (G4634):** “tent-pitching”; only here in the NT (cf. *eskēnōsen*, 1:14). - **learned — *grammata* (G1121):** “letters,” formal learning (v15; Acts 26:24). - **appearance — *opsis* (G3799):** outward look; only John 7:24; 11:44; Rev 1:16. - **seize — *piazō* (G4084):** to grip, arrest; eight of twelve NT uses in John (vv30, 32, 44). - **innermost being — *koilia* (G2836):** belly, womb; figuratively the inner self (v38). - **glorified — *doxazō* (G1392):** John’s word for the cross and exaltation (v39). - **division — *schisma* (G4978):** a tear; John uses it three times of people split over Jesus (7:43; 9:16; 10:19). **Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):** 1. **Nearness is not faith** — His brothers saw everything and did not believe (v5); later they did (Acts 1:14). 2. **Two words for time** — *kairos* (vv6, 8) and *hōra* (v30); Jesus waits for the Father’s hour. 3. **Jesus kept the Father’s clock** — Spurgeon: “Our Lord Jesus Christ did everything, as it were, by the clock.” 4. **Obedience opens understanding** (v17) — Henry: “Those who resemble God are most likely to understand him.” 5. **Judge rightly, not by the surface** (v24) — “No righteous judgment can be come to if appearances decide” (Dods, in Guzik). 6. **Jesus is the fulfillment of the feast** — the water poured for the rock points to Him (vv37–38). 7. **Thirst is the only qualification** — bring nothing but your thirst (Spurgeon). 8. **The river waited for the glory** — Spirit after the cross and ascension (v39; Acts 2:33). 9. **The arresting officers were arrested** — “they could not take him, for he had fairly taken them” (Spurgeon). 10. **Nicodemus is moving** — by night (3:2), in council (7:50), at the tomb (19:39). **Cross-references:** Exod 17:6; Lev 23:34–43; Deut 16:16; 18:15; 1 Sam 16:7; 2 Kgs 14:25; Isa 12:3; 55:1; 58:11; Ezek 47:1–12; Mic 5:2; Zech 14:8, 16; Matt 2:1; Luke 2:52; 12:51; John 1:14; 3:2; 4:10–14; 5:1–18; 6:66–68; 10:18; 16:7; 19:39; Acts 1:14; 2:33; 1 Cor 15:7; Rev 22:1, 17. ### Application **Command to obey — “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.”** I know what thirst does to a man. Most of the men I walk with have tried to drink their way out of it — the bottle, the pipe, the screen, the woman who isn’t their wife, the next deal. Jesus didn’t shout at the feast to condemn thirsty people; He shouted to invite them. Spurgeon is right: I bring nothing but my thirst, and coming is believing. This week, when the thirst hits, I will say it out loud — “Lord, I’m thirsty” — and come to Him first, before I reach for anything else. **Sin to confess — judging by appearance.** I size men up fast: the tattoos, the record, the way he talks, the suit he wears. Verse 24 stops me. The crowd judged Jesus by His hometown and His lack of a diploma and missed the Son of God. I confess the times I have written a man off — or trusted one — because of how things looked. Facts, not faces. **Example to follow — Jesus on His Father’s clock.** His brothers wanted Him to make a move. He waited. I am not good at waiting; I want God to show Himself now, on my terms. Jesus’ “My time is not yet here” teaches me that God’s delays are not God’s denials, and that a man walking in the Father’s will cannot be hurried by his friends or stopped by his enemies. **Truth to live in — obedience before understanding.** “If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know” (v17). Some of my questions are honest; some are excuses. Where I already know what God wants and I’m stalling, the next light will come when I obey the light I have. **Promise to trust — rivers, not a trickle.** The Spirit Jesus gives doesn’t just quench my thirst; He flows out of me to the next man. The thing God is healing in me is the thing He wants to pour through me into someone else’s dry life. **Example to follow — Nicodemus’ small step.** He didn’t preach a sermon in the council; he asked one fair question and got mocked for it. Sometimes faithfulness is one sentence in a hostile room. **Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):** 1. Who in my own family has watched my life and still doesn’t believe? What does Jesus’ patience with His brothers teach me about waiting for them? (7:3–5; Acts 1:14) *His brothers didn’t believe in John 7 — and were praying with the church in Acts 1:14.* 2. Where am I pushing God to act on my timetable — “show Yourself” — instead of trusting His time? (7:6–8, 30) *Kairos, the fit moment, belongs to the Father.* 3. Is there a truth in Scripture I keep arguing with because I’m not yet willing to obey it? (7:17) *Verse 17: the will comes before the knowing.* 4. Where have I judged a man — or been judged — by appearance? What would “righteous judgment” look like there? (7:24; 1 Sam 16:7) *Facts, not faces (Henry).* 5. What am I thirsty for right now, and where have I been trying to drink instead of coming to Jesus? (7:37–38; Isa 55:1) *Bring nothing but your thirst (Spurgeon).* 6. Like Nicodemus, where do I need to speak up for Jesus in a room that is against Him? (7:50–51; 19:39) *Small steps of courage in the open.* **Worship.** The feast remembered water from a rock and a pillar of fire in the night; Jesus stood in the middle of it and said, in effect, “That was Me.” Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks. He keeps the Father’s time, He speaks the Father’s words, and He gives the Father’s Spirit — rivers of living water. **Prayer.** Lord Jesus, I’m thirsty. I have tried to drink from wells that left me drier than before. I come to You with nothing but my thirst — let me drink. Give me a willing heart to do Your will, so that I will know Your truth. Keep me from judging by appearance. Teach me to wait on Your time and not push for mine. Pour Your Spirit through me like rivers into the lives of the men around me, and give me the courage of Nicodemus to speak up for You when it costs me. Amen. ## John 8 — Before Abraham Was Born, I Am ### Marked in the text - v3 — **“a woman caught in adultery”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v3 — **“a woman taken in adultery”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v5 — **“in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v5 — **“Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v7 — **“He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her”** (green: Command / instruction) - v7 — **“He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her”** (green: Command / instruction) - v9 — **“they began to go out one by one”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v9 — **“went out one by one”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v11 — **“I do not condemn you, either”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v11 — **“Neither do I condemn thee”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v11 — **“From now on sin no more”** (green: Command / instruction) - v11 — **“go, and sin no more”** (green: Command / instruction) - v12 — **“I am the Light of the world”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v12 — **“I am the light of the world”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v12 — **“will have the Light of life”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v12 — **“shall have the light of life”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v17 — **“the testimony of two men is true”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v20 — **“because His hour had not yet come”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v20 — **“for his hour was not yet come”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v21 — **“will die in your sin”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v21 — **“shall die in your sins”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v24 — **“unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v24 — **“if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v28 — **“When you lift up the Son of Man”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v28 — **“When ye have lifted up the Son of man”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v29 — **“I always do the things that are pleasing to Him”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v29 — **“I do always those things that please him”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v31 — **“If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine”** (green: Command / instruction) - v31 — **“If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed”** (green: Command / instruction) - v32 — **“the truth will make you free”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v32 — **“the truth shall make you free”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v34 — **“everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v34 — **“Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v36 — **“if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v36 — **“If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v44 — **“You are of your father the devil”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v44 — **“Ye are of your father the devil”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v44 — **“he is a liar and the father of lies”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v44 — **“he is a liar, and the father of it”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v47 — **“He who is of God hears the words of God”** (green: Command / instruction) - v47 — **“He that is of God heareth God's words”** (green: Command / instruction) - v51 — **“if anyone keeps My word he will never see death”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v51 — **“If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v56 — **“Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v56 — **“Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v58 — **“before Abraham was born, I am”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v58 — **“Before Abraham was, I am”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v59 — **“they picked up stones to throw at Him”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v59 — **“took they up stones to cast at him”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v16 — **“Father”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v32 — **“truth”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v33 — **“Abraham”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter ### Observation **Setting.** Still in the temple in Jerusalem, at or just after the Feast of Booths (John 7). The NASB brackets 7:53–8:11 — the woman caught in adultery — because the earliest manuscripts of John do not contain it; the bracket closes at the end of verse 11. From verse 12, “Jesus again spoke to them”; verse 20 places the words “in the treasury, as He taught in the temple.” The chapter ends with Jesus going out of the temple (v59). **Structure:** - [7:53]–8:11 — **the woman and her accusers (bracketed):** Mount of Olives, then the temple at dawn (vv1–2). Scribes and Pharisees bring a woman “caught in adultery, in the very act” to test Him (vv3–6). He writes on the ground; “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her” (v7). They leave one by one, oldest first (v9). “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more” (v11). - vv12–20 — **the Light of the world:** the claim (v12); “Your testimony is not true” (v13); Jesus and the Father as two witnesses (vv14–18); “Where is Your Father?” (v19); in the treasury, and no one seized Him (v20). - vv21–30 — **die in your sins:** “where I am going, you cannot come” (vv21–22); from below / from above (v23); “unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins” (v24); “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He” (v28); “many came to believe in Him” (v30). - vv31–36 — **truth and freedom:** “If you continue in My word … the truth will make you free” (vv31–32); “never yet been enslaved” (v33); the slave of sin; the son remains; “free indeed” (vv34–36). - vv37–47 — **whose children:** Abraham’s descendants who seek to kill Him (vv37–40); “we have one Father: God” (v41); “If God were your Father, you would love Me” (v42); “You are of your father the devil” (v44); “He who is of God hears the words of God” (v47). - vv48–59 — **I AM:** “a Samaritan and have a demon” (v48); “if anyone keeps My word he will never see death” (v51); “Abraham died” (vv52–53); “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day” (v56); “before Abraham was born, I am” (v58); stones, and He goes out of the temple (v59). **Repeated words, with counts:** - “Father” (capital F, God) ×12 — vv16, 18, 19 (×3), 27, 28, 38, 41, 42, 49, 54; “father” (lowercase) ×8 — vv38, 39, 41, 44 (×3), 53, 56 — twenty in all, the chapter’s great question. - “Abraham / Abraham’s” ×11 — vv33, 37, 39 (×3), 40, 52, 53, 56, 57, 58. - “know / knew / known” ×13 — vv14 (×2), 19 (×3), 28, 32, 37, 52, 55 (×4). - “speak / spoke” ×12 — vv12, 20, 26 (×2), 27, 28, 30, 38, 44 (×2), 45, 46. - “true / truly” ×9 — vv13, 14, 16, 17, 26, 31, 34, 51, 58 (“Truly, truly” ×3 — vv34, 51, 58). - “sin / sins” ×8 — vv7, 11, 21, 24 (×2), 34 (×2), 46. - “die / died / death” ×8 — vv21, 24 (×2), 51, 52 (×2), 53 (×2). - “testify / testifies / testimony” ×7 — vv13 (×2), 14 (×2), 17, 18 (×2). - “truth” ×7 — vv32 (×2), 40, 44 (×2), 45, 46. - “where” ×7 — vv9, 10, 14 (×4), 21; “hear / heard” ×7 — vv9, 26, 38, 40, 43, 47 (×2). - “judge / judging / judgment / judges” ×6 — vv15 (×2), 16 (×2), 26, 50; “condemn” ×2 — vv10, 11. - “word” ×6 — vv31, 37, 43, 51, 52, 55. - “believe / believed” ×5 — vv24, 30, 31, 45, 46; “sent” ×5 — vv16, 18, 26, 29, 42; “seek(s)” ×5 — vv21, 37, 40, 50 (×2). - “free” ×4 — vv32, 33, 36 (×2); “slave(s) / enslaved” ×3 — vv33, 34, 35. - “glory / glorify / glorifies” ×4 — vv50, 54 (×3); “demon” ×3 — vv48, 49, 52; “kill” ×3 — vv22, 37, 40. - “I am He” ×2 — vv24, 28; and the bare “I am” of v58; “Light” ×2 — v12. **Contrasts:** condemnation ⟷ “I do not condemn you” (vv10–11). Darkness ⟷ the Light of life (v12). From below ⟷ from above; of this world ⟷ not of this world (v23). Slave ⟷ son; the house for a time ⟷ forever (v35). Abraham’s descendants ⟷ Abraham’s children (vv37–39). God as Father ⟷ the devil as father (vv42–44). Truth ⟷ lies (vv44–45). Honor ⟷ dishonor (v49). Never see death ⟷ Abraham died (vv51–53). Abraham came to be ⟷ “I am” (v58). **Shape of the chapter:** a bracketed scene of mercy (1–11), then five rounds of claim and objection (12–20, 21–30, 31–36, 37–47, 48–59), each one sharper, until “I am” meets the stones. Those who “believed” in verse 31 are the ones holding rocks in verse 59. **Chapter theme (my words):** Jesus tells the truth about who He is and who we are. He is the Light, the Son, the I AM; we are slaves of sin who need Him to set us free. Only those who stay in His word find out how free they really are. ### Interpretation **Is John 7:53–8:11 Scripture? — said plainly.** The NASB prints it in brackets with a note that later manuscripts add it. The facts: it is absent from the earliest Greek copies of John (P66, P75, Sinaiticus, Vaticanus); the first Greek manuscript that has it is Codex Bezae; Jerome kept it in the Vulgate and Augustine defended it; some manuscripts put it after John 7:36, after John 21:25 or after Luke 21:38. Guzik: “it seems unlikely that this portion was part of the original text of John’s gospel.” Sproul: “Frankly, the best gospel of John manuscripts from antiquity do not include this story” — yet he reports that scholars also broadly judge it authentic and apostolic, and he preached it: “Whether it belongs here in John’s gospel, at the end of Luke 21, or somewhere else, I leave for the ages.” Spurgeon and Henry expound it as it stood in their Bibles (Henry even notes a phrase in v6 that “most copies have it not”). My position for the men I teach: we read it, we learn from it, we tell the truth about its history, and we don’t build any doctrine on it alone. Nothing in it contradicts the rest of Scripture — Jesus says the same thing to the man at Bethesda: “do not sin anymore” (5:14). **What was the trap (vv3–6)?** The Law required death for both the adulterer and the adulteress (Lev 20:10), and the witnesses’ hands first (Deut 17:7). The man is missing. Sproul sees a vise between Rome and Moses: if Jesus says “stone her,” He defies Rome, which reserved capital punishment; “If He says, ‘Don’t stone her,’ He is in trouble with the Jewish authorities.” **What did He write?** No one knows. Guzik: “an endless source of speculation.” Henry: “It is impossible to tell, and therefore needless to ask, what he wrote.” Sproul quotes Calvin: “When God closes His holy mouth, let us desist from inquiry.” I won’t guess either. **“I do not condemn you, either” — is that soft on sin?** No. Henry is careful that Christ would not take the office of a civil judge, “no judge nor divider”; Spurgeon, that “He condemned the sin, his own pure and holy life was the best condemnation of that.” The order is the gospel: no condemnation, then “From now on sin no more.” Pardon is not the reward for changing; it is the power to change. **The Light of the world (v12) and the two witnesses (vv13–18).** Beside the great lamps of the feast (Guzik: lit “in the court of the women”), Jesus claims to be what the pillar of fire was to Israel (Exod 13:21) — light for the way. The Pharisees object that self-testimony proves nothing; Jesus answers with their own Law of two witnesses: Himself and the Father. Guzik: “those two witnesses exist; they are Jesus and His Father.” Sproul: Jesus is not only a witness to the truth but truth incarnate; the problem is that they do not know the Father. **“I am He” (vv24, 28).** The NASB italicizes “He” because the Greek has only *egō eimi*. Guzik: “The ‘He’ is rightly in italics and added by the translators” — the bare “I am” is “a claim to deity.” Sproul: words that “call back to a title of God in the Old Testament.” The background is Isaiah 43:10 — “that I am He.” The stakes: “unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” Sproul: “The only other way you can die is to die in your sins.” **“When you lift up the Son of Man” (v28).** “Lifted up” in John always means the cross (3:14; 12:32–34). Guzik: it “had nothing to do with ‘exalting’ Jesus in ways we normally think.” Yet the cross is where He is most clearly seen. Henry: “When the Son of man was crucified, the Son of man was glorified.” **Believers who pick up stones (vv30–59).** Verse 30 says “many came to believe in Him,” and verse 31 addresses “those Jews who had believed Him.” By verse 59 they are reaching for rocks. Spurgeon: “There is such a thing as a temporary faith; beware of it.” Sproul: “We must possess what we profess.” Real disciples continue (*menō*) in His word. **What kind of freedom (vv32–36)?** They claimed never to have been slaves — with Egypt, Babylon and Rome in their history. Jesus means a deeper bondage: “everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.” Guzik: “Slavery to sin is the worst kind of slavery, because there is no escape from our self.” Sproul: “By nature you’re slaves, you’re slaves to your own wicked desires.” Spurgeon: “we are not only free from, but we are free to.” Henry: “Those whom Christ makes free are free indeed.” The truth that frees is a Person — the Son (v36; 14:6). **“Your father the devil” (v44) — is Jesus being harsh?** He is telling the truth that sonship is shown by likeness. Sproul: “You are the children of the one you obey,” and “We are volunteers in the kingdom of darkness.” Guzik cites Alford: “one of the most decisive testimonies for the objective personality of the devil.” This is not a word against the Jewish people — Jesus, His disciples and the first church were Jews, and God’s promises to Israel stand (Rom 11:1–2, 25–29). It is a word to every religious man, in any nation, who claims God and acts like the murderer and liar. **“Before Abraham was born, I am” (v58).** Abraham *came to be*; Jesus *is*. Henry: “he does not say, I was, but I am.” Spurgeon: “he claimed the Godhead, he declared that he was certainly God, self-existent from all eternity.” Sproul calls it the most dramatic of all the I AM sayings. Guzik: the voice of the covenant God at the burning bush (Exod 3:14). The stones in verse 59 settle the question of what they heard: blasphemy carried the death penalty (Lev 24:16). And Abraham “rejoiced to see My day” (v56) — he saw the promise from a distance (Heb 11:13) and was glad. **Word study (Greek):** - **without sin — *anamartētos* (G361):** sinless; only John 8:7. - **condemn — *katakrinō* (G2632):** pass the sentence against (vv10–11; Rom 8:34). - **light — *phōs* (G5457):** light; God’s self-revelation (v12; 1:4–9). - **treasury — *gazophylakion* (G1049):** the offering chests, Court of the Women (v20; Mark 12:41). - **I am — *eimi* (G1510):** *egō eimi* with no predicate (vv24, 28, 58). - **lift up — *hypsoō* (G5312):** raise high; in John always the cross (3:14; 8:28; 12:32, 34). - **continue — *menō* (G3306):** remain, abide (vv31, 35). - **make free — *eleutheroō* (G1659):** set free; John 8:32, 36; Rom 6:18, 22; 8:2, 21; Gal 5:1. - **indeed — *ontōs* (G3689):** really, actually (v36). - **murderer — *anthrōpoktonos* (G443):** man-killer; only John 8:44 and 1 John 3:15. - **rejoiced — *agalliaō* (G21):** leaped for joy (v56). - **was born — *ginomai* (G1096):** came into being — set against “I am” (v58). **Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):** 1. **Honesty about the text honors the text** — the bracket is there for a reason, and we can say so. 2. **No condemnation, then “sin no more”** — pardon first, then holiness (8:11). 3. **Only the sinless could throw the first stone** — and He didn’t (Guzik). 4. **The Light was spoken beside the lamps** — in the treasury, at the feast (8:12, 20). 5. **“I am He” — the “He” is not in the Greek** (vv24, 28; Isa 43:10). 6. **The cross is where He is known** (v28) — crucified and glorified (Henry). 7. **Believing is not the same as continuing** (vv30–31, 59) — beware a temporary faith (Spurgeon). 8. **The worst slavery is to self** (Guzik); the Son makes free *ontōs*, really (v36). 9. **You are the child of the one you obey** (Sproul; vv39–47). 10. **Not “I was” but “I am”** (v58) — and the stones prove they understood. **Cross-references:** Gen 3:4; 22:8, 18; Exod 3:14; 13:21; Lev 20:10; 24:16; Deut 17:6–7; 19:15; Ps 27:1; Isa 9:2; 42:6; 43:10; 49:6; Matt 7:3–5; Mark 12:41–43; Luke 1:47; 21:38; John 1:4–9; 3:14; 5:14; 7:37–38; 12:32–34; 14:6; 15:4–10; Rom 5:12; 6:17–18; 8:1, 34; 11:1–2, 25–29; Gal 5:1; Heb 11:13; 1 John 1:7; 3:8, 12, 15. ### Application **Promise to trust — “I do not condemn you, either.”** I know men who were dragged into a public place and had their sin read out — in a courtroom, in a newspaper, in front of their kids. Some of them still hear the crowd. I’ve heard my own. I tell them honestly that this story is bracketed in our Bibles, and then I tell them what the whole Bible says just as plainly: “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1). The Judge who alone could throw the stone put it down. **Command to obey — “From now on sin no more.”** Mercy is not permission. Jesus did not say, “Go, it doesn’t matter.” He said, “Go. From now on sin no more.” Pardon is the power to change, not a pass to stay the same. This week I will name the thing I keep going back to and, with a brother, cut off the road back to it. **Sin to confess — picking up stones.** I can be quick to grab a rock — the man who relapsed, the brother who failed, the one whose sin is uglier than mine. Verse 9 says they left “one by one, beginning with the older ones.” The longer I live, the more I should know my own heart. I confess my stones. **Example to follow — the Light, and following Him.** “He who follows Me will not walk in the darkness” (v12). Following is a daily walk, not a one-time decision. I want to bring the hidden things into His light before they grow in the dark. **Command to obey — continue in His word.** The men who “believed” in verse 31 held stones in verse 59. I have seen jailhouse faith evaporate in the parking lot on release day. Real freedom comes to the man who stays in the word — daily, when it’s dull, when it convicts him. **Promise to trust — free indeed.** “Everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin” — I don’t have to be told; I’ve lived it. But “if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” Not free in name. Really free. Spurgeon is right: free from, and free to. **Truth to live in — whose son am I?** Jesus tested every claim to a father by the son’s deeds. Sproul: “You are the children of the one you obey.” My family resemblance shows in what I do with the truth, how I treat the man in front of me, and whether I hear God’s words. **Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):** 1. Which voice condemns me most loudly — my own, someone else’s, the accuser’s? What does Jesus say to that voice in 8:10–11? (8:10–11; Rom 8:1) *Pardon first, then “sin no more” — never the other way around.* 2. When I’m quick to pick up a stone against another man, what sin of my own am I ignoring? (8:7–9; Matt 7:3–5) *“He who is without sin among you …”* 3. Where am I still walking in darkness — a habit, a secret, a resentment — that I need to bring into His light? (8:12; 1 John 1:7) *The follower “will not walk in the darkness.”* 4. Am I continuing in His word, or did I believe once and drift? What does staying put look like for me this week? (8:31–32) *A temporary faith is not a saving faith (Spurgeon).* 5. What chain still holds me, and have I ever asked the Son — not my willpower — to make me free indeed? (8:34–36; Rom 6:18) *Habits are the chains which slaves wear; the Son breaks them.* 6. If someone judged my father by my deeds this week, whom would they say I belong to? (8:39–44; 1 John 3:8) *You are the children of the one you obey (Sproul).* **Worship.** Before Abraham was born, He is. The God who spoke from the burning bush stood in the temple treasury and said, “I am.” The Light of the world walked into the darkness of the cross so that men who walk in darkness could have the Light of life. He who is without sin did not throw the stone — He took the stones. **Prayer.** Lord Jesus, You are the I AM, the Light of the world, the Son who sets slaves free. Thank You that You do not condemn me. Now give me the power to go and sin no more. Shine into the places I have kept dark. Keep me in Your word when my faith feels thin. Break the chains I could never break, and make me free indeed. Make me look like my Father, so that the men around me see Your family in me. Take the stones out of my hands. Amen. ## John 9 — Once Blind, Now I See ### Marked in the text - v2 — **“who sinned, this man or his parents”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v2 — **“who did sin, this man, or his parents”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v3 — **“so that the works of God might be displayed in him”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v3 — **“that the works of God should be made manifest in him”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v4 — **“night is coming when no one can work”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v4 — **“the night cometh, when no man can work”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v5 — **“I am the Light of the world”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v5 — **“I am the light of the world”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v6 — **“made clay of the spittle”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v7 — **“Go, wash in the pool of Siloam”** (green: Command / instruction) - v7 — **“came back seeing”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v7 — **“came seeing”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v9 — **“I am the one”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v9 — **“I am he”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v14 — **“Now it was a Sabbath”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v14 — **“it was the sabbath day”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v16 — **“This man is not from God”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v16 — **“This man is not of God”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v16 — **“there was a division among them”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v17 — **“He is a prophet”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v22 — **“they were afraid of the Jews”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v22 — **“they feared the Jews”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v22 — **“put out of the synagogue”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v25 — **“one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v25 — **“one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v28 — **“They reviled him”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v28 — **“they reviled him”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v32 — **“Since the beginning of time it has never been heard”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v32 — **“Since the world began was it not heard”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v33 — **“If this man were not from God, He could do nothing”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v33 — **“If this man were not of God, he could do nothing”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v34 — **“So they put him out”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v34 — **“they cast him out”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v35 — **“finding him”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v35 — **“when he had found him”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v35 — **“Do you believe in the Son of Man?”** (green: Command / instruction) - v35 — **“Dost thou believe on the Son of God?”** (green: Command / instruction) - v38 — **“Lord, I believe”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v38 — **“he worshiped Him”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v38 — **“he worshipped him”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v39 — **“For judgment I came into this world”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v39 — **“For judgment I am come into this world”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v41 — **“your sin remains”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v41 — **“your sin remaineth”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v1 — **“blind”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v6 — **“eyes”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter ### Observation **Setting.** Jerusalem, just after the Feast of Tabernacles (7:2, 37). Jesus has said “I am the Light of the world” (8:12), claimed “before Abraham was born, I am” (8:58), and slipped out of the temple as they picked up stones (8:59). As He passes by, He sees a man blind from birth. The healing happens on a Sabbath (v14), at the pool of Siloam south of the temple. **Structure:** - vv1–7 — **the sign:** the disciples ask who sinned; Jesus: neither, but “so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” We must work while it is day; “I am the Light of the world.” Clay, spittle, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (“Sent”); he went, washed, came back seeing. - vv8–12 — **the neighbors:** is this the beggar? “I am the one.” He tells it plainly: the man called Jesus made clay, I washed, I received sight. Where is He? “I do not know.” - vv13–17 — **the Pharisees (1):** it was a Sabbath. “This man is not from God” vs. “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” — a division. The man: “He is a prophet.” - vv18–23 — **the parents:** yes, our son; yes, born blind; how he sees, ask him. They feared being put out of the synagogue (v22). - vv24–34 — **the Pharisees (2):** “Give glory to God; we know that this man is a sinner.” “One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” They revile him; he reasons: if this man were not from God, He could do nothing (v33). “You were born entirely in sins” — and they put him out. - vv35–38 — **Jesus finds him:** “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped Him. - vv39–41 — **the verdict:** “For judgment I came into this world” — those who do not see will see, those who see will become blind. “Since you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.” **Repeated words, with counts:** - “blind” ×13 — vv1, 2, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 24, 25, 32, 39, 40, 41. - “see / sees / seeing / seen / saw / sight” ×16 — vv1, 7, 8, 11, 15 (×2), 18 (×2), 19, 21, 25, 37, 39 (×3), 41. - “know” ×11 — vv12, 20, 21 (×2), 24, 25 (×2), 29 (×2), 30, 31. - “eyes” ×10 — vv6, 10, 11, 14, 15, 17, 21, 26, 30, 32; “open / opened” ×7 — vv10, 14, 17, 21, 26, 30, 32. - “God” ×7 — vv3, 16, 24, 29, 31 (×2), 33. - “sin / sinned / sins” ×5 — vv2, 3, 34, 41 (×2); “sinner(s)” ×4 — vv16, 24, 25, 31. - “clay” ×5 — vv6 (×2), 11, 14, 15; “wash / washed” ×5 — vv7 (×2), 11 (×2), 15. - “from” (where He is from / from God) ×5 — vv1, 16, 29, 30, 33. - “believe” ×4 — vv18, 35, 36, 38; “disciple(s)” ×4 — vv2, 27, 28 (×2); “Pharisees” ×4 — vv13, 15, 16, 40. - “put (him) out” ×3 — vv22, 34, 35. **Contrasts:** blind ⟷ seeing (the whole chapter, turned inside out in vv39–41). Day ⟷ night (v4). “Who sinned?” ⟷ “the works of God” (vv2–3). “We know” (vv24, 29) ⟷ “I do not know … one thing I do know” (v25). Disciples of Moses ⟷ His disciple (v28). Put out by men (v34) ⟷ found by Jesus (v35). The man’s growing view of Jesus — a man, a prophet, from God, Lord — ⟷ the Pharisees’ shrinking one — not from God, a sinner, we don’t know where He is from. **Shape of the chapter:** a sign (1–7), a series of hearings in which Jesus is absent (8–34), and a meeting in which Jesus finds the man and pronounces judgment (35–41). The man moves from the roadside to the synagogue door to Jesus’ feet; the Pharisees move from judges to the judged. **Chapter theme (my words):** The Light of the world opens the eyes of a man born blind and then opens his heart to see who He is. Every honest step toward Jesus costs the man something, and every step away from Jesus leaves the experts darker than before. ### Interpretation **Did sin cause the blindness (vv2–3)?** The disciples assumed suffering is always a direct payback for someone’s sin. Jesus says not in this case. Sproul calls it a false dilemma: Scripture shows that “God can and does visit people with afflictions when they disobey,” but we can’t read every affliction that way — “I have no idea why Harvey has cerebral palsy, and he does not either.” The point is purpose, not blame: “so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” Spurgeon: “Christ is ever for seeking out, not the cause, but the remedy.” **Why clay and spittle?** All four teachers refuse to make a method out of it. Guzik notes that spittle was thought to have healing qualities, hears an echo of the dust of Genesis 2:7, and says Jesus varied His methods “so one could never make a formula of the methods.” Sproul: “Do not think there is a chemical formula in Palestinian clay.” Henry: “Clay made of Christ’s spittle was much more precious than the balm of Gilead.” The clay also made it a Sabbath case — making clay counted as work under the traditions (v14). **Why Siloam (“Sent”)?** John translates the name on purpose. Jesus is the One “sent” by the Father all through this Gospel (v4, “Him who sent Me”), and He sends the man to the pool called Sent. The man obeys while still blind — the faith of a few steps, not yet of full sight. **The parents and the synagogue (v22).** *Aposynagōgos* — put out of the synagogue — appears only in John (9:22; 12:42; 16:2). It meant losing worship, friends and livelihood. Guzik is gentle with the parents (“It is instinctive and normal for parents to protect their children”); Henry is not (“The fear of man brings a snare”). Both are true. **Testimony and gospel (v25).** Spurgeon preached v25 as an unanswerable argument: “If the gospel of God be true, it can stand any quantity of questioning.” Sproul honors the man’s witness but draws a line: “Do not ever confuse your personal testimony with the gospel. … The gospel is about Him.” I need both: my story opens the door; Christ’s person and work is what I carry through it. **“Son of Man” or “Son of God” (v35)?** The NASB follows the oldest manuscripts (“Son of Man”); the KJV reads “Son of God.” Guzik notes the difference and says both point to God’s Messiah. Henry, working from the KJV, comments on “Son of God.” The man worships either way (v38), and Jesus accepts it — Sproul: worship belongs only to God, so Jesus’ acceptance is a claim to deity. **“For judgment I came” (v39) and 3:17.** Jesus came to save, not to condemn, but His coming brings a verdict as light exposes what is there. Those who admit blindness receive sight; those who insist they see are left in their sin (v41). Guzik: “We are all spiritually blind from birth.” Henry: “Those that are convinced of their disease are in a fair way to be cured.” **Word study (Greek):** - **clay — *pēlos* (G4081):** wet earth, potter’s clay; five times in John 9, once in Rom 9:21. - **Siloam / sent — *Silōam* (G4611), *apostellō* (G649):** the pool named “Sent”; the verb behind “apostle.” - **division — *schisma* (G4978):** a tear; in John always over Jesus (7:43; 9:16; 10:19). - **put out of the synagogue — *aposynagōgos* (G656):** excommunicated; only John 9:22; 12:42; 16:2. - **know — *oida* (G1492):** knowledge from having seen; the battle word of vv24–34. - **reviled — *loidoreō* (G3058):** to heap verbal abuse (1 Pet 2:23). - **disciple — *mathētēs* (G3101):** learner, follower — the insult that was really an honor (v28). - **worshiped — *proskyneō* (G4352):** to bow down in homage — accepted by Jesus (v38). - **judgment — *krima* (G2917):** a verdict and its result (v39). - **blind — *typhlos* (G5185):** physically or spiritually blind; the chapter’s key word. **Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):** 1. **Jesus answers “why?” with “what now”** — the works of God displayed (v3). 2. **The sign acts out the saying** — “I am the Light of the world” (v5; 8:12). 3. **The man obeyed before he could see** — clay on his eyes, walking to “Sent” (v7). 4. **There is no formula in the clay** (Sproul, Guzik). 5. **The same miracle, two verdicts** — *schisma*, division (v16). 6. **Fear of man silences people who know the truth** — the parents (v22). 7. **“One thing I do know”** — hold to what Jesus has done (v25). 8. **A testimony is not yet the gospel** (Sproul) — it points to a Person. 9. **When the synagogue threw him out, Jesus found him** (v35). 10. **The most dangerous words are “We see”** (v41). **Cross-references:** Gen 1:3; 2:7; Exod 4:11; Ps 146:8; Prov 29:25; Isa 6:9–10; 35:5; 42:6–7, 16–19; Dan 7:13–14; Matt 15:14; Luke 4:18; John 1:4–9; 3:17–21; 5:17; 8:12, 58–59; 10:19–21; 11:9–10; 12:35–46; 16:2; Acts 10:25–26; Rom 9:21; 2 Cor 4:4–6; Eph 5:8; 1 Pet 2:9, 23; Rev 3:17–18. ### Application **Example to follow — the man who went.** Jesus put clay on his eyes and said go. He couldn’t see the pool, the road or the result. He went anyway, and came back seeing. Most of the men I walk with want to see the whole road before they take the first step — I’m the same. This week I will do the next obedient thing Jesus has already made plain, before I can see how it turns out. **Truth to live in — “neither this man sinned, nor his parents.”** I know men who have spent years asking “whose fault is this?” about the way they were born, the house they grew up in, the addiction that runs in their family. Some of that history is real sin, and it needs to be named and confessed. But Jesus won’t let the blame question be the last word. He says: watch what God will do here. My worst chapter can become the place where the works of God are displayed. **Sin to confess — the fear of man.** The parents knew the truth and kept their mouths shut so they wouldn’t be put out. I confess the times I’ve gone quiet about Jesus at work, on the yard, at the family table, because I didn’t want to lose standing. Fear of man is a snare, and it has caught me. **Command to obey — tell your “one thing.”** The man didn’t have a theology degree. He had one thing he knew: “though I was blind, now I see.” Sproul is right that my story isn’t the gospel — the gospel is about Him — but my story can point to Him. This week I will tell one man what Jesus has done for me in two sentences, and then tell him who Jesus is and what He did on the cross. **Promise to trust — He finds the ones they put out.** The synagogue threw the man out, and Jesus went looking for him. Some of my brothers have been thrown out of families, churches, jobs, communities. Some deserved consequences; some didn’t. Either way, verse 35 is true: Jesus heard, and Jesus found him. Being put out by men can be the very place Jesus finds you. **Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):** 1. What hard thing in my life have I spent years asking “who sinned?” about — and what might it look like for the works of God to be displayed in it? (9:1–3; Rom 8:28) *Jesus refused the blame question and turned to what God would do.* 2. Jesus told the man to go and wash before he could see anything. Where is Jesus asking me to obey before I see the result? (9:6–7) *He went, washed and came back seeing — obedience before sight.* 3. The parents knew the truth but kept quiet for fear of being put out. Whose opinion keeps me quiet about Jesus? (9:20–23; Prov 29:25) *The fear of man brings a snare; the Light is worth the cost.* 4. What is my “one thing I do know”? Can I tell it in two sentences — and then point past it to Jesus Himself? (9:25; 1 Cor 15:3–4) *Testimony is powerful, but the gospel is about Him, not me.* 5. Have I ever been thrown out — by family, a church, a crowd — for following Jesus? How does verse 35 speak to that? (9:34–35; Heb 13:12–13) *When they put him out, Jesus found him.* 6. Where am I saying “We see” — sure I already understand — in a way that might be keeping me blind? (9:39–41; Rev 3:17–18) *Admitting blindness is the door to sight.* **Worship.** “Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind.” But He did. The Light of the world stopped for a beggar nobody else saw, made new eyes out of clay, and then came back to find him when everyone else threw him out. The right response is the man’s: “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped Him. **Prayer.** Lord Jesus, Light of the world, I was born blind and You opened my eyes. Thank You for passing by, for seeing me when I was just a problem to others, and for finding me when I was put out. Give me the courage to obey before I see, to speak when fear says be quiet, and to tell my one thing and then point to You. Keep me from ever saying “I see” in pride. Open the eyes of the men I serve. Lord, I believe — and I worship You. Amen. ## John 10 — The Door and the Good Shepherd ### Marked in the text - v1 — **“climbs up some other way”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v1 — **“climbeth up some other way”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v1 — **“a thief and a robber”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v3 — **“he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v3 — **“he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v4 — **“they know his voice”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v7 — **“I am the door of the sheep”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v9 — **“if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v9 — **“by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v10 — **“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v10 — **“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v10 — **“I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v10 — **“I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v11 — **“the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v11 — **“the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v12 — **“the wolf snatches them and scatters them”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v12 — **“the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v14 — **“I know My own and My own know Me”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v14 — **“know my sheep, and am known of mine”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v16 — **“I have other sheep, which are not of this fold”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v16 — **“other sheep I have, which are not of this fold”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v16 — **“one flock with one shepherd”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v16 — **“one fold, and one shepherd”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v18 — **“I lay it down on My own initiative”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v18 — **“I lay it down of myself”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v18 — **“I have authority to take it up again”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v18 — **“I have power to take it again”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v22 — **“the Feast of the Dedication”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v22 — **“the feast of the dedication”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v23 — **“it was winter”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v22 — **“it was winter”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v26 — **“you do not believe because you are not of My sheep”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v26 — **“ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v28 — **“I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v28 — **“I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v28 — **“no one will snatch them out of My hand”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v28 — **“neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v29 — **“no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v29 — **“no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v30 — **“I and the Father are one”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v30 — **“I and my Father are one”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v31 — **“picked up stones again to stone Him”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v31 — **“took up stones again to stone him”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v33 — **“make Yourself out to be God”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v33 — **“makest thyself God”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v35 — **“the Scripture cannot be broken”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v35 — **“the scripture cannot be broken”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v38 — **“the Father is in Me, and I in the Father”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v38 — **“the Father is in me, and I in him”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v42 — **“Many believed in Him there”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v42 — **“many believed on him there”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v1 — **“sheep”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v3 — **“voice”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter ### Observation **Setting.** Jerusalem. Verses 1–21 continue straight from 9:39–41: Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees who had just put the healed man out. Verses 22–39 are set two months or so later, at the Feast of the Dedication (Hanukkah), in winter, in Solomon’s portico of the temple. Verses 40–42: Jesus withdraws beyond the Jordan to where John first baptized. **Structure:** - vv1–6 — **the figure:** the thief climbs in another way; the shepherd enters by the door, calls his own sheep by name, leads them out; they follow because they know his voice; strangers they flee. The hearers did not understand (v6). - vv7–10 — **“I am the door”:** all who came before were thieves and robbers; whoever enters through Me will be saved, go in and out, find pasture. The thief steals, kills, destroys; “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” - vv11–18 — **“I am the good shepherd”:** He lays down His life for the sheep; the hired hand flees from the wolf. “I know My own and My own know Me.” Other sheep not of this fold — one flock, one shepherd. “I lay it down on My own initiative … authority to take it up again.” - vv19–21 — **division:** “He has a demon and is insane” vs. “A demon cannot open the eyes of the blind, can he?” - vv22–30 — **Dedication:** “If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” “I told you, and you do not believe … you are not of My sheep.” My sheep hear, I know them, they follow; eternal life; never perish; no one will snatch them out of My hand or the Father’s. “I and the Father are one.” - vv31–39 — **stones:** “for blasphemy … You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God.” Psalm 82:6: “YOU ARE GODS”; the Scripture cannot be broken; believe the works — the Father is in Me and I in the Father. He eluded their grasp. - vv40–42 — **beyond the Jordan:** “John performed no sign, yet everything John said about this man was true.” Many believed in Him there. **Repeated words, with counts:** - “sheep” ×15 — vv1, 2, 3 (×2), 4, 7, 8, 11, 12 (×2), 13, 15, 16, 26, 27. - “Father” ×13 — vv15 (×2), 17, 18, 25, 29 (×2), 30, 32, 36, 37, 38 (×2); plus “Father’s” ×2 — vv25, 29. - “know / knows” ×8 — vv4, 5, 14 (×2), 15 (×2), 27, 38. - “shepherd” ×6 — vv2, 11 (×2), 12, 14, 16. - “believe / believed” ×6 — vv25, 26, 37, 38 (×2), 42. - “voice” ×5 — vv3, 4, 5, 16, 27; “follow” ×3 — vv4, 5, 27. - “life” ×5 — vv10, 11, 15, 17, 28; “lay(s) down / lay it down” ×5 — vv11, 15, 17, 18 (×2). - “work(s)” ×5 — vv25, 32, 33, 37, 38. - “I am” ×5 — vv7, 9, 11, 14, 36 (“I am the Son of God”). - “door” ×4 — vv1, 2, 7, 9; “thief / thieves” ×3 — vv1, 8, 10; “robber(s)” ×2 — vv1, 8. - “stone(s) / stoning” ×4 — vv31 (×2), 32, 33; “blasphemy / blaspheming” ×2 — vv33, 36. - “hand” (grip) ×2 — vv28, 29; “snatch(es)” ×3 — vv12, 28, 29; “hired hand” ×2 — vv12, 13. - “Truly, truly” ×2 — vv1, 7. **Contrasts:** door ⟷ “some other way” (v1). Shepherd ⟷ thief, robber, stranger, hired hand (vv1–13). Steal, kill, destroy ⟷ life abundantly (v10). Flees ⟷ lays down His life (vv11–13). This fold ⟷ other sheep, one flock (v16). Taken from Me ⟷ I lay it down (v18). Demon-possessed ⟷ opens the eyes of the blind (vv20–21). Not My sheep ⟷ My sheep (vv26–27). Perish ⟷ eternal life (v28). Jerusalem stones (v31) ⟷ beyond the Jordan, many believed (v42). **Shape of the chapter:** a picture (1–6), two “I am” explanations (7–18), a division (19–21), then a winter confrontation that climbs from “tell us plainly” to “I and the Father are one” to stones (22–39), and a quiet ending where people believe (40–42). **Chapter theme (my words):** Jesus is the only way into God’s flock and the only Shepherd who dies for it. He knows His sheep by name, they know His voice, and the grip that holds them is His and the Father’s — and they are one. ### Interpretation **Who are the thieves and robbers (vv1, 8)?** Sproul is clear: not the devil or vague false messiahs, but the leaders of Israel who had just thrown out the man born blind — “those whom God had called to be the shepherds over His flock, the clergy of His day.” Guzik agrees the words rebuke the corrupt leaders of Jesus’ day. Ezekiel 34 is the background: God against the shepherds who fed themselves. **How can Jesus be both the door and the shepherd?** Guzik explains the custom: at night a shepherd lay across the opening of the fold — “The shepherd was in fact the door.” Sproul: “Jesus is not only the shepherd of the sheep, but He is the door to the sheepfold.” The point of the door is exclusive: one way in (Acts 4:12). Spurgeon shuts the false doors — baptism without faith, church membership, family heritage. **What is “abundant life” (v10)?** Not prosperity. Guzik: “Abundant life isn’t an especially long life”; it is “a life of satisfaction and contentment in Jesus.” Henry: “Life in abundance is eternal life, life without death or fear of death.” I have to say this plainly to my men: abundant life can be lived in a cell, in a hospital, in a hard marriage, because it is Him. **The voluntary death (vv17–18).** All four stress that no one took Jesus’ life. Sproul: “the death of Christ, His perfect sacrifice for us, was voluntary.” Guzik: “Anyone can lay down his life; only Jesus could take His life up again,” and it “was not an indirect suicide in any sense.” Henry: “such a challenge as was never given by the most daring hero.” The cross was not an accident or a defeat; it was a Shepherd’s choice. **Who are the “other sheep” (v16)?** Guzik and Sproul: Gentile believers — the gospel going beyond Israel. Spurgeon notices the tense: “I have,” not “shall have.” Guzik adds that Jerome’s “one fold” bent this into exclusiveness; Jesus promised one flock under one Shepherd. The church is not Israel’s replacement but Gentiles brought into one flock with believing Israel under the one Messiah — and God still has a future for the nation (Rom 11). **Can a sheep be lost (vv28–29)?** Our four teachers read these verses as the believer’s final security. Sproul: “We are secure, not in ourselves, but because of the One in whose hands we are held.” Spurgeon: “A double-handed force keeps them safe against all ill.” Henry: “Those are safe who are in the hands of the Lord Jesus.” Many Arminian Christians agree no outside power can snatch a sheep but hold that a sheep may stop following. I want my men to know both views exist — and to notice the description in v27: the secure sheep are the ones who hear and follow. Spurgeon insists security breeds holiness, not carelessness. **“You do not believe because you are not of My sheep” (v26).** Jesus does not say they are not His sheep because they don’t believe, but the reverse. Henry states the Reformed reading sharply (“Those to whom God never gives the grace of faith were never designed for heaven”). Others read “not of My sheep” as describing a settled refusal. Either way, the call stands: hear His voice and follow. **“I and the Father are one” (v30).** *Hen* is neuter — one thing, not one person. Guzik: distinct Persons, one essence, refuting both Sabellianism and Arianism. Sproul rejects the Arian reading that makes it a mere unity of purpose. The stones settle what the hearers thought it meant (v33). **“You are gods” (v34; Psalm 82:6).** Not a teaching that humans are divine. Guzik: the judges of Psalm 82 were called “gods” because “in their office they determined the fate of other men,” and Jesus did not apply it “to all humanity or to all believers.” Sproul: “one of those lesser-to-greater arguments.” If God’s word called mere judges “gods,” how is it blasphemy for the One the Father sanctified and sent to say “I am the Son of God”? And it rests on one word, because “the Scripture cannot be broken.” **Hanukkah and Daniel.** The Feast of Dedication remembered Antiochus IV’s desecration (167 BC) and the temple’s cleansing (164 BC), events Daniel foresaw (Dan 8:9–14; 11:31). I read Antiochus as a preview of a greater desecration still to come (Dan 9:27; Matt 24:15; 2 Thess 2:3–4). In John 10 the true Temple stands in the rededicated one — and they pick up stones. **Word study (Greek):** - **figure of speech — *paroimia* (G3942):** a veiled saying; John 10:6; 16:25, 29. - **door — *thyra* (G2374):** the opening itself; “I am the door.” - **abundantly — *perissos* (G4053):** overflowing, beyond measure; only here in John. - **shepherd — *poimēn* (G4166):** six times in John, all in ch. 10. - **good — *kalos* (G2570):** beautiful, noble, admirable good. - **lay down — *tithēmi* (G5087)** + **life — *psychē* (G5590):** five times in vv11–18. - **hired hand — *misthōtos* (G3411):** wage-worker; Mark 1:20; John 10:12–13. - **fold — *aulē* (G833)** vs **flock — *poimnē* (G4167):** walled courtyard vs. one flock (v16). - **Dedication — *enkainia* (G1456):** renewal; only here — Hanukkah. - **snatch — *harpazō* (G726):** seize by force — the wolf’s verb (v12), denied twice (vv28–29). - **one — *hen* (G1520):** neuter; one in nature, not one person. - **broken — *lyō* (G3089):** loosed, dissolved — Scripture cannot be (v35). **Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):** 1. **The thieves had names** — the leaders who threw out the blind man (Sproul). 2. **One door — and He is it** (vv7, 9). 3. **Abundant life is a Person, not a lifestyle** (v10). 4. **“Good” means beautiful** — *kalos*, the Shepherd as He should be. 5. **Nobody took His life** — He laid it down and took it up (v18). 6. **“I have other sheep”** — already His (v16). 7. **Sheep are known by ear and foot** — they hear and follow (v27). 8. **Two hands hold the sheep** (vv28–29). 9. **“One” is neuter** — one in nature (v30). 10. **One word in a psalm cannot be broken** (v35). **Cross-references:** Exod 3:14; Num 27:16–17; 1 Kgs 8:63; Ps 23; 80:1; 82:6; 95:7; Isa 40:11; 53:6; Jer 23:1–4; Ezek 34; 37:24; Dan 8:9–14; 9:27; 11:31; Zech 11:4–17; 13:7; Matt 5:18; 9:36; 24:15; Mark 6:34; Luke 15:3–7; John 1:14, 28; 2:19–21; 5:18; 8:58–59; 9:35–41; 14:6; 16:25; 21:15–17; Acts 4:12; 20:28–29; Rom 8:38–39; 11:25–26; Eph 2:13–16; Phil 1:6; 2 Thess 2:3–4; Heb 13:20; 1 Pet 2:25; 5:2–4; Rev 7:17. ### Application **Promise to trust — “no one will snatch them out of My hand.”** I know men who are sure they’ve blown it one too many times — that one more relapse, one more failure, and God will let go. Jesus says the grip is His, and over His hand is the Father’s. Sproul’s picture of a father holding his small child’s hand near the railroad tracks is the one I need: the safety is in His grip, not mine. That doesn’t make me careless; it makes me want to follow the One who won’t let go. **Command to obey — hear and follow.** “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (v27). There are a lot of voices in my head — the accuser, the old crowd, the bottle, my own pride. The Shepherd’s voice comes through His Word. This week I will spend the first ten minutes of every day with Scripture before I pick up my phone, and do the next thing He says. **Sin to confess — acting like a hired hand.** The hired hand runs when the wolf comes because the sheep aren’t his. I confess the times I’ve treated my wife, my kids, the men God gave me, as a job — present when it was easy, gone when it cost something. Jesus lays down His life; I can at least lay down my comfort. **Truth to live in — one door.** Not my family’s faith, not a program, not a church card, not being a better man than the next guy. Spurgeon: “If you have not Christ your Church certificates are waste paper.” Jesus is the door, and whoever enters through Him will be saved and find pasture. **Example to follow — the Shepherd who knows names.** “He calls his own sheep by name.” In prison ministry men become numbers; in recovery they become “the addict.” The Good Shepherd knows names. I will learn and use the name of every man I serve, and pray for each one by name. **Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):** 1. What other “doors” have I tried — religion, family, my own effort, a program — and what does it mean that Jesus says “I am the door”? (10:7–9; Acts 4:12) *One opening into the fold, and He is it.* 2. Which thief has been working on my life — stealing, killing, destroying — and what does the abundant life of verse 10 look like for me this week? (10:10) *Not a longer life but His life, overflowing.* 3. When hard times came, where have I acted like a hired hand toward the people God gave me — my family, my men, my church? (10:12–13; 1 Pet 5:2–4) *The hired hand runs because the sheep are not his.* 4. How do I recognize the Shepherd’s voice over all the other voices in my head — and what is He saying to me right now? (10:3–5, 27) *Sheep are marked in the ear and in the foot: they hear and follow.* 5. If no one can snatch me from His hand, what fear am I still carrying that verses 28–29 answer? (10:28–29; Rom 8:38–39) *Two hands hold the sheep — the Son’s and the Father’s.* 6. Jesus said “the Scripture cannot be broken.” How does His view of the Bible shape the way I read mine? (10:34–36; Matt 5:18) *He rested His case on one word of one psalm.* **Worship.** The Lord who said “I Myself will search for My sheep” came Himself. He is the door and the Shepherd, the One who laid down His life on His own initiative and took it up again, the great Shepherd brought up from the dead. He and the Father are one, and the hand that holds me is the hand that made the world and was pierced for me. **Prayer.** Good Shepherd, thank You for coming in by the door and calling me by name. Thank You for laying down Your life for me when no one could take it from You. Tune my ear to Your voice and teach my feet to follow. Forgive me for running like a hired hand. Hold the men I serve, and bring in the other sheep You already call Yours. When I am afraid I will fall, remind me that no one can snatch me out of Your hand or the Father’s. Amen. ## John 11 — I Am the Resurrection and the Life ### Marked in the text - v3 — **“he whom You love is sick”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v3 — **“he whom thou lovest is sick”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v4 — **“This sickness is not to end in death”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v4 — **“This sickness is not unto death”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v4 — **“for the glory of God”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v5 — **“Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v5 — **“Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v6 — **“He then stayed two days longer”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v6 — **“he abode two days still”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v9 — **“Are there not twelve hours in the day?”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v11 — **“Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v11 — **“Our friend Lazarus sleepeth”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v16 — **“Let us also go, so that we may die with Him”** (green: Command / instruction) - v16 — **“Let us also go, that we may die with him”** (green: Command / instruction) - v25 — **“I am the resurrection and the life”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v25 — **“I am the resurrection, and the life”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v25 — **“he who believes in Me will live even if he dies”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v25 — **“he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v26 — **“will never die”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v26 — **“shall never die”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v27 — **“You are the Christ, the Son of God”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v27 — **“thou art the Christ, the Son of God”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v35 — **“Jesus wept”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v39 — **“Remove the stone”** (green: Command / instruction) - v39 — **“Take ye away the stone”** (green: Command / instruction) - v40 — **“if you believe, you will see the glory of God”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v40 — **“if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v41 — **“Father, I thank You that You have heard Me”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v41 — **“Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v43 — **“Lazarus, come forth”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v44 — **“Unbind him, and let him go”** (green: Command / instruction) - v44 — **“Loose him, and let him go”** (green: Command / instruction) - v46 — **“went to the Pharisees”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v46 — **“went their ways to the Pharisees”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v48 — **“the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v48 — **“the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v50 — **“it is expedient for you that one man die for the people”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v50 — **“it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v51 — **“he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v51 — **“he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v52 — **“gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v52 — **“gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v53 — **“they planned together to kill Him”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v53 — **“they took counsel together for to put him to death”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v54 — **“a city called Ephraim”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v55 — **“the Passover of the Jews was near”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v55 — **“the Jews' passover was nigh at hand”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v17 — **“four days”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) — every occurrence in the chapter - v21 — **“if You had been here”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) — every occurrence in the chapter - v21 — **“if thou hadst been here”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) — every occurrence in the chapter - v33 — **“deeply moved”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v33 — **“groaned”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v15 — **“believe”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v27 — **“believed”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v25 — **“believes”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v25 — **“believeth”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter ### Observation **Setting.** Jesus is across the Jordan, where He withdrew after the Jews tried to stone Him at the Feast of Dedication (10:31, 39–40). Word comes from Bethany, two miles from Jerusalem (11:18), that Lazarus — brother of Mary and Martha — is sick. The Passover is near (11:55); this is the last sign before the Passion week. **Structure:** - vv1–16 — **the delay:** the message (v3), “This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God” (v4), Jesus loved them — so He stayed two days longer (vv5–6). “Let us go to Judea again”; twelve hours in the day (vv7–10). Lazarus “has fallen asleep” — “Lazarus is dead” (vv11–15). Thomas: “Let us also go, so that we may die with Him” (v16). - vv17–27 — **Martha:** four days in the tomb (v17); “Lord, if You had been here” (v21); “Your brother will rise again” — “on the last day” (vv23–24); “I am the resurrection and the life … Do you believe this?” (vv25–26); her confession (v27). - vv28–37 — **Mary and the tears:** “The Teacher is here and is calling for you” (v28); Mary at His feet with the same words (v32); He was deeply moved and troubled (v33); “Jesus wept” (v35); two readings from the crowd (vv36–37). - vv38–44 — **the tomb:** “Remove the stone”; Martha’s objection; “if you believe, you will see the glory of God” (vv39–40); the prayer of thanks (vv41–42); “Lazarus, come forth” (v43); “Unbind him, and let him go” (v44). - vv45–57 — **the verdict:** many believed; some reported (vv45–46). The council: “If we let Him go on like this … the Romans will come” (vv47–48). Caiaphas: “one man die for the people” (vv49–50), which John calls prophecy (vv51–52). “From that day on they planned together to kill Him” (v53). Jesus withdraws to Ephraim; Passover crowds look for Him; orders to report Him (vv54–57). **Repeated words, with counts:** - “believe / believed / believes” ×9 — vv15, 25, 26 (×2), 27, 40, 42, 45, 48. - “die / died / dies” ×8 — vv16, 21, 25, 26, 32, 44, 50, 51; plus “death” ×2 (vv4, 13) and “dead” ×2 (vv14, 39). - “Martha” ×8 — vv1, 5, 19, 20, 21, 24, 30, 39; “Mary” ×8 — vv1, 2, 19, 20, 28, 31, 32, 45. - “the Jews” ×8 — vv8, 19, 31, 33, 36, 45, 54, 55. - “Lord” ×8 — vv2, 3, 12, 21, 27, 32, 34, 39. - “Lazarus” ×6 — vv1, 2, 5, 11, 14, 43. - “rise / resurrection” ×4 — vv23, 24 (×2), 25. - “sleep / asleep” ×4 — vv11 (×2), 12, 13. - “weep / weeping / wept” ×4 — vv31, 33 (×2), 35. - “nation” ×4 — vv48, 50, 51, 52. - “love / loved” ×3 — vv3, 5, 36. - “glory / glorified” ×3 — v4 (×2), v40. - “if You had been here” ×2 — vv21, 32 (word for word, from both sisters); “four days” ×2 — vv17, 39; “deeply moved” ×2 — vv33, 38. **Contrasts:** sickness “not to end in death” (v4) ⟷ “Lazarus is dead” (v14). Walking in the day ⟷ walking in the night (vv9–10). Literal sleep ⟷ the sleep of death (vv11–13). Resurrection “on the last day” ⟷ “I am the resurrection” (vv24–25). Mourners’ loud weeping ⟷ Jesus’ quiet tears (vv33, 35). The stench of four days ⟷ the glory of God (vv39–40). Many believed ⟷ some went to the Pharisees (vv45–46). Caiaphas’s meaning ⟷ God’s meaning (vv50–52). Lazarus given life ⟷ Jesus marked for death (vv44, 53). **Shape of the chapter:** a message and a delay (1–16), a conversation on the road (17–27), tears at the tomb (28–37), a voice into the grave (38–44), and a council in the city (45–57). It moves from a sickbed to a death sentence — and the death sentence falls on the One who gave life. **Chapter theme (my words):** Jesus is the resurrection and the life, and He proves it by calling a four-days-dead friend out of the tomb. But the gift of life to Lazarus starts the plot that will take Jesus’ own life — one man dying for the people. ### Interpretation **Why did Jesus wait (v6)?** John puts love and delay side by side on purpose: “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. *So* when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days longer.” Sproul says the delay made the death undeniable — by the fourth day no one could call it a revival: “Jesus lets enough time pass to make it absolutely certain.” Spurgeon says Jesus was “glad” (v15) because He values faith too much to spare us the trials that grow it: “Faith untried may be true faith, but it is sure to be little faith.” Henry: “man’s extremity is God’s opportunity.” None of them says the delay cost the sisters nothing; all of them say it was love. **What does “not to end in death” mean (v4)?** Lazarus did die. Jesus did not mean he would not die; He meant death would not be the last word. The goal is “the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it” — Sproul: “the Father is glorified through the glory of His Son.” In John, Jesus’ glory and His cross are tied together, and verse 53 shows how: this sign leads straight to the plot. **Martha’s theology and Jesus’ correction (vv23–27).** Martha is orthodox: she believes in the resurrection “on the last day” (Dan 12:2; John 5:28–29; 6:40). Jesus doesn’t deny that day — I still look for it, when “God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus” (1 Thess 4:14). But He refuses to let it stay far away: “I am the resurrection and the life.” Spurgeon: she “set the promise in the remote distance,” and “‘I am,’ not ‘I can get the Resurrection.’” Sproul: “I don’t just teach the resurrection.” Verse 25 answers the believer who dies (he will live); verse 26 answers the believer who lives (he will never die — Sproul’s *thanatos* vs *zōē*). **Why was Jesus angry (vv33, 38)?** *Embrimaomai* is the language of indignation; KJV “groaned.” Guzik and Sproul both read it as anger at death itself — the enemy He would defeat at the cross — not at the mourners. Spurgeon hears a storm of indignation, grief and sorrow over unbelief that came out as tears; Henry adds that He groaned more for the sins of men than for His own pain. Verse 33 says literally “He troubled Himself” (Henry: “very significantly”) — His emotions were real and freely taken up. **Why weep if He knew He would raise him?** Because compassion is not only for problems you can’t fix. Sproul: He wept with them though He was about to perform the miracle. Spurgeon: “I like not lightning without rain, nor indignation without tears.” Hebrews 4:15 — a high priest who sympathizes. **Resuscitation or resurrection?** Guzik: “Lazarus was not resurrected, but resuscitated.” Lazarus came out bound and would die again; Jesus rose and left the face-cloth “rolled up in a place by itself” (20:5–7). Bethany is a preview of 5:28 — “all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth.” **Why the prayer out loud (vv41–42)?** Not for the Father’s sake — “I knew that You always hear Me” — but for the crowd, “so that they may believe that You sent Me.” Henry: “prayer may preach.” Sproul contrasts it with preachers who pretend to pray while talking to the congregation. **How could Caiaphas prophesy (vv49–52)?** He was a schemer, not a saint. Guzik: “Caiaphas thought logically but not morally.” Sproul: “God can speak even through a donkey.” Henry: malicious in intent, prophetic in meaning — God overruled it. John says the death was “for the nation” (Israel) “and not for the nation only” but to gather the scattered children of God (10:16; 1 John 2:2). I read “the nation” plainly as Israel — Jesus died for His own people, who still have a future in God’s plan (Rom 11:26) — and the Gentiles gathered in with them. The irony of verse 48: they killed Him to keep the Romans from taking their place and nation, and in A.D. 70 the Romans took both. **Word study (Greek):** - **love — *phileō* (G5368) / *agapaō* (G25):** the sisters’ word (v3) and John’s word (v5); both say the same thing — they were loved. - **fallen asleep — *koimaō* (G2837):** sleep as the believer’s word for death; perfect tense in v11. - **resurrection — *anastasis* (G386):** a standing up again; “I am the resurrection” (v25). - **life — *zōē* (G2222):** the life of God shared with men; “will never die” uses the strongest Greek negative (v26). - **deeply moved — *embrimaomai* (G1690):** indignant, snorting; only five times in the NT, twice here (vv33, 38). - **wept — *dakryō* (G1145):** to shed quiet tears; only here (v35). The mourners’ *klaiō* (G2799) is loud wailing. - **come forth — *deuro exō* (G1204):** “Here! Out!” — three words with a loud voice (v43). - **wrappings — *keiria* (G2750):** grave bands; only here (v44). - **expedient — *sympherō* (G4851):** advantageous; Caiaphas’s calculation (v50; 18:14). **Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):** 1. **Love waited on purpose** — “So … He then stayed two days longer” (vv5–6). 2. **The fourth day closed every loophole** (Sproul). 3. **Sleep is a word for waking up** — *koimaō*; Henry: names that make death “less formidable.” 4. **Jesus brings the last day into the present tense** — “I am the resurrection” (Spurgeon). 5. **He was angry before He wept** — indignation at death (vv33, 38). 6. **God weeps before He fixes** — “no lightning without rain” (Spurgeon). 7. **Believing God is harder than believing in God** (Sproul, v40). 8. **Christ raises; we unbind** — “economical with miracles” (Spurgeon, v44). 9. **The same sign, two verdicts** — believed or reported (vv45–46). 10. **A wicked man spoke a true word** — one man for the people (vv50–52). **Cross-references:** Dan 12:2; Isa 25:8; Hos 13:14; Num 22:28; Luke 10:38–42; John 1:4; 5:28–29; 6:39–40; 9:4; 10:16, 31, 39–40; 12:1–11; 18:14; 20:5–7, 30–31; Rom 11:26; 12:15; 1 Cor 15:20–26, 55; 1 Thess 4:13–17; Heb 2:14–15; 4:15; 1 John 2:2; Rev 21:4. ### Application **Promise to trust — “I am the resurrection and the life.”** I have stood at gravesides with men who buried fathers they never made peace with, sons they lost to the needle, brothers from the program. Jesus didn’t hand Martha a doctrine; He handed her Himself. If I belong to Him, death is sleep and the last day is as sure as the One standing on the road. I can grieve — He did — but I do not grieve “as do the rest who have no hope” (1 Thess 4:13). **Example to follow — “Jesus wept.”** He knew He was about to fix it, and He still wept. Too often I rush to the fix — the verse, the advice, the plan. This week, when a man tells me about his loss, I will sit with him first. Being there matters more than the right words (Sproul). **Command to obey — “Remove the stone … Unbind him, and let him go.”** Only Jesus can raise a dead man. But He gave the people standing around two jobs: move the stone and loosen the grave-clothes. A lot of the men I walk with are alive in Christ and still wrapped up — old habits, shame, fear, the language of the yard or the bar. I can’t raise anybody, but I can help unwrap. And I have to let Jesus roll away the stones in me that I would rather keep shut because of what’s behind them (vv39–40). **Sin to confess — expedience.** Caiaphas did the math: one man for the sake of the rest. I confess the times I’ve sacrificed the truth or a person to protect my place — told the easy lie, kept quiet to stay in good standing, thrown a brother under the bus. That logic crucified my Lord. **Truth to live in — love sometimes waits.** When I prayed for my friend and the answer came “two days longer,” it felt like neglect. John says it was love: verse 5 comes before verse 6. I can say “Lord, if You had been here” honestly — both sisters did — and still trust that He is never late. **Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):** 1. Where has God’s timing felt like neglect to me — a prayer for someone I love that seemed to go unanswered for “two days longer”? (11:5–6, 15; Rom 8:28) *Verse 5 comes before verse 6: love first, then the delay.* 2. Martha believed the right doctrine about the last day. Where do I keep Jesus’ promises at a safe distance instead of letting Him say “I am” about my situation today? (11:23–27) *Spurgeon: she set the promise in the remote distance.* 3. Jesus wept with people He was about to help. Who around me is grieving, and what would it look like to be present before I try to fix anything? (11:33–35; Rom 12:15) *Sproul: being present matters more than finding the right words.* 4. What “stone” am I afraid to let Jesus remove because of what it might expose — the stench of something long dead? (11:39–40) *“Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”* 5. Lazarus came out alive but still bound. What grave-clothes am I still wearing — and which brother has Jesus told to help unbind me (or me to help unbind)? (11:44; Gal 6:1–2) *Christ raises; human hands unbind.* 6. Caiaphas chose what was expedient over what was right. Where am I tempted to sacrifice the truth, or a person, to keep my place? (11:47–53) *“It was expedient” is the logic that crucified the Lord.* **Worship.** The Lord of life stood at a tomb and wept. He was angry at death, and then He spoke to it — and death gave Lazarus back. A week later He would walk into His own tomb so that death could never keep any of us. “O Death, where is your victory? O Death, where is your sting?” **Prayer.** Lord Jesus, You are the resurrection and the life. Thank You that You love me even when You make me wait, and that You weep with me at my graves. Roll away the stones I keep closed. Call me out of every dead place by name. Give me hands to unbind my brothers, and keep me from the cold math of Caiaphas. I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, the One who came into the world. Amen. ## John 12 — The Hour Has Come ### Marked in the text - v1 — **“six days before the Passover”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v1 — **“six days before the passover”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v3 — **“a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard”** (green: Command / instruction) - v3 — **“a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly”** (green: Command / instruction) - v3 — **“the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v3 — **“the house was filled with the odour of the ointment”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v6 — **“he was a thief”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v7 — **“keep it for the day of My burial”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v7 — **“against the day of my burying hath she kept this”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v8 — **“you do not always have Me”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v8 — **“me ye have not always”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v10 — **“planned to put Lazarus to death also”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v10 — **“consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v13 — **“BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v13 — **“Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v13 — **“the King of Israel”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v15 — **“BEHOLD, YOUR KING IS COMING”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v15 — **“behold, thy King cometh”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v16 — **“when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v16 — **“when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v19 — **“the world has gone after Him”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v19 — **“the world is gone after him”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v21 — **“Sir, we wish to see Jesus”** (green: Command / instruction) - v21 — **“Sir, we would see Jesus”** (green: Command / instruction) - v23 — **“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v23 — **“The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v24 — **“unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v24 — **“Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v24 — **“it bears much fruit”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v24 — **“it bringeth forth much fruit”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v25 — **“he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal”** (green: Command / instruction) - v25 — **“he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal”** (green: Command / instruction) - v26 — **“he must follow Me”** (green: Command / instruction) - v26 — **“let him follow me”** (green: Command / instruction) - v26 — **“the Father will honor him”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v26 — **“him will my Father honour”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v27 — **“for this purpose I came to this hour”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v27 — **“for this cause came I unto this hour”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v28 — **“Father, glorify Your name”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v28 — **“Father, glorify thy name”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v31 — **“the ruler of this world will be cast out”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v31 — **“the prince of this world be cast out”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v32 — **“will draw all men to Myself”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v32 — **“will draw all men unto me”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v35 — **“Walk while you have the Light”** (green: Command / instruction) - v35 — **“Walk while ye have the light”** (green: Command / instruction) - v36 — **“believe in the Light”** (green: Command / instruction) - v36 — **“believe in the light”** (green: Command / instruction) - v37 — **“they were not believing in Him”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v37 — **“they believed not on him”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v40 — **“HE HAS BLINDED THEIR EYES AND HE HARDENED THEIR HEART”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v40 — **“He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v41 — **“he saw His glory”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v41 — **“he saw his glory”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v43 — **“they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v43 — **“they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v46 — **“I have come as Light into the world”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v46 — **“I am come a light into the world”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v47 — **“I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v47 — **“I came not to judge the world, but to save the world”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v48 — **“the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v48 — **“the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v50 — **“His commandment is eternal life”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v50 — **“his commandment is life everlasting”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v35 — **“Light”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v35 — **“darkness”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v23 — **“hour”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter ### Observation **Setting.** Six days before the Passover, after the council’s death sentence (11:53) and the retreat to Ephraim (11:54). Jesus comes back to Bethany, then into Jerusalem, crowded with festival pilgrims. This is the last chapter of His public ministry in John; from 13:1 He is alone with His disciples. **Structure:** - vv1–11 — **the supper at Bethany:** Martha serving, Lazarus at the table (v2); Mary’s pound of pure nard on His feet, wiped with her hair, “the house was filled with the fragrance” (v3); Judas’s objection — three hundred denarii — and John’s verdict, “he was a thief” (vv4–6); “Let her alone … for the day of My burial” (vv7–8). The crowd comes to see Lazarus; the chief priests plan to kill him too (vv9–11). - vv12–19 — **the entry:** palm branches and “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel” (vv12–13); a young donkey, Zechariah 9:9 (vv14–15); understood only after He was glorified (v16); the Lazarus witnesses testify (vv17–18); “the world has gone after Him” (v19). - vv20–26 — **the Greeks and the grain:** “Sir, we wish to see Jesus” (v21); “The hour has come” (v23); the grain of wheat (v24); loving and hating one’s life (v25); serving and following (v26). - vv27–36 — **the troubled soul:** “Now My soul has become troubled” (v27); “Father, glorify Your name” — the voice from heaven, heard as thunder (vv28–30); judgment, the ruler cast out, “lifted up … draw all men” (vv31–33); the crowd’s question about the Son of Man (v34); walk in the Light while you have it (vv35–36); He hides Himself. - vv37–43 — **John’s verdict on unbelief:** so many signs, yet not believing (v37); Isaiah 53:1 (v38) and 6:10 (vv39–40); “Isaiah … saw His glory” (v41); rulers who believed but would not confess, loving men’s approval (vv42–43). - vv44–50 — **the last public cry:** believing and seeing Him is believing and seeing the Father (vv44–45); “I have come as Light” (v46); not to judge but to save; the word will judge at the last day (vv47–48); He speaks the Father’s commandment, which is eternal life (vv49–50). **Repeated words, with counts:** - “believe / believed / believes / believing” ×9 — vv11, 36, 37, 38, 39, 42, 44 (×2), 46. - “die / dies / death / dead” ×8 — vv1, 9, 10, 17, 24 (×2), 33 (×2). - “world” ×7 — vv19, 25, 31 (×2), 46, 47 (×2). - “Light” ×6 — vv35 (×2), 36 (×3), 46; “darkness” ×3 — vv35 (×2), 46. - “glory / glorify / glorified” ×6 — vv16, 23, 28 (×3), 41. - “Father” ×5 — vv26, 27, 28, 49, 50. - “judge / judges / judgment” ×5 — vv31, 47 (×2), 48 (×2). - “Lazarus” ×5 — vv1, 2, 9, 10, 17. - “life” ×4 — vv25 (×3), 50. - “hour” ×3 — vv23, 27 (×2); “Son of Man” ×3 — vv23, 34 (×2). - “serves / servant” ×3 — v26; “sent” ×3 — vv44, 45, 49; “Isaiah” ×3 — vv38, 39, 41; “poor” ×3 — vv5, 6, 8. - “approval” ×2 — v43; “King” ×2 — vv13, 15; “lifted up” ×2 — vv32, 34; “commandment” ×2 — vv49, 50. **Contrasts:** Mary’s extravagance ⟷ Judas’s calculation (vv3–6). The poor always with you ⟷ “you do not always have Me” (v8). Palms of a conqueror ⟷ a donkey’s colt (vv13–15). A grain that remains alone ⟷ a grain that dies and bears much fruit (v24). Loving one’s life ⟷ hating one’s life (v25). “Save Me from this hour” ⟷ “for this purpose I came to this hour” (v27). Thunder ⟷ a voice from heaven (vv28–29). Light ⟷ darkness (vv35–36, 46). The approval of men ⟷ the approval of God (v43). Not to judge ⟷ to save (v47). **Shape of the chapter:** a supper (1–11), a procession (12–19), a request (20–26), a prayer and a voice (27–36), a verdict on unbelief (37–43), and a final cry (44–50). It moves from a house filled with fragrance to a world left in darkness — and the hinge is “The hour has come.” **Chapter theme (my words):** Jesus is the King who comes humble and the grain of wheat that must die. His hour of death is His hour of glory, and the only right response is the one Mary gave — pour it all out — not the silence of the rulers who loved men’s approval. ### Interpretation **Why did Mary anoint His feet (vv3, 7)?** A pound of pure nard was worth three hundred denarii — about a year’s wages. Jesus interprets it: she kept it “for the day of My burial.” Sproul sets her beside Caiaphas in one sermon, “Expediency & Extravagance”: the council calculated, Mary worshiped — “a reckless manifestation of extravagant love and worship.” Guzik: “Judas successfully hid the darkness of his heart from everyone except Jesus.” Henry: “Christ would not have those censured nor discouraged who sincerely design to please him.” Mark 14:9 adds that her act will be told wherever the gospel is preached. **Does “the poor you always have” excuse neglecting them (v8)?** No. Jesus is quoting Deuteronomy 15:11, which goes on to command open-handed giving. His point is timing: the poor would always be there to help; He would not. Judas’s “concern” was a cover (v6). **What kind of King (vv12–16)?** The palms said national victory (Sproul: “The palm branch became their national symbol of victory”); “Hosanna” means “save now.” Guzik: “The crowd looked to Jesus as a political and national savior, but not so much as a spiritual savior.” Jesus answers with Zechariah 9:9 — humble, on a donkey. I believe the crowd’s words were true even if their timing was off: He is “the King of Israel” (v13), and the same Zechariah who saw Him on a donkey saw Him standing on the Mount of Olives as King over all the earth (Zech 14:4, 9). The first coming was on a colt; the second will be in glory. **Why do the Greeks matter (vv20–23)?** Gentiles who could go no farther than the outer court (Sproul) ask to see Jesus — and that is His signal: “The hour has come.” Henry sees them as firstfruits of the Gentiles. The answer to “we wish to see Jesus” is the cross: “if I am lifted up from the earth, [I] will draw all men to Myself” (v32). **The grain of wheat (vv24–26).** First about Jesus: His death bears the harvest. Sproul presses it — “It is not possible, not even theoretically possible, that the atonement of Christ could go without fruit” (a Reformed reading; others frame the atonement more broadly). Then about us: the self-protected life “remains alone.” Spurgeon: “Death precedes growth.” Guzik, quoting Spurgeon: “We are not saved by service, but we are saved to service.” **John’s Gethsemane (vv27–28).** *Tetaraktai* — “My soul has become troubled.” Jesus faces the cup days before the garden. Guzik: “Jesus received this crucial hour, yet it troubled Him.” Sproul: “Jesus expresses the horror that grabs His soul.” He considers asking to be saved from the hour and instead prays, “Father, glorify Your name.” Being troubled is not sin; refusing the Father’s will would be. **Who is drawn, and who is cast out (vv31–32)?** The cross is the judgment of this world and the defeat of its ruler (Heb 2:14; Col 2:15). “Draw” (*helkō*) is strong — the Father’s drawing of 6:44. Teachers differ on “all men”: all kinds of people (Jews and the Greeks who asked), or all people without exception, drawn but not all coming. Spurgeon preached it as the heart of preaching: “He was never so lifted up as when he was cast down.” Henry: to some a stumbling-stone, to others “a loadstone.” **“They could not believe” (vv37–40).** This is the hardest part of the chapter. They kept on not believing (v37); then they could not (v39). Sproul: “If people do not want to hear, God stops their ears.” Guzik, with Morris: the blinding does not take place “without the will or against the will of these people.” Henry: a settled moral refusal met by God’s just judgment. I hold this beside Romans 11: the hardening of Israel is partial and temporary, “until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved” (Rom 11:25–26). God is not finished with the nation. **“Isaiah … saw His glory” (v41).** Isaiah 6 — “I saw the Lord sitting on a throne.” John says that was Jesus. Sproul: “Isaiah saw Christ on the throne in His glory before Christ was even born.” The Lord on the throne and the Servant despised in Isaiah 53 are one Person (see the figure). **Secret believers (vv42–43).** Barclay (in Guzik): “Secret discipleship is a contradiction in terms.” Trench (in Guzik): “Is there no smoking flax?” Henry holds both: love of praise is “a very great prejudice” to godliness, yet “Some are really better than they seem to be.” Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea (19:38–39) show that secret believers can come into the open. **The last appeal (vv44–50).** Guzik: “These are the last words in John’s gospel from Jesus to the public,” and (Morris) “His last word is not one of condemnation. It is one of tender appeal.” He came to save, not to judge; but the word rejected becomes the judge at the last day. **Word study (Greek):** - **pure nard — *nardos pistikē* (G3487, G4101):** genuine spikenard, nothing added; only here and Mark 14:3. - **money box — *glōssokomon* (G1101):** Judas’s box; only 12:6; 13:29. - **Hosanna — *hōsanna* (G5614):** “Save, we pray!” from Ps 118:25; only at the entry. - **palm branches — *baia* (G902):** only here. - **young donkey — *onarion* (G3678):** a little donkey; only here. - **grain — *kokkos* (G2848):** a single seed; “remains alone” or “bears much fruit.” - **loves / hates — *phileō* (G5368) / *miseō* (G3404):** clutching the self-life vs. loving it less than Christ. - **troubled — *tarassō* (G5015):** stirred, agitated; perfect tense in v27; compare 14:1. - **lifted up — *hypsoō* (G5312):** in John always the cross, always exaltation (3:14; 8:28; 12:32, 34). - **draw — *helkō* (G1670):** to haul, drag; 6:44; 12:32. - **cast out — *ekballō* (G1544):** the ruler of this world thrown out (v31). - **blinded — *typhloō* (G5186) / hardened — *pōroō* (G4456):** judicial blinding and callousing (v40). - **put out of the synagogue — *aposynagōgos* (G656):** John only (9:22; 12:42; 16:2). **Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):** 1. **Love is extravagant; calculation is Judas’s language** (Sproul). 2. **Pure nard, nothing cut into it** — genuine worship. 3. **Hosanna means “Save us now”** — they meant Rome. 4. **The palms and the donkey argue with each other** — “The ass speaks of peace.” 5. **“The hour has come”** — after “not yet” all through John. 6. **A seed kept is a seed lost** — “Death precedes growth” (Spurgeon). 7. **Troubled and obedient at once** — John’s Gethsemane. 8. **Lifted up means both cross and throne.** 9. **Isaiah saw Jesus** (v41). 10. **Glory from men or glory from God** (v43). **Cross-references:** Num 21:8–9; Deut 15:11; Ps 118:25–26; Isa 6:1–10; 53:1; Zech 9:9; 14:4, 9; Matt 20:2; 26:6–15; Mark 8:36; 14:3–9, 32–36; Luke 14:26; John 2:4; 3:14; 6:44; 7:30; 8:12, 20, 28; 13:1; 17:1; 19:38–39; Rom 11:7, 25–26; 1 Cor 15:36; 2 Cor 4:4; Phil 2:8–9; Col 2:15; Heb 2:14. ### Application **Example to follow — Mary’s pound of nard.** Mary didn’t calculate. A year’s wages, poured on His feet, wiped with her hair, and the whole house smelled like it. I’ve spent a lot of my life doing the math Judas did — what’s it worth, what do I get back. This week I want to “waste” something on Jesus: an hour in worship I would have spent on myself, a gift I can feel, an act of service nobody will thank me for. **Command to obey — “If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me.”** Following Jesus in John 12 means following Him toward a cross. The grain kept in the hand stays safe — and alone. Some of the men I walk with have survived by holding everything tight: trust no one, need nobody. Jesus says that life stays alone. Letting go — of control, of image, of the old self — is how fruit comes. I will name one thing I’m holding in my fist and open my hand. **Sin to confess — loving the approval of men.** The rulers believed and said nothing because they were afraid of losing their seat. I confess the rooms where I go quiet about Jesus — the job site, the family table, the guys from the old life. And I confess that I sometimes measure myself by who claps for me. The *doxa* of men or the *doxa* of God — I can’t live for both. **Promise to trust — “I will draw all men to Myself.”** Jesus didn’t say He might. The cross is the magnet. When I pray for a man who seems too hard, too far gone, too long in the dark, I remember that the lifted-up Christ draws, and the ruler of this world has been cast out. **Truth to live in — troubled is not the same as disobedient.** Jesus said, “Now My soul has become troubled,” and then, “Father, glorify Your name.” I don’t have to fake calm to be faithful. I can bring a troubled soul to the Father and still say yes. **Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):** 1. What would it look like for me to “waste” something costly on Jesus this week — time, money, pride — without calculating the return? (12:3–8; Mark 14:9) *Mary poured out about a year’s wages; Judas priced it.* 2. Like the crowd, what “private agenda” have I brought to Jesus — and how have I been disappointed when He came on a donkey instead of a warhorse? (12:12–16; Zech 9:9) *Sproul: the King God appointed, not the king we conjure up.* 3. What part of my life am I keeping “in the hand” so it stays safe — and alone? What would it mean to let it fall into the ground? (12:24–25) *A seed kept is a seed lost; death precedes growth.* 4. Jesus said, “Now My soul has become troubled,” and still obeyed. Where is my soul troubled right now, and what would “Father, glorify Your name” sound like in that place? (12:27–28; 14:1) *Troubled and obedient at once.* 5. Whose approval am I most afraid to lose if I openly confess Christ — at work, at home, on the yard, with old friends? (12:42–43; Matt 10:32) *They loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.* 6. Jesus’ last public words were an appeal, not a threat. Who do I know who is walking in darkness, and how can I point him to the Light while there is time? (12:35–36, 46–47) *“Walk while you have the Light.”* **Worship.** Isaiah saw Him high and lifted up on the throne. John saw Him lifted up on a cross. Same glory, same Lord. The King of Israel rode in on a borrowed colt, went into the ground like a grain of wheat, and is bearing a harvest from every nation — Greeks, Jews, and men like me. **Prayer.** Father, glorify Your name in me. Lord Jesus, You came as Light into the world so that I would not remain in darkness. Make my worship like Mary’s — pure, costly, and unashamed. Break my love for the approval of men. Teach me to let my life fall into the ground so it can bear fruit, and to follow You where You lead, even when my soul is troubled. Draw the men I love to Yourself. Amen. ## John 13 — Loved to the End ### Marked in the text - v1 — **“His hour had come”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v1 — **“his hour was come”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v1 — **“He loved them to the end”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v1 — **“he loved them unto the end”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v2 — **“the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v2 — **“the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v3 — **“the Father had given all things into His hands”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v3 — **“the Father had given all things into his hands”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v4 — **“taking a towel, He girded Himself”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v4 — **“took a towel, and girded himself”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v7 — **“you will understand hereafter”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v7 — **“thou shalt know hereafter”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v8 — **“If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v8 — **“If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v10 — **“is completely clean”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v10 — **“is clean every whit”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v14 — **“you also ought to wash one another’s feet”** (green: Command / instruction) - v14 — **“ye also ought to wash one another's feet”** (green: Command / instruction) - v15 — **“I gave you an example”** (green: Command / instruction) - v15 — **“I have given you an example”** (green: Command / instruction) - v17 — **“you are blessed if you do them”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v17 — **“happy are ye if ye do them”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v18 — **“HAS LIFTED UP HIS HEEL AGAINST ME”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v18 — **“hath lifted up his heel against me”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v19 — **“you may believe that I am He”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v19 — **“ye may believe that I am he”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v21 — **“He became troubled in spirit”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v21 — **“he was troubled in spirit”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v21 — **“one of you will betray Me”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v21 — **“one of you shall betray me”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v27 — **“Satan then entered into him”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v27 — **“Satan entered into him”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v30 — **“and it was night”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v31 — **“Now is the Son of Man glorified”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v31 — **“Now is the Son of man glorified”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v34 — **“A new commandment I give to you”** (green: Command / instruction) - v34 — **“A new commandment I give unto you”** (green: Command / instruction) - v34 — **“as I have loved you”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v35 — **“By this all men will know that you are My disciples”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v35 — **“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v37 — **“I will lay down my life for You”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v37 — **“I will lay down my life for thy sake”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v38 — **“a rooster will not crow until you deny Me three times”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v38 — **“The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v5 — **“feet”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v5 — **“wash”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v12 — **“washed”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v14 — **“one another”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v31 — **“glorified”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v32 — **“glorify”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter ### Observation **Setting.** The last evening before the cross, “before the Feast of the Passover” (v1), at supper in a room in Jerusalem. Jesus’ “hour” has come (v1; compare 2:4; 12:23). The Twelve recline around a low table; Judas is among them, and the devil has already put the betrayal into his heart (v2). This is the first night of the Upper Room Discourse (chapters 13–17). **Structure:** - vv1–11 — **the towel:** knowing His hour had come and that all things were in His hands, Jesus gets up, lays aside His garments, girds Himself with a towel, pours water and washes the disciples’ feet. Peter refuses — “Never shall You wash my feet!” — then asks for a full bath. “He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet … you are clean, but not all of you” (v10). - vv12–20 — **the example:** “Do you know what I have done to you?” Teacher and Lord washed their feet; they ought to wash one another’s. A slave is not greater than his master; blessed if you do them (v17). Not all are chosen — Psalm 41:9 must be fulfilled. He tells them beforehand “so that … you may believe that I am He” (v19). - vv21–30 — **the night:** troubled in spirit, Jesus says one of them will betray Him. Peter signals the disciple reclining on Jesus’ bosom to ask; Jesus gives the morsel to Judas; Satan enters him; “What you do, do quickly.” No one understands. Judas goes out — “and it was night” (v30). - vv31–38 — **the commandment:** “Now is the Son of Man glorified” (vv31–32). “Little children … where I am going, you cannot come” (v33). A new commandment: love one another, even as I have loved you; by this all men will know (vv34–35). Peter: “I will lay down my life for You.” Jesus: a rooster will not crow until you deny Me three times (vv36–38). **Repeated words, with counts:** - “wash / washed” ×9 — wash vv5, 6, 8 (×2), 9, 10, 14; washed vv12, 14. - “feet” ×8 — vv5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14 (×2). - “know / knew / knowing” ×9 — knowing vv1, 3; knew vv11, 28; know vv12, 17, 18, 22, 35. - “Lord” ×7 — vv6, 9, 13, 14, 25, 36, 37. - “love / loved” ×7 — loved v1 (×2), 23, 34; love v34 (×2), 35. - “Simon / Peter” — Peter ×6 (vv6, 8, 9, 24, 36, 37); “Simon” ×6, four of them Peter and two Judas’s father (vv2, 26). - “one another” ×5 — vv14, 22, 34 (×2), 35. - “glorified / glorify” ×5 — glorified v31 (×2), 32; glorify v32 (×2). - “God” ×5 — vv3 (×2), 31, 32 (×2). - “morsel” ×4 — vv26 (×2), 27, 30. - “Truly, truly, I say to you” ×4 — vv16, 20, 21, 38. - “send / sent” ×4 — sent v16 (×2), 20; send v20. - “betray / betraying” ×3 — vv2, 11, 21; “clean” ×3 — vv10 (×2), 11; “follow” ×3 — vv36 (×2), 37. **Contrasts:** the Father had given all things into His hands (v3) ⟷ He took a towel (v4). “Never shall You wash my feet!” ⟷ “not only my feet, but also my hands and my head” (vv8–9). Clean ⟷ not all clean (vv10–11). Knowing ⟷ doing (v17). The disciple on Jesus’ bosom (v23) ⟷ the disciple who goes out (v30). Night (v30) ⟷ glory (v31). “I will lay down my life for You” ⟷ “Will you lay down your life for Me?” (vv37–38). **Shape of the chapter:** a basin (1–11), a lesson (12–20), a morsel (21–30), a commandment and a warning (31–38). It opens with Jesus’ love for His own and closes with one of His own about to deny Him — and the love does not change. **Chapter theme (my words):** The Lord who holds all things kneels to wash His disciples’ feet, betrayer and denier included, and then commands them to love one another the way He has loved them. Love is the mark of the disciple; self-confidence is not. ### Interpretation **Is this the Passover meal?** John says “before the Feast of the Passover” (v1) and later has the priests not yet eating the Passover on Friday morning (18:28; 19:14); the other Gospels call the Last Supper a Passover meal. Guzik treats the timing as an open question. I won’t build anything on it; the point John makes is the “hour.” **Why did Jesus wash their feet?** Two meanings, and the chapter gives both. First, a cleansing only He can give (vv6–10): “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” Second, an example we must follow (vv12–17): “you also ought to wash one another’s feet.” Morris (in Guzik) calls it “a parable in action.” Henry: “no miracle, unless we call it a miracle of humility.” Sproul: “Only a gentile slave could be required to do such a menial task.” **Bathed and washed (v10).** *Louō* is the whole bath; *niptō* is the feet. Spurgeon separates the once-for-all cleansing by Christ’s blood from the daily washing a child of God needs after walking through the world. Sproul: “One touch of the cleansing power of Christ cleanses us from all sin.” Justification is not repeated; confession and cleansing go on (1 John 1:9). **Is foot washing an ordinance?** Some churches practice it, and I respect that. Sproul: “Jesus is not instituting a sacrament to be repeated on a regular basis among the people of God,” and Guzik cites Calvin against turning it into ceremony while neglecting its meaning. All four agree on the main thing: humble, costly service of one another is commanded. **“His own” (v1).** Sproul reads it as particular redemption — “an atonement not for the whole world, but for His own.” Many evangelicals read John’s “world” texts (3:16; 1 John 2:2) more broadly. Both agree that Jesus loves His own to the end, and that Judas, though he sat at the table, was not clean (vv10–11). **Was Judas ever a believer?** Jesus says “not all of you are clean” (v10), “I know the ones I have chosen” (v18), and in 6:64, 70 that He knew from the beginning who would betray Him. Guzik: “Judas had the best example and the greatest Teacher, and was still lost.” Spurgeon: the others never suspected him. Judas was near Jesus, never His. **Who is responsible — Satan or Judas?** Both, and God is not surprised. The devil “put into the heart” (v2), Satan “entered into him” (v27), and Scripture had foretold it (v18). Bruce (in Guzik) says Satan entered only because Judas let him; Henry: “Christ needed not to expel him, he expelled himself.” God’s plan never excuses a man’s sin. **“I am He” (v19).** In Greek simply *egō eimi*. Sproul hears the divine name, as in 8:58 and 18:5–6. Jesus predicts the betrayal so that when it happens their faith in who He is will grow, not collapse. **What is “new” in the new commandment? — the teachers differ.** Sproul: “There is nothing new about that commandment” — the newness is “the context of the betrayal.” Spurgeon: new in extent (“as I have loved you,” not “as yourself”), motive and nature. Henry: renewed after neglect, and “so strangely new as to be always so.” Guzik/Tenney: *kainos*, fresh in quality. I land here: the command is old; the standard — the cross — is new. **Peter and Judas.** Both are warned, both fail. Guzik: “Peter’s denial was terrible, but it wasn’t the same as what Judas did.” Sproul: “It is not just Judas, but Simon as well.” The difference is not the size of the sin but where each man went with it. **Word study (Greek):** - **to the end — *telos* (G5056):** the end, goal, completion; compare *tetelestai*, “It is finished” (19:30). - **towel — *lention* (G3012):** a servant’s linen cloth; only vv4–5. - **bathed — *louō* (G3068):** to bathe the whole body; perfect tense in v10. - **wash — *niptō* (G3538):** to wash a part — hands, face, feet. - **part — *meros* (G3313):** a share, portion; no washing, no share in Him. - **example — *hypodeigma* (G5262):** a pattern to copy (or a warning); six NT uses. - **heel — *pterna* (G4418):** only here; lifting the heel against a friend (Ps 41:9). - **I am — *egō eimi* (G1510):** “I am He” (v19); the divine name echoed (Exod 3:14). - **troubled — *tarassō* (G5015):** stirred up; of Jesus (11:33; 12:27; 13:21), then “do not let your heart be troubled” (14:1, 27). - **bosom — *kolpos* (G2859):** John on Jesus’ bosom (v23), as the Son in the bosom of the Father (1:18). - **morsel — *psōmion* (G5596):** a mouthful of bread; all four NT uses in this scene. - **glorify — *doxazō* (G1392):** five times in vv31–32. - **little children — *teknion* (G5040):** only here in the Gospels; seven times in 1 John. - **new — *kainos* (G2537):** new in kind and quality, not merely in time (*neos*). **Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):** 1. **He knew everything — and took a towel** (vv3–4). Security in the Father frees a man to serve. 2. **Bathed once, washed daily** — *louō* and *niptō* (v10). 3. **Pride can look like humility** — Peter’s refusal; a part with Jesus begins with receiving (Guzik). 4. **Blessed is in the doing** (v17). 5. **Jesus washed the feet of the man who would betray Him.** 6. **Closeness to Jesus is not the same as faith in Jesus** — Judas. 7. **“And it was night”** (v30) — Judas expelled himself (Henry). 8. **The cross is the glory** — *doxazō* five times in vv31–32. 9. **New in kind, not just in time** — *kainos*; the measure is “as I have loved you.” 10. **Two failures, two endings** — Judas went out; Peter was prayed for and restored. **Cross-references:** Exod 3:14; Lev 19:18; Ps 41:9; Isa 53:12; Matt 26:14–16; Mark 10:45; Luke 22:3, 24–27, 31–34, 62; John 1:11, 18; 2:4; 6:64, 70; 8:12, 24, 58; 12:23–33; 18:5–6, 17, 25–27; 19:30; 21:15–19; Phil 2:5–11; 1 Pet 5:5; 1 John 1:9; 2:7–8; 3:16. ### Application **Example to follow — the towel.** Jesus knew the Father had given all things into His hands, and that is exactly why He could kneel (vv3–4). Most of the men I walk with are not too proud to serve because they feel big; they are too insecure. They need to look strong. A man who knows who he is in the Father can pick up a towel. This week I want to do one hidden, menial thing for a brother — no announcement, no credit. **Sin to confess — Peter’s kind of pride.** “Never shall You wash my feet!” sounds humble, but it is a man who would rather do it himself. I confess the times I would not let Jesus — or a brother — help me, because being helped felt like weakness. A part with Jesus begins with receiving (Guzik). I have to let Him wash me before I can wash anyone else. **Promise to trust — “you are clean.”** If I have been bathed in Christ, I am “completely clean” (v10). I don’t need to get saved again every time I fall; I need my feet washed — honest confession, and His daily cleansing. That is good news for men who are afraid one relapse undoes everything. **Warning to heed — Judas.** Judas sat near Jesus, carried the money, heard every sermon, and still went out into the night. Being in the room is not the same as belonging to Him. I want my men to ask the honest question, and I ask it of myself: is there a hidden love — money, a habit, a resentment — that I am letting the enemy use as a door? **Command to obey — love one another, even as I have loved you.** Not as I feel like it, not as they deserve, but as He did: patiently, practically, to the end, including the brother who lets me down. Jesus said the world would know we are His by this — not by our programs or our arguments (v35). **Comfort for the man who failed — Peter.** Peter promised more than he could keep. Jesus told him the truth about himself and prayed for him before he fell (Luke 22:32). Then He met him again by a charcoal fire and gave him work to do (21:15–17). Failure was not the end for Peter, and it is not the end for any man who comes back. **Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):** 1. Jesus knew all things were in His hands — and that freed Him to kneel (vv3–4). Where does my insecurity keep me from serving? (13:3–5; Phil 2:7) *A victor, not a victim: security in the Father makes a man able to stoop.* 2. Like Peter, where do I refuse to let Jesus — or a brother — do something for me? (13:6–10) *A part with Jesus begins with receiving, not achieving.* 3. Whose feet is Jesus asking me to wash this week — and whose is the hardest to wash? (13:14–17) *He washed Judas’s feet too. Blessed is in the doing.* 4. Judas was close to Jesus for three years and was still lost. What is the difference between being near Jesus and belonging to Him? (13:18, 21–30) *The best example and the greatest Teacher are not enough without a new heart.* 5. “By this all men will know …” If someone watched our group for a month, what would they conclude about our love? (13:34–35; 1 John 3:16) *Brotherly love is the badge of Christ’s disciples.* 6. Peter promised more than he could deliver. What promise have I made to God in my own strength — and what does Luke 22:32 say to me? (13:36–38; Luke 22:32; John 21:17) *Jesus knew Peter’s weakness and prayed for him before he fell.* **Worship.** The hands into which the Father had given all things held a towel and a basin. The One who is “I am” knelt on the floor of a borrowed room and washed dirt off a fisherman’s feet — and a traitor’s. He called the cross His glory. That is my Lord. **Prayer.** Lord Jesus, You loved Your own to the end. Wash me — not only my feet but every hidden place I have kept from You — and keep me clean. Take the pride out of me that will not be served, and the pride that will not serve. Guard my heart from every door Judas left open. Teach me and the men I serve to love one another the way You loved us, so the world will know we are Yours. And when I fail like Peter, pray for me, turn me again, and give me work to do. Amen. ## John 14 — Do Not Let Your Heart Be Troubled ### Marked in the text - v1 — **“Do not let your heart be troubled”** (green: Command / instruction) - v1 — **“Let not your heart be troubled”** (green: Command / instruction) - v1 — **“believe in God, believe also in Me”** (green: Command / instruction) - v1 — **“believe in God, believe also in me”** (green: Command / instruction) - v2 — **“In My Father’s house are many dwelling places”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v2 — **“In my Father's house are many mansions”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v2 — **“I go to prepare a place for you”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v3 — **“I will come again and receive you to Myself”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v3 — **“I will come again, and receive you unto myself”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v6 — **“I am the way, and the truth, and the life”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v6 — **“I am the way, the truth, and the life”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v6 — **“no one comes to the Father but through Me”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v6 — **“no man cometh unto the Father, but by me”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v9 — **“He who has seen Me has seen the Father”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v9 — **“he that hath seen me hath seen the Father”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v10 — **“I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v10 — **“I am in the Father, and the Father in me”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v12 — **“greater works than these he will do”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v12 — **“greater works than these shall he do”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v13 — **“Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v13 — **“whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v15 — **“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments”** (green: Command / instruction) - v15 — **“If ye love me, keep my commandments”** (green: Command / instruction) - v16 — **“He will give you another Helper”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v16 — **“he shall give you another Comforter”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v18 — **“I will not leave you as orphans”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v18 — **“I will not leave you comfortless”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v19 — **“because I live, you will live also”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v19 — **“because I live, ye shall live also”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v23 — **“We will come to him and make Our abode with him”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v23 — **“we will come unto him, and make our abode with him”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v26 — **“He will teach you all things”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v26 — **“he shall teach you all things”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v27 — **“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v27 — **“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v27 — **“not as the world gives”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v27 — **“not as the world giveth”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v27 — **“Do not let your heart be troubled”** (green: Command / instruction) - v27 — **“Let not your heart be troubled”** (green: Command / instruction) - v28 — **“the Father is greater than I”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v30 — **“the ruler of the world is coming”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v30 — **“the prince of this world cometh”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v30 — **“he has nothing in Me”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v30 — **“hath nothing in me”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v31 — **“Get up, let us go from here”** (green: Command / instruction) - v31 — **“Arise, let us go hence”** (green: Command / instruction) - v2 — **“Father”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v15 — **“love”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v21 — **“loves”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter ### Observation **Setting.** The same night and the same room as chapter 13. Judas has gone out (13:30); Peter has just been told he will deny Jesus three times (13:38). Jesus speaks to the eleven. The chapter ends with “Get up, let us go from here” (v31) — chapters 15–17 are spoken on the way toward the Kidron and Gethsemane (18:1). **Structure:** - vv1–6 — **a place and a way:** “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.” Many dwelling places in My Father’s house; I go to prepare a place; I will come again and receive you to Myself (vv2–3). Thomas: “how do we know the way?” Jesus: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me” (v6). - vv7–14 — **the Father seen:** if you had known Me you would have known My Father (v7). Philip: “show us the Father.” “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (v9). I am in the Father and the Father in Me; believe because of the works (vv10–11). Greater works, because I go to the Father (v12); whatever you ask in My name (vv13–14). - vv15–26 — **another Helper:** if you love Me, you will keep My commandments (v15). Another Helper, the Spirit of truth, with you forever, in you (vv16–17). Not orphans; because I live, you will live also; you in Me and I in you (vv18–20). Love and obedience, love and disclosure (v21). Judas (not Iscariot) asks why not to the world (v22); We will come and make Our abode with him (v23). The Helper will teach and remind (v26). - vv27–31 — **peace left behind:** “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you” (v27). “If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced … the Father is greater than I” (v28). Told beforehand so you may believe (v29). The ruler of the world is coming and has nothing in Me; I do as the Father commanded. “Get up, let us go from here” (vv30–31). **Repeated words, with counts:** - “Father” ×23 — vv2, 6, 7, 8, 9 (×2), 10 (×3), 11 (×2), 12, 13, 16, 20, 21, 23, 24, 26, 28 (×2), 31 (×2). - “Me” ×23, plus “Myself” ×2 (vv3, 21) — the chapter is about knowing, believing and loving Him. - “know / known” ×11 — know vv4, 5 (×2), 7, 9, 17 (×2), 20, 31; known v7 (×2). - “love / loves / loved” ×10 — love vv15, 21, 23, 24, 31; loves vv21 (×2), 23; loved vv21, 28. - “in Me” ×7 — vv1, 10 (×2), 11, 12, 20, 30; “in the Father” vv10, 11 (and “in My Father,” v20). - “go / going” — go ×6 (vv2, 3, 12, 28 ×2, 31); “going” vv4, 5, 22. - “believe / believes” ×6 — vv1 (×2), 10, 11, 12, 29. - “world” ×6 — vv17, 19, 22, 27, 30, 31. - “come” ×5 — vv3, 9, 18, 23, 28 (“I will come” vv3, 18, 28; “We will come” v23). - “works” ×4 — vv10, 11, 12 (×2). - “keep / keeps” ×4 — vv15, 21, 23, 24; “commandments / commanded” ×3 — vv15, 21, 31. - “ask” ×3 — vv13, 14, 16; “in My name” ×3 — vv13, 14, 26. - “see / seen” ×6 — see vv17, 19 (×2); seen vv7, 9 (×2). - “troubled” ×2 — vv1, 27 (the bookends); “Helper” ×2 — vv16, 26; “disclose” ×2 — vv21, 22. **Contrasts:** a troubled heart ⟷ My peace (vv1, 27). I go ⟷ I will come again (vv2–3, 28). We do not know the way ⟷ I am the way (vv5–6). Show us the Father ⟷ He who has seen Me has seen the Father (vv8–9). The world cannot receive Him ⟷ you know Him (v17). The world will no longer see Me ⟷ you will see Me (v19). He who loves Me keeps My word ⟷ he who does not love Me does not keep My words (vv23–24). Not as the world gives (v27). The ruler of the world ⟷ he has nothing in Me (v30). **Shape of the chapter:** four answers to four disciples — Peter’s “where?” (13:36) answered with a place, Thomas’s “how?” with a Person, Philip’s “show us” with the Son, Judas’s “why us?” with an abode. It is framed by “Do not let your heart be troubled” and closes with Jesus walking toward the cross. **Chapter theme (my words):** Jesus is going away, but not leaving. He goes to the Father to prepare a place, He is Himself the only way there, the Father is seen in Him, and He sends another Helper so that the Father and the Son make their home in everyone who loves Him. So His men can have His peace on the worst night of their lives. ### Interpretation **Why “troubled” — and how can Jesus command it?** The verb (*tarassō*) is the one used of Jesus at Lazarus’s tomb (11:33), at the coming hour (12:27) and as He named the betrayer (13:21). He is not scolding feelings; He is giving a remedy. Guzik: “a radical call to trust in Jesus *just as* one would trust in God the Father.” Spurgeon: “It is a dark night, but the darkness of your heart will not light a candle for you.” Henry: “The heart is the main fort.” **“Many dwelling places” — mansions or rooms?** *Monē* is a place to stay; “mansions” comes through Latin *mansiones*, dwellings. Guzik prefers “dwelling places” but adds, “it will be as glorious as a mansion.” The only other use is v23 — the Father and Son make their *monē* with the believer. The house is future; the home begins now. **“I will come again” (v3) — what coming?** Guzik sees “the great gathering together of His people at the end of the age” and, with Tasker, ties it to 1 Thessalonians 4; he also sees foretastes in the resurrection and the Spirit’s coming (v18). Henry and Sproul read it as Christ returning to bring His people home. None of them uses the word “rapture.” I read it with 1 Thess 4:16–17: Jesus Himself comes for His church, receives us to Himself, and takes us to the Father’s house — which fits a coming *for* His own before He comes *with* them in judgment. Faithful readers differ on the timing; all agree on the promise: “where I am, there you may be also.” **Is Jesus really the only way (v6)?** All four teachers say yes, plainly. Guzik: “if Jesus is not *the only* way to God, then He is not *any way* to God.” Sproul: “It is because Jesus said that He was the only way. If I deny that, I deny Him.” Spurgeon: “Heaven hath but this one gate.” Henry: other ways “may seem right, but the end of them is the way of death” (Prov 14:12). Sproul’s closing prayer turns the objection around: the burning question is not why there are not more ways, “but rather why there is even one.” **“He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (v9).** Jesus is not a picture of God; He is God made visible (1:18; Col 1:15). Guzik: “To know Jesus is to know God.” Spurgeon warns that a man can be near Christ and not know Him — Judas was. Henry is gentle: many disciples “have more knowledge and more grace than they think they have.” **What are the “greater works” (v12)?** Not bigger miracles. Guzik: “greater in magnitude,” the worldwide spread of the gospel — “We earnestly await proof of those who have repeatedly done greater works than walking on water.” Sproul connects them to the Spirit poured on the whole church (Num 11; Joel 2; Acts 2). The reason Jesus gives is “because I go to the Father.” **Asking in His name (vv13–14).** Guzik: it “is not a magic incantation of prayer.” Sproul rejects “name it and claim it.” To pray in His name is to pray as His representatives, for His glory, in line with His will. **Who is the Helper?** *Allos paraklētos* — another of the same kind as Jesus, who is Himself our Advocate (1 John 2:1). Sproul: “For there to be two, there has to be one before the second.” Not a force but a Person who teaches, reminds, abides and indwells. Spurgeon: “The Spirit is a convincer before he is a Comforter.” **Love and obedience (vv15, 21, 23–24).** Said four ways. Sproul: “Sanctification always flows automatically and necessarily out of our justification.” Henry: “The surest evidence of our love to Christ is obedience.” This is not earning love; it is what love does. **“The Father is greater than I” (v28).** Arians once used this to deny Christ’s deity. Our teachers answer together: greater in role, not in being. Guzik: “greater than the Son in position, especially in regard to the incarnation. Yet … not greater … in essence or being.” Sproul: “subordination,” not “inferiority”; the Son is “coessential with the Father.” Henry: the Father’s kingdom “will be greater than the mediatorial kingdom.” **Word study (Greek):** - **troubled — *tarassō* (G5015):** to stir up, agitate; vv1, 27 (and of Jesus in 11:33; 12:27; 13:21). - **dwelling places / abode — *monē* (G3438):** a place to stay; only 14:2, 23. - **way — *hodos* (G3598):** road, path; “the Way” became a name for the church (Acts 9:2). - **seen — *horaō* (G3708):** perfect tense — having seen and still seeing. - **greater — *meizōn* (G3187):** comparative of *megas* — in v12 (works) and v28 (the Father). - **name — *onoma* (G3686):** a person’s authority and character. - **another — *allos* (G243):** another of the same kind (not *heteros*). - **Helper — *paraklētos* (G3875):** one called alongside; advocate, strengthener (John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7; 1 John 2:1). - **orphans — *orphanos* (G3737):** fatherless; only here and James 1:27. - **peace — *eirēnē* (G1515):** *shalom*; wholeness, right relation with God. - **fearful — *deiliaō* (G1168):** to shrink back in cowardice; only v27. - **ruler — *archōn* (G758):** Satan as “ruler of this world” (12:31; 14:30; 16:11). **Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):** 1. **The comfort comes on the worst night** — straight after Peter’s warning (13:38). 2. **Heaven is a home, not a camp** (Henry) — and He comes for us Himself. 3. **One word, two homes** — *monē* in v2 and v23. 4. **The way is a Person** (Guzik). 5. **Exclusive because He said so** (Sproul). 6. **Philip had been looking at the answer** (v9). 7. **“Another” of the same kind** — the Spirit is a Helper like Jesus. 8. **Love that does not obey is not love** (vv15, 21, 23–24). 9. **Not orphans** (v18). 10. **Peace as an inheritance** — the world’s peace ends in trouble; Christ’s in everlasting peace (Henry). **Cross-references:** Exod 3:14; 33:18; Num 6:26; 11:16–17, 25; Ps 23:6; Prov 14:12; Isa 26:3; Ezek 37:27; Joel 2:28; John 1:14, 18; 10:9, 30; 12:31; 13:21, 33–38; 15:26; 16:7–15; 17:24; Acts 2:16–18; 4:12; 9:2; Rom 5:1; 2 Cor 5:1; Phil 4:7; Col 1:15; 1 Thess 4:16–17; 1 Tim 2:5; Heb 1:3; James 1:27; 1 John 2:1. ### Application **Command to obey — “Do not let your heart be troubled.”** Jesus says it twice (vv1, 27), and He says it to men who are about to fail Him. I know men lying awake tonight over a court date, a diagnosis, a son who won’t call, a relapse. Jesus doesn’t tell them to stop feeling; He tells them where to put their trust: “believe in God, believe also in Me.” This week, when the trouble rises, I will name it to Him out loud and say verse 1 back to Him. **Promise to trust — a place, and His coming.** “I will come again and receive you to Myself.” Not sent for — taken by Him. I am looking for the day He comes for His church (1 Thess 4:17), and I want that hope to change how I live tonight. The goal is not a room; it is a Person: “where I am, there you may be also.” **Truth to hold — the only way.** In a world that says every road leads to God, Jesus says, “no one comes to the Father but through Me.” That isn’t arrogance; it’s rescue. If there were another way, He would not have gone to the cross the next morning. I can say it humbly and with love, the way Sproul did: I believe it because He said it. **Sin to confess — love that doesn’t obey.** Jesus says four times that love keeps His word. I confess the times I have sung about loving Him and then gone my own way. Love isn’t a feeling I wait for; it’s what I do with His commandments this week. **Comfort for the fatherless — “I will not leave you as orphans.”** So many of the men I serve grew up without a father, or with one they had to survive. Jesus promises that the Father and the Son will come and make their home with the man who loves Him (v23), and that the Helper will be with him forever (v16). I am not alone in the cell, the truck, the empty apartment. **Example to follow — “Get up, let us go from here.”** Jesus had just been told the ruler of the world was coming, and He stood up and walked toward it, because He loved the Father (v31). Peace isn’t hiding; it is walking into the next hard thing with Him. **Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):** 1. What is troubling my heart tonight — and what would it look like to “believe also in Me” about that exact thing? (14:1, 27) *Worry lights no candle; trust Jesus just as you trust the Father.* 2. When I picture heaven, do I picture a place or a Person? What changes when “where I am, there you may be also” is the center? (14:2–3; 1 Thess 4:17) *Communion with Jesus is glory.* 3. Where am I tempted to think there are other ways — for me, or for someone I love? (14:6; Acts 4:12) *If Jesus is not the only way, He is not any way.* 4. Like Philip, where have I been “so long” with Jesus and still not trusted Him with something small? (14:8–11) *Thou knowest him not if thou canst not trust him with anything and everything.* 5. Jesus ties love to obedience four times. Which of His commands is my love for Him being tested on this week? (14:15, 21, 23–24) *Love that does not keep His commandments isn’t love at all.* 6. Many of us know what it is to feel fatherless. What does “I will not leave you as orphans” mean for me right now? (14:16–18, 23) *The Spirit is another Helper like Jesus, with you forever, in you.* **Worship.** The night before the cross, the One about to be betrayed comforted the ones about to run. He is the way, the truth and the life. To see Him is to see the Father. He gives His Spirit, makes His home in us, and leaves us His own peace. And He is coming again. **Prayer.** Lord Jesus, my heart is troubled, and I bring it to You. I believe in God; I believe in You. Thank You for the place You are preparing and for Your promise to come and receive me to Yourself. You are the only way to the Father — keep me on that way, and help me tell others about it with love. Holy Spirit, Helper, teach me, remind me of His words, and live in me. Make me a man whose love for Jesus shows in obedience. Give me Your peace, not the world’s, and when the next hard thing comes, help me get up and go with You. Amen. ## John 15 — The True Vine ### Marked in the text - v1 — **“I am the true vine”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v1 — **“My Father is the vinedresser”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v1 — **“my Father is the husbandman”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v2 — **“He takes away”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v2 — **“he taketh away”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v2 — **“He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v2 — **“he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v3 — **“You are already clean because of the word”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v3 — **“Now ye are clean through the word”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v4 — **“Abide in Me, and I in you”** (green: Command / instruction) - v4 — **“Abide in me, and I in you”** (green: Command / instruction) - v5 — **“apart from Me you can do nothing”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v5 — **“without me ye can do nothing”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v6 — **“cast them into the fire”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v7 — **“ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v7 — **“ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v8 — **“My Father is glorified by this”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v8 — **“Herein is my Father glorified”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v9 — **“Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v9 — **“As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v10 — **“If you keep My commandments”** (green: Command / instruction) - v10 — **“If ye keep my commandments”** (green: Command / instruction) - v11 — **“that your joy may be made full”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v11 — **“that your joy might be full”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v12 — **“love one another, just as I have loved you”** (green: Command / instruction) - v12 — **“love one another, as I have loved you”** (green: Command / instruction) - v13 — **“lay down his life for his friends”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v15 — **“I have called you friends”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v16 — **“You did not choose Me but I chose you”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v16 — **“Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v16 — **“your fruit would remain”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v16 — **“your fruit should remain”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v19 — **“I chose you out of the world”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v19 — **“I have chosen you out of the world”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v20 — **“A slave is not greater than his master”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v20 — **“The servant is not greater than his lord”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v22 — **“they have no excuse for their sin”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v22 — **“they have no cloke for their sin”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v25 — **“THEY HATED ME WITHOUT A CAUSE”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v25 — **“They hated me without a cause”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v26 — **“the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v26 — **“the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v27 — **“you will testify also”** (green: Command / instruction) - v27 — **“ye also shall bear witness”** (green: Command / instruction) - v4 — **“abide”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v5 — **“abides”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v5 — **“abideth”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v18 — **“world”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter ### Observation **Setting.** Thursday night of Passion Week. Judas has left (13:30); Jesus has washed the disciples’ feet, given the new commandment, and promised the Helper (ch. 14). At 14:31 He says, “Get up, let us go from here,” and 18:1 says He crossed the Kidron only after chapter 17 — so John 15 is spoken as they leave the upper room or walk through Jerusalem toward the garden. All of it is Jesus speaking; the disciples say nothing in this chapter. **Structure:** - vv1–8 — **the vine:** “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.” Fruitless branches He takes away; fruitful ones He prunes (v2). “You are already clean because of the word” (v3). “Abide in Me, and I in you” (v4). “Apart from Me you can do nothing” (v5). The branch that does not abide is thrown away, dries up and is burned (v6). Abiding brings answered prayer (v7) and much fruit that glorifies the Father and proves discipleship (v8). - vv9–11 — **abide in My love:** as the Father loved the Son, so the Son loves us; keep His commandments as He kept the Father’s; “so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.” - vv12–17 — **friends:** “love one another, just as I have loved you” (v12); greater love — laying down one’s life (v13); friends, not slaves, because He has made known all He heard from the Father (vv14–15); “You did not choose Me but I chose you,” appointed to bear lasting fruit (v16); the command repeated (v17). - vv18–25 — **the world’s hatred:** it hated Me first (v18); you are not of the world because I chose you out of it (v19); a slave is not greater than his master (v20); they do not know the One who sent Me (v21); no excuse for their sin (vv22–24); “THEY HATED ME WITHOUT A CAUSE” (v25, Psalm 69:4). - vv26–27 — **the witness:** the Helper, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, will testify about Me, “and you will testify also.” **Repeated words, with counts (NASB95):** - “Me” ×16 and “My” ×17 — the chapter is centered on Christ: abide in *Me*, *My* words, *My* love, *My* commandments, *My* joy, *My* friends, *My* name. - “love / loves / loved” ×10 — vv9 (×3), 10 (×2), 12 (×2), 13, 17, 19. - “Father / Father’s” ×10 — vv1, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 23, 24, 26 (×2). - “abide / abides” ×9 — vv4 (×2), 5, 6, 7 (×2), 9, 10 (×2); plus “remain” (same Greek *menō*) v16. - “fruit” ×8 — vv2 (×3), 4, 5, 8, 16 (×2). - “hate / hates / hated” ×8 — vv18 (×3), 19, 23 (×2), 24, 25. - “world” ×6 — vv18, 19 (×5). - “branch / branches” ×5 — vv2 (×2), 4, 5, 6. - “commandment(s) / command” ×5 — vv10 (×2), 12, 14, 17. - “word / words” ×5 — vv3, 7, 20 (×2), 25. - “friends” ×3 — vv13, 14, 15; “slave(s)” ×3 — vv15 (×2), 20; “chose” ×3 — vv16 (×2), 19. - “joy” ×2 — v11; “ask” ×2 — vv7, 16; “testify” ×2 — vv26, 27; “sin” ×3 — vv22 (×2), 24. **Contrasts:** the true vine ⟷ Israel’s fruitless vine (OT background). Branches that bear fruit ⟷ branches that do not (v2). Abiding ⟷ apart from Me (vv4–6). Slaves ⟷ friends (v15). You chose ⟷ I chose (v16). Loved by Christ ⟷ hated by the world (vv12, 18). Of the world ⟷ chosen out of the world (v19). No sin ⟷ no excuse (vv22, 24). **Shape of the chapter:** it moves outward in three circles — union with Christ (1–11), love among the branches (12–17), and witness to a hostile world (18–27). It begins with the Father tending the vine and ends with the Spirit proceeding from the Father to testify. **Chapter theme (my words):** Life comes from staying joined to Jesus. Joined to Him, I bear fruit, obey, love my brothers as His friend, and stand when the world hates me — because He chose me and His Spirit testifies through me. ### Interpretation **Who is the true vine, and why “true”?** The Old Testament calls Israel God’s vine (Psalm 80:8; Isaiah 5:1–7; Jeremiah 2:21), and every one of those passages laments missing fruit. Guzik: “God repeatedly used a vine as a symbol of His people in the Hebrew Scriptures … In contrast, Jesus is the true vine.” Henry opens the same way: “Jesus Christ is the vine, the true vine.” *Alēthinos* is “genuine” — the real thing the picture pointed toward. **“He takes away” — or “He lifts up”? (v2)** The Greek *airō* can mean either. Guzik keeps “takes away” but says the “lifts up” view (the vinedresser raising a trailing branch out of the dirt) “bears some consideration.” Sproul, per Ligonier’s summary of his 2003 sermon, stresses “the difference between branch removal and pruning.” I take “takes away” as the plain reading because v6 explains it — but the comfort for fruitful branches is unmistakable: they are pruned, not removed. Spurgeon: “What a mercy it is to the believer that it is pruning with him and not cutting off!” **Who are the burned branches of verse 6?** This is where Christians differ. Guzik lists three views: true believers who fall away and are lost; people who only looked like disciples, like Judas; and fruitless believers whose lives are wasted though they are saved. He leans toward the second: “The branches that are taken away were never properly abiding in the vine.” Sproul raises the same question about the perseverance of the saints, and the Reformed tradition (Sproul, Spurgeon, Henry) reads these as professors, not possessors — Henry: “Unfruitful professors are unfaithful professors; professors, and no more.” Arminian readers take the warning as describing real believers who can fall away. Everyone agrees the warning is real and the evidence of life is fruit. Judas had walked out of this very room hours earlier. **What does it mean to abide?** Not a mystical state. Verse 7 ties it to His words abiding in us, verse 10 to keeping His commandments. Guzik: “This is not some mystical experience. It is simple obedience.” And it is not one-sided effort; Henry: “the communion between Christ and believers never fails on his side.” Spurgeon: “You can do nothing if there be not constant union.” **“Ask whatever you wish” (v7).** The promise is to abiding branches whose desires are being shaped by His words. Henry: “Those that abide in Christ as their heart’s delight shall have, through Christ, their heart’s desire.” It is not a blank check for the flesh; it is a promise that the Vine’s life will flow through the branch’s prayers. **Joy — whose and how much? (v11)** Sproul: “First, the joy that Jesus wants to see in us is His joy.” “He wants us to have a permanent joy, not a roller-coaster ride of moods shifting between joy and misery.” Guzik: “The joy of Jesus isn’t the same as what is commonly understood as happiness or excitement.” **Friends, not slaves (v15).** The difference is not that friends don’t obey (v14) but that friends are told what the Master is doing. Henry: those who do the duty of servants are “advanced to the dignity of his friends.” Spurgeon: “friendship needs something from us,” and “Familiarity with Jesus ceases when we become familiar with known sin.” **“You did not choose Me but I chose you” (v16).** In context Jesus speaks of choosing the Eleven as apostles and appointing them to bear fruit — but the principle runs wider (v19, “I chose you out of the world”). Guzik: “They were all rooted in the fact that Jesus chose them, not that they chose Him.” Henry: “Christ’s choice is prior to theirs and directs and determines it.” Readers differ on how far this verse speaks to individual election to salvation; all agree the initiative in this friendship is His. **Why does the world hate?** Because it hated Him first, and because the disciples now belong to Him and not to it (vv18–19). Spurgeon: “man naturally hates goodness, because he is so evil that he cannot but detest it,” and “Indifference with regard to Christ is a clear impossibility.” Henry: “Whom Christ blesseth the world curseth.” Verses 22–24 do not say the unevangelized are sinless; they say that rejecting Jesus after His words and works removes every excuse (*prophasis*, “cloak”). **The Helper and the witnesses (vv26–27).** The Spirit testifies about Christ, and the disciples testify too — one witness, two voices (Tasker, quoted by Guzik). Henry: the Spirit’s working “is not to supersede, but to engage and encourage ours.” Sproul: “The New Testament clearly identifies the first Helper, or Paraclete, as Jesus Himself.” The phrase “proceeds from the Father” lies behind the creed’s wording and the East–West dispute over “and the Son”; Guzik notes it without taking sides, and in this verse Jesus also says He Himself will send the Spirit. **Word study (Greek):** - **true — *alēthinos* (G228):** genuine, real — the true light, the true bread, the true vine. - **vine — *ampelos* (G288):** the grapevine; Israel’s emblem. - **vinedresser — *geōrgos* (G1092):** farmer, tiller of the soil (KJV “husbandman”). - **takes away — *airō* (G142):** take away / lift up (1:29, the Lamb “takes away” sin). - **prunes — *kathairō* (G2508):** cleanses, prunes; wordplay with *katharos* (G2513), “clean” (v3; 13:10). - **abide — *menō* (G3306):** remain, stay, dwell; ×9 as “abide” in vv4–10, “remain” in v16. - **friends — *philos* (G5384):** a loved one; Abraham “the friend of God” (James 2:23). - **slaves — *doulos* (G1401):** owned, under orders, not told the master’s plans. - **chose — *eklegomai* (G1586):** picked out for Himself (6:70; 13:18). - **appointed — *tithēmi* (G5087):** set, place, lay down — same verb as “lay down his life” (v13). - **hate — *miseō* (G3404):** settled hostility; perfect tense in v18, “has hated.” - **excuse — *prophasis* (G4392):** pretext, cloak. - **without a cause — *dōrean* (G1432):** as a gift, for nothing (Romans 3:24). - **Helper — *paraklētos* (G3875):** one called alongside; advocate (14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7; 1 John 2:1). - **proceeds — *ekporeuomai* (G1607):** goes out from. - **testify — *martyreō* (G3140):** bear witness. **Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):** 1. **Jesus is the vine Israel was meant to be** — every Old Testament vine passage laments missing fruit. 2. **The knife is a mercy** — fruitless branches are taken away, fruitful ones pruned. 3. **The pruning knife is the Word** (v3; Henry: “a cleansing virtue in that word”). 4. **Fruit, more fruit, much fruit, fruit that remains** — every rung reached by abiding. 5. **Nothing means nothing** — “apart from Me you can do nothing” (v5). 6. **Abiding is obedience, not a mood** (v10; Guzik). 7. **His joy, made full** — permanent, not a roller-coaster (Sproul). 8. **The One who lays down His life lays us down to bear fruit** — *tithēmi* in vv13 and 16. 9. **Hated for nothing, loved for nothing** — *dōrean* (v25). 10. **The Spirit testifies, and so do we** (vv26–27). **Cross-references:** Exod 3:14; 33:11; Ps 35:19; 69:4; 80:8–16; Isa 5:1–7; 41:8; Jer 2:21; Matt 10:8; John 1:29, 38–39; 6:35, 70; 13:10, 18, 34–35; 14:16–17, 26, 31; 16:7; 18:1; Rom 3:24; Gal 5:22–23; Heb 12:11; Jas 2:23; 1 John 2:1, 19; 3:16; 2 Tim 3:12. ### Application **Command to obey — “Abide in Me.”** I have spent a lot of my life trying to produce fruit by gritting my teeth. Jesus doesn’t tell the branch to try harder; He tells it to stay. For me that means His words living in me (v7) — real time in the Word every day, not just on Sundays — and doing what He says when I’d rather not (v10). This week I will start each day with one paragraph of John 15 and one honest prayer before I touch my phone. **Sin to confess — trying to live apart from Him.** “Apart from Me you can do nothing.” I confess the plans, the ministry, the recovery work I have tried to carry in my own strength, and the pride that wanted the credit. Spurgeon is right: “The power lies with the Master, not with the servant.” **Promise to trust — pruning, not cutting off.** Some of the men I walk with are under the knife right now — a job lost, a marriage hurting, a body breaking down, a sentence still running. The Vinedresser’s knife is not punishment for the fruitful branch; it is preparation for more fruit (v2; Heb 12:11). I want to help my brothers see the difference, and I want to believe it myself when it’s my turn. **Example to follow — the love that lays down its life.** “Love one another, just as I have loved you” (v12). The measure is the cross. In a men’s group that means showing up, telling the truth, carrying a brother’s load, forgiving what he did to me, and putting his good ahead of my comfort. Henry: “Christ’s love to us should direct and engage our love to each other.” **Truth to live in — friends, chosen.** So many men I serve have been told they were nobody’s choice. Jesus says, “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit.” I am His friend, not a slave waiting to be fired, and He has told me what He is doing. **Courage to stand — the world will not applaud.** If the world hated Him without a cause, it will not cheer for me. My job is to make sure that when I am rejected, it is for His name’s sake and not for my own foolishness — and to keep testifying, knowing the Spirit is testifying with me. **Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):** 1. Where am I trying to produce fruit by effort instead of by abiding — and what would “staying close to the Vine” look like this week? (15:4–5) *Fruit is the branch’s result, not its work. “Apart from Me you can do nothing.”* 2. What is the Father pruning in my life right now? Am I calling it punishment when it may be preparation for more fruit? (15:2–3; Heb 12:11) *Spurgeon: pruning is the lot of the fruitful; it is never condemnation.* 3. Verse 6 is a warning. How do I tell the difference between a pruned branch and a dead one — in myself and in the men I walk with? (15:2, 6; 1 John 2:19) *Guzik’s three views; fruit and abiding are the evidence.* 4. Jesus says “abide in My love” and “keep My commandments” in the same breath. Which command is He pressing on me right now? (15:9–10, 14) *Not a mystical feeling — simple obedience (Guzik).* 5. What does it change to know that I am His friend, chosen and appointed — not a slave on probation? (15:15–16) *“You did not choose Me but I chose you.”* 6. Where am I feeling the world’s pressure for following Christ — and is it for His name’s sake or for my own foolishness? (15:18–21; 2 Tim 3:12) *Spurgeon: “Take care, if the world does hate you, that it hates you without a cause.”* **Worship.** The Father tends the vine, the Son is the vine, the Spirit testifies about the Son. The One who said “I am the true vine” went out that same night to be cut down — He laid down His life for His friends — so that branches like me could be grafted in and bear fruit that remains. **Prayer.** Lord Jesus, true Vine, keep me in You. Let Your words live in me, and let me keep Your commandments and stay in Your love. Father, prune what needs pruning, and give me grace to trust Your knife. Make my joy full with Your joy. Teach me to love my brothers the way You loved me, and give me courage when the world pushes back. Holy Spirit, testify about Jesus through my life and my words this week. Amen. ## John 16 — Sorrow Turned into Joy ### Marked in the text - v1 — **“so that you may be kept from stumbling”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v1 — **“that ye should not be offended”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v2 — **“outcasts from the synagogue”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v2 — **“put you out of the synagogues”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v2 — **“think that he is offering service to God”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v2 — **“think that he doeth God service”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v6 — **“sorrow has filled your heart”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v6 — **“sorrow hath filled your heart”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v7 — **“it is to your advantage that I go away”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v7 — **“It is expedient for you that I go away”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v8 — **“convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v8 — **“reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v11 — **“the ruler of this world has been judged”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v11 — **“the prince of this world is judged”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v13 — **“He will guide you into all the truth”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v13 — **“he will guide you into all truth”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v13 — **“He will disclose to you what is to come”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v13 — **“he will shew you things to come”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v14 — **“He will glorify Me”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v14 — **“He shall glorify me”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v20 — **“your grief will be turned into joy”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v20 — **“your sorrow shall be turned into joy”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v21 — **“Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v21 — **“A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v22 — **“no one will take your joy away from you”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v22 — **“your joy no man taketh from you”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v24 — **“ask and you will receive”** (green: Command / instruction) - v24 — **“ask, and ye shall receive”** (green: Command / instruction) - v27 — **“the Father Himself loves you”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v27 — **“the Father himself loveth you”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v28 — **“I came forth from the Father”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v32 — **“for you to be scattered”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v32 — **“that ye shall be scattered”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v32 — **“I am not alone, because the Father is with Me”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v32 — **“I am not alone, because the Father is with me”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v33 — **“in Me you may have peace”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v33 — **“in me ye might have peace”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v33 — **“In the world you have tribulation”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v33 — **“In the world ye shall have tribulation”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v33 — **“take courage”** (green: Command / instruction) - v33 — **“be of good cheer”** (green: Command / instruction) - v33 — **“I have overcome the world”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v16 — **“little while”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v1 — **“These things I have spoken”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v1 — **“These things have I spoken”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v2 — **“hour”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter ### Observation **Setting.** Still Thursday night, the last words of the farewell discourse before Jesus’ prayer (ch. 17) and the walk to the garden (18:1). For the first time since chapter 14 the disciples speak — confused among themselves (vv17–18) and then over-confident (vv29–30). **Structure:** - vv1–6 — **the warning:** spoken “so that you may be kept from stumbling” (v1). Outcasts from the synagogue; killers who think they serve God (v2), because they have not known the Father or Me (v3). Told now so you will remember (v4). “I am going to Him who sent Me” — and sorrow has filled your heart (vv5–6). - vv7–11 — **the Helper and the world:** “it is to your advantage that I go away” (v7). He will convict the world concerning sin (unbelief, v9), righteousness (I go to the Father, v10), and judgment (the ruler of this world judged, v11). - vv12–15 — **the Helper and the disciples:** more to say than they can bear now (v12); the Spirit of truth will guide you into all the truth, speak what He hears, disclose what is to come (v13); He will glorify Me, taking of Mine (vv14–15). - vv16–24 — **a little while:** you will not see Me, then you will see Me (v16); the disciples’ confusion (vv17–19); you will weep, the world will rejoice, your grief turned into joy (v20); the woman in labor (v21); I will see you again and no one will take your joy (v22); ask the Father in My name (vv23–24). - vv25–33 — **plainly:** no more figures; the Father Himself loves you (vv25–28); “now You are speaking plainly … we believe” (vv29–30); “Do you now believe?” — you will be scattered, yet I am not alone (vv31–32); peace in Me, tribulation in the world, take courage, I have overcome the world (v33). **Repeated words, with counts (NASB95):** - “Me” ×17 — vv3, 5 (×2), 9, 10, 14, 16 (×2), 17 (×2), 19 (×2), 23, 27, 32 (×2), 33. - “Father” ×12 — vv3, 10, 15, 17, 23, 25, 26, 27 (×2), 28 (×2), 32. - “go / going” ×9 — vv5 (×2), 7 (×3), 10, 17, 28 (×2). - “see” ×8 — vv10, 16 (×2), 17 (×2), 19 (×2), 22. - “world” ×8 — vv8, 11, 20, 21, 28 (×2), 33 (×2). - “these things” ×7 — vv1, 3, 4 (×2), 6, 25, 33; the formula “These things I have spoken to you” ×4 — vv1, 4, 25, 33. - “little while” ×7 — vv16 (×2), 17 (×2), 18, 19 (×2). - “grief / grieve / sorrow / pain / anguish” ×6 — vv6, 20 (×2), 21 (×2), 22; “joy” ×4 — vv20, 21, 22, 24; “rejoice” ×2 — vv20, 22. - “hour” ×5 — vv2, 4, 21, 25, 32. - “ask / asks / asked” ×5 — vv5, 23, 24 (×2), 26; “question” ×3 — vv19, 23, 30; “in My name” ×3 — vv23, 24, 26. - “disclose” ×3 — vv13, 14, 15; “truth” ×3 — vv7, 13 (×2); “Mine” ×3 — vv14, 15 (×2). - “figurative language / figure of speech” ×3 — vv25 (×2), 29; “plainly” ×2 — vv25, 29; “believe” ×3 — vv9, 30, 31. **Contrasts:** offering service to God ⟷ not knowing God (vv2–3). I go away ⟷ the Helper comes (v7). You will weep ⟷ the world will rejoice (v20). Grief ⟷ joy (vv20–22). Pain ⟷ birth (v21). Figurative language ⟷ plainly (v25). Scattered and leaving Me alone ⟷ I am not alone (v32). In Me peace ⟷ in the world tribulation (v33). **Shape of the chapter:** from night to morning — warning and sorrow (1–6), the Spirit’s work in the world and in the disciples (7–15), grief turning to joy (16–24), and peace in the Victor (25–33). It begins with “kept from stumbling” and ends with “take courage.” **Chapter theme (my words):** Jesus’ going away was not loss but gain: it sent the Spirit, it turned grief into joy, and it won the victory over the world. In Him I have peace even when the world gives me tribulation. ### Interpretation **Why is it better that Jesus go away (v7)?** Because the Helper comes only if He goes — the cross, resurrection and ascension come before Pentecost (Acts 2:33). Sproul: “it is expedient or necessary for Him to go away so that the disciples may be filled with the Holy Spirit,” and “What sounds like an absolute disadvantage, Jesus promises will turn into an advantage.” Henry: Christ in the flesh was in one place; “his Spirit is every where, in all places, at all times.” Guzik: “Jesus meant that the presence and work of the Holy Spirit would actually be better for believers.” Notice the same words in Caiaphas’s mouth (11:50): “it is expedient for you.” **What does the Spirit convict the world of (vv8–11)?** *Elenchō* means to expose and prove guilty, not merely to accuse. **Sin** — “because they do not believe in Me”; Guzik: “It is unbelief, the rejection of Jesus, which ultimately proves one to be guilty.” **Righteousness** — “because I go to the Father”: the Father’s receiving Jesus vindicates the Man the world condemned; Spurgeon also hears the righteousness Christ gives, which “makes him righteous on the spot.” **Judgment** — “because the ruler of this world has been judged” (12:31); Spurgeon: “the Lord Jesus overthrew the devil for you.” Henry: the Spirit works “first to convince, and then to comfort.” **“Guide you into all the truth” — to whom (v13)?** First to the apostles: Jesus has more to say than they can bear, and the Spirit will remind (14:26), guide and disclose “what is to come” — which is why we trust the New Testament they wrote. Guzik adds, “In another sense the Holy Spirit continues today to personally lead us into truth.” That guidance never adds to Christ or contradicts Scripture; Spurgeon: “The Spirit never says one thing at one time and another thing at another.” Its test is v14: “He will glorify Me.” **What is “a little while” (vv16–19)?** Most naturally, the hours until the cross and the three days until Easter (20:20, “The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord”). Henry hears layers: the resurrection, the coming of the Spirit, and Christ’s second coming. As a futurist I take the first meaning as primary and the last as a true echo — the whole church now lives in a “little while” before He comes (Hebrews 10:37). **Grief turned, not replaced (vv20–22).** The cross that caused the grief became the cause of the joy. Guzik: “God’s work was not to replace their sorrow with joy, but to turn sorrow into joy.” The woman’s labor shows it: the pain itself brings the child. Henry: “Believers have joy or sorrow according as they have or have not a sight of Christ.” Sproul: their mourning gives way “to a great and fulfilling joy.” **Asking in His name (vv23–27).** “In that day” — after the resurrection and the Spirit’s coming — they will pray to the Father directly in Jesus’ name. That doesn’t mean Christ stops interceding (Romans 8:34; 1 John 2:1); it means the Father does not need persuading. Guzik: “Jesus makes it clear that the Son did not need to persuade an angry Father to be gracious.” “The Father Himself loves you” (v27). **“Do you now believe?” (v31).** The disciples’ confession is real but premature; within hours they scatter (Zechariah 13:7). Henry hears a gentle check on overconfidence. Jesus is not alone even when they leave Him, “because the Father is with Me” — Guzik: “In the loneliest moments imaginable, He understood that the Father was with Him.” **“I have overcome the world” (v33).** Perfect tense, spoken before the cross. Guzik: “Peace is offered to us, but tribulation is promised.” Spurgeon: Christ conquered as our Head, so we overcome in Him; Sproul: “Christ, by His resurrection, has overcome the world” (Renewing Your Mind). Henry: “Never was there such a conqueror of the world as Christ was.” John’s first letter gives the application: “this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith” (1 John 5:4). **Word study (Greek):** - **stumbling — *skandalizō* (G4624):** to trip up, cause to fall (KJV “offended”). - **outcasts from the synagogue — *aposynagōgos* (G656):** only John 9:22; 12:42; 16:2. - **service — *latreia* (G2999):** priestly, sacrificial worship. - **advantage — *sympherō* (G4851):** to be profitable, expedient (11:50; 18:14; 16:7). - **Helper — *paraklētos* (G3875):** one called alongside; advocate. - **convict — *elenchō* (G1651):** expose, prove guilty (3:20; 8:46). - **ruler — *archōn* (G758):** prince, ruler of this world (12:31; 14:30; 16:11). - **guide — *hodēgeō* (G3594):** lead the way (Acts 8:31; Rev 7:17; LXX Ps 25:5). - **little while — *mikron* (G3398):** a short time; ×7 in vv16–19. - **grief — *lypē* (G3077):** sorrow, pain of heart (vv6, 20–22). - **joy — *chara* (G5479):** gladness that no one can take away. - **anguish / tribulation — *thlipsis* (G2347):** pressure, affliction (vv21, 33). - **figurative language — *paroimia* (G3942):** proverb, veiled saying (10:6). - **plainly — *parrēsia* (G3954):** openly, boldly (Acts 4:13, 29, 31). - **scattered — *skorpizō* (G4650):** dispersed (Zech 13:7). - **take courage — *tharseō* (G2293):** be of good cheer (Matt 9:2; 14:27; Acts 23:11). - **have overcome — *nikaō* (G3528):** conquer; perfect tense *nenikēka* (1 John 5:4). **Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):** 1. **Forewarned is forearmed** — “These things I have spoken to you” ×4. 2. **Religious zeal can kill** — *latreia*, and Saul of Tarsus (Acts 26:9). 3. **Caiaphas and Jesus used the same words** — “it is expedient for you” (11:50; 16:7). 4. **The Spirit proves the case** — first to convince, then to comfort. 5. **Unbelief is the sin the Spirit presses** (v9). 6. **Into the truth, not just to it** — and He always glorifies Jesus (v14). 7. **An absolute disadvantage turned into an advantage** (Sproul). 8. **Grief turned, not replaced** (Guzik). 9. **The mother’s anguish and the world’s tribulation are one word** — *thlipsis*. 10. **Victory in the perfect tense** — *nenikēka*. **Cross-references:** Ps 25:5; Isa 26:17–19; 66:7–14; Zech 13:7; Matt 9:2, 22; 14:27; 26:31; John 3:20; 8:46; 9:22; 11:50–51; 12:31, 42; 14:16–17, 26, 30; 15:18–27; 18:1, 14; 20:19–20; Acts 2:33; 4:13, 29–31; 5:41; 8:1–3, 31; 23:11; 26:9–11; Rom 8:34, 37; Heb 10:37; 1 John 2:1; 5:4; Rev 7:17; 21:4. ### Application **Promise to trust — “it is to your advantage that I go away.”** I have prayed for Jesus to just show up and fix things the way I want. He tells me something better is already here: the Helper living in me. When I feel like He’s far away, I will remember that His going away is how the Spirit came to me — not a loss, an advantage. **Command to obey — “ask … so that your joy may be made full.”** Jesus says, “Until now you have asked for nothing in My name.” Too often that’s me — I worry, plan and complain, but I don’t ask. This week I will write down three things I have stopped asking the Father for and ask Him every morning, in Jesus’ name, believing the Father Himself loves me (v27). **Sin to confess — over-confidence and running.** The disciples said, “Now we know … we believe,” and within hours they scattered, “each to his own home.” I know that pattern: big words in the group, then running when it gets hard. I confess it, and I take comfort that Jesus told them ahead of time and took them back afterward. **Truth to live in — grief turned into joy.** Many of the men I walk with carry real grief — a child they can’t see, years lost, a wife who left, a father who died before they got right. Jesus doesn’t say the grief is fake or that it will be swapped for something else. He says it will be *turned* — like a mother whose pain becomes the joy of a child born. I want to hold my grief like labor pain, not a dead end. **Example to follow — “not alone, because the Father is with Me.”** Jesus faced the loneliest night in history knowing the Father was with Him. When I’m in a cell, a hospital room or an empty house, I’m not alone either. **Courage to stand — “take courage; I have overcome the world.”** I am promised tribulation and offered peace. The peace is in Him, not in my circumstances. When the world pushes on me this week, I will say out loud: “He has overcome the world.” **Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):** 1. What trouble has come into my life that Jesus actually warned me about — and did it shake my faith or confirm His word? (16:1–4) *“These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling.”* 2. Where do I need to believe that Jesus’ “going away” — something I would never have chosen — is to my advantage? (16:6–7) *Sproul: an absolute disadvantage turned into an advantage.* 3. When has the Holy Spirit convicted me — not just made me feel bad, but proved the case? What did He show me about sin, righteousness or judgment? (16:8–11; 8:46) *First to convince, then to comfort (Henry).* 4. What grief am I carrying that I need to see as labor pain rather than a dead end? (16:20–22; Rev 21:4) *Grief turned into joy — the woman in labor.* 5. Jesus says “Until now you have asked for nothing in My name.” What have I stopped asking the Father for? (16:23–24) *“Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full.”* 6. Where am I feeling alone and scattered this week — and what does it mean that Jesus was “not alone” and has “overcome the world”? (16:32–33; 1 John 5:4) *Peace is offered, tribulation is promised (Guzik).* **Worship.** The Father sent the Son; the Son went back to the Father; the Spirit came from the Father in the Son’s name to glorify the Son. The night of the cross was a little while, and the morning came. Jesus spoke victory before the battle, and the empty tomb proved He was right. **Prayer.** Father, thank You that You Yourself love me. Lord Jesus, thank You for telling me the truth ahead of time, and for going away so the Helper could come. Holy Spirit, convict me where I need it, guide me into the truth, and show me Jesus. Turn my grief into joy. Teach me to ask in Jesus’ name again. When I want to run and scatter, hold me. Give me peace in You and courage in the world, because You have overcome the world. Amen. ## John 17 — The Prayer of the Son ### Marked in the text - v1 — **“the hour has come”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v1 — **“the hour is come”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v1 — **“glorify Your Son”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v1 — **“glorify thy Son”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v2 — **“He may give eternal life”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v2 — **“he should give eternal life”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v3 — **“This is eternal life”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v3 — **“this is life eternal”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v3 — **“the only true God”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v4 — **“having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v4 — **“I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v5 — **“the glory which I had with You before the world was”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v5 — **“the glory which I had with thee before the world was”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v6 — **“I have manifested Your name”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v6 — **“I have manifested thy name”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v9 — **“I do not ask on behalf of the world”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v9 — **“I pray not for the world”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v11 — **“Holy Father, keep them in Your name”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v11 — **“Holy Father, keep through thine own name”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v12 — **“the son of perdition”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v13 — **“My joy made full”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v13 — **“my joy fulfilled”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v14 — **“the world has hated them”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v14 — **“the world hath hated them”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v15 — **“keep them from the evil one”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v15 — **“keep them from the evil”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v17 — **“Sanctify them in the truth”** (green: Command / instruction) - v17 — **“Sanctify them through thy truth”** (green: Command / instruction) - v17 — **“Your word is truth”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v17 — **“thy word is truth”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v18 — **“I also have sent them into the world”** (green: Command / instruction) - v18 — **“even so have I also sent them into the world”** (green: Command / instruction) - v19 — **“For their sakes I sanctify Myself”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v19 — **“for their sakes I sanctify myself”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v21 — **“that they may all be one”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v21 — **“That they all may be one”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v21 — **“so that the world may believe that You sent Me”** (green: Command / instruction) - v21 — **“that the world may believe that thou hast sent me”** (green: Command / instruction) - v23 — **“perfected in unity”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v23 — **“made perfect in one”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v24 — **“be with Me where I am”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v24 — **“be with me where I am”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v24 — **“before the foundation of the world”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v25 — **“O righteous Father”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v26 — **“the love with which You loved Me may be in them”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v26 — **“the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v5 — **“world”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v3 — **“sent”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v1 — **“glorify”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v4 — **“glorified”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter ### Observation **Setting.** The night before the cross, at the end of the Upper Room teaching (John 13–16). Judas has gone out into the night (13:30). Jesus has just said, “In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world” (16:33). Then He lifts His eyes to heaven and prays aloud in front of the Eleven. Right after, they cross the ravine of the Kidron to the garden (18:1). **Structure:** - vv1–5 — **for Himself:** “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son.” Authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom the Father has given Him (v2). Eternal life = knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent (v3). “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work” (v4); “glorify Me … with the glory which I had with You before the world was” (v5). - vv6–12 — **for the Eleven — who they are:** He manifested the Father’s name to the men given Him out of the world; they kept His word, received His words, believed He was sent (vv6–8). He asks for them, not for the world (v9). “Holy Father, keep them in Your name … that they may be one” (v11). He kept and guarded them; not one perished but the son of perdition (v12). - vv13–19 — **for the Eleven — what He asks:** My joy made full in them (v13). The world hated them because they are not of the world (v14). Not out of the world, but kept from the evil one (v15). “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth” (v17). As You sent Me, I have sent them (v18). “For their sakes I sanctify Myself” (v19). - vv20–26 — **for all who will believe through their word:** that they may all be one, as the Father and the Son, so that the world may believe (v21). The glory given to them, that they may be one, perfected in unity, so the world may know (vv22–23). “Father, I desire that they … be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory” (v24). The world has not known You; I have known You (v25). I have made Your name known and will, that Your love may be in them, and I in them (v26). **Repeated words, with counts:** - “world” ×18 — vv5, 6, 9, 11 (×2), 13, 14 (×3), 15, 16 (×2), 18 (×2), 21, 23, 24, 25. - “give / gave / given” ×17 — vv2 (×3), 4, 6 (×2), 7, 8 (×2), 9, 11, 12, 14, 22 (×2), 24 (×2). - “glorify / glorified” ×5 — vv1 (×2), 4, 5, 10; “glory” ×3 — vv5, 22, 24 (eight in all). - “know / known / knowing” ×8 — vv3, 7, 23, 25 (×3), 26 (×2). - “sent” ×7 — vv3, 8, 18 (×2), 21, 23, 25 (“You sent Me” five times — vv8, 18, 21, 23, 25). - “Father” ×6 — vv1, 5, 11 (“Holy Father”), 21, 24, 25 (“O righteous Father”). - “one” ×6 — vv11, 12, 15, 21, 22 (×2); four of them are “one” as unity (vv11, 21, 22 ×2), with “perfected in unity” (v23). - “Mine / Yours” ×6 — vv6, 9, 10 (×4). - “name” ×5 — vv6, 11 (×2), 12, 26; “word / words” ×5 — vv6, 8, 14, 17, 20. - “love / loved” ×5 — vv23 (×2), 24, 26 (×2). - “keep / keeping / kept” ×4 — vv6, 11, 12, 15; “ask” ×4 — vv9 (×2), 15, 20. - “not of the world” ×4 — vv14 (×2), 16 (×2). - “truth” ×3 — vv17 (×2), 19; “sanctify / sanctified” ×3 — vv17, 19 (×2). **Contrasts:** the glory before the world was (v5) ⟷ the work accomplished on the earth (v4). The men given out of the world (v6) ⟷ the world (v9). Kept and guarded (v12) ⟷ the son of perdition (v12). In the world (v11) ⟷ not of the world (vv14, 16). Taken out of the world ⟷ kept from the evil one (v15). The world has not known You ⟷ I have known You (v25). **Shape of the chapter:** three widening circles — the Son (1–5), the Eleven (6–19), all believers (20–26). It begins with the Father glorifying the Son and ends with the Father’s love living in the people, “and I in them.” **Chapter theme (my words):** On the eve of the cross the Son asks the Father to glorify Him through the cross, and then prays for His people — to be kept, sanctified, sent, united and finally brought to see His glory. Everything He asks for us rests on what He is about to do. ### Interpretation **Why call it the High Priestly Prayer?** Like Aaron carrying Israel’s names over his heart into the holy place (Exod 28:29), Jesus brings His people by name before the Father on the eve of the sacrifice — and verse 19 shows He is both priest and offering: “For their sakes I sanctify Myself.” Henry: “He, as the priest and altar, sanctified himself as the sacrifice.” Isaiah 53:12 said the Servant would bear the sin of many “And interceded for the transgressors”; here is the intercession, and tomorrow the bearing. Sproul: “Christ’s priestly work did not end on the cross” (Heb 7:25; Rom 8:34). **What is the “hour,” and what is the glory?** John has counted toward this hour since Cana (2:4; 7:30; 8:20; 12:23; 13:1). The hour is the cross, and through it the resurrection and ascension. Guzik: the hour of glorification begins with His death. In verse 5 He asks to return to “the glory which I had with You before the world was.” Sproul: “It is a tacit claim to His participation in the eternal glory of God.” Isaiah 42:8 says God will not give His glory to another — so the Son is not “another.” **Eternal life (v3).** Not first a quantity of time but a quality of life: knowing God. *Ginōskō* is relational, covenant knowing (Jer 31:34). Guzik: “Eternal life is found in an experiential knowledge (ginosko) of both God the Father and Jesus Christ, God the Son.” Henry: “Life eternal lies in the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ.” And the object includes Jesus Christ beside “the only true God” — Guzik calls verse 2 “a clear and startling claim to deity.” **“I do not ask on behalf of the world” (v9) — where Christians differ.** Sproul reads it as particular intercession: “Jesus is praying for all those who belong to God, not for everyone on the planet,” and in *The Truth of the Cross* ties it to the extent of the atonement (“He was praying for the elect”). Henry: “There is a world of people that Jesus Christ did not pray for.” Spurgeon: He prays the more for us “because we are the Father’s.” Guzik puts it more modestly: “Jesus specifically had His disciples in mind in this prayer.” Many non-Reformed believers read verse 9 as the focus of this prayer rather than a limit on God’s love (John 3:16), and the prayer itself keeps the world in view — “so that the world may believe” (v21). I want my men to see both readings and hold the comfort they share: if you belong to Him, He has prayed for you by name. **Judas, the son of perdition (v12).** The idiom marks a man by his end. Henry: “He deserved perdition, and God left him to throw himself headlong into it.” Guzik: “There was one exception to Jesus’ work in keeping the disciples, Judas.” The same title is used of the coming man of lawlessness in 2 Thess 2:3. Judas was near Jesus for three years and never His; Peter fell hard that same night and was restored. Sproul: “Like Judas, Peter had a great fall,” but “Unlike Judas, Peter was restored and persevered in faith.” **In the world, not of it (vv11–18).** Jesus refuses both escape and absorption. Guzik: “Jesus didn’t pray that we would be taken out of the battle, but that we would be strengthened and protected in it.” Henry: “Not that they may be kept from all conflict with the world, but that they may not be overcome by it.” Spurgeon (1855) used verse 15 against the monastery and against wishing to die early: we are left here to serve. **Sanctified in the truth (vv17–19).** Sanctification is being set apart from sin and to God; the means is the Word. Guzik: “Sanctify means to be set apart for God’s special pleasure and use.” Spurgeon: “Justification is perfect the moment it is received, but sanctification is a matter of growth,” and “God works sanctification in us by the truth, and by nothing else.” Sproul: “If you don’t care about truth, there’s no concern about sanctification.” **What kind of unity (vv20–23)?** Not institutional merger but shared life — “even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You.” Guzik: organic unity, not uniformity, and “Jesus essentially gave the world permission to judge the validity of His ministry based on the unity of His people.” Henry: one body, one Spirit, one love; “The unity of the gospel ministers is both the beauty and strength of the gospel interest.” Unity apart from the truth of verse 17 is not the unity Jesus prayed for. **“Father, I desire” (v24).** The one petition for heaven. Spurgeon: “It is the very pith and marrow of heaven to be with Christ.” Guzik: “Jesus was not yet in heaven, yet He spoke as if He already were there.” In the garden He will say, “not My will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42); He surrenders His will to the cross so that this will of His — us with Him — is done. **Word study (Greek):** - **hour — *hōra* (G5610):** the appointed time; John’s countdown (2:4 → 17:1). - **glorify — *doxazō* (G1392):** to make visible someone’s weight and worth; the cross as glory. - **know — *ginōskō* (G1097):** relational, covenant knowing; present tense in v3. - **accomplished / perfected — *teleioō* (G5048):** to bring to completion (vv4, 23; cf. 19:28). - **manifested — *phaneroō* (G5319):** to bring into the open; He showed the Father’s name. - **keep — *tēreō* (G5083):** to guard, preserve (vv6, 11, 12, 15). - **perdition — *apōleia* (G684):** ruin, destruction; wordplay with “perished” in v12; cf. 2 Thess 2:3. - **sanctify — *hagiazō* (G37):** to set apart as holy — from sin, to God (vv17, 19). - **evil one — *ponēros* (G4190):** active malignant evil; “the evil one” as in 1 John 5:18–19. - **one — *heis / hen* (G1520):** “one thing” — unity of life, modeled on the Father and Son. - **I desire — *thelō* (G2309):** “I will” — the Son’s authoritative request (v24). **Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):** 1. **The hour has finally come** — the countdown since Cana ends at the cross. 2. **Eternal life is a relationship before it is a length of time** (v3). 3. **Jesus claims the Father’s own glory** (v5; Sproul). 4. **Most of what the Father gave the Son is people** — “those whom You have given Me.” 5. **The one who was lost was never one of the given** (v12; Ps 41:9). 6. **Kept in the battle, not taken out of it** (v15; Guzik). 7. **Truth is the tool of holiness** (v17; Spurgeon). 8. **He sanctified Himself so we could be sanctified** (v19; Henry). 9. **You are in this prayer** (v20; Sproul). 10. **Unity is evidence** — “so that the world may believe” (vv21, 23). **Cross-references:** Exod 28:29; 34:5–7; Ps 41:9; 119:9; Isa 42:8; 53:12; Jer 31:34; Luke 22:42; John 1:14; 2:4; 3:16; 7:30; 8:20; 10:28–30; 12:23, 32; 13:1, 18, 31; 14:6, 9; 16:33; 19:30; Acts 1:8; Rom 8:34; Eph 4:3–6; 2 Thess 2:3; Heb 7:25; 1 John 3:2; 5:18–19; Rev 7:9. ### Application **Promise to trust — “I ask on their behalf” (v9).** I have men at my table who have never had anyone pray for them by name — not a father, not a pastor. Jesus did, the night before He died, and He still does: He “always lives to make intercession” (Heb 7:25). Peter fell hard that same night and came back because Jesus had prayed for him. When I can’t pray for myself — the night after a relapse, the day the papers come — I can rest in this: the Son is talking to the Father about me, and His prayers do not fail. **Command to obey — sanctified in the truth (v17).** Jesus didn’t ask the Father to make us feel holy; He asked Him to set us apart by the Word. So this week I will open the Word before I open my phone, every morning, and I’ll ask one other man to hold me to it. Holiness grows in the soil of truth, and I can’t skip the soil. **Sin to confess — wanting out, or blending in (vv15–16).** Some days I want God to take me out of the world — out of the job, the neighborhood, the cell block, the family mess. Other days I just blend in so nobody notices whose I am. Jesus prayed against both. I confess my escapes and my camouflage, and I ask to be kept from the evil one right where He has put me. **Example to follow — the Son who prayed before He fought.** Before the torches came up the hill, Jesus prayed. Spurgeon said God “never” had “a son who did not pray.” When I see trouble coming, my first move should be the Father, not the phone, not the bottle, not the fist. **Calling to live — one, so the world may believe (v21).** The world is watching how believers treat each other. The men in our group come from different churches, colors and records; our love for each other is part of the evidence that the Father sent the Son. I will reach out this week to the brother I’ve been avoiding. **Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):** 1. If eternal life is knowing God (v3), how would I describe where my knowing of Him actually stands this week — about Him, or Him? (17:3; Jer 31:34) *Present tense: keep on knowing. Life is measured by relationship before length.* 2. Jesus calls His men a gift from the Father (vv6, 9, 24). How would it change the way I treat the men in this group if I believed that about them? (17:6–10) *“Those whom You have given Me” — the prayer’s favorite name for believers.* 3. Judas walked with Jesus for three years and was lost. What is the difference between being near Jesus and being kept by Him? (17:12; 13:18) *Henry: the one loss was no failure of the Keeper.* 4. Where am I tempted to escape the world — or to blend into it? What would “kept from the evil one” look like in that exact place? (17:15–16; 1 John 5:18–19) *Not out of the battle, but protected in it.* 5. Jesus says the Word is the means of sanctification. What place does Scripture really have in my week, and what would change if it had more? (17:17; Ps 119:9) *“Your word is truth” — God sanctifies by the truth and by nothing else.* 6. The world is meant to look at our unity and believe. What division among believers near me could I help heal this month? (17:21–23; Eph 4:3–6) *“So that the world may believe that You sent Me.”* **Worship.** The Son who had glory with the Father before the world was stepped into our world, finished the Father’s work, and on His last night spent His breath praying for us. He wants us with Him, where He is, to see His glory. That is where this whole story is going. **Prayer.** Holy Father, righteous Father — thank You that Your Son prayed for me before I was born and prays for me still. Keep me in Your name. Keep me from the evil one, right where You’ve put me. Sanctify me in the truth; make Your Word the soil I live in. Make me one with my brothers so the world may believe You sent Jesus. And bring me, and the men I serve, to be with Him where He is, to see His glory. In His name, Amen. ## John 18 — The Cup, the Fire and the King ### Marked in the text - v1 — **“over the ravine of the Kidron”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v1 — **“over the brook Cedron”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v2 — **“who was betraying Him”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v2 — **“which betrayed him”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v3 — **“with lanterns and torches and weapons”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v4 — **“knowing all the things that were coming upon Him”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v4 — **“knowing all things that should come upon him”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v6 — **“they drew back and fell to the ground”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v6 — **“they went backward, and fell to the ground”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v8 — **“let these go their way”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v9 — **“Of those whom You have given Me I lost not one”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v9 — **“Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v10 — **“cut off his right ear”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v11 — **“Put the sword into the sheath”** (green: Command / instruction) - v11 — **“Put up thy sword into the sheath”** (green: Command / instruction) - v11 — **“the cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v11 — **“the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v14 — **“it was expedient for one man to die on behalf of the people”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v14 — **“it was expedient that one man should die for the people”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v18 — **“a charcoal fire”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v18 — **“a fire of coals”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v20 — **“I have spoken openly to the world”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v20 — **“I spake openly to the world”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v22 — **“struck Jesus”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v27 — **“immediately a rooster crowed”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v27 — **“immediately the cock crew”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v28 — **“so that they would not be defiled”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v28 — **“lest they should be defiled”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v28 — **“it was early”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v32 — **“signifying by what kind of death He was about to die”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v32 — **“signifying what death he should die”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v36 — **“My kingdom is not of this world”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v37 — **“to testify to the truth”** (green: Command / instruction) - v37 — **“that I should bear witness unto the truth”** (green: Command / instruction) - v37 — **“Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v37 — **“Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v38 — **“What is truth?”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v38 — **“I find no guilt in Him”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v38 — **“I find in him no fault at all”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v40 — **“Not this Man, but Barabbas”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v40 — **“Not this man, but Barabbas”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v40 — **“Barabbas was a robber”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v5 — **“I am He”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v17 — **“I am not”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v33 — **“king”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter ### Observation **Setting.** Thursday night into Friday dawn of Passover week. Jesus leaves the city with the Eleven, crosses the ravine of the Kidron east of the temple, and enters a garden on the Mount of Olives where He often met with them (vv1–2). From there: back into the city to the house of the high priest (Annas, then Caiaphas, vv13, 24), and at daybreak to Pilate’s Praetorium (v28). **Structure:** - vv1–11 — **the garden:** Judas comes with the Roman cohort and temple officers, “with lanterns and torches and weapons” (v3). Jesus, knowing everything, goes out: “Whom do you seek?” … “I am He” — and they drew back and fell to the ground (vv4–6). “If you seek Me, let these go their way,” fulfilling “I lost not one” (vv8–9). Peter cuts off Malchus’ right ear; “Put the sword into the sheath; the cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?” (vv10–11). - vv12–27 — **two scenes, cut together:** Jesus bound and led to Annas, father-in-law of Caiaphas (vv12–14). Peter gets in through another disciple; to the slave-girl at the door, “I am not” (vv15–17); he stands warming himself at the charcoal fire (v18). Inside, Jesus questioned about His disciples and teaching: “I have spoken openly to the world” (vv19–21); an officer strikes Him; “if rightly, why do you strike Me?” (vv22–23). Sent bound to Caiaphas (v24). Outside, “I am not” again (v25); Malchus’ relative: “Did I not see you in the garden?”; denied again, and immediately a rooster crowed (vv26–27). - vv28–40 — **the Praetorium:** they will not enter, so as not to be defiled before the Passover (v28). Pilate goes out: “What accusation?” — “If this Man were not an evildoer…” — “Take Him yourselves” — “We are not permitted to put anyone to death,” fulfilling the word of the kind of death He would die (vv29–32). Inside: “Are You the King of the Jews?” … “My kingdom is not of this world” … “For this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth” … “What is truth?” (vv33–38a). Out again: “I find no guilt in Him”; the Passover custom; “Not this Man, but Barabbas.” Now Barabbas was a robber (vv38b–40). **Repeated words, with counts:** - “Jesus” ×20; “Peter” ×10 — vv10, 11, 15, 16 (×2), 17, 18, 25, 26, 27. - “disciple(s)” ×9 — vv1 (×2), 2, 15 (×2), 16, 17, 19, 25. - “high priest” ×9 — vv10, 13, 15 (×2), 16, 19, 22, 24, 26; “Annas / Caiaphas” ×6 — vv13 (×2), 14, 24 (×2), 28. - “Jews / Jew” ×9 — vv12, 14, 20, 31, 33, 35, 36, 38, 39. - “Pilate” ×6 — vv29, 31, 33, 35, 37, 38. - “standing / stood” ×6 — vv5, 16, 18 (×2), 22, 25. - “slave(s) / slave-girl” ×5 — vv10 (×2), 17, 18, 26; “officer(s)” ×4 — vv3, 12, 18, 22. - “went forth / went out” ×5 — vv1, 4, 16, 29, 38. - “king / King” ×4 — vv33, 37 (×2), 39; “kingdom” ×3 — v36 (×3); “world” ×4 — vv20, 36 (×2), 37. - “I am He” ×3 — vv5, 6, 8; “I am not” ×3 — vv17, 25 (Peter), 35 (Pilate: “I am not a Jew, am I?”). - “truth” ×3 — vv37 (×2), 38; “Praetorium” ×3 — vv28 (×2), 33; “warming” ×3 — vv18 (×2), 25. - “Whom do you seek?” ×2 — vv4, 7; “Jesus the Nazarene” ×2 — vv5, 7; “bound” ×2 — vv12, 24; “denied” ×2 — vv25, 27. **Contrasts:** “I am He” (vv5, 6, 8) ⟷ “I am not” (vv17, 25). Armed men fall down (v6) ⟷ one unarmed Man stands. Peter’s sword (v10) ⟷ the Father’s cup (v11). Jesus spoke “openly” (v20) ⟷ a trial held at night. Careful about defilement (v28) ⟷ careless about an innocent man’s blood. A kingdom not of this world (v36) ⟷ the King of the Jews they reject (v39). “I find no guilt in Him” (v38) ⟷ “Not this Man, but Barabbas” (v40). **Shape of the chapter:** three places — garden, courtyard, Praetorium — and in each the bound Man is the free one and everyone around Him is trapped: soldiers on the ground, Peter by the fire, Pilate shuttling in and out, the crowd choosing a robber. **Chapter theme (my words):** Jesus goes to His death on purpose. He gives Himself up so His men go free, drinks the cup His Father gives, and bears witness to the truth before men who refuse it — and the guilty go free while the Innocent is condemned. ### Interpretation **“I am He” — and why they fell (vv4–8).** In Greek Jesus says only *egō eimi*, “I am” — the words of 8:24, 8:58, 13:19 and Isaiah 43:10. At one level it simply identifies Him; but John tells us twice more that He said it and that armed men “drew back and fell to the ground.” Guzik: “There was such a display of divine presence, majesty, and power in those two words.” Henry: “Christ was declared to be more than a man.” Psalm 27:2 had sung, “When evildoers came upon me … they stumbled and fell.” The point is not a magic trick but a surrender: “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative” (10:18). Spurgeon: “There was no power on earth that could have bound Him had He been unwilling.” **“Let these go their way” (vv8–9).** John says this fulfilled Jesus’ word, “Of those whom You have given Me I lost not one” (17:12; 6:39). The garden is the gospel in small: the Shepherd is seized and the sheep go free. Spurgeon puts it in Christ’s mouth: “Here I am; but let these, for whom I stood, go their way.” **Peter’s sword and the Father’s cup (vv10–11).** Peter was brave and wrong. Guzik suspects he picked an unarmed slave; Henry: “Thus, while he seemed to fight for Christ, he fought against him.” Luke adds that Jesus healed the ear (Luke 22:51). The cup in the prophets is God’s wrath against sin (Isa 51:17; Jer 25:15). Jesus does not see Judas or Caiaphas handing it to Him; He sees His Father — “the cup which the Father has given Me.” **Annas or Caiaphas (vv13–24)?** Annas was the power behind the office (Guzik: “he was the one who put Caiaphas in office”). Guzik and Sproul take the questioner in v19 to be Annas; Spurgeon, preaching the whole trial from Psalm 2:2, has Caiaphas asking about the disciples and the doctrine. John calls both men “high priest,” and verse 24 sends Jesus on to Caiaphas. The hearing broke the law’s own rules — Sproul: “It was inappropriate, improper, and illegal for a capital trial to be carried out at night.” Jesus asks only for witnesses; Spurgeon: “Truth is never shamefaced.” **Peter by the fire (vv15–18, 25–27).** John cuts back and forth: Jesus standing firm inside, Peter crumbling outside. The steps down: following at a distance, getting inside, standing with the slaves and officers, warming himself at their fire. Henry: “It is ill warming ourselves with those with whom we are in danger of burning ourselves.” Guzik: “it was not the faith of Peter that failed, but his courage.” Spurgeon: “Backslide a little and you are on the way to utter apostasy.” And John alone uses the rare *anthrakia*, charcoal fire — again only at 21:9, where Jesus restores Peter with three questions. Sproul’s commentary, quoted at Ligonier: Jesus “had no need to die for people who are sinless, for there are no such people.” **Clean hands, dirty hearts (v28).** They would not enter a Gentile house before eating the Passover, while handing over the true Passover Lamb. Guzik: “They refused to break relatively small commands regarding ceremonial defilement.” Henry: “They strained at a gnat, and swallowed a camel.” Verse 32: Rome executed by crucifixion; Jesus had said He would be “lifted up” (12:32–33). Henry: “No word of Christ shall fall to the ground.” **“My kingdom is not of this world” (v36).** “Of” (*ek*) speaks of source, not location. Sproul’s commentary, as quoted: Jesus “did not say that His dominion and authority did not include this world,” nor that it was “a transcendent spiritual Neverland.” Henry: “Its nature is not worldly; it is a kingdom within men,” and “its weapons are spiritual.” Spurgeon: “His kingdom was not of this world, nor to be sustained by force.” I read this with Daniel 7:14 and Revelation 11:15: today His kingdom advances by truth, not swords; one day the King returns and His kingdom fills the earth. It does not come from here — but it is coming here. **“What is truth?” (v38).** Guzik: “Probably, Pilate did not mean that there was no truth” — it is the shrug of a politician — and “Many in our day ask Pilate’s question, but from a different perspective.” Henry: “Truth is that pearl of great price which the human understanding has a desire for,” yet Pilate walked out on the answer standing in front of him (14:6). **Barabbas (vv39–40).** A *lēstēs*, a violent bandit (Mark 15:7: an insurrectionist and murderer). Guzik: “The cross Jesus hung upon was probably originally intended for Barabbas.” Spurgeon: “Barabbas must die or Christ must die,” and “He dies that we may be delivered.” Henry: “Thus those do who prefer their sins before Christ.” I am both — the crowd that preferred my sin, and the robber who walked out free. **Word study (Greek):** - **Kidron — *Kedrōn* (G2748):** the valley east of the temple; only here in the NT (cf. 2 Sam 15:23). - **cohort — *speira* (G4686):** a Roman cohort, up to ~600 men, or a detachment (vv3, 12). - **I am — *egō eimi* (G1473, G1510):** “I am He” — the words of 8:58 and Isa 43:10. - **cup — *potērion* (G4221):** in the prophets, the cup of God’s wrath (Isa 51:17). - **charcoal fire — *anthrakia* (G439):** only John 18:18 and 21:9. - **deny — *arneomai* (G720):** to disown; Peter’s *ouk eimi*, “I am not.” - **blow — *rhapisma* (G4475):** a slap or blow; only Mark 14:65; John 18:22; 19:3. - **Praetorium — *praitōrion* (G4232):** the Roman governor’s headquarters (vv28, 33). - **kingdom — *basileia* (G932):** reign; “not of (*ek*) this world” — source, not location. - **truth — *alētheia* (G225):** reality unhidden; Jesus is the truth (14:6). - **robber — *lēstēs* (G3027):** a violent bandit, not a sneak thief (cf. 10:1, 8). **Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):** 1. **The prisoner is in charge** (vv4, 8, 11). 2. **“I am” knocks armed men down** (v6). 3. **He is taken so they can go** (vv8–9). 4. **The cup came from the Father** (v11). 5. **“I am He” against “I am not”** (vv5–8, 17, 25). 6. **Watch where you warm yourself** (v18; Henry). 7. **The fire returns** — *anthrakia*, 18:18 and 21:9. 8. **A night trial in the dark** (vv19–24; Sproul). 9. **Religious scruples, murderous hearts** (v28). 10. **The robber went free** (v40). **Cross-references:** 2 Sam 15:23; Ps 1:1; 2:2; 27:2; Isa 43:10; 51:17; 53:5–7; Jer 25:15; Dan 7:14; Mic 5:1; Matt 26:52; Mark 14:65; 15:7; Luke 22:51, 61–62; John 6:39; 8:24, 58; 10:1, 8, 18; 11:50; 12:32–33; 13:19, 38; 14:6; 17:12; 21:9, 15–17; Acts 23:3; 1 Tim 6:13; Heb 12:2; 1 Pet 2:23; Rev 11:15. ### Application **Promise to trust — “let these go their way” (v8).** Jesus stood between the soldiers and His men and said, take Me, let them go. That is what He did for me at the cross. Some of the men I sit with have been arrested, booked, sentenced. They know what it is to be the one taken. In the garden Jesus chose to be the one taken so that we could walk out free. I am one of “these.” **Command to obey — “Put the sword into the sheath” (v11).** Peter’s sword was loyalty without trust — swinging at the problem in front of him instead of trusting the Father’s plan. My swords are my temper, my tongue, my fists, my plans to get even. This week I will put one of them away: when I want to strike back, I will stop, say “the cup the Father has given me,” and trust Him with the outcome. **Sin to confess — warming myself at the wrong fire (vv18, 25).** Peter didn’t plan to deny Jesus. He just got cold and stood where the crowd was. I confess the places I go to get warm that aren’t safe — the old crew, the bar stool, the screen at midnight, the group chat that pulls me away from Christ. I name one this week and walk away from it. **Hope to hold — the second charcoal fire (21:9).** If you have denied Him — with your mouth or your life — this chapter is not the end of Peter’s story. Jesus built another fire on a beach and asked him three times, “Do you love Me?” He doesn’t throw away men who fail. He restores them and gives them work to do. **Example to follow — the good confession before Pilate (1 Tim 6:13).** Jesus told the truth when it cost Him everything, without cursing or threatening (1 Pet 2:23). I want to be a man who tells the truth when it costs me — with my parole officer, my wife, my boss, my group. **Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):** 1. Jesus walked toward the torches knowing everything that was coming (v4). What am I avoiding this week that I need to walk toward, trusting the Father? (18:4; Heb 12:2) *Knowing all the things that were coming upon Him, He went forth.* 2. Peter grabbed a sword when Jesus wanted him to trust. Where am I fighting in my own strength — with my temper, my mouth, my hands — instead of trusting God’s plan? (18:10–11; Matt 26:52) *“Put the sword into the sheath.” Zeal without warrant fights against Christ.* 3. Jesus was arrested so His men could go free (vv8–9). How does it change me to see myself as one of “these” who walked away free? (18:8–9; Isa 53:5–6) *The Shepherd is seized; the sheep walk free.* 4. Peter’s denial started with standing by the wrong fire with the wrong crowd. What “fire” am I warming myself by that puts me in danger? (18:18, 25; Ps 1:1) *Henry: ill warming ourselves where we may burn.* 5. Peter failed three times and was restored at another charcoal fire. What failure do I need to bring back to Jesus instead of hiding? (18:27; 21:9, 15–17) *The same rare word, anthrakia: where he fell, he was restored.* 6. Pilate asked “What is truth?” and walked away. When truth gets close and personal, how do I walk away — and what would listening to His voice look like? (18:37–38; John 14:6) *“Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”* **Worship.** The I AM let Himself be tied up with rope. The One who could have dropped a whole cohort with a word took a slap without striking back. The King whose kingdom will never pass away stood before a Roman governor and told him the truth. And a robber named Barabbas walked out free — the first man to go free because Jesus took his place. **Prayer.** Lord Jesus, You walked out to meet the torches for me. Thank You that You were taken so I could go free. Take the sword out of my hand and teach me to trust the Father’s cup. Keep me from warming myself at the wrong fire, and when I fail You, call me back to Your fire again. Make me a man of the truth who hears Your voice. You are my King, and Your kingdom is coming. Amen. ## John 19 — Behold the Man, Behold Your King ### Marked in the text - v1 — **“scourged Him”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v1 — **“scourged him”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v2 — **“a crown of thorns”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v4 — **“I find no guilt in Him”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v4 — **“I find no fault in him”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v5 — **“Behold, the Man!”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v5 — **“Behold the man!”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v7 — **“He made Himself out to be the Son of God”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v7 — **“he made himself the Son of God”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v11 — **“unless it had been given you from above”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v11 — **“except it were given thee from above”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v11 — **“has the greater sin”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v11 — **“hath the greater sin”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v12 — **“you are no friend of Caesar”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v12 — **“thou art not Caesar's friend”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v13 — **“Gabbatha”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v14 — **“about the sixth hour”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v14 — **“Behold, your King!”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v14 — **“Behold your King!”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v15 — **“We have no king but Caesar”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v17 — **“bearing His own cross”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v17 — **“he bearing his cross”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v17 — **“Golgotha”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v19 — **“JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v19 — **“JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v22 — **“What I have written I have written”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v26 — **“Woman, behold, your son!”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v26 — **“Woman, behold thy son!”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v27 — **“Behold, your mother!”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v27 — **“Behold thy mother!”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v28 — **“all things had already been accomplished”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v28 — **“all things were now accomplished”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v28 — **“I am thirsty”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v28 — **“I thirst”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v30 — **“It is finished!”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v30 — **“It is finished”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v30 — **“gave up His spirit”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v30 — **“gave up the ghost”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v33 — **“they did not break His legs”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v33 — **“they brake not his legs”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v34 — **“pierced His side with a spear”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v34 — **“pierced his side”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v34 — **“blood and water”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v35 — **“so that you also may believe”** (green: Command / instruction) - v35 — **“that ye might believe”** (green: Command / instruction) - v36 — **“NOT A BONE OF HIM SHALL BE BROKEN”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v36 — **“A bone of him shall not be broken”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v37 — **“THEY SHALL LOOK ON HIM WHOM THEY PIERCED”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v37 — **“They shall look on him whom they pierced”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v38 — **“a secret one for fear of the Jews”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v38 — **“secretly for fear of the Jews”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v41 — **“a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v41 — **“a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v3 — **“King”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v24 — **“Scripture”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter ### Observation **Setting.** Friday of Passover week, Jerusalem. John 18 ended with Pilate declaring “I find no guilt in Him” and the crowd choosing Barabbas. Chapter 19 runs from the Praetorium in the early morning, to the judgment seat at the Pavement “about the sixth hour” (v14), out of the city to Golgotha, and to a new tomb in a nearby garden before the Sabbath began at sunset (vv31, 42). John was there — at the cross (vv26, 35). **Structure:** - vv1–7 — **behold the Man:** scourged, crowned with thorns, robed in purple, slapped and mocked as “King of the Jews.” Pilate brings Him out: “I find no guilt in Him … Behold, the Man!” The chief priests cry “Crucify, crucify!” and reveal the real charge: “He made Himself out to be the Son of God” (v7). - vv8–16 — **behold your King:** Pilate, more afraid, asks “Where are You from?” Jesus is silent, then answers: “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above” (v11). “If you release this Man, you are no friend of Caesar” (v12). At Gabbatha: “Behold, your King!” — “We have no king but Caesar.” He hands Him over (v16). - vv17–27 — **the King on the cross:** bearing His own cross to Golgotha, crucified between two men; the title in Hebrew, Latin and Greek — “What I have written I have written”; the soldiers divide the garments and cast lots for the seamless tunic (Ps 22:18); the women at the cross; “Woman, behold, your son! … Behold, your mother!” - vv28–30 — **finished:** knowing all was accomplished, “I am thirsty”; sour wine on hyssop; “It is finished!”; He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. - vv31–37 — **pierced:** the legs of the two broken, His not, for He was already dead; the spear, blood and water; the eyewitness’s testimony “so that you also may believe”; two Scriptures fulfilled (Exod 12:46 / Ps 34:20; Zech 12:10). - vv38–42 — **buried:** Joseph of Arimathea, a secret disciple, asks for the body; Nicodemus brings about a hundred pounds of myrrh and aloes; linen wrappings and spices; a new tomb in a garden, nearby, because of the day of preparation. **Repeated words, with counts:** - “Jesus” ×19 — vv1, 5, 9 (×2), 11, 13, 17, 18, 20, 23, 25, 26, 28, 30, 33, 38 (×2), 40, 42. - “Pilate” ×15 — vv1, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 13, 15, 19, 21, 22, 31, 38 (×2). - “crucify / crucified” ×12 — vv6 (×3), 10, 15 (×2), 16, 18, 20, 23, 32, 41. - “Jews” ×11 — vv3, 7, 12, 14, 20, 21 (×3), 31, 38, 40 (plus “JEWS” in the title, v19). - “King / king” ×7 — vv3, 12, 14, 15 (×2), 21 (×2) (plus “KING” in the title, v19). - “write / wrote / written” ×6 — vv19 (×2), 20, 21, 22 (×2). - “mother” ×5 — vv25 (×2), 26 (×2), 27. - “Scripture” ×4 — vv24, 28, 36, 37; “to fulfill” ×3 — vv24, 28, 36; “accomplished / finished” (*tetelestai*) ×2 — vv28, 30. - “Behold” ×4 — vv4, 5, 14, 27 (plus “behold” v26). - “cross” ×4 — vv17, 19, 25, 31. - “authority” ×3 — vv10 (×2), 11; “Caesar” ×3 — vv12 (×2), 15. - “preparation” ×3 — vv14, 31, 42; “Sabbath” ×2 — v31. - “legs” ×3 — vv31, 32, 33; “Hebrew” ×3 — vv13, 17, 20; “sour wine” ×3 — vv29 (×2), 30. - “body” ×3 — vv38 (×2), 40; “garden” ×2 — v41; “tomb” ×2 — vv41, 42. - “guilt” ×2 — vv4, 6; “testified / testimony” ×2 — v35. **Contrasts:** a purple robe and a crown of thorns ⟷ the real King (vv2–5). Pilate’s claimed authority ⟷ authority “from above” (vv10–11). “Behold, your King!” ⟷ “We have no king but Caesar” (vv14–15). The priests’ “He said, ‘I am King’” ⟷ Pilate’s “What I have written I have written” (vv21–22). The soldiers dividing His clothes ⟷ the women standing by His cross (vv23–25). The legs of the two broken ⟷ not a bone of His (vv32–36). Disciples hidden “for fear of the Jews” ⟷ Joseph and Nicodemus coming into the open (vv38–39). A place of execution ⟷ a garden (v41). **Shape of the chapter:** two courtroom scenes (1–7, 8–16), three scenes at the cross (17–27), one word (28–30), one wound (31–37), one burial (38–42). It begins with a whip and ends with spices; it begins in a palace and ends in a garden; and in the middle a single word, *tetelestai*, turns the whole story. **Chapter theme (my words):** The world put Jesus on trial and condemned the only innocent Man who ever lived, yet every move it made was under authority from above and fulfilled the Scripture. On the cross the King finished the work of redemption and gave up His own spirit; the soldier’s spear proved He was dead, and two secret disciples laid Him in a new tomb. ### Interpretation **Who is really on trial?** Pilate sits on the judgment seat, but John shows a frightened man. Three times he says “I find no guilt in Him” (18:38; 19:4, 6), and still he scourges Him and hands Him over. Guzik: “It appeared that Jesus was on trial before Pilate, but in an even greater sense Pilate was on trial before Jesus.” The fear that finally decides it is not fear of God but fear of Caesar (v12) — Morris, quoted by Guzik: “Humanly speaking, the mention of Caesar sealed Jesus’ fate.” **“Behold, the Man!” (v5).** Pilate meant pity, maybe contempt — Tasker’s paraphrase, quoted by Guzik: “Here he is – the poor fellow.” John lets the words mean more. Sproul, in his commentary *John*: the crowd should have said, “Yes, here is man as God intended him to be, as God designed him to be, man with no fault in Him.” The true Man stands in a mock robe, and the crowd answers, “Crucify!” **The real charge (v7).** Not sedition but blasphemy: “He made Himself out to be the Son of God.” The leaders had understood His claim all along (5:18; 10:33). Guzik and Henry both note that this charge made Pilate *more* afraid (v8) — a pagan who suspected he was dealing with something more than a man. **Authority from above and the greater sin (v11).** Pilate’s power is real but lent. Sproul (from the opening of a broadcast of this sermon) says it was through the providence of God that Pilate was ordained to play his part in this drama, and that Jesus knew it. Guzik: “In reality, God held the power.” And sin has degrees: the one who delivered Jesus — Caiaphas, with Judas behind him — has the greater sin; Pilate has less, but not none. **The sixth hour (v14) and Mark’s third hour (Mark 15:25).** Guzik lays out three explanations — different ways of reckoning the hours, approximate time markers, or an early copying slip — and does not force one. What John wants us to notice is the day: the Preparation for the Passover, when the lambs were being made ready. **“We have no king but Caesar” (v15).** The chief priests, of all people, disown the King of Israel. Maclaren, quoted by Guzik: “Driven by hate, they deliberately disown their Messianic hope, and repudiate their national glory.” Henry records it without softening. Spurgeon’s “Ecce Rex” answers from the other side: the thorn-crowned Man really is the King — “No thorn no throne.” **The title (vv19–22).** Pilate’s placard meant to mock the Jews; God made it a proclamation in the world’s three languages. Spurgeon: “Divine Providence always has its way!” Henry: it foretold “that Jesus Christ should be a Saviour to all nations, and not to the Jews only.” **Mary and John (vv25–27).** Jesus, dying, provides for His mother — honoring the fifth commandment to the end — and joins her to the beloved disciple. “Woman” is not cold (Clarke via Guzik: “It conveys no idea of disrespect”). Henry: “Those that truly love Christ, and are beloved of him, will be glad of an opportunity to do any service to him or his.” The Roman church has built a great deal on this verse about Mary; I read it as a son caring for his mother and creating the first family of the cross, which is what the text says. **“It is finished” (v30).** One word, *tetelestai*, perfect tense — the work completed and standing complete. It is not a gasp of defeat: “It is the cry of One who has completed a tremendous labor” (Spurgeon, via Guzik); “Jesus died with the cry of the Victor on His lips” (Morris). Sproul: “His mission had been fulfilled.” Spurgeon: “Why improve on what is finished? Why add to that which is complete?” Tenney’s “Paid in full” (via Guzik) is a fair picture of the result. **He gave up His spirit.** The Passion is full of hands passing Jesus along — Judas, the priests, Pilate all “hand Him over” (*paradidōmi*). In verse 30 He hands over His own spirit. He had said so: “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative” (10:18). Henry: “composing himself, as it were, to fall asleep.” **The blood and water (v34).** All four teachers take it first as proof of real death, witnessed by John (v35). Beyond that they read it as a sign: Henry, “blood for remission, water for regeneration”; Spurgeon, blood for sin’s guilt and water for its power. Those are applications, not something John explains; I hold them loosely and hold the fact firmly — He really died. **“They shall look on Him whom they pierced” (v37).** John quotes Zechariah 12:10, and he will quote it again in Revelation 1:7 of the Second Coming. Guzik (with Trench) keeps it open: the piercing is done, the mourning look is still ahead. Henry sees a first fulfillment in those of His killers who repented. My own reading is futurist: Zechariah 12 describes a day when God pours out the Spirit of grace on the house of David and Israel as a nation looks on the One they pierced and mourns — a promise to national Israel God has not withdrawn. **Word study (Greek):** - **scourged — *mastigoō* (G3146):** to whip with the Roman lash. - **Behold — *idou* (G3708) / the Man — *anthrōpos* (G444):** “Look — the human being!” (*Ecce homo*). - **authority — *exousia* (G1849):** Pilate’s boast (v10) and Jesus’ answer (v11). - **from above — *anōthen* (G509):** the word of 3:3 and 3:31; Pilate’s power is lent. - **greater — *meizōn* (G3173) / sin — *hamartia* (G266):** degrees of guilt. - **friend — *philos* (G5384):** “a friend of Caesar,” a political title Pilate could not afford to lose. - **Pavement — *lithostrōtos* (G3038) / Gabbatha (G1042):** the stone platform of the judgment seat; both only here. - **preparation — *paraskeuē* (G3904):** the day of preparing the Passover (vv14, 31, 42). - **Golgotha (G1115) / Skull — *kranion* (G2898).** - **inscription — *titlos* (G5102):** the placard; only vv19–20. - **tunic — *chitōn* (G5509) / seamless — *araphos* (G729):** woven in one piece; *araphos* only here. - **cast lots — *lanchanō* (G2975).** - **I am thirsty — *dipsaō* (G1372).** - **finished / accomplished — *teleō* (G5055):** *tetelestai*, perfect tense, vv28 and 30. - **bowed — *klinō* (G2827)**; **gave up — *paradidōmi* (G3860)**; **spirit — *pneuma* (G4151).** - **pierced — *nyssō* (G3572):** the spear-jab (v34); **pierced — *ekkenteō* (G1574):** pierced through (v37; Rev 1:7). - **bone — *osteon* (G3747) / broken — *syntribō* (G4937).** - **testimony — *martyria* (G3141)**; **true — *alēthinos* (G228).** - **secret — *kryptō* (G2928):** Joseph “hidden” for fear. - **garden — *kēpos* (G2779)**; **new — *kainos* (G2537)**; **tomb — *mnēmeion* (G3419).** **Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):** 1. **Pilate is the one on trial** — the judge is afraid; the Prisoner is not (Guzik). 2. **All authority is borrowed** — “from above” (v11). 3. **Sin has degrees, and every degree is still sin** (v11). 4. **The people chose Caesar** (v15) — every man makes the same choice in smaller words. 5. **The thorns built the throne** — “No thorn no throne” (Spurgeon). 6. **The title preached the gospel in three languages** (Henry: “a Saviour to all nations”). 7. **Even from the cross, Jesus keeps the fifth commandment** (vv26–27). 8. **“Finished” is a perfect tense** — done, and it stays done (vv28, 30). 9. **He handed over His own spirit** — no one took His life (v30; 10:18). 10. **The cross made secret disciples public** (vv38–39). **Cross-references:** Gen 3:18; 22:6–8; Exod 12:46; Num 9:12; Deut 21:22–23; Ps 22:1, 15, 18; 34:20; 69:21; Isa 50:6; 52:14; 53:5, 7, 9, 12; Zech 12:10–14; Matt 27:11–61; Mark 15:1–47; 15:25; Luke 23:1–56; John 1:29; 3:14; 5:18; 10:17–18; 12:32–33; 17:4; 18:28–40; Rom 13:1; 1 Cor 5:7; 15:3–4; Gal 3:13; Heb 10:12–14; 13:12–13; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 John 5:6–8; Rev 1:7. ### Application **Promise to trust — “It is finished.”** I have sat with men who believe they still owe God — another year clean, another program finished, another apology made — before He will take them back. I have lived that way myself. *Tetelestai* is a perfect tense: done, and it stays done. Christ did not make a down payment on my debt; He paid it. My obedience now is the answer of a forgiven man, not the price of forgiveness. When I feel the old pull to add something to the cross, I will say it out loud: it is finished. **Sin to confess — the fear of man.** Pilate knew the truth and handed Jesus over anyway because “If you release this Man, you are no friend of Caesar.” I confess the times I have done the wrong thing to keep my standing — with the guys, with a boss, with my family, with my own image. The fear of man sealed the worst verdict in history. I want the fear of God to be bigger in me than the fear of Caesar. **Truth to live under — authority from above.** Many of the men I serve live under someone’s authority every day — an officer, a judge, a parole board, a sponsor, a boss. Jesus stood before the most powerful man in Judea and was not intimidated, because He knew where that power came from. That doesn’t make me disrespectful; it makes me unafraid. No one has authority over my life except what God gives — and He is my Father. **Example to follow — the Son who cared for His mother.** In the worst hour of His life, Jesus made sure His mother would be taken care of and put her in the hands of a man who loved Him. If He could think of her from the cross, I can make the phone call, pay the bill, make the visit I have been putting off. And like John, I can take someone “into my own household” — a brother who has nowhere to go this holiday. **Command to obey — come out of hiding.** Joseph and Nicodemus were secret disciples until the cross made them brave. Spurgeon: “Be a disciple by all means, but not secretly.” This week I will say plainly, to at least one person who doesn’t know, that I belong to Jesus. **Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):** 1. Pilate knew Jesus was innocent and still handed Him over to protect himself. Where am I tempted to do the wrong thing to keep my standing with someone? (19:12–16; Prov 29:25) *“If you release this Man, you are no friend of Caesar” — the fear of man sealed the verdict.* 2. Whose authority am I under right now — a judge, an officer, a boss, a parole board — and what changes if that authority is “given … from above”? (19:10–11; Rom 13:1) *Borrowed power answers to God; Jesus was not intimidated by it.* 3. “We have no king but Caesar.” What “Caesar” have I been tempted to put on the throne instead of Christ? (19:14–15) *The leaders disowned their King to keep their place.* 4. From the cross Jesus made John and Mary into family. Who has God given me to look after — or to be looked after by? (19:25–27) *“Behold, your son! … Behold, your mother!” — the first household of the cross.* 5. If “It is finished” is true, what am I still trying to add to Christ’s work to feel right with God? (19:30; Heb 10:14) *A perfect tense: done, and it stays done. Nothing to add.* 6. Joseph and Nicodemus had followed Jesus in secret. Is there a place where I am still a secret disciple — and what would coming into the open look like this week? (19:38–40; 12:42) *The cross that scattered the Twelve drew the hidden two into the light.* **Worship.** Behold the Man — the only one who ever was what God made man to be. Behold your King — crowned with thorns, enthroned on a cross, His title written in every language. Behold the Lamb — not a bone broken, His side pierced, His blood shed, His work finished. One day every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him. I want to look on Him now, and believe. **Prayer.** Lord Jesus, King of the Jews and King of my life — thank You that You were scourged for me, mocked for me, lifted up for me, and that You cried “It is finished” over all my sin. Forgive me for the times I have chosen Caesar over You and the fear of man over the fear of God. Take me out of hiding. Give me the heart of a son who cares for his own, and the courage of Joseph and Nicodemus. Let me rest today in Your finished work, and keep me and the men I serve looking on You until the day we see You face to face. Amen. ## John 20 — My Lord and My God ### Marked in the text - v1 — **“while it was still dark”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v1 — **“when it was yet dark”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v1 — **“the stone already taken away from the tomb”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v1 — **“the stone taken away from the sepulchre”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v2 — **“They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v2 — **“They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v7 — **“rolled up in a place by itself”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v7 — **“wrapped together in a place by itself”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v8 — **“he saw and believed”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v8 — **“he saw, and believed”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v9 — **“He must rise again from the dead”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v9 — **“he must rise again from the dead”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v15 — **“Whom are you seeking?”** (green: Command / instruction) - v15 — **“whom seekest thou?”** (green: Command / instruction) - v16 — **“Mary!”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v16 — **“Mary.”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v16 — **“Rabboni!”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v16 — **“Rabboni”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v17 — **“Stop clinging to Me”** (green: Command / instruction) - v17 — **“Touch me not”** (green: Command / instruction) - v17 — **“I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v17 — **“I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v18 — **“I have seen the Lord”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v18 — **“she had seen the Lord”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v19 — **“the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v19 — **“the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v20 — **“He showed them both His hands and His side”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v20 — **“he shewed unto them his hands and his side”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v20 — **“The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v20 — **“Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v21 — **“as the Father has sent Me, I also send you”** (green: Command / instruction) - v21 — **“as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you”** (green: Command / instruction) - v22 — **“He breathed on them”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v22 — **“he breathed on them”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v22 — **“Receive the Holy Spirit”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v22 — **“Receive ye the Holy Ghost”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v23 — **“If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them”** (green: Command / instruction) - v23 — **“Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them”** (green: Command / instruction) - v25 — **“I will not believe”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v27 — **“do not be unbelieving, but believing”** (green: Command / instruction) - v27 — **“be not faithless, but believing”** (green: Command / instruction) - v28 — **“My Lord and my God!”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v28 — **“My Lord and my God”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v29 — **“Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v29 — **“blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v31 — **“these have been written so that you may believe”** (green: Command / instruction) - v31 — **“these are written, that ye might believe”** (green: Command / instruction) - v31 — **“believing you may have life in His name”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v31 — **“believing ye might have life through his name”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v1 — **“tomb”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v1 — **“sepulchre”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v19 — **“Peace be with you”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v19 — **“Peace be unto you”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter ### Observation **Setting.** Jerusalem, the first day of the week after the crucifixion — Sunday — from before dawn (v1) to evening (v19), then one week later (v26). Places: the garden tomb of 19:41, and a room with shut doors where the disciples hid “for fear of the Jews” (v19). John himself is “the other disciple whom Jesus loved” (v2). **Structure:** - vv1–10 — **the empty tomb:** Mary Magdalene comes while it is still dark and sees the stone taken away; she runs to Peter and John: “They have taken away the Lord.” The two run; John arrives first and looks in; Peter enters and sees the linen wrappings and the face-cloth rolled up by itself; John enters, “saw and believed” — though they did not yet understand the Scripture that He must rise (v9). - vv11–18 — **Mary:** weeping outside the tomb, she sees two angels where the body had lain; she turns, sees Jesus, takes Him for the gardener; He says, “Mary!” — “Rabboni!”; “Stop clinging to Me … go to My brethren”; she announces, “I have seen the Lord.” - vv19–23 — **the locked room:** evening, doors shut; Jesus stands in their midst — “Peace be with you”; He shows His hands and side; they rejoice; “as the Father has sent Me, I also send you”; He breathes on them — “Receive the Holy Spirit”; forgiving and retaining sins. - vv24–29 — **Thomas:** absent, he hears “We have seen the Lord!” and refuses: “Unless I see … I will not believe.” Eight days later Jesus comes, invites him to reach with finger and hand; “My Lord and my God!”; “Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.” - vv30–31 — **the purpose:** many other signs not written; “these have been written so that you may believe … and that believing you may have life in His name.” **Repeated words, with counts:** - “Jesus” ×14 — vv2, 12, 14 (×2), 15, 16, 17, 19, 21, 24, 26, 29, 30, 31. - “see / sees / saw / seen” ×13 — vv1, 5, 6, 8, 12, 14, 18, 20, 25 (×2), 27, 29 (×2). - “disciple(s)” ×11 — vv2, 3, 4, 8, 10, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 30. - “tomb” ×9 — vv1 (×2), 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 11 (×2). - “believe / believed / believing” ×7 — vv8, 25, 27, 29 (×2), 31 (×2) (plus “unbelieving,” v27). - “laid / lying” ×7 — vv2, 5, 6, 7, 12, 13, 15. - “Lord” ×6 — vv2, 13, 18, 20, 25, 28. - “hand(s)” ×5 — vv20, 25 (×2), 27 (×2); “side” ×3 — vv20, 25, 27; “nails” ×2 — v25; “finger” ×2 — vv25, 27. - “weeping / weep / wept” ×4 — vv11 (×2), 13, 15. - “Father” ×4 — vv17 (×3), 21. - “first” ×4 — vv1, 4, 8, 19; “stood / standing” ×4 — vv11, 14, 19, 26. - “Peace be with you” ×3 — vv19, 21, 26; “ran / running” ×3 — vv2, 4 (×2); “sins” ×3 — v23. - “Woman” ×2 — vv13, 15; “doors” ×2 — vv19, 26; “send / sent” ×2 — v21. **Contrasts:** darkness (v1) ⟷ the risen Light. “They have taken away the Lord” (v2) ⟷ “I have seen the Lord” (v18). Lazarus bound (11:44) ⟷ the wrappings left behind (vv5–7). Weeping (vv11–15) ⟷ rejoicing (v20). The gardener (v15) ⟷ the risen Lord. Doors shut for fear (v19) ⟷ “Peace be with you.” “I will not believe” (v25) ⟷ “My Lord and my God!” (v28). Seeing and believing (v29a) ⟷ not seeing and yet believing (v29b). **Shape of the chapter:** four scenes, each ending with someone who has seen the Lord — John (v8), Mary (v18), the ten (v20), Thomas (v28) — and then a turn to the reader who has not seen (vv29–31). It moves from an empty tomb to a full confession, and from “they have taken away the Lord” to “My Lord and my God.” **Chapter theme (my words):** Jesus is risen. He shows Himself to the grieving, the afraid and the stubborn — by His word, His wounds and His breath — turns deserters into brothers and witnesses, and gives the Gospel’s purpose: that we who have not seen may believe He is the Christ, the Son of God, and have life in His name. ### Interpretation **What did John see that made him believe (vv5–8)?** Not yet the risen Lord, but the grave clothes: the linen lying there and the face-cloth “rolled up in a place by itself.” Barclay, quoted by Guzik: they “did not look as if they had been put off or taken off.” Thieves do not unwrap a body and fold the cloths. Henry adds that the disciples’ slowness — “as yet they knew not the scripture” — is itself an argument: these were not men primed to imagine a resurrection. Guzik: the fact of the resurrection is the start; Scripture gives its meaning. **John and the other Gospels.** Matthew, Mark and Luke mention several women and angels who speak first. John tells one woman’s story, though her “we do not know” (v2) shows she was not alone. Sproul, in Ligonier’s summary of his sermon, showed this from the text itself and worked through other seeming inconsistencies. Different eyewitnesses tell the same morning from where they stood. **Why didn’t Mary recognize Him (vv14–16)?** Tears, the half-light, the last thing she expected. Whatever the reason, she knew Him by His voice speaking her name. Guzik: “Jesus didn’t reveal Himself to Mary by telling her who He was, but by telling her who she was to Him.” It is John 10:3 come true — He “calls his own sheep by name.” **“Stop clinging to Me” (v17).** Not “never touch Me” — a week later He tells Thomas to touch (v27). Guzik: stop holding on, not a ban on touch. Sproul, cited from his commentary *John*: Jesus was telling Mary that He was not yet leaving to return to heaven. Spurgeon: “Embrace me not; there will be time in heaven for that” — there was a message to carry. Henry: “Public service ought to be preferred before private satisfaction.” **“My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.”** Jesus does not say “our Father” — His sonship is unique — but He shares it: what He is by nature, we become by grace. And He calls the deserters “My brethren.” Spurgeon: “They were his brethren still, though they had forsaken him.” **Peace and wounds (vv19–20).** Jesus walks into a room of men who had abandoned Him and says, “Peace be with you,” then shows His hands and side. The wounds prove identity — Henry: “Christ’s wounds were to speak on earth that it was he himself” — and they are the price of the peace He speaks. **What happened when He breathed on them (v22)?** *Emphysaō*, the verb of Genesis 2:7: a new creation. Guzik ties the breath to the creation account and quotes Dods: “His very own Spirit was imparted to them.” Some read this as a real first gift of the Spirit for their mission, with Pentecost the full outpouring; others as an acted promise fulfilled in Acts 2. I hold the first loosely, and hold firmly that Pentecost (Acts 2) is when the Spirit came to baptize the church. **Forgiving and retaining sins (v23).** Rome built the sacrament of penance on this verse. The grammar points the other way: “have been forgiven … have been retained” are perfect passives — the church announces what God has already done. The church’s authority is the gospel: tell the repentant believer, with Christ’s authority, that he is forgiven; tell the unrepentant the truth. Guzik takes the passage as a pattern for the church’s ongoing ministry. **Was Thomas a doubter or a refuser (vv24–25)?** Guzik: “Thomas didn’t doubt; he plainly and strongly refused to believe.” He had missed the meeting (Maclaren, via Guzik: he “went away to brood in a corner by himself”), and Henry warns, “Those know not what they lose who carelessly absent themselves.” Yet Henry is fair: “Thomas is not Judas.” Jesus quotes Thomas’s own terms back to him — and Thomas, says Spurgeon, probably never reached out his hand at all. **“My Lord and my God!” (v28).** Not an exclamation but a confession “said to Him.” Spurgeon: “a most plain and hearty confession of the true and proper Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ.” It closes the circle of 1:1 — “the Word was God.” Jesus accepts it; a mere man would have torn his clothes. **The last beatitude (v29) and the purpose (vv30–31).** “Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.” Sproul: “If you’re a Christian, you’re included in that benediction.” Henry: Christ calls such faith blessed because it shows more of God’s grace. Then John tells us why he wrote — Sproul calls John the “most theological” of the Gospels, and Henry says “it was written to bring men to believe.” The book exists so that we may believe and have life. **Word study (Greek):** - **sees — *blepō* (G991):** to look (vv1, 5). - **sees — *theōreō* (G2334):** to gaze, observe (v6). - **saw — *horaō / eidon* (G3708):** to see, perceive (vv8, 18, 20, 25, 29). - **stooping and looking — *parakyptō* (G3879):** to bend and peer in (v5). - **linen wrappings — *othonion* (G3608):** the strips of 19:40. - **face-cloth — *soudarion* (G4676):** as at Lazarus’s tomb (11:44). - **rolled up — *entylissō* (G1794):** folded, rolled together (v7). - **must — *dei* (G1163) / rise — *anistēmi* (G450):** divine necessity (v9). - **weeping — *klaiō* (G2799):** loud mourning (vv11–15). - **gardener — *kēpouros* (G2780).** - **Rabboni (G4462):** “my Teacher” (also Mark 10:51). - **cling / touch — *haptomai* (G680):** present imperative with *mē* — “stop clinging.” - **ascended — *anabainō* (G305)**; **brethren — *adelphos* (G80).** - **peace — *eirēnē* (G1515):** vv19, 21, 26. - **sent — *apostellō* (G649)**; **send — *pempō* (G3992).** - **breathed on — *emphysaō* (G1720):** only here in the NT; LXX Gen 2:7. - **receive — *lambanō* (G2983).** - **forgive — *aphiēmi* (G863)**; **retain — *krateō* (G2902):** perfect passives in v23. - **Didymus (G1324):** “Twin.” - **imprint — *typos* (G5179)**; **nails — *hēlos* (G2247).** - **unbelieving — *apistos* (G571)**; **believing — *pistos* (G4103).** - **Lord — *kyrios* (G2962)**; **God — *theos* (G2316).** - **blessed — *makarios* (G3107).** - **signs — *sēmeion* (G4592)**; **believe — *pisteuō* (G4100).** **Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):** 1. **The first believer believed before he understood** (vv8–9). 2. **The grave clothes are a witness** — no thief folds the cloths (v7). 3. **The risen Lord is recognized by His voice** — “Mary!” (v16; 10:3). 4. **The first witness was a woman** — not the way anyone would invent it. 5. **Deserters became brothers** (v17) — Spurgeon: “his brethren still.” 6. **He came through locked doors with peace, not blame** (vv19, 21, 26). 7. **A new creation breath** — *emphysaō*, Genesis 2:7 (v22). 8. **We announce forgiveness; God grants it** — perfect passives (v23). 9. **Thomas refused — and was still welcomed** (“Thomas is not Judas,” Henry). 10. **The last beatitude is for us** (v29; Sproul: “you’re included in that benediction”). **Cross-references:** Gen 2:7; Ps 16:10; 30:5; Isa 53:10–12; Ezek 37:9–10; Matt 28:1–10; Mark 16:1–8; 10:51; Luke 24:1–49; John 1:1, 18; 2:19–22; 10:3, 14–18; 11:25–26, 44; 14:19, 27; 15:15; 16:7, 16–22; 17:18; 21:24–25; Acts 1:3; 2:1–4, 27; 13:35; Rom 1:4; 10:9; 1 Cor 15:3–8, 20; Heb 2:11–12; 10:24–25; 1 Pet 1:3, 8; 1 John 1:1–3; 5:13. ### Application **Promise to trust — He knows my name.** Mary was crying too hard to recognize Him, and Jesus didn’t argue with her; He said her name. I have men at the table who think God knows them only as a file number, a case, a disappointment. The risen Lord calls His own sheep by name. When I can’t see Him for the tears, I can still listen for His voice in His Word. **Command to obey — “I also send you.”** Jesus didn’t leave the disciples in the locked room. He gave them peace, showed them His wounds, breathed His Spirit on them and sent them out. Fear had locked them in; the mission sent them out. This week I will go to one man God puts on my heart — the one who just got out, the one who relapsed, the one who stopped coming — and tell him the good news that sins are forgiven in Jesus’ name. **Sin to confess — Thomas’s empty chair.** Thomas missed the meeting and then dug in. I know that pattern: when I am hurting or ashamed, I isolate, and when I isolate, my unbelief grows. I confess the Sundays and group nights I have skipped because I didn’t feel like being seen. “Those know not what they lose” (Henry). I will be in the room this week. **Truth to live in — brothers, not ex-cons.** “Go to My brethren.” Every one of them had run off when Jesus was arrested — and the first thing He calls them after the resurrection is “brothers.” I want the men I serve to hear that their worst night does not get the last word. In Christ we have His Father as our Father. **Example to follow — Thomas on his knees.** Thomas’s story doesn’t end with “I will not believe.” It ends with “My Lord and my God!” — the highest words anyone says about Jesus in the whole Gospel. If you are the hardest skeptic in the room, Jesus is not finished with you. And if you believe without seeing, you are in the beatitude: “Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.” **Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):** 1. Mary came “while it was still dark.” What darkness am I carrying to Jesus this week — and am I still coming? (20:1, 11; Ps 30:5) *Henry: “Love to Christ, if it be cordial, will be constant.”* 2. Jesus called Mary by name before she recognized Him. When have I known that Jesus knew me personally — not just mankind in general? (20:15–16; 10:3) *He revealed Himself by telling her who she was to Him.* 3. The disciples were behind locked doors “for fear.” What fear has me locked in right now, and what does Jesus say when He comes in? (20:19–21; 14:27) *Peace first, then His wounds, then a mission.* 4. “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” Where is Jesus sending me this week — and to whom? (20:21; 17:18) *The mission flows from the Son’s mission and counts forever (Sproul).* 5. Thomas missed the meeting and dug in. When have I pulled away from the brothers — and what did it cost me? (20:24–25; Heb 10:24–25) *Henry: those who absent themselves “know not what they lose.”* 6. I have not seen Jesus with my eyes. What helps me believe — and how can I help a man who is where Thomas was? (20:29–31; 1 Pet 1:8) *“Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.” The book was written for exactly that.* **Worship.** The stone is gone, the cloths are folded, the tomb is empty. He called a weeping woman by name, walked through a locked door with peace, breathed His Spirit on cowards and made them brothers and apostles, and bent down to the hardest heart in the room. He is the Christ, the Son of God. He is my Lord and my God. **Prayer.** Risen Lord Jesus — thank You that the tomb is empty and that You know my name. Come through the locked doors of my fear and speak Your peace. Show me Your wounds when I doubt. Breathe Your Spirit on me and send me as the Father sent You. Forgive me for the times I have isolated like Thomas, and bring me back to the brothers. Bless the men I serve who have not seen and yet believe, and bring the ones still saying “I will not believe” to their knees with Thomas. My Lord and my God. Amen. ## John 21 — Breakfast on the Shore, Follow Me ### Marked in the text - v3 — **“that night they caught nothing”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v4 — **“the day was now breaking”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v4 — **“the morning was now come”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v4 — **“the disciples did not know that it was Jesus”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v4 — **“the disciples knew not that it was Jesus”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v5 — **“Children”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v6 — **“Cast the net on the right-hand side of the boat”** (green: Command / instruction) - v6 — **“Cast the net on the right side of the ship”** (green: Command / instruction) - v7 — **“It is the Lord”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v7 — **“threw himself into the sea”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v7 — **“did cast himself into the sea”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v9 — **“a charcoal fire already laid”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v9 — **“a fire of coals”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v11 — **“a hundred and fifty-three”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v11 — **“an hundred and fifty and three”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v11 — **“the net was not torn”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v11 — **“yet was not the net broken”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v12 — **“Come and have breakfast”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v12 — **“Come and dine”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v13 — **“took the bread and gave it to them”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v13 — **“taketh bread, and giveth them”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v15 — **“more than these”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v15 — **“Tend My lambs”** (green: Command / instruction) - v15 — **“Feed my lambs”** (green: Command / instruction) - v16 — **“Shepherd My sheep”** (green: Command / instruction) - v16 — **“Feed my sheep”** (green: Command / instruction) - v17 — **“Peter was grieved”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v17 — **“Lord, You know all things”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v17 — **“Lord, thou knowest all things”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v17 — **“Tend My sheep”** (green: Command / instruction) - v17 — **“Feed my sheep”** (green: Command / instruction) - v18 — **“someone else will gird you”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v18 — **“another shall gird thee”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v19 — **“by what kind of death he would glorify God”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v19 — **“by what death he should glorify God”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v19 — **“Follow Me!”** (green: Command / instruction) - v19 — **“Follow me”** (green: Command / instruction) - v22 — **“until I come”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v22 — **“till I come”** (violet: Promise / blessing) - v22 — **“what is that to you?”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v22 — **“what is that to thee?”** (rose: Sin / warning) - v22 — **“You follow Me!”** (green: Command / instruction) - v22 — **“follow thou me”** (green: Command / instruction) - v24 — **“his testimony is true”** (gold: God — His character & actions) - v25 — **“the world itself would not contain the books”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v25 — **“the world itself could not contain the books”** (amber: Time / place / contrast) - v1 — **“manifested”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v1 — **“shewed”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v15 — **“Simon, son of John”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v15 — **“Simon, son of Jonas”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v15 — **“love”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter - v15 — **“lovest”** (sky: Key repeated word) — every occurrence in the chapter ### Observation **Setting.** “After these things” — after the resurrection appearances in Jerusalem (John 20) — seven disciples are back in Galilee at the Sea of Tiberias. Jesus had told them He would go ahead of them to Galilee (Mark 16:7). It is night, then daybreak, on the lake; then a charcoal fire on the beach; then a walk along the shore. This is Jesus’ third appearance to the disciples as a group in John (v14). **Structure:** - vv1–8 — **the empty net:** Peter says, “I am going fishing”; six go with him; that night they catch nothing. At daybreak a Stranger on the beach asks, “Children, you do not have any fish, do you?” — “Cast the net on the right-hand side of the boat.” The net is too full to haul. The beloved disciple: “It is the Lord.” Peter puts on his garment and throws himself into the sea; the others bring the boat about a hundred yards. - vv9–14 — **breakfast:** a charcoal fire already laid, fish on it, and bread. “Bring some of the fish which you have now caught.” Peter hauls the net ashore — 153 large fish, and the net not torn. “Come and have breakfast.” No one dares ask, “Who are You?” Jesus takes the bread and gives it to them, and the fish. The third manifestation. - vv15–17 — **restored:** three times, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” Three answers, “You know that I love You.” Three commands: “Tend My lambs … Shepherd My sheep … Tend My sheep.” Peter is grieved at the third. - vv18–23 — **follow:** “when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you” — the death by which he would glorify God. “Follow Me!” Peter turns, sees the beloved disciple, asks, “Lord, and what about this man?” — “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!” A false rumor corrected. - vv24–25 — **the witness:** this is the disciple who testifies and wrote; his testimony is true; the world could not contain the books. **Repeated words, with counts:** - “Jesus” ×16 — vv1, 4 (×2), 5, 7, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25. - “Peter” ×9 — vv2, 3, 7 (×2), 11, 15, 17, 20, 21; “Simon” ×8 — vv2, 3, 7, 11, 15 (×2), 16, 17; “Simon, son of John” ×3 — vv15, 16, 17. - “Lord” ×8 — vv7 (×2), 12, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21; “It is the Lord / it was the Lord” ×3 — vv7 (×2), 12. - “love / loved” ×9 — “love” ×7 in vv15 (×2), 16 (×2), 17 (×3); “loved” ×2 — vv7, 20 (“the disciple whom Jesus loved”). “Do you love Me?” ×4 — vv15, 16, 17 (×2). - “know / knew / knowing” ×7 — vv4, 12, 15, 16, 17 (×2), 24; “You know” ×4 — vv15, 16, 17 (×2). - “fish” ×7 — vv5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13; “net” ×4 — vv6, 8, 11 (×2); “boat” ×3 — vv3, 6, 8. - “disciples” ×6 — vv1, 2, 4, 8, 12, 14; “disciple” ×4 — vv7, 20, 23, 24. - “manifested” ×3 — vv1 (×2), 14; “third (time)” ×3 — vv14, 17 (×2). - “Tend / Shepherd” ×3 — vv15, 16, 17; “sheep” ×2, “lambs” ×1. - “follow / following” ×3 — vv19, 20, 22; “Follow Me!” ×2 — vv19, 22. - “remain until I come” ×2 — vv22, 23; “what is that to you?” ×2 — vv22, 23. - “wrote / written” ×3 — vv24, 25 (×2); “testifying / testimony” ×2 — v24. **Contrasts:** night and nothing (v3) ⟷ daybreak and a full net (vv4–6). They did not know it was Jesus (v4) ⟷ “It is the Lord” (v7). Peter by the officers’ charcoal fire (18:18) ⟷ Peter by Jesus’ charcoal fire (21:9). Three denials (18:17, 25, 27) ⟷ three confessions (vv15–17). Young Peter girding himself and going where he wished ⟷ old Peter girded by another and led where he did not wish (v18). “What about this man?” ⟷ “You follow Me!” (vv21–22). What was said ⟷ what was not said (v23). Many things written ⟷ more than the world could hold (vv24–25). **Shape of the chapter:** a night (1–3), a dawn (4–8), a meal (9–14), a conversation (15–17), a walk (18–23), a signature (24–25). It moves from the boat to the fire to the road, and from a group to one man — and ends with that man told to follow. **Chapter theme (my words):** The risen Lord comes to failed men on their own shore, feeds them with His own hands, and by a second fire turns Peter’s three denials into three confessions and a lifelong commission — then shuts down comparison with one command: “You follow Me!” ### Interpretation **Was Peter wrong to go fishing (v3)?** Our teachers lean different ways. Guzik lays out both views — a “compromised return to a former occupation,” or simply being wise and practical — and lets the heart decide: “Whether their motives were good or bad, that night they caught nothing.” Henry is gentle: “They knew not well what to do with themselves.” I won’t make Peter a backslider the text doesn’t call one; but I notice that the old skill, without Jesus, produced nothing. **Why didn’t they recognize Him (v4)?** John doesn’t say. It was dawn and about a hundred yards; Henry says they took Him “for some common person,” not expecting Him. Guzik: “We don’t know exactly why they did not know that it was Jesus.” As at the tomb and on the Emmaus road, recognition is given — here through a familiar miracle (Luke 5). **The 153 fish (v11).** Allegories abound (Augustine built one on seventeen). Guzik: “all we know for certain is that 153 represents the number of fish in the net,” and with Tenney he sees an eyewitness and a fisherman who counted. Spurgeon draws a picture from it — God knows the exact number of His own — and from the net that did not tear: “the invisible Church is one.” Henry stays practical: more than they needed, so they could sell them. I hold the number as a fact and Spurgeon’s picture as a picture. **Two charcoal fires.** John uses *anthrakia* only at 18:18 and 21:9. He doesn’t comment; he lets the word do it. Peter denied Jesus three times at one fire; Jesus asks him three questions at another. Henry: the third question “put him in mind of his threefold denial of Christ, and was plainly designed to do so.” Sproul’s article grants that reading but adds another possibility — emphasis by repetition, as in Isaiah 6:3. Both can be true: the repetition presses home both the wound and the charge. **“More than these” (v15).** Three options: more than these men love Me; more than you love these men; more than these things (the boat and nets). Sproul’s sermon weighed all three (per Ligonier’s summary). Guzik takes the first — Peter had boasted, “I will lay down my life for You” (13:37) — and Henry presses the third: “Those only love Christ indeed that love him better than all the delights of sense and all the profits of this world.” Peter’s answer claims no comparison at all — Spurgeon: “not as to the quantity but as to the quality of his love.” **agapaō and phileō — does the change matter?** Jesus asks twice with *agapaō*, Peter answers with *phileō*, and the third time Jesus uses *phileō*. Guzik reports that most commentators see a humbled, more reserved Peter. A Ligonier devotional answers that “the words are used interchangeably throughout John’s gospel,” and John does use both for the Father’s love of the Son (3:35; 5:20) and for the beloved disciple (20:2; 21:7). I teach it carefully: the text says Peter was grieved because Jesus asked “the third time,” not because He changed verbs. **Does this give Peter primacy over the church?** Henry says no: “Peter himself never claimed such a power, nor did the other disciples ever own it in him.” Peter’s own letter calls himself a “fellow elder” and Christ the “Chief Shepherd” (1 Pet 5:1, 4). The flock is always “My sheep.” **Peter’s death (vv18–19).** “Stretch out your hands” is widely read as crucifixion (Guzik; Henry: “some think”); that Peter was crucified upside down is later church tradition (Guzik via Clarke), not Scripture. John’s phrase “by what kind of death” is the same he used of Jesus (12:33; 18:32). Peter knew it was coming (2 Pet 1:14) — and followed anyway. **“Until I come” (vv22–23).** Jesus speaks of His return as real and personal (14:3). John carefully corrects the rumor: Jesus did not say John would not die, only “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?” Henry: “Let the words of Christ speak for themselves.” I believe He is coming again; I also take Spurgeon’s warning not to let prophecy-speculation replace following. **Who are the “we” of verse 24?** The beloved disciple wrote the Gospel; “we know that his testimony is true” sounds like the circle around him vouching for him. Henry: “they ventured both this life and the other upon it.” Guzik: “John gave solemn testimony to the truth of what he wrote.” **Word study (Greek):** - **manifested — *phaneroō* (G5319):** to make visible; vv1 (×2), 14 — and the word of the first sign (2:11). - **children — *paidia* (G3813):** “lads,” a diminutive; Jesus calls across the water. - **fish (to eat) — *prosphagion* (G4371):** anything eaten with bread; only here. - **charcoal fire — *anthrakia* (G439):** only John 18:18 and 21:9. - **fish (cooked) — *opsarion* (G3795):** the small fish of 6:9, 11. - **torn — *schizō* (G4977):** to split; in John only of the seamless tunic (19:24) and this net. - **love — *agapaō* (G25) / *phileō* (G5368):** Jesus’ word and Peter’s; in v17 Jesus uses Peter’s. - **know — *oida* (G1492) / *ginōskō* (G1097):** “You know all things; You know that I love You.” - **tend — *boskō* (G1006):** to feed, pasture (vv15, 17). - **shepherd — *poimainō* (G4165):** the whole care of a shepherd (v16; 1 Pet 5:2). - **lambs — *arnion* (G721); sheep — *probaton* (G4263):** always “My.” - **grieved — *lypeō* (G3076):** pained, hurt. - **gird — *zōnnymi* (G2224):** only here (×2) and Acts 12:8. - **follow — *akoloutheō* (G190):** present imperative — keep on following; v22 adds an emphatic “you.” - **remain — *menō* (G3306):** to abide, stay. - **testifying / testimony — *martyreō* (G3140) / *martyria* (G3141):** witness; the root of “martyr.” - **true — *alēthēs* (G227):** truthful, reliable. **Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):** 1. **The Lord meets failure at the place of failure** — two charcoal fires (18:18; 21:9). 2. **The question is designed to hurt so it can heal** — Henry: “plainly designed to do so.” 3. **Breakfast before the hard conversation** — Spurgeon: “not with prayer, but with provender.” 4. **Their catch added to the menu; it did not make it** (Guzik). 5. **The sheep stay His** — “My lambs … My sheep.” 6. **Restoration ends in work, not in a feeling** — tend, shepherd, tend, keep on. 7. **Love, not performance, is the test** — Spurgeon: “love is the best evidence of piety.” 8. **Peter would die his Master’s kind of death** (v19; 12:33; 2 Pet 1:14). 9. **Comparison is the enemy of following** — “What is that to you? You follow Me!” 10. **The Gospel ends with a signature and an admission** — true testimony, and more than the world could hold. **Cross-references:** Ps 23:1; Isa 6:3; Ezek 34:23; Matt 26:33–35; Mark 16:7; Luke 5:1–11; 24:16; John 1:39–44; 2:11; 6:1, 9–11; 10:1–16, 27; 12:26, 33; 13:23, 36–38; 14:3; 18:15–18, 25–27, 32; 19:24, 26, 35; 20:2, 19–31; Acts 12:8; 1 Pet 5:1–4; 2 Pet 1:14. ### Application **Promise to trust — He comes to my shore.** I didn’t go looking for Jesus the night I hit bottom; He came looking for me. That’s John 21. The disciples were back in the boat doing what they knew, catching nothing, and Jesus showed up on the beach with breakfast already on the fire. Some of the men I sit with think they have to clean up and crawl back before God will have them. Not here. He comes to the shore of my failure and calls out, “Children.” **Sin to confess — my own charcoal fire.** Every man I know has one: the night he said “I am not,” the thing he did that he swore he’d never do. Peter warmed himself by a fire and denied his Lord three times. I confess mine to Jesus by name. And I notice Jesus doesn’t pretend it didn’t happen — He asks three times, and Peter is grieved. But the grief is the doorway, not the verdict. “Every remembrance of past sins, even pardoned sins, renews the sorrow of a true penitent” (Henry) — and then Jesus hands him work to do. **Command to obey — “Tend My lambs.”** Restoration isn’t a feeling I wait for; it’s a job I’m given. If I love Him, I feed His sheep. For me that means the men in my group, the new guy who can’t sit still, my own family at the table. This week I will name one “lamb” Jesus has put near me and do one concrete thing to feed him — a call, a meal, an hour in the Word together. **Example to follow — Peter in the water.** John saw first; Peter went first. He didn’t wait for the boat. When I realize it’s the Lord, I don’t want to be careful and slow about getting to Him. **Command to obey — “You follow Me!”** Peter’s first reflex after hearing about his own cross was to look at John: “Lord, and what about this man?” That’s me — comparing my road, my sentence, my recovery, my ministry to another man’s. Jesus says, “What is that to you?” My business is to keep following, and to keep my eyes off the other guy’s path. Until He comes. **Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):** 1. Where have I gone back to “fishing” — the old life, the old way of coping — when I didn’t know what else to do? (21:3; Luke 5:5) *Henry: “They knew not well what to do with themselves.” Jesus met them right there.* 2. What is my “charcoal fire” — the place or memory of my worst failure — and what would it mean to meet Jesus there? (21:9; 18:18) *The same word, two fires: the place of the fall becomes the place of restoring.* 3. Jesus fed Peter before He questioned him. How have I experienced His kindness before His correction? (21:12–15) *Provender before prayer — the meal came first.* 4. If Jesus asked me today, “Do you love Me more than these?” — what would “these” be for me? (21:15; 13:37) *Henry: love Him “better than all the delights of sense and all the profits of this world.”* 5. Who are the “lambs” Jesus has put near me to feed, and what would tending them look like this week? (21:15–17; 1 Pet 5:2) *Love proved by work: “Do something to prove thy love.”* 6. Whose life or calling am I comparing mine to, and what does “You follow Me!” say to that? (21:20–22) *Emphatic “you”: your road, your cross, your Master.* **Worship.** The risen Son of God, with the wounds still in His hands, kneels by a fire on a beach and cooks fish for the men who ran away. He serves the bread Himself. He knows all things — every denial — and still says, “Follow Me.” The Gospel that began with the Word who was God ends with that Word making breakfast. The world could not contain the books. **Prayer.** Lord Jesus, You know all things; You know that I love You — and You know how weak that love has been. Thank You for coming to my shore when I had nothing in the net. Meet me at my charcoal fire and heal what I did there. Give me Your lambs to feed and the love to feed them. Take my eyes off the other man’s road. Whatever death or life You have for me, let it glorify God, and keep me following You until You come. Amen. --- _Do not edit below — this block lets the Berean Dashboard re-import this study._ ```berean-study {"name": "John 1–21 — Complete O·I·A Study", "created": "2026-11-09", "notes": {"43:1": {"O": "**Setting.** John writes last of the four Gospels and starts earliest — “In the beginning” (v1), before creation. Verses 1–18 are the prologue; verses 19–51 move to the Jordan, at “Bethany beyond the Jordan” where John was baptizing (v28), and then toward Galilee (v43). John tells us his purpose at 20:31: that we may believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and have life in His name.\n\n**Structure:**\n- vv1–5 — **the eternal Word:** with God and was God (v1); all things came into being through Him (v3); in Him was life, the Light of men; the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it (vv4–5).\n- vv6–13 — **witness and response:** a man sent from God, John, to testify about the Light (vv6–8). The true Light came into the world; the world did not know Him; His own did not receive Him (vv9–11). But as many as received Him received the right to become children of God — born of God (vv12–13).\n- vv14–18 — **the Word became flesh:** He dwelt among us; we saw His glory, full of grace and truth (v14). John’s testimony (v15); grace upon grace (v16); Law through Moses, grace and truth through Jesus Christ (v17); the only begotten God has explained the Father (v18).\n- vv19–28 — **day 1, the voice:** priests and Levites ask, “Who are you?” Not the Christ, not Elijah, not the Prophet (vv19–21); “a voice of one crying in the wilderness” (v23, Isaiah 40:3); not worthy to untie His sandal (v27).\n- vv29–34 — **day 2, the Lamb:** “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (v29). The Spirit descended as a dove and remained on Him (v32); He baptizes in the Holy Spirit (v33); “this is the Son of God” (v34).\n- vv35–42 — **day 3, the first followers:** two disciples follow; “What do you seek?” — “Come, and you will see” (vv38–39). Andrew finds Simon: “We have found the Messiah”; Simon is named Cephas (vv40–42).\n- vv43–51 — **day 4, Philip and Nathanael:** “Follow Me” (v43); “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” — “Come and see” (v46); “an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit” (v47); the fig tree; “You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel” (v49); the angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man (v51).\n\n**Repeated words, with counts:**\n- “God” ×13 — vv1 (×2), 2, 6, 12, 13, 18 (×2), 29, 34, 36, 49, 51.\n- “Jesus” ×12 — vv17, 29, 36, 37, 38, 42 (×2), 43, 45, 47, 48, 50.\n- “see / saw / seen” ×15 — see vv33, 39, 46, 50, 51; saw vv14, 29, 38, 39, 47, 48, 50; seen vv18, 32, 34.\n- “John” ×9 — vv6, 15, 19, 26, 28, 32, 35, 40 (the Baptist) and v42 (Simon’s father).\n- “testify / testified / testimony / witness” ×7 — vv7 (×2), 8, 15, 19, 32, 34.\n- “Light” ×6 — vv4, 5, 7, 8 (×2), 9; “darkness” ×2 — v5.\n- “baptize / baptizing / baptizes” ×6 — vv25, 26, 28, 31, 33 (×2).\n- “world” ×5 — vv9, 10 (×3), 29.\n- “found” ×5 — vv41 (×2), 43, 45 (×2).\n- “Word” ×4 — vv1 (×3), 14; “grace” ×4 — vv14, 16 (×2), 17; “Christ” ×4 — vv17, 20, 25, 41.\n- “follow / followed / following” ×4 — vv37, 38, 40, 43.\n- “Behold” ×3 — vv29, 36, 47; “Lamb of God” ×2 — vv29, 36.\n- “The next day” ×3 — vv29, 35, 43.\n- “believe” ×3 — vv7, 12, 50; “Spirit” ×3 — vv32, 33 (×2).\n- “Son of God” ×2 — vv34, 49; “Son of Man” ×1 — v51; “He existed before me” ×2 — vv15, 30.\n\n**Contrasts:** Light ⟷ darkness (v5). The world made through Him ⟷ the world did not know Him (v10). Did not receive Him ⟷ as many as received Him (vv11–12). Born of blood, flesh, the will of man ⟷ born of God (v13). Law through Moses ⟷ grace and truth through Jesus Christ (v17). No one has seen God ⟷ the only begotten God has explained Him (v18). “I am not” (vv20–21) ⟷ “This is the Son of God” (v34). Water baptism ⟷ baptism in the Holy Spirit (v33). “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” ⟷ “You will see greater things than these” (vv46, 50).\n\n**Shape of the chapter:** an overture in eternity (1–18), then four dated days on earth (19–51). The prologue says who He is; the days show men finding it out — by testimony, by following, by being found.\n\n**Chapter theme (my words):** The eternal Word, who is God and made all things, became flesh to show us the Father and to take away the sin of the world as God’s Lamb. Some refuse Him, but everyone who receives Him becomes God’s child — and every man who comes to see Him goes and brings someone else.", "I": "**Who is “the Word”?** John uses a word both Jews and Greeks already had. Guzik: for Jews, God’s self-expression; for Greeks, the reason behind the universe — and John fills it with a Person. Sproul: “In Hebrew thought, the Logos is personal.” Henry pictures a man’s thought becoming speech: Christ is the mind of God made known.\n\n**“The Word was God” — or “a god”?** In Greek the word order is *theos ēn ho logos*; *theos* without the article tells us what the Word is (God in nature) without saying He is the Father. Guzik calls the Jehovah’s Witness rendering “a wrong and misleading translation.” Verse 1 gives the whole doctrine of the Trinity in seed: the Word is distinct from God (“with God”) and is God. Sproul: “That sentence alone was enough to keep the theologians busy for three hundred years.”\n\n**“Comprehend” or “overcome” (v5)?** *Katelaben* can mean either. The darkness did not understand the Light, and it could not put it out. Guzik: “The light cannot lose against the darkness; the darkness will never overcome it.” Spurgeon: “How should darkness understand light?”\n\n**Which comes first — receiving or new birth (vv12–13)?** Verse 12 says those who receive and believe get the right to become God’s children; verse 13 says they were born “not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” Spurgeon reads the new birth as first: “no man lets Christ into his heart until first God has made him to be born again.” Guzik stresses the same source — “born of God, but not of human effort or achievement” — while describing faith simply as receiving. Christians differ on the order; all four teachers agree the birth is God’s work, and the invitation to receive Him is real.\n\n**“Dwelt” — the tabernacle (v14).** *Eskēnōsen*: He pitched His tent. The glory that filled the tabernacle (Exod 40:34) now lives in flesh. Spurgeon: the tabernacle “was full of law rather than full of grace”; Christ “is not the shadow, but the substance.” Henry: “He dwelt here as in a tent, not as at home.”\n\n**“Only begotten God” or “only begotten Son” (v18)?** The oldest manuscripts (and the NASB, SBLGNT) read *monogenēs theos*; the KJV follows later manuscripts. Either way the Son who is God has *explained* the Father — Jesus is God’s exegesis. Guzik: “Jesus, the Word, is the perfect declaration of the unseen God.”\n\n**Was John Elijah (v21)?** John says “I am not.” Jesus later says John came in Elijah’s spirit and power (Luke 1:17; Matt 11:14). Sproul holds both: not Elijah in person, but the Elijah-like forerunner. I hold, with my futurist reading, that Malachi 4:5 still has a fuller fulfillment before the day of the LORD.\n\n**The Lamb of God (v29).** Sproul answers critics who call the title John’s invention: Isaiah 53, the ram God provided in Abraham’s son’s place (Gen 22), and the Passover. Guzik lists the lamb from Eden to Isaiah. Henry: Christ takes away both the guilt and the power of sin. “The sin of the world” does not mean every person is automatically forgiven; it means the Lamb’s sacrifice is big enough for every sinner who comes (Guzik: it “has all the capacity to forgive every sin and cleanse every sinner”).\n\n**Jacob, Nathanael and the ladder (vv47–51).** “No deceit” contrasts Nathanael with Jacob the deceiver; Jesus then gives him Jacob’s vision (Gen 28:12) with Himself as the ladder. Guzik suggests Nathanael may have been meditating on that very passage under the fig tree. “Son of Man” is from Daniel 7:13 — Sproul: a title of heavenly glory and authority, “by far Jesus’ favorite self-designation.”\n\n**Word study (Greek):**\n- **Word — *logos* (G3056):** God’s speech and reason, now a Person (vv1, 14).\n- **comprehend — *katalambanō* (G2638):** grasp, seize; “comprehend” or “overcome” (v5; 12:35).\n- **testify — *martyreō* (G3140):** bear witness of what one has seen; seven times in the chapter.\n- **right — *exousia* (G1849):** granted authority, legal standing (v12).\n- **received — *lambanō* (G2983):** take hold of, welcome (v12).\n- **children — *teknon* (G5043):** born ones; ties to verse 13’s birth.\n- **dwelt — *skēnoō* (G4637):** pitched a tent, tabernacled (v14; Rev 21:3).\n- **only begotten — *monogenēs* (G3439):** unique, one of a kind (vv14, 18; 3:16).\n- **grace — *charis* (G5485):** “grace upon grace” (v16); four times in vv14–17.\n- **explained — *exēgeomai* (G1834):** led out, made known; our “exegesis.”\n- **voice — *phōnē* (G5456):** the carrier, not the message (v23).\n- **make straight — *euthynō* (G2116):** level the road (v23).\n- **lamb — *amnos* (G286):** sacrificial lamb; John 1:29, 36; Acts 8:32; 1 Pet 1:19.\n- **takes away — *airō* (G142):** lifts and carries off; present tense.\n- **remained — *menō* (G3306):** stayed, abode (vv32, 33, 38, 39).\n- **Messiah — *Messias* (G3323):** Anointed One; only John 1:41; 4:25.\n- **deceit — *dolos* (G1388):** cunning, guile (v47).\n\n**Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):**\n1. **John starts before Genesis** — the Word already *was* when the beginning began.\n2. **“The Word was God,” not “a god”** — distinct from the Father, equal in nature.\n3. **The darkness neither grasped nor quenched the Light** (v5).\n4. **Rejection is not the end of the story** — “but as many as received Him” (v12).\n5. **The glory moved into a tent of flesh** (v14; Exod 40:34).\n6. **Jesus is God’s exegesis** — no one has seen God, but the Son has explained Him (v18).\n7. **The greatest man born of women called himself a voice** (vv20–23).\n8. **God provides His own lamb** (v29; Gen 22:8).\n9. **Every disciple in this chapter came through someone** — John, Andrew, Philip.\n10. **Jesus saw him first** — under the fig tree (v48).\n\n**Cross-references:** Gen 1:1–3; 22:8; 27:35; 28:12; Exod 12:13; 33:20; 40:34; Deut 18:15; Ps 33:6; Isa 9:2; 40:3; 53:7; Dan 7:13; Mal 4:5; Matt 11:14; Luke 1:17; John 3:16–19; 12:35; 20:31; Acts 8:32; Col 1:16; Heb 1:2–3; 11:17; 1 Pet 1:19; 1 John 1:1; 4:9; Rev 21:3.", "A": "**Truth to believe — the Word was God and became flesh.** Jesus isn’t a good teacher I add to my life; He is the One through whom my life came into being (v3). And He didn’t stay far off. He pitched His tent in the middle of us (v14). For the men I walk with who think God is up there and they are down here — in a cell, in a relapse, in a mess — this verse says He came down here.\n\n**Promise to trust — “as many as received Him.”** I know men whose own families did not receive them. Verse 11 says Jesus knows that pain: His own did not receive Him. Verse 12 is the promise: everyone who receives Him gets the right to become a child of God — not by bloodline, not by willpower, not by somebody else’s decision, but of God (v13).\n\n**Sin to confess — making myself the center.** John the Baptist could have had a following of his own. He kept saying “I am not.” I confess the ways I want to be the light in my family, my group, my ministry, my recovery story. I am at best a voice. My job is to point and say, “Behold, the Lamb of God.”\n\n**Command to obey — “Come, and you will see” / “Follow Me.”** Jesus didn’t hand those two men a doctrine sheet; He invited them to spend the day with Him (v39). This week I will give Him unhurried time — not to get through a reading plan, but to stay where He is staying.\n\n**Example to follow — Andrew.** The first thing Andrew did was find his own brother (v41). Spurgeon: “Let thy religion begin at home.” Andrew had two talents and found Peter. I will name one man — a brother, a son, a cellmate, a coworker — and say “Come and see.”\n\n**Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):**\n1. If Jesus is the eternal Word through whom all things came into being, what part of my life am I still treating as outside His authority? (1:1–4; Col 1:16) *Outside of Him there is no life (Sproul); He made all things, and He is not a lesser god.*\n2. Verse 12 says the right to become children of God is given to those who receive Him. What does receiving Him look like for a man who has been rejected by his own family? (1:11–13) *Born not of blood or the will of man, but of God — a new family and a new name.*\n3. “The Word became flesh” — He came all the way down. Where do I need to believe that God has come close to me, not just to good people? (1:14–17) *He dwelt as in a tent among us; grace upon grace, not law upon law.*\n4. John the Baptist kept saying “I am not.” Where am I tempted to make myself the center of a ministry, a family or a recovery story? (1:19–27) *A voice, not the Word; John hides himself behind his Master.*\n5. What changes when I stop trying to take away my own sin and look at “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”? (1:29; Gen 22:8; Isa 53:7) *God provides His own lamb; the Lamb is taking it away — present tense.*\n6. Who is the one person I could say “Come and see” to this week, the way Andrew went for his brother? (1:39–46) *Found Christ, finds others — and religion begins at home.*\n\n**Worship.** Before there was a sunrise, there was the Word. He made the light, then walked into the dark as a Man. He is the Lamb God provided, the Son of God, the King of Israel, the ladder between heaven and earth — and He saw Nathanael under a fig tree before anybody called him. He sees me too.\n\n**Prayer.** Lord Jesus, eternal Word, You were with God and You are God, and You became flesh for me. Thank You for coming close. I receive You — make me Your child, not by my effort but by Your birth. Behold, the Lamb of God: take away my sin, the sin I’ve carried and the sin I keep picking back up. Let me be a voice that points to You, not a light that competes with You. Give me Andrew’s heart for my own brother, and let me say to the men around me, “Come and see.” Amen."}, "43:2": {"O": "**Setting.** “On the third day” (v1) after Jesus set out for Galilee (1:43) — a wedding in Cana of Galilee, with Jesus, His mother and His disciples as guests. Then a few days at Capernaum (v12), and up to Jerusalem for “the Passover of the Jews” (v13), where the rest of the chapter takes place in and around the temple.\n\n**Structure:**\n- vv1–5 — **the need:** the wine runs out; Mary: “They have no wine”; Jesus: “Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come”; Mary to the servants: “Whatever He says to you, do it.”\n- vv6–10 — **the sign:** six stone waterpots for purification, twenty or thirty gallons each; “Fill the waterpots with water” — filled to the brim; drawn out and taken to the headwaiter, who calls the bridegroom: “you have kept the good wine until now.”\n- vv11–12 — **the result:** “This beginning of His signs … manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him”; down to Capernaum for a few days.\n- vv13–17 — **the cleansing:** sellers of oxen, sheep and doves and money changers in the temple; a scourge of cords; all driven out, coins poured out, tables overturned; “stop making My Father’s house a place of business”; the disciples remember “ZEAL FOR YOUR HOUSE WILL CONSUME ME” (Ps 69:9).\n- vv18–22 — **the sign demanded:** “What sign do You show us?” — “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” “It took forty-six years to build this temple.” He spoke of the temple of His body; after He was raised, the disciples remembered and believed.\n- vv23–25 — **the hearts:** many believed, observing His signs; but Jesus was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men and knew what was in man.\n\n**Repeated words, with counts:**\n- “Jesus” ×10 — vv1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 11, 13, 19, 22, 24.\n- “wine” ×6 — vv3 (×2), 9, 10 (×3); “water” ×3 — vv7, 9 (×2); “waterpots” ×2 — vv6, 7.\n- “temple” ×5 — vv14, 15, 19, 20, 21.\n- “disciples” ×5 — vv2, 11, 12, 17, 22.\n- “mother” ×4 — vv1, 3, 5, 12.\n- “believed” ×3 — vv11, 22, 23; “sign / signs” ×3 — vv11, 18, 23.\n- “headwaiter” ×3 — vv8, 9 (×2).\n- “Jews” ×3 — vv13, 18, 20.\n- “knew” ×3 — vv9, 24, 25; “man” ×3 — vv10, 25 (×2).\n- “raise / raised” ×3 — vv19, 20, 22; “three days” ×2 — vv19, 20.\n- “remembered” ×2 — vv17, 22; “house” ×2 — vv16, 17; “Passover” ×2 — vv13, 23; “wedding” ×2 — vv1, 2.\n\n**Contrasts:** water for purification ⟷ the good wine (vv6, 10). Every man serves the good wine first ⟷ you have kept the good wine until now (v10). My Father’s house ⟷ a place of business (v16). A temple forty-six years in building ⟷ raised up in three days (vv19–20). The temple of stone ⟷ the temple of His body (v21). They believed in His name ⟷ He was not entrusting Himself to them (vv23–24).\n\n**Shape of the chapter:** joy in Galilee (1–12), zeal in Jerusalem (13–22), discernment at the feast (23–25). Two scenes, one direction: the old vessels — the jars and the temple — are filled and replaced by Jesus Himself.\n\n**Chapter theme (my words):** Jesus’ first sign turns the water of ritual washing into the best wine, and His first public act in Jerusalem clears His Father’s house and points to His body as the true temple. Signs are meant to lead to faith in Him, and He knows the difference between real faith and a crowd’s excitement.", "I": "**“Woman” — rude or respectful (v4)?** Guzik and Sproul hear respect: Sproul, “this was a title of respect”; Guzik, Jesus used a term of respect “but He did not call her “mother”” — the relationship was changing as His public ministry began. Henry reads it as a check on Mary’s presumption and a warning against later devotion to her. The same word comes from the cross (19:26), with obvious love. I take it as respectful but firm: from now on Jesus acts on His Father’s timing, not even His mother’s.\n\n**What is “My hour” (v4)?** Not merely the moment for a miracle. Through John the hour is “not yet” (7:30; 8:20) until it comes at the cross (12:23; 13:1; 17:1). Sproul: “It’s not yet time for Me to enter into My glory.” Cana gives an early taste of that glory (v11).\n\n**Was it really wine?** Sproul says plainly that it was real, fermented wine, that the Bible condemns drunkenness rather than wine, and that each believer must follow his conscience. Guzik: well-made wine, not a statement about strength. Spurgeon sets the argument aside to look at the grace and the command. For the men I serve in recovery, the point of Cana is not permission but provision: Jesus saves a family from shame and gives joy without hangover. For a man whose drinking destroyed him, sobriety is the wise and loving way to honor this Lord.\n\n**Why the purification jars?** Six stone jars “for the Jewish custom of purification” (v6). Guzik: they belong to the system of Law; Moses turned water to blood (Exod 7:20), Jesus turned water to wine — “The wine was better than the water; and the New Covenant is better than the Old Covenant.” Sproul: the water of washing gives way to the new wine of the kingdom. Henry: where the law brought bitterness, the gospel brings blessing.\n\n**One cleansing or two?** John puts a cleansing at the first Passover; Matthew, Mark and Luke put one in the last week. Sproul and Guzik both conclude Jesus did it twice — Sproul argues the traders would have been back quickly. Some scholars think John moved the event to the front for theological reasons; I find two cleansings the most natural reading of two different settings.\n\n**Was Jesus out of control?** No. Guzik: “He did not do it in a flash of anger. He carefully took the time to make a whip of cords.” Sproul: the whip was for the animals. Henry: “Discretion must always guide and govern our zeal.” Righteous anger is real — but it is deliberate, aimed at what dishonors God, and it protected the one court where Gentiles could pray.\n\n**“Destroy this temple” (v19).** The listeners took it literally (v20) and later twisted it at His trial (Matt 26:61). John explains: He spoke of His body (v21). Guzik: “the religious leaders themselves would be the means by which the prophecy was fulfilled.” Sproul: “the supreme sign is the resurrection,” and “Christ is the temple.” Henry: “The body of Christ is the true temple, of which that at Jerusalem was a type.” I also hold that Scripture speaks of a future temple in Jerusalem (Ezekiel 40–48; 2 Thess 2:4), but its meaning will always be Christ, who is the presence of God among His people — and the city to come needs no temple at all because “the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple” (Rev 21:22).\n\n**Why didn’t Jesus trust believers (vv23–25)?** Their faith rested on spectacle. Guzik: “thin, superficial belief.” Henry: some insincere, some weak, some wanting a political Messiah. John’s wordplay: they *believed*; He did not *entrust* Himself — same verb. Sproul links this to chapter 3: “He knew what was in Nicodemus.” Not all faith is saving faith; faith that stops at the sign has not yet reached the Person.\n\n**Word study (Greek):**\n- **sign — *sēmeion* (G4592):** a pointer to who Jesus is (vv11, 18, 23).\n- **beginning — *archē* (G746):** the first and pattern of the signs (v11).\n- **manifested — *phaneroō* (G5319):** made visible (v11).\n- **glory — *doxa* (G1391):** the glory of 1:14 seen at Cana (v11).\n- **woman — *gynē* (G1135):** respectful address; again at 19:26.\n- **hour — *hōra* (G5610):** the appointed hour of His death and glory.\n- **whip — *phragellion* (G5416):** Latin loanword; only here.\n- **money changers — *kollybistēs* (G2855); coins — *kerma* (G2772).**\n- **temple (courts) — *hieron* (G2411):** the whole complex (vv14–15).\n- **zeal — *zēlos* (G2205):** burning devotion; **consume — *katesthiō* (G2719):** eat up.\n- **temple (sanctuary) — *naos* (G3485):** the dwelling of God; His body (vv19–21).\n- **destroy — *lyō* (G3089):** loose, break up.\n- **raise — *egeirō* (G1453):** raise up, resurrect (vv19, 20, 22).\n- **believe / entrust — *pisteuō* (G4100):** they believed; He did not entrust Himself (vv23–24).\n- **know — *ginōskō* (G1097):** He knew all men (vv24–25).\n\n**Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):**\n1. **A sign is a signpost** — sign → glory → faith (v11; 20:31).\n2. **Moses turned water to blood; Jesus turned water to wine** (Exod 7:20).\n3. **The jars were for washing** — the old system’s vessels filled with new joy.\n4. **“Whatever He says to you, do it”** — Mary’s greatest sermon (Sproul).\n5. **We fill; He turns** (Spurgeon).\n6. **The best is kept for last** — the world reverses it; Christ doesn’t.\n7. **Zeal with a whip He took time to make** — deliberate, not a tantrum.\n8. **The market was in the Gentiles’ court** — the nations’ place of prayer spoiled.\n9. **Hieron and naos** — He cleared the courts; He called His body the sanctuary.\n10. **Not every believer is trusted with Him** — He knew what was in man.\n\n**Cross-references:** Exod 7:20; Ps 16:10; 69:9; Isa 25:6; Amos 9:13; Mal 3:1; Matt 21:12–13; 26:61; Mark 11:15–17; Luke 19:45–46; John 1:14, 43; 3:1; 7:30; 12:23; 19:26; 20:30–31; Rom 8:11; 1 Cor 3:16; 6:19; Gal 1:1; Rev 19:9; 21:22.", "A": "**Command to obey — “Whatever He says to you, do it.”** Mary didn’t tell Jesus how to fix it; she told the servants to obey Him. The servants didn’t understand why He wanted water in washing jars. They filled them anyway, to the brim. This week I will take one thing Jesus has clearly told me — forgive, confess, make the call, go to the meeting, read the Word — and do it all the way, not halfway.\n\n**Promise to trust — “you have kept the good wine until now.”** The world serves its best first: the first drink, the first high, the first thrill, the first lie that works. Then comes the cheap stuff, and then the bill. Jesus reverses it. For the men I walk with who think their best days are behind them, Cana says the Lord keeps the good wine for later. The best is not behind a man in Christ; it is ahead.\n\n**Sin to confess — a place of business in the Father’s house.** My body is a temple of God (1 Cor 3:16). I confess the tables I’ve set up there — the deals I make with sin, the things I sell my attention to, the religion I use to get something. I ask Him to come with His zeal and turn them over, and I won’t fight Him when He does.\n\n**Truth to live in — Jesus is the temple.** I don’t meet God by getting to the right building or the right ritual. I meet Him in Jesus, the One whose body was destroyed and raised in three days. That empty tomb is the sign He gives me when I demand one.\n\n**Warning to heed — He knows what is in man.** Excitement about Jesus is not the same as trusting Him. I’ve seen men light up at a revival or in a crisis and drift when the signs stopped. Jesus knows what is in me — and the good news is that He came anyway. I don’t have to impress Him; I need to come to Him honestly, like Nicodemus is about to.\n\n**Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):**\n1. Where in my life has “the wine run out” — a marriage, a family, a job, a recovery — and have I simply told Jesus, “They have no wine”? (2:3–5) *Never pray as if we were dictators (Spurgeon); the delays of mercy are not denials (Henry).*\n2. What has Jesus told me to do that I am doing halfway? What would filling the waterpots “to the brim” look like this week? (2:5–8) *Christ’s commands are never meant to be done in a half-hearted manner.*\n3. The world serves its best wine first and its worst last. Where have I tasted that in my own life — and where have I seen Jesus keep the good wine until now? (2:9–10; Isa 25:6) *Christ seeks no disciples dazzled with first appearances; the best is yet to come.*\n4. If my body is a temple of God, what tables need overturning — what has turned His house into a place of business? (2:14–17; 1 Cor 3:16) *Zeal guided by discretion; God is particular about how He is approached.*\n5. Jesus pointed to His resurrection as the sign. How does the empty tomb answer the question I keep asking God — “What sign do You show us?” (2:18–22; Ps 16:10) *The supreme sign is the resurrection (Sproul).*\n6. Jesus “knew what was in man.” Does it frighten me or comfort me that He knows exactly what is in me — and still came? (2:23–25; 3:1) *He knows the worst, and still sees the image of God (Guzik).*\n\n**Worship.** The Lord of the feast came to a village wedding and saved a family from shame. The Lord of the temple came with zeal and cleared His Father’s house. The Lord of life let them destroy the temple of His body and raised it up in three days. He knew what was in every man in Jerusalem — and He knows what is in me — and He still keeps the good wine for those who come to Him.\n\n**Prayer.** Lord Jesus, the wine has run out in places in my life, and I bring them to You — I won’t tell You how to fix them. Whatever You say to me, I will do it, to the brim. Turn the water of my religion into the wine of real joy. Come into the temple of my body with Your zeal and overturn every table that doesn’t belong there. Thank You that the sign You give is Your empty tomb. You know what is in me; make my faith more than excitement — make it trust in You. Amen."}, "43:3": {"O": "**Setting.** Jerusalem at Passover (2:13, 23), right after Jesus cleansed the temple and “knew what was in man” (2:25). Nicodemus — a Pharisee, a ruler of the Jews, “the teacher of Israel” — comes at night (vv1–2). Then the scene moves to the Judean countryside, where Jesus’ disciples are baptizing, and to Aenon near Salim, where John the Baptist is still baptizing before his arrest (vv22–24).\n\n**Structure:**\n- vv1–8 — **born from above:** Nicodemus’s compliment (v2); “unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (v3); “How can a man be born when he is old?” (v4); born of water and the Spirit (v5); flesh gives birth to flesh, Spirit to spirit (v6); “You must be born again” (v7); the wind (v8).\n- vv9–15 — **the Son of Man lifted up:** “How can these things be?” (v9); the teacher of Israel does not understand (v10); earthly things and heavenly things (vv11–12); the only One who descended from heaven (v13); Moses’ serpent and the Son lifted up, so that whoever believes has eternal life (vv14–15).\n- vv16–21 — **love and light:** God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son (v16); sent to save, not to judge (v17); believer not judged, unbeliever judged already (v18); men loved the darkness (vv19–20); the one who practices the truth comes to the Light (v21).\n- vv22–30 — **the friend of the bridegroom:** Jesus and John both baptizing (vv22–24); a dispute about purification; “all are coming to Him” (vv25–26); a man receives nothing unless given from heaven (v27); “I am not the Christ” (v28); the bridegroom and his friend, joy made full (v29); “He must increase, but I must decrease” (v30).\n- vv31–36 — **the One from above:** He is above all (v31); He testifies to what He has seen, and few receive it (vv32–33); He speaks God’s words and has the Spirit without measure (v34); the Father has given all things into His hand (v35); life or wrath (v36).\n\n**Repeated words, with counts:**\n- “born” ×8 — vv3, 4 (×2), 5, 6 (×2), 7, 8 (all in vv3–8).\n- “believe / believes / believed” ×8 — vv12 (×2), 15, 16, 18 (×3), 36.\n- “Son” ×8 — vv13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 35, 36 (×2); “Son of Man” ×2 — vv13, 14.\n- “God” ×12 — vv2 (×2), 3, 5, 16, 17, 18, 21, 33, 34 (×2), 36.\n- “testify / testimony / witnesses” ×7 — vv11 (×2), 26, 28, 32 (×2), 33.\n- “world” ×5 — vv16, 17 (×3), 19.\n- “Light” ×5 — vv19 (×2), 20 (×2), 21; “darkness” ×1 — v19.\n- “heaven / heavenly” ×5 — vv12, 13 (×2), 27, 31; “above” ×3 — v31; “earth / earthly” ×4 — vv12, 31 (×3).\n- “Spirit” ×4 — vv5, 6, 8, 34 (+ “spirit” v6).\n- “judge / judged / judgment” ×4 — vv17, 18 (×2), 19.\n- “baptizing / baptized” ×4 — vv22, 23 (×2), 26.\n- “must” ×4 — vv7, 14, 30 (×2).\n- “eternal life” ×3 — vv15, 16, 36 (“life” ×4 with v36’s “will not see life”).\n- “Truly, truly” ×3 — vv3, 5, 11; “kingdom of God” ×2 — vv3, 5.\n- “love(s) / loved” ×3 — vv16, 19, 35; “deeds” ×3 — vv19, 20, 21.\n\n**Contrasts:** night (v2) ⟷ Light (vv19–21). Born of the flesh ⟷ born of the Spirit (v6). Earthly things ⟷ heavenly things (v12). Ascended ⟷ descended (v13). Perish ⟷ eternal life (v16). Saved ⟷ judged (vv17–18). Darkness ⟷ Light; does evil ⟷ practices the truth (vv19–21). Bridegroom ⟷ friend of the bridegroom (v29). Increase ⟷ decrease (v30). From above ⟷ of the earth (v31). Believes ⟷ does not obey; life ⟷ wrath (v36).\n\n**Shape of the chapter:** a conversation (1–21) and a testimony (22–36). It moves from a man who must be born from above to the Son who came from above, and from a teacher in the dark to a friend who rejoices in the Light.\n\n**Chapter theme (my words):** The kingdom of God is entered only by a new birth from above, worked by the Spirit and received by looking in faith to the Son lifted up. The one who believes has life now; the one who refuses remains under wrath; and the one who has seen Him gladly gets smaller.", "I": "**What does “born again” mean?** *Anōthen* means both “again” and “from above” (Guzik, Henry). Nicodemus hears only the first and pictures a second physical birth (v4). Jesus means a birth God gives — “born of the Spirit” (vv5–8). Sproul: “There is no such thing as a non-born-again Christian or an unregenerate Christian.” “Born-again Christian” is a redundant phrase.\n\n**What is the “water” in verse 5?** Honest teachers differ. Guzik lists five readings — baptism, physical birth, the Word (Eph 5:26), the Spirit as living water (7:38–39), and the cleansing water of Ezekiel 36:25–27 — and gives Ezekiel “the most weight (though it is a tough call).” Sproul admits he does not know for sure, reads it through Ezekiel 36–37, and thinks a baptism reading less likely. Henry: “of the Spirit working like water.” Spurgeon flatly rejects baptismal regeneration. Ezekiel’s promise of clean water *and* a new spirit, given to Israel, is what a “teacher of Israel” should have known (v10).\n\n**Which comes first, new birth or faith?** Sproul, Spurgeon and Henry read the chapter in the Reformed way: the Spirit must give life before a dead man can believe (Sproul: Lazarus cannot bring himself out of the tomb). Others read verses 14–16 as faith receiving the new life. Both agree on what matters most for my men: you cannot birth yourself (Guzik), and whoever looks to Christ lives (Spurgeon).\n\n**Why the bronze serpent?** Israel was dying of a judgment they deserved (Num 21:4–9). God’s remedy looked like the very thing that was killing them, lifted on a pole, and all they had to do was look. Guzik: “a bronze serpent does speak of sin, but of sin judged.” Sproul: “the substitute serpent.” “Lifted up” in John always means the cross first (12:32–33), then the glory.\n\n**Who is speaking in verse 16?** The original Greek has no quotation marks. NASB prints Jesus speaking through v21; Sproul notes that “Usually, commentators see John 3:16 as an editorial comment made by John.” Either way it is the Word of God, and the point is the same.\n\n**What does “the world” mean in verse 16?** Guzik notes that many Jews assumed God loved Israel alone, so “the world” was revolutionary. Sproul warns against reading it as universalism: God loves the world by giving one Son, and refusing Him leaves a man judged already (v18). Spurgeon: “while every unbeliever is excluded, every believer is included.”\n\n**Why do men stay in the dark?** Not lack of evidence but love of darkness (v19). Guzik: “there is a moral compromise at the root of their rejection.” Henry: “Christ is hated because sin is loved.” The Light exposes (*elenchō*), and that is what we fear.\n\n**Who speaks verses 31–36?** NASB keeps John the Baptist speaking through v36; Guzik notes others read it as the evangelist’s comment. The teaching does not change: the Son is from above, has the Spirit without measure, and holds all things in His hand.\n\n**Word study (Greek):**\n- **again / from above — *anōthen* (G509):** both senses; John 3:3, 7, 31; 19:11, 23.\n- **wind / Spirit — *pneuma* (G4151):** the same word in v8; wind, breath, Spirit.\n- **must — *dei* (G1163):** divine necessity; 3:7, 14, 30; 4:4, 24.\n- **lift up — *hypsoō* (G5312):** in John always the Son of Man — 3:14; 8:28; 12:32, 34; it means the cross (12:33).\n- **only begotten — *monogenēs* (G3439):** one of a kind; John 1:14, 18; 3:16, 18; Heb 11:17 (Isaac); 1 John 4:9.\n- **exposed — *elenchō* (G1651):** brought to light and convicted; 3:20; 8:46; 16:8.\n- **bridegroom — *nymphios* (G3566):** John 2:9; 3:29 (×3); the LORD as Israel’s bridegroom (Isa 62:5).\n- **wrath — *orgē* (G3709):** settled opposition to sin; only here in John’s Gospel.\n- **does not obey — *apeitheō* (G544):** refuses to be persuaded; only here in John.\n\n**Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):**\n1. **The chapter begins after a warning** — Jesus did not entrust Himself to sign-impressed believers (2:23–25).\n2. **“Again” and “from above” are one word** — *anōthen*.\n3. **You cannot birth yourself** (Guzik); Lazarus cannot raise himself (Sproul).\n4. **The water is probably Ezekiel’s water** — none of the four makes it baptismal regeneration.\n5. **Saved by a look** — Christ “hung on the cross on purpose to be looked at” (Spurgeon).\n6. **The cross is a divine “must”** — the same *dei* in vv7, 14, 30.\n7. **Love came before we turned** (Guzik).\n8. **Men run from the Light because it exposes** (Sproul, Henry).\n9. **Joy in decreasing** — John was happy to lose his congregation to Jesus (Guzik).\n10. **Wrath abides — and so does life** — both present tense in v36.\n\n**Cross-references:** Gen 22:2; Num 21:4–9; Isa 45:22; 54:5; 62:5; Ezek 36:25–27; 37:1–14; Dan 7:13; Hos 2:19–20; John 1:12–13; 2:23–25; 5:24; 7:37–39, 50–51; 8:28; 12:32–33; 19:39; Rom 1:18–21; 5:8; Eph 5:26; Titus 3:5; Heb 11:17; 1 Pet 1:23; 1 John 1:7; 4:9.", "A": "**Command to obey — “You must be born again.”** This is not a suggestion to try harder. I have sat with men who have been “religious” since childhood, who know the songs and the verses, and who have never been born from above. Nicodemus had everything a man could have on the outside. If that wasn’t enough for him, it isn’t enough for me. The first question isn’t “am I doing better?” but “have I been born of the Spirit?”\n\n**Promise to trust — “whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.”** The bitten Israelite didn’t have to understand bronze or theology. He had to look. When a man tells me he is too far gone, I point him to the pole: the remedy was for people dying of the very thing they had done. “Whoever” has no fine print. And the life is present tense — “has eternal life” (v36) — not a reward I earn at the end.\n\n**Sin to confess — loving the darkness.** Verse 20 is honest about me: I have kept things out of the Light because I didn’t want them exposed. The phone, the money, the resentment, the drink. Jesus says that is not a lack of information; it is a love of darkness. I confess it, and I bring it into the Light, because the Light came to save, not to condemn (v17).\n\n**Example to follow — John the Baptist.** “He must increase, but I must decrease.” I want credit. I want the men to say I helped them. John lost his crowd and called it joy. This week I will do one thing for another man’s good where I get no credit at all, and I will thank God when someone else gets the attention.\n\n**Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):**\n1. Nicodemus had religion, position and reputation, and still had to be born again. What have I trusted in that cannot give me new birth? (3:1–7; Titus 3:5) *A man’s first birth does not assure him of the kingdom (Guzik).*\n2. Where have I seen the “wind” of the Spirit at work in a man I know — not the wind itself, but what it moved? (3:8; Ezek 37:9–10) *You hear its sound; you see its effects.*\n3. The bitten Israelites only had to look. What am I still trying to do, instead of looking to Christ lifted up? (3:14–15; Num 21:8–9) *All you have to do is to look (Spurgeon).*\n4. Is there a part of my life I keep out of the Light “for fear that [my] deeds will be exposed”? What would it take to bring it in? (3:19–21; 1 John 1:7) *The Light comes to save before it judges (v17).*\n5. Where am I competing for credit or attention in ministry, at home or at work? What would “I must decrease” look like this week? (3:27–30) *The friend of the bridegroom rejoices at the Groom’s voice.*\n6. Verse 36 says the believer has eternal life now. How would I live differently today if I believed that is already true of me? (3:36; 5:24) *Present tense: has life; present tense: wrath abides.*\n\n**Worship.** God so loved the world — not a world that was looking for Him, but a world loving darkness — that He gave His only begotten Son. The Son came down from heaven, was lifted up on a cross like the serpent on the pole, and now holds all things in His hand. The Spirit blows where He wishes, and He blew on me.\n\n**Prayer.** Father, thank You for loving me before I ever turned to You, and for giving Your only Son. Lord Jesus, I look to You lifted up for me; I cannot birth myself. Holy Spirit, blow where You wish — through me, and through the men I serve. Drag my hidden deeds into the Light, and let them be wrought in God. Make me glad to decrease, so that You increase in my home, my group and my heart. Amen."}, "43:4": {"O": "**Setting.** Jesus leaves Judea because the Pharisees have heard He is making more disciples than John (vv1–3). On the road north He stops at Sychar in Samaria, at Jacob’s well, about the sixth hour (vv4–6). He stays two days with the Samaritans (v40), then goes on to Galilee and to Cana, where a royal official from Capernaum begs Him to heal his son (vv43–54).\n\n**Structure:**\n- vv1–6 — **the road and the well:** the Pharisees hear; Jesus leaves Judea; “He had to pass through Samaria” (v4); Sychar, Jacob’s land and Jacob’s well; Jesus, wearied, sits by the well at the sixth hour.\n- vv7–15 — **living water:** “Give Me a drink” (v7); “How is it that You, being a Jew …?” (v9); the gift of God and living water (v10); “the well is deep” — greater than Jacob? (vv11–12); this water vs. the water I will give (vv13–14); “Sir, give me this water” (v15).\n- vv16–26 — **spirit and truth:** “Go, call your husband” (v16); five husbands (vv17–18); “I perceive that You are a prophet” — this mountain or Jerusalem? (vv19–20); an hour is coming; salvation is from the Jews; the Father seeks true worshipers; God is spirit (vv21–24); “I know that Messiah is coming” — “I who speak to you am He” (vv25–26).\n- vv27–42 — **the harvest:** the disciples are amazed (v27); she leaves her waterpot — “Come, see a man” (vv28–30); “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me” (vv31–34); fields white for harvest, sower and reaper (vv35–38); many Samaritans believe because of her word, many more because of His; “the Savior of the world” (vv39–42).\n- vv43–54 — **the second sign:** a prophet has no honor in his own country (v44); the Galileans receive Him (v45); Cana, a royal official, a dying son (vv46–47); “Unless you people see signs and wonders” (v48); “Go; your son lives” — he believed the word (vv49–50); the slaves meet him; the seventh hour (vv51–52); he and his whole household believed (v53); the second sign (v54).\n\n**Repeated words, with counts:**\n- “come / comes / coming / came” ×14 — vv5, 7, 15, 16, 25, 27, 35, 40, 45, 46, 47 (×2), 49, 54.\n- “harvest / reap / sow / labor” ×11 — vv35 (×2), 36 (×3), 37 (×2), 38 (×4).\n- “worship / worshiped / worshipers” ×10 — vv20 (×2), 21, 22 (×2), 23 (×3), 24 (×2).\n- “water” ×9 — vv7, 10, 11, 13, 14 (×3), 15, 46; “living water” ×2 — vv10, 11.\n- “Samaria / Samaritan(s)” ×8 — vv4, 5, 7, 9 (×3), 39, 40.\n- “know / knew” ×8 — vv1, 10, 22 (×2), 25, 32, 42, 53.\n- “believe / believed” ×7 — vv21, 39, 41, 42, 48, 50, 53.\n- “son(s)” ×7 — vv5, 12, 46, 47, 50, 51, 53; “Galilee / Galileans” ×7 — vv3, 43, 45 (×2), 46, 47, 54.\n- “give / gave / gift” ×7 — vv5, 10 (×2), 12, 14 (×2), 15.\n- “drink / drank / drinks” ×6 — vv7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14; “thirst / thirsty” ×3 — vv13, 14, 15.\n- “hour” ×6 — vv6, 21, 23, 52 (×2), 53.\n- “food / eat” ×6 — vv8, 31, 32 (×2), 33, 34.\n- “lives / living” ×5 — vv10, 11, 50, 51, 53; “well” ×5 — vv6 (×2), 11, 12, 14.\n- “husband(s)” ×5 — vv16, 17 (×2), 18 (×2).\n- “Sir” ×4 — vv11, 15, 19, 49; “Father” ×3 — vv21, 23 (×2); “spirit” ×3 — vv23, 24 (×2).\n- “told me all the things that I have done” ×2 — vv29, 39.\n\n**Contrasts:** Judea ⟷ Galilee, with Samaria between (vv3–4). A Jew ⟷ a Samaritan woman (v9). This water ⟷ the water I will give; thirst again ⟷ never thirst (vv13–14). This mountain ⟷ Jerusalem ⟷ spirit and truth (vv20–24). What you do not know ⟷ what we know (v22). Physical food ⟷ the Father’s will (vv32–34). Four months ⟷ white for harvest now (v35). Sower ⟷ reaper (vv36–38). Because of what you said ⟷ we have heard for ourselves (v42). Signs and wonders ⟷ the word that Jesus spoke (vv48–50).\n\n**Shape of the chapter:** a long conversation (7–26), a harvest (27–42) and a short miracle (43–54). It moves outward — one woman, one town, the Savior of the world — and then back to one father and one boy, and in both halves people believe His word.\n\n**Chapter theme (my words):** Jesus crosses every wall to give living water to the thirsty, tells the truth about sin so He can give a new kind of worship, and gathers a harvest from the people nobody expected. His word is enough — enough to save a town and to heal a dying boy at a distance.", "I": "**Why “had to” go through Samaria?** The direct road from Judea to Galilee ran through Samaria, and Sproul reads it simply: “Jesus may have been in a hurry.” Guzik and Henry read divine purpose — “there were people there who needed to hear Him” (Guzik). John uses *edei*, the same “must” as 3:7, 14, 30. I land with purpose: a woman and a town were waiting.\n\n**What time was “the sixth hour”?** Guzik and Sproul both take it as noon, counting from sunrise (“That means it was high noon”). Some commentators argue John used Roman reckoning (6 p.m.). Noon fits the woman coming alone in the heat, likely avoiding the other women (Sproul).\n\n**What is “living water”?** The woman hears “running water” (v11). Jesus means the life He gives by the Spirit — John explains the phrase in 7:38–39. Guzik: “Jesus made a play on words.” The water becomes a spring that “leaps up” (*hallomai*) inside a man (Sproul). Spurgeon: “You must be the emptiness, and he must be the fulness.”\n\n**Why bring up her husband?** Not to shame her but to heal her. Guzik: “her sinful life had to be confronted.” Henry: “Reproofs are ordinarily most profitable when they are least provoking.” Sproul thinks her “prophet” remark was a deflection — and Jesus let her ask, then answered.\n\n**Does the place of worship matter?** Henry and Guzik stress that worship is no longer tied to a mountain (v21). Sproul presses the other half: Jesus “answers that question” — “It is the Jewish way that is the correct way, the way God has ordained,” because “salvation is of the Jews.” Both are true. God’s plan of salvation came through Israel’s covenants, prophets and Messiah, and I believe God is not finished with Israel (Rom 11:1–2, 26). But the hour has come when true worshipers worship the Father in spirit and truth, wherever they are.\n\n**What is worship “in spirit and truth”?** Sproul: “the worship we offer is to come from the depths of our souls,” and it must follow God’s Word, not felt needs — or it ends at a golden calf. Guzik: “To worship in truth means you worship according to the whole counsel of God’s word.” Henry: “God is a spirit, for he is an infinite and eternal mind.”\n\n**“I who speak to you am He” (v26).** The plain sense is “I am the Messiah.” But it is the first *egō eimi* in John, and it will grow into 8:58 and the name of Exodus 3:14. Sproul: “But here, to a despised Samaritan, a despised woman, Jesus reveals Himself.”\n\n**What is the harvest?** The Samaritans crossing the fields (v30). Jesus’ disciples reap what others sowed — the prophets, John the Baptist, the woman (vv37–38). Henry: “gospel time is harvest time.” Guzik and Bruce wonder whether this is the town Philip later reached (Acts 8:5).\n\n**Is verse 44 a contradiction?** Sproul: “it would be surprising to me if John contradicted himself.” Whether “his own country” is Judea or Galilee, the Galilean welcome in v45 was for signs, not faith. Henry: pride and envy scorn the hometown prophet.\n\n**What kind of faith did the official have?** Spurgeon traces four stages — spark, fire, flame, blaze. Sproul: the man believed God, not just in God, and that is saving faith. Guzik: “In fear, the nobleman ran from Capernaum to Cana; in faith he walked from Cana back to Capernaum.”\n\n**Word study (Greek):**\n- **had to — *edei* (G1163):** the divine “must” again (3:7, 14, 30; 4:4, 24).\n- **well — *pēgē* (G4077):** a spring or fountain; 4:6 (×2), 14.\n- **well (dug) — *phrear* (G5421):** a shaft or cistern; 4:11, 12.\n- **living — *zaō* (G2198):** living water, running and alive (Jer 2:13; John 7:38–39).\n- **springing up — *hallomai* (G242):** leaping; John 4:14; Acts 3:8; 14:10.\n- **worship — *proskyneō* (G4352):** to bow down; NASB “worship” words ×10 in vv20–24.\n- **I am — *eimi* (G1510):** *egō eimi*, “I am [He]” (4:26; 6:35; 8:58; Exod 3:14).\n- **waterpot — *hydria* (G5201):** only John 2:6, 7; 4:28.\n- **food — *brōma* (G1033):** “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me” (v34).\n- **Savior — *sōtēr* (G4990):** only Luke 1:47; 2:11; John 4:42 in the Gospels; 1 John 4:14.\n- **royal official — *basilikos* (G937):** a king’s man, probably of Herod Antipas.\n- **signs — *sēmeion* (G4592) / wonders — *teras* (G5059):** *teras* only here in John.\n\n**Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):**\n1. **“Had to” is the same word as the cross** — *edei* (4:4).\n2. **God was weary at a well** — and would not work a miracle for His own comfort (Spurgeon).\n3. **He asks before He gives** — “Give Me a drink” breaks three walls.\n4. **A spring, not a cistern** — *pēgē* that leaps up, not a deep shaft (Jer 2:13).\n5. **Jesus exposes in order to heal** — 0 for 5 (Sproul), reproof least provoking (Henry).\n6. **Not where, but whom and how** — the Father, in spirit and truth; salvation from the Jews.\n7. **The first “I am” goes to an outcast** (v26).\n8. **She left her waterpot** — and gave Him drink by believing (Spurgeon).\n9. **Testimony leads to His word** — vv39, 41, 42.\n10. **Faith takes Jesus at His word** (Guzik, Sproul).\n\n**Cross-references:** Gen 24; 29:1–12; 33:18–19; 48:22; Exod 2:15–21; 3:14; Deut 18:18; Josh 24:32; 2 Kings 17:24–41; Isa 12:3; 55:1; Jer 2:13; John 2:1–11; 3:16; 6:35; 7:37–39; 8:58; 20:30–31; Acts 1:8; 8:5–25; Rom 11:1–2, 26; Heb 11:1; 1 John 4:14; Rev 22:17.", "A": "**Example to follow — Jesus at the well.** He was tired, and He still had time for one woman everybody else avoided. Some of the men I serve have been that woman — the one the others won’t sit with, the one with the record. Jesus “had to” go there. This week I will go where I would rather not, and sit with someone I would rather avoid, and ask him a simple question.\n\n**Sin to confess — drinking from broken cisterns.** I have gone back to the same wells over and over — approval, pleasure, numbing out, staying busy — and I have been thirsty again every time (v13). Jeremiah called that forsaking the fountain of living waters for broken cisterns. I confess it by name, and I ask Jesus for His water: “Sir, give me this water.”\n\n**Truth to face — He knows all the things that I have done.** When He told her about the five husbands, she did not run home in shame; she ran home with good news: “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done.” The One who knows everything about me still offers me living water. That is the only kind of honesty that doesn’t crush a man.\n\n**Command to obey — worship in spirit and truth; lift up your eyes.** God is not looking for a better building from me; He is seeking worshipers (v23) — from the heart, by His Word. And He tells me to lift up my eyes and look at the fields (v35). The men in my group, the guys at the facility, my own neighbors — the fields are white now, not in four months.\n\n**Promise to trust — “Go; your son lives.”** The official had only a word to walk home on. So do I. Much of what I pray for, I don’t get to see answered right away. Saving faith is “trusting that what God says is the truth” (Sproul). I will take Him at His word today, before I see anything.\n\n**Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):**\n1. Jesus “had to pass through Samaria” — the place good Jews avoided. Who is the person or place I avoid that Jesus might be sending me toward? (4:4–9; Acts 1:8) *A divine appointment waited at the well.*\n2. What “wells” have I kept going back to that leave me thirsty again — and what would it look like to ask Jesus for living water instead? (4:13–15; Jer 2:13) *Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again.*\n3. When Jesus put His finger on her past, the woman changed the subject. What subject do I raise when God gets close to my sin? (4:16–20) *He was more interested in winning a soul than an argument (Guzik).*\n4. Is my worship “in spirit” (from the heart) and “in truth” (by God’s Word)? Which one am I weaker in? (4:23–24) *The Father seeks such people to be His worshipers.*\n5. The woman’s whole testimony was “He told me all the things that I have done.” What would my honest one-sentence testimony be? (4:28–30, 39) *Those are most likely to do good that can tell what God has done for their souls (Henry).*\n6. The official had nothing but a word to walk home on. Where is God asking me to believe His word before I see anything? (4:48–53; Heb 11:1) *Not believing in God but believing God (Sproul).*\n\n**Worship.** The Lord of glory sat tired on a well in Samaria and asked a sinner for a drink. He is the fountain of living waters, the Messiah who said “I am He” to an outcast, the Savior of the world whom Samaritans named first, and the Lord whose word reached across the miles to a dying boy at the very hour He spoke it.\n\n**Prayer.** Lord Jesus, You know all the things that I have done, and You still offer me living water. Sir, give me this water — I am tired of broken cisterns. Teach me to worship the Father in spirit and truth. Lift up my eyes to the fields, and make me a man who leaves his waterpot to tell others where You are. And when all I have is Your word, help me believe it and start walking. Amen."}, "43:5": {"O": "**Setting.** Jerusalem, at an unnamed “feast of the Jews” (v1), between Jesus’ ministry in Galilee (4:43–54) and the feeding of the five thousand (6:1). The pool of Bethesda by the Sheep Gate, with five porticoes full of the sick (vv2–3); then the temple (v14). It is the Sabbath (v9) — the day the conflict turns deadly (v18).\n\n**Structure:**\n- vv1–9 — **the healing:** a man ill thirty-eight years; “Do you wish to get well?”; “I have no man to put me into the pool”; “Get up, pick up your pallet and walk”; immediately well. (vv3b–4, the angel, are bracketed in NASB — not in the oldest manuscripts.)\n- vv10–18 — **the charge:** “not permissible … to carry your pallet”; the man doesn’t know who healed him; Jesus finds him in the temple — “do not sin anymore”; the man tells the Jews; persecution; “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working”; now they seek to kill Him, for “making Himself equal with God.”\n- vv19–30 — **the defense:** the Son does what the Father does (v19), is loved and shown all (v20), gives life (v21), has all judgment (vv22, 27), receives equal honor (v23). The believer has eternal life and has passed out of death into life (v24). The dead hear now (v25); all in the tombs will hear (vv28–29). “I can do nothing on My own initiative” (v30).\n- vv31–47 — **the witnesses:** John (vv33–35), the works (v36), the Father (vv37–38), the Scriptures (v39), Moses (vv45–47). The verdict on the hearers: unwilling to come (v40), no love of God (v42), seeking glory from one another (v44).\n\n**Repeated words, with counts:**\n- “Father” ×16 — vv17, 18, 19 (×2), 20 (×2), 21, 22, 23 (×2), 26, 36 (×2), 37, 43 (“My Father’s”), 45.\n- “testify / testifies / testified / testimony” ×11 — vv31 (×2), 32 (×2), 33, 34, 36 (×3), 37, 39.\n- “Son” ×10 — vv19 (×2), 20, 21, 22, 23 (×2), 25 (“Son of God”), 26, 27 (“Son of Man”).\n- “life” ×9 — vv21 (×2), 24 (×2), 26 (×2), 29, 39, 40.\n- “judge / judges / judgment” ×7 — vv22 (×2), 24, 27, 29, 30 (×2).\n- “sent” ×7 — of the Father sending the Son ×6 (vv23, 24, 30, 36, 37, 38), and v33 (“You have sent to John”).\n- “believe(s)” ×7 — vv24, 38, 44, 46 (×2), 47 (×2).\n- “well” ×6 — vv4, 6, 9, 11, 14, 15 (Greek *hygiēs*).\n- “hear(s) / heard” ×6 — vv24, 25 (×2), 28, 30, 37; “voice” ×3 — vv25, 28, 37.\n- “pallet” ×5 — vv8, 9, 10, 11, 12.\n- “work(s) / working” ×5 — vv17 (×2), 20, 36 (×2).\n- “Sabbath” ×4 — vv9, 10, 16, 18; “honor” ×4 — all in v23.\n- “Truly, truly” ×3 — vv19, 24, 25; “glory” ×3 — vv41, 44 (×2); “marvel” ×2 — vv20, 28; “Moses” ×2 — vv45, 46.\n\n**Contrasts:** waiting at the pool (v7) ⟷ “Get up … and walk” (v8). The mat (v10) ⟷ the man made well (v11). Breaking the Sabbath ⟷ the Father working until now (vv16–17). Death ⟷ life (v24). The hour “now is” (v25) ⟷ the hour “coming” (v28). A resurrection of life ⟷ a resurrection of judgment (v29). Testimony from man ⟷ testimony from the Father (vv34, 37). Glory from one another ⟷ glory from the one and only God (v44). Coming in My Father’s name ⟷ coming in his own name (v43).\n\n**Shape of the chapter:** a sign (1–9), a charge (10–18), a defense (19–30), a summons of witnesses (31–47). It begins with one man who could not walk to the water and ends with a nation unwilling to come to the Son.\n\n**Chapter theme (my words):** The Son does what only God does — He heals with a word, gives life to whom He wishes, and will judge all. Every witness points to Him; the only thing standing between a man and life is his unwillingness to come.", "I": "**Verses 3b–4 — was there an angel?** The NASB brackets the angel stirring the water because the oldest manuscripts lack it. Guzik and Sproul both think it a very early addition (Sproul: likely reflecting local superstition; the pools were fed by artesian wells). Henry, working from the KJV, takes it as genuine: “Expositors generally agree that the virtue this pool had was supernatural.” Either way verse 7 shows what the sick believed — and Jesus bypassed the pool entirely. Spurgeon: “‘Wait at the pool,’ is man’s gospel, and has destroyed its thousands.”\n\n**“Do you wish to get well?” — a real question.** Guzik: “This was a sincere question.” After thirty-eight years a man can make peace with his condition. Sproul: healing would bring new responsibilities, and some men prefer the security of confinement. Henry hears the man’s answer as the cry of the friendless: “It is not for want of a good will, but of a good friend, that I am unhealed.”\n\n**What law did the man break?** Not God’s. Guzik: “It was not a breaking of God’s law of the Sabbath, but the human interpretation of God’s law.” Jeremiah 17:21 forbade carrying loads of trade through the gates; the rabbis widened it to a healed man’s mat. Sproul: “Where in the Word of God does it say…?” Spurgeon calls the complaint “a mere pretense, an idle excuse for their enmity.”\n\n**Is sickness caused by sin (v14)?** Jesus says, “do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.” Sproul links it to Luke 13 — calamity can follow sin — while warning against assuming every disaster is a direct punishment (compare John 9:3). The “worse thing” is more than a relapse: Guzik, “Living a life of sin is worse, and will bring a worse result, than being crippled for thirty-eight years.”\n\n**“Equal with God” (v18).** Jesus’ accusers understood the claim of verse 17 perfectly, and He did not retreat (Guzik: “Jesus did not try and explain that He had not truly worked on the Sabbath”). Sproul answers how the Son can be equal yet say “the Son can do nothing of Himself”: in being, Father and Son are equal; in the work of redemption, the Father sends and the Son obeys. “From all eternity, the Father sends the Son.” Guzik: “not one of master and slave.”\n\n**Life now, resurrection later (vv24–29).** Verse 24 is present and perfect tense: the believer *has* eternal life and *has passed* out of death into life (Spurgeon’s “Verily, Verily”). Verse 25 (“and now is”) is the spiritually dead hearing the gospel; verses 28–29 are the bodily dead hearing His voice (Henry sees both). Jesus echoes Daniel 12:2. In my futurist reading, Revelation 20:4–6 shows that the “resurrection of life” and the “resurrection of judgment” are separated by the thousand years — one “hour” as Daniel’s “many … will awake,” unfolded in stages.\n\n**“Those who did the good deeds” (v29) — saved by works?** No. Verse 24 has already said life comes by hearing and believing; and 6:29 will call believing “the work of God.” The deeds show which resurrection a man belongs to; they do not buy it. Spurgeon: “good works without faith are childish vanities.”\n\n**“You search” or “Search” (v39)?** The Greek form can be either. NASB reads it as a statement (they did search — and still would not come); KJV as a command, which Henry follows: “not only read them, and hear them, but search them.” Both are true; the point is that the Scriptures “testify about Me.” Spurgeon: for them “the Scriptures themselves became a sepulcher.”\n\n**Why didn’t they believe?** Not for lack of evidence. Guzik: “The religious leaders were not willing, even though they had all the testimony one could have wanted.” Sproul calls it moral resistance, not intellectual doubt. Spurgeon (1855) goes further: by nature no man will come to Christ — and yet “It is sin that has brought you into this condition that you will not come.” Our teachers are Reformed or near it here; others read verse 40 as proof that the will is free to refuse. All agree the blame lies with the hearers, not with God.\n\n**Word study (Greek):**\n- **well — *hygiēs* (G5199):** sound, whole; seven of twelve NT uses in John 5 (plus 7:23).\n- **pallet — *krabattos* (G2895):** the poor man’s mat (Mark 2:4–12; John 5:8–11).\n- **is working — *ergazomai* (G2038):** present tense; the Father never stopped (v17).\n- **equal — *isos* (G2470):** equal in rank or measure (5:18; Phil 2:6).\n- **gives life — *zōopoieō* (G2227):** to make alive; God’s prerogative claimed by the Son (5:21; 6:63).\n- **judgment — *krisis* (G2920):** v24 (no judgment for the believer) and v29 (resurrection of judgment).\n- **has passed — *metabainō* (G3327):** to change place; perfect tense (5:24; 1 John 3:14).\n- **testimony / testify — *martyria* / *martyreō* (G3141, G3140):** eleven times in vv31–39.\n- **search — *eraunaō* (G2045):** examine, track down; statement or command in v39.\n- **glory — *doxa* (G1391):** the approval they sought from men (vv41, 44).\n\n**Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):**\n1. **Grace chose one man out of a multitude** — who did not ask and did not know His name (vv3, 13).\n2. **“Well” is the word of the first half** — *hygiēs* in vv6, 9, 11, 14, 15.\n3. **The command came with the power to obey it** (Guzik; Henry: “not … into the waters, but rise and walk”).\n4. **They saw the mat and missed the man** — no law of God forbade it (Sproul).\n5. **A healed body is not a saved soul** — “how not to receive the blessings of Christ” (Sproul).\n6. **His accusers understood Him exactly** — equal with God, and He did not correct them (v18).\n7. **Eternal life is a present possession** — has, has passed (v24).\n8. **Two hours, one voice** — souls now (v25), bodies then (vv28–29).\n9. **You can study the Bible and miss its subject** (v39; Spurgeon’s “sepulcher”).\n10. **Unbelief is a matter of the will** — unwilling, loveless, glory-seeking (vv40–44).\n\n**Cross-references:** Exod 20:8–11; Num 21:8–9; Deut 18:15–19; 19:15; Neh 3:1; Ps 33:6; Isa 35:6; Jer 17:21–22; Dan 7:13–14; 12:2; Matt 12:1–14; Mark 2:1–12; Luke 13:1–5; 24:27, 44; John 1:4; 3:14–18; 7:21–24; 9:3; 10:30; 11:25; Acts 17:30–31; Rom 4:17; Phil 2:6; Heb 1:3; 1 John 3:14; 5:9–12; Rev 20:4–6, 11–15.", "A": "**Question to answer — “Do you wish to get well?”** I’ve sat at that pool. Thirty-eight years is a long time, and some of the men I walk with have been lying by the water longer than that — addiction, anger, a prison sentence that ended years ago but still runs their lives. The honest answer isn’t always yes. Getting well means picking up the mat and walking: a job, a family to face, no more excuses. Jesus asks anyway, and He doesn’t ask me to crawl to the water first. This week I want to answer Him out loud: Yes, Lord. Make me well, and I’ll carry the mat.\n\n**Example to follow — be the man who puts him in the water.** “I have no man to put me into the pool” (v7). Henry: “It is not for want of a good will, but of a good friend.” Jesus became that man’s Friend. I can’t heal anybody, but I can be the brother who shows up, sits by the pool, and points him to the One who can.\n\n**Sin to confess — caring more about the mat than the man.** The leaders looked at a healed man and saw a rules violation (v10). I confess the times I’ve judged a brother by his slip instead of rejoicing in what God has done in him — and the times I’ve hidden behind religious form while my heart was cold.\n\n**Command to obey — “do not sin anymore.”** Jesus went looking for this man in the temple to warn him (v14). Mercy received is not a license; it’s a reason. Whatever Jesus has lifted me out of, I don’t go back to it.\n\n**Promise to trust — “has passed out of death into life.”** If I hear His word and believe the Father who sent Him, I have eternal life now, I will not come into judgment, and I have already moved out of death’s house (v24). On the days I feel like a dead man, the verb is still perfect tense.\n\n**Warning to heed — Bible without Jesus.** I can read my Bible, know my verses, and still not come to Him (vv39–40). And I can live for the approval of the men around me — “glory from one another” (v44) — instead of the approval of God. The test is not how much I know but whether I keep coming to Him.\n\n**Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):**\n1. Jesus asked a man who had been sick thirty-eight years, “Do you wish to get well?” What in my life have I grown used to, and do I really want Him to change it? (5:5–7) *Sproul: healing brings new responsibilities; some prefer the security of their chains.*\n2. The man said, “I have no man to put me into the pool.” Who in my life is lying by the pool with no one to help — and what would it look like to be that man for him? (5:7; Gal 6:2) *Henry: not a good will he lacked, but a good friend.*\n3. The leaders cared more about the mat than the man. Where do I care more about rules and appearances than about people being made whole? (5:10–16) *Guzik: human interpretation of God’s law, not God’s law.*\n4. Jesus found the man in the temple and warned him, “do not sin anymore.” What sin is He warning me about after He has already shown me mercy? (5:14; Rom 6:1–2) *A worse thing than thirty-eight years of paralysis is a life of sin.*\n5. Verse 24 says the one who believes “has passed out of death into life.” Do I live like a man who has already moved out of the house of death? (5:24; 1 John 3:14) *Perfect tense: the move is made and the result stands.*\n6. I can know the Bible and still not come to Jesus. Whose approval am I living for — men’s or God’s? (5:39–44) *“How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another…?”*\n\n**Worship.** The Son who stood by a pool in Jerusalem has life in Himself. He gives life to whom He wishes. All judgment is His. One day every grave will hear His voice. The Father has testified, the works have testified, John and Moses and all the Scriptures have testified — and they all point to Him. He deserves the same honor as the Father.\n\n**Prayer.** Lord Jesus, You found me lying by the pool with no one to help me in. Thank You for asking if I wanted to be well, and for making me well with a word. Keep me from going back to the sin You lifted me out of. Make me the friend who carries a brother to You. Let me search the Scriptures to find You, not to impress anyone, and let me seek the glory that comes from God alone. Amen."}, "43:6": {"O": "**Setting.** Galilee, “after these things” (v1) — around the Sea of Galilee (Tiberias), with the Passover near (v4), a year before the cross. A grassy hillside on the far shore (vv3, 10); the lake at night (vv16–21); Capernaum and its synagogue (vv24, 59).\n\n**Structure:**\n- vv1–15 — **the feeding:** a large crowd following the signs; Jesus tests Philip (“Where are we to buy bread…?”); Philip counts 200 denarii; Andrew finds a lad with five barley loaves and two fish; the men sit on the grass, about five thousand; Jesus gives thanks and distributes; “Gather up the leftover fragments”; twelve baskets; “This is truly the Prophet”; they would take Him by force to make Him king; He withdraws alone.\n- vv16–21 — **the storm:** dark, a strong wind, three or four miles rowed; Jesus walking on the sea; fear; “It is I; do not be afraid”; immediately at land.\n- vv22–40 — **the bread from heaven:** the crowd finds Him at Capernaum; “you seek Me … because you ate of the loaves”; “Do not work for the food which perishes”; “This is the work of God, that you believe”; they demand a sign and cite the manna; “My Father … gives you the true bread out of heaven”; “I am the bread of life” (v35); all the Father gives will come, none cast out, none lost, raised on the last day (vv37–40).\n- vv41–59 — **drawn and fed:** grumbling — “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph?”; “No one can come to Me unless the Father … draws him” (v44); “taught of God” (Isa 54:13); “he who believes has eternal life” (v47); the fathers ate manna and died; “I am the living bread”; “My flesh”; the Jews argue; eat My flesh, drink My blood (vv53–58).\n- vv60–71 — **the sifting:** “This is a difficult statement”; the Son of Man ascending; “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing”; “no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him”; many withdraw; “You do not want to go away also, do you?”; Peter: “Lord, to whom shall we go?”; “one of you is a devil” — Judas.\n\n**Repeated words, with counts:**\n- “bread” ×17 — vv5, 7, 23, 31, 32 (×2), 33, 34, 35, 41, 48, 50, 51 (×3), 58 (×2).\n- “eat / eats / ate / eaten” ×16 — vv5, 13, 23, 26, 31 (×2), 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 56, 57, 58 (×2).\n- “life” ×12 — vv27, 33, 35, 40, 47, 48, 51, 53, 54, 63 (×2), 68; “eternal life” ×5 — vv27, 40, 47, 54, 68.\n- “Father” (God) ×11 — vv27, 32, 37, 40, 44, 45, 46 (×2), 57 (×2), 65; plus “father and mother” (Joseph’s family) v42; “fathers” (Israel’s) ×3 — vv31, 49, 58.\n- “heaven” ×10 — vv31, 32 (×2), 33, 38, 41, 42, 50, 51, 58; “came / comes down out of (from) heaven” ×7 — vv33, 38, 41, 42, 50, 51, 58.\n- “give / gives / gave / given” ×13 — vv11, 23 (“given thanks”), 27, 31, 32 (×2), 33, 34, 37, 39, 51, 52, 63.\n- “disciples” ×10 — vv3, 8, 12, 16, 22 (×2), 24, 60, 61, 66.\n- “believe(s)” ×9 — vv29, 30, 35, 36, 40, 47, 64 (×2), 69.\n- “flesh” ×7 — vv51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 63; “blood” ×4 — vv53–56; “drink(s)” ×4 — vv53–56.\n- “come to Me / comes to Me” ×6 — vv35, 37 (×2), 44, 45, 65.\n- “live / living” ×6 — vv51 (×2), 57 (×3), 58.\n- “raise … on the last day” ×4 — vv39, 40, 44, 54.\n- “sign(s)” ×4 — vv2, 14, 26, 30; “loaves” ×4 — vv9, 11, 13, 26; “twelve” ×4 — vv13, 67, 70, 71.\n- “Truly, truly” ×4 — vv26, 32, 47, 53; “I am” (with predicate) ×4 — vv35, 41 (quoted), 48, 51 — and “It is I” (*egō eimi*) v20.\n- “work(s)” ×5 — vv27, 28 (×2), 29, 30; “grumble” ×3 — vv41, 43, 61; “manna” ×2 — vv31, 49.\n\n**Contrasts:** 200 denarii not enough (v7) ⟷ twelve baskets left over (v13). A king by force (v15) ⟷ withdrawn alone (v15). Food which perishes ⟷ food which endures to eternal life (v27). Moses ⟷ My Father (v32). Manna — ate and died ⟷ this bread — live forever (vv49–51, 58). The son of Joseph (v42) ⟷ the bread that came down out of heaven (v41). The Spirit gives life ⟷ the flesh profits nothing (v63). Many withdrew (v66) ⟷ “to whom shall we go?” (v68). “I Myself … choose you, the twelve” ⟷ “one of you is a devil” (v70).\n\n**Shape of the chapter:** two signs (1–21), a sermon (22–59), a sifting (60–71). It starts with five thousand eager to crown Him and ends with twelve — and a betrayer among them. The bread in their hands becomes the Bread in front of them.\n\n**Chapter theme (my words):** Jesus gives bread to show that He is the Bread. Everything depends on coming to Him and feeding on Him by faith — and no one comes unless the Father draws him, and no one who comes is ever cast out.", "I": "**Was the miracle real?** Sproul ridicules the old liberal reading that the real wonder was people sharing their lunches — “That was the most prodigious magical act in the history of the world if that is actually what happened.” John calls it a sign (v14), and the crowd’s reaction (v15) makes no sense if nothing happened. Guzik: the multiplying happened in Jesus’ hands, and the disciples carried it out — “He could have created bread and fish in the pocket or bag of every person, but He didn’t.”\n\n**Why did Jesus refuse to be king (v15)?** Not because He is not King, but because they wanted the wrong kind. Sproul: “They were looking for the kingdom of man, and He came to bring the kingdom of God.” Henry calls their zeal misguided. In my reading His kingdom is real and will come visibly on earth at His return (Acts 1:6–7; Rev 11:15; 20:4) — but on His terms and in His time, and through a cross first.\n\n**“It is I” — an “I am” saying?** Sproul hears the divine name in *egō eimi* (Exod 3:14) and says scholars often leave verse 20 off the list: “I am who I am is here.” Only God walks on the waves (Job 9:8) and stills the storm (Ps 107:29). Spurgeon and Henry make it comfort — “When trouble is nigh Christ is nigh.”\n\n**What is “the work of God” (v29)?** The crowd asks what to do; Jesus answers with one work, to believe. Guzik: “not to do, but to trust.” Henry: “The work of faith is the work of God.” Sproul would add that faith is itself God’s gift (vv37, 44, 65); Guzik that faith is the foundation of obedience, not a replacement for it.\n\n**All that the Father gives (vv37–40).** Sproul calls verse 37 the key verse on election: the Father gives people to the Son, so their coming is certain and none are lost — “It is the perseverance of the saints with a vengeance.” Spurgeon holds the “high doctrine” and the “broad doctrine” together: the gift guarantees that some will come, and the invitation shuts out no one who comes — “The King’s highway is for all.” Whatever my men believe about election, the promise in the second half of verse 37 is for every one of them.\n\n**What does “draws” mean (v44)? — where Christians differ.** The verb *helkō* can mean drag (Acts 16:19) or draw (John 12:32). Sproul, citing Kittel, argues for “compel” and against the Arminian view that we choose first. Guzik, with Clarke, reads “alluring, not dragging,” and cites Alford against irresistible grace. Spurgeon is as Reformed as Sproul on inability, yet says “Do not imagine that any man will go to heaven kicking and struggling all the way against the hand that draws him”; Henry: “a cheerful compliance.” Arminian readers add that 12:32 says Christ draws “all men.” Common ground: no one comes on his own, God takes the initiative, and verse 45 shows He draws by teaching — the Father’s voice in His Word.\n\n**Eating His flesh, drinking His blood (vv53–58) — the Lord’s Supper?** All four of our teachers say the passage speaks first of faith-union with Christ, not of the sacrament. Henry: “It is a spiritual eating and drinking that is here spoken of, not a sacramental,” and he rejects transubstantiation; Spurgeon notes the Supper had not yet been given; Guzik quotes Bruce, “not indeed speaking directly of the Lord’s Supper”; Sproul agrees but “with less than dogmatic certainty.” Roman Catholic and Lutheran readers take the passage sacramentally; fair to say so. My anchor: verse 47 and verse 54 promise the same eternal life — one to the believer, the other to the eater. To eat is to believe. The Supper (1 Cor 11:26) pictures and proclaims that feeding.\n\n**“The flesh profits nothing” (v63).** Not Jesus’ flesh — which He has just given for the world — but human nature on its own. Sproul: “The flesh cannot produce spiritual reality.” “Church attendance will not do it.” Life comes by the Spirit through the words of Jesus, which “are spirit and are life.”\n\n**Why did Jesus choose Judas (v70)?** Jesus “knew from the beginning” (v64). Judas was chosen to the apostleship, not to salvation; he “was going to betray Him” (v71). Henry: “Judas not only had a devil, but he was a devil”; “The star that falls never was a star.” Guzik quotes Boice: “There are Judases among the apparent followers of the Lord in our day.”\n\n**Word study (Greek):**\n- **sign — *sēmeion* (G4592):** a miracle that points beyond itself (vv2, 14, 26, 30).\n- **fragments — *klasma* (G2801):** broken pieces; “so that nothing will be lost” (v12; compare v39).\n- **baskets — *kophinos* (G2894):** small wicker food baskets; twelve.\n- **It is I — *egō eimi* (G1473, G1510):** “I am” — the divine name (v20; Exod 3:14).\n- **set His seal — *sphragizō* (G4972):** to certify, authenticate (v27; 3:33; Eph 1:13).\n- **work — *ergazomai* (G2038):** “Do not work … what shall we do, so that we may work…?” (vv27–30).\n- **bread — *artos* (G740):** loaf bread; seventeen times.\n- **cast out — *ekballō* (G1544):** with *ou mē* — “never, by no means” (v37).\n- **grumble — *gongyzō* (G1111):** Israel’s murmuring word (vv41, 43, 61).\n- **draws — *helkō* (G1670):** pull, haul, draw (6:44; 12:32; 18:10; 21:6, 11; Acts 16:19).\n- **eats — *trōgō* (G5176):** to chew, eat; vv54–58.\n- **difficult — *sklēros* (G4642):** hard, harsh — hard to accept (v60).\n- **Holy One — *hagios* (G40):** “the Holy One of God” (v69; Mark 1:24).\n- **devil — *diabolos* (G1228):** slanderer, adversary (6:70; 8:44; 13:2).\n\n**Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):**\n1. **The miracle was a sign, and they missed it** — they wanted more bread (vv2, 14, 26, 30).\n2. **Little is much in His hands** — five barley loaves, twelve baskets left.\n3. **He walked across the storm with God’s name** — *egō eimi*.\n4. **The work God wants is faith** (v29).\n5. **Moses gave bread; the Father gives the Bread** — a Person, not a portion (vv32–35).\n6. **Verse 37 has two halves, and both are true** — the Father’s gift and the open door.\n7. **“Drawn” — the teachers differ** — compel, allure, cheerful compliance; but no one comes without it.\n8. **Eating is believing** — compare vv47 and 54.\n9. **Hard to accept, not hard to understand** (v60).\n10. **There is nowhere else to go** (v68).\n\n**Cross-references:** Exod 3:14; 16:4, 15; Num 11:1–9; Deut 8:3; 18:15; 2 Kgs 4:42–44; Job 9:8; Neh 9:15; Ps 78:24; 107:23–30; Isa 54:13; 55:1–3; Matt 14:13–33; 16:16; Mark 1:24; 6:30–52; Luke 9:10–17; John 1:14; 3:33; 4:34; 8:44; 10:27–29; 12:32; 13:2, 18; Acts 16:19; 1 Cor 10:3–4; 11:23–26; Eph 1:13; Rev 7:16–17.", "A": "**Example to avoid — Philip’s calculator.** Jesus asked Philip where to buy bread “to test him” (v6), and Philip ran the numbers. I do that. A man gets out with nothing, a family is behind on rent, a ministry needs what we don’t have — and I count denarii instead of looking at the One who “knew what He was intending to do.” Sproul: “Philip flunks the test.” This week, before I calculate, I’ll pray.\n\n**Command to obey — give Him the loaves.** The boy didn’t have much, but he gave it, and Andrew brought it (vv8–9). Spurgeon: “Christ’s additions mean subtraction—and Christ’s subtractions mean additions.” My story, my time, my small gifts — I put them in His hands and let Him break and distribute them. And I gather the fragments: nothing God gives is meant to be wasted, including the years I thought were lost.\n\n**Promise to trust — “It is I; do not be afraid.”** The disciples were in the storm because they obeyed (vv16–19). Obedience doesn’t mean calm water. Some of the men I serve are rowing in the dark right now — court dates, cravings, a marriage on the edge. He walks across exactly that, and He doesn’t force His way into the boat. I welcome Him in.\n\n**Sin to confess — seeking Him for loaves.** “You seek Me … because you ate of the loaves and were filled” (v26). I confess the times I’ve wanted Jesus for what He gives — relief, a job, a way out — more than for who He is. I want the Bread, not just the bread.\n\n**Promise to trust — “I will certainly not cast out.”** Men in recovery and men behind walls often believe they are the exception — too far gone, too many relapses. Verse 37 has no exception clause. *Ou mē*: never. If he comes, he is received; if he is received, he is kept, and Jesus will raise him up on the last day (vv39–40).\n\n**Choice to make — “To whom shall we go?”** When the teaching got hard, many walked (v66). Peter didn’t say he understood it all. He said there was no one else (v68). I’ve tried the other places — the bottle, the bed, the money, my own strength — and none of them had words of eternal life.\n\n**Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):**\n1. Jesus asked Philip a question He already knew the answer to, “to test him.” What need in my life looks as impossible as feeding five thousand — and am I counting my money or looking to Him? (6:5–9) *Sproul: “Philip flunks the test.” Little is much in His hands.*\n2. What “five loaves” — time, talent, story, money — am I holding back because it seems too small to matter? (6:9–13; 2 Kgs 4:43) *Spurgeon: “Christ’s additions mean subtraction—and Christ’s subtractions mean additions.”*\n3. Where am I rowing hard in the dark right now, and what would it mean to hear Him say, “It is I; do not be afraid”? (6:16–21; Ps 107:29–30) *Obedience doesn’t guarantee calm water, but He comes across the storm.*\n4. Do I follow Jesus for what He gives or for who He is? What “loaves” keep bringing me back? (6:26–27) *“You seek Me … because you ate of the loaves and were filled.”*\n5. Jesus says He will “certainly not cast out” anyone who comes. What do I think would make Him turn me away — and what does verse 37 say about that? (6:37–40; John 10:28) *Ou mē — the strongest “never” in Greek.*\n6. When a teaching of Jesus is hard to accept, what do I do — walk away quietly, or say with Peter, “Lord, to whom shall we go?” (6:60–69) *Hard to accept, not hard to understand.*\n\n**Worship.** He fed five thousand with a boy’s lunch and had twelve baskets left. He walked on the sea and said, “I am.” He came down from heaven as the true bread, gave His flesh for the life of the world, and promised to lose none whom the Father gave Him. He is the Holy One of God. He alone has the words of eternal life.\n\n**Prayer.** Lord Jesus, Bread of life, I come to You. Forgive me for chasing loaves instead of You. Take the little I have and make it enough for the men around me. When I’m rowing in the dark, come to me across the water and say, “It is I.” Draw the men I love, Father, the way You drew me. And when Your words are hard, keep me from walking away — to whom else would I go? You have words of eternal life. Amen."}, "43:7": {"O": "**Setting.** Some months after the Bread of Life discourse (John 6). Jesus stays in Galilee because the Jews in Judea are seeking to kill Him (v1; cf. 5:18). The Feast of Booths (Tabernacles) — seven days in the seventh month, plus a holy eighth day (Lev 23:34–36) — brings the pilgrims to Jerusalem. Jesus goes up “not publicly” (v10), teaches in the temple “in the midst of the feast” (v14), and cries out “on the last day, the great day of the feast” (v37).\n\n**Structure:**\n- vv1–13 — **the brothers and the time:** His brothers taunt Him to go public; “not even His brothers were believing in Him” (v5). “My time is not yet here” (vv6, 8). He goes up in secret; the crowds grumble — “He is a good man” / “He leads the people astray” (v12).\n- vv14–24 — **whose teaching:** “How has this man become learned?” (v15). “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me” (v16). The test: “If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know” (v17). Circumcision on the Sabbath vs. making “an entire man well” (vv22–23). “Do not judge according to appearance” (v24).\n- vv25–36 — **where is He from:** the people of Jerusalem think they know His origin (v27); Jesus cries out that He is from the One who sent Him (vv28–29). They seek to seize Him, but “His hour had not yet come” (v30). Many believe (v31). The Pharisees send officers (v32). “A little while longer … I go to Him who sent Me” (vv33–36).\n- vv37–39 — **the cry:** “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink” — rivers of living water from within — “this He spoke of the Spirit” (v39).\n- vv40–53 — **division:** the Prophet? the Christ? not from Galilee? (vv40–42). “A division occurred in the crowd because of Him” (v43). The officers return: “Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks” (v46). The Pharisees scorn the crowd (vv47–49); Nicodemus asks for a fair hearing (vv50–51) and is mocked (v52). Verse 53 opens the bracketed passage (7:53–8:11).\n\n**Repeated words, with counts:**\n- “seek / seeking / seeks” ×11 — vv1, 4, 11, 18 (×2), 19, 20, 25, 30, 34, 36; “kill” ×4 — vv1, 19, 20, 25.\n- “know / knows / known” ×11 — vv4, 17, 26, 27 (×2), 28 (×3), 29, 49, 51.\n- “from” ×13 — vv17, 18, 22 (×2), 27 (×2), 28, 29, 41, 42 (×2), 51, 52 — the chapter’s question of origins; “where” ×6 — vv27 (×2), 28, 34, 36, 42.\n- “feast” ×7 — vv2, 8 (×2), 10, 11, 14, 37.\n- “sent / send” ×6 — vv16, 18, 28, 29, 32, 33 (five times of the Father sending the Son; v32, the rulers sending officers).\n- “Christ” ×6 — vv26, 27, 31, 41 (×2), 42.\n- “the Jews” ×6 — vv1, 2, 11, 13, 15, 35; “crowd(s)” ×6 — vv12, 20, 31, 32, 43, 49.\n- “Law” ×5 — vv19 (×2), 23, 49, 51; “Moses” ×4 — vv19, 22 (×2), 23.\n- “believe / believing / believed” ×5 — vv5, 31, 38, 39, 48.\n- “Galilee” ×5 — vv1, 9, 41, 52 (×2); “Pharisees” ×5 — vv32 (×2), 45, 47, 48.\n- “teach / teaching” ×5 — vv14, 16, 17, 28, 35.\n- “publicly / openly” ×4 — vv4, 10, 13, 26; “in secret” ×2 — vv4, 10.\n- “judge / judgment” ×4 — v24 (×3), v51.\n- “time” ×3 — vv6 (×2), 8; “hour” ×1 — v30; “seize” ×3 — vv30, 32, 44.\n- “glory / glorified” ×3 — vv18 (×2), 39; “Spirit” ×2 — v39.\n\n**Contrasts:** His time ⟷ your time (v6). Publicly ⟷ in secret (vv4, 10). From Himself ⟷ from the One who sent Him (vv16–18). Appearance ⟷ righteous judgment (v24). We know where He is from ⟷ you do not know Him (vv27–28). The water poured at the altar ⟷ rivers of living water from within (vv37–38). The officers sent to seize ⟷ the officers who come back amazed (vv32, 46). The rulers who have not believed ⟷ the crowd that does not know the Law (vv48–49).\n\n**Shape of the chapter:** a slow approach to Jerusalem (1–13), three rounds of argument in the temple (14–36), one great cry (37–39), and a city split down the middle (40–52). Everyone is asking “Who is this man, and where is He from?”\n\n**Chapter theme (my words):** Jesus lives on His Father’s schedule and speaks His Father’s words, so no one can hurry Him, catch Him or explain Him away. To every thirsty man He offers Himself, and the Spirit He gives turns a dry life into a river.", "I": "**Why didn’t His brothers believe (vv3–5)?** They had grown up in the same house and seen the same works, yet their advice — go public, show Yourself to the world — reveals that they wanted a celebrity, not a Savior. Sproul hears in it a hope for worldly power, not saving faith; Spurgeon calls it “a very painful truth, that those who were the near relations of the Saviour” did not believe; Henry: “Many that have the same external privileges and advantages do not make the same use of them.” The good news is that unbelief in John 7 was not the end: after the resurrection Jesus appeared to James (1 Cor 15:7), and His brothers were praying with the church (Acts 1:14).\n\n**Did Jesus deceive His brothers (vv8–10)?** He says “I do not go up to this feast,” then goes up. Some manuscripts read “not yet” (the KJV follows them: “I go not up yet”). Either way the point is timing, not travel: He would not go up *their* way — publicly, as a pilgrim show — or on *their* schedule. He went later, quietly, when His Father’s time had come. Guzik: “God’s timing is an important expression of His will.”\n\n**Whose teaching (vv15–18)?** The scholars’ question — “How has this man become learned, having never been educated?” — is half admiration, half dismissal. Jesus’ answer is that His teaching is not self-made: Guzik, “He was not self taught; Jesus was God taught.” Sproul paraphrases, “I brought it with Me from heaven.” He also guards the two natures: as man Jesus learned and grew (Luke 2:52), but what He taught was the Father’s word, without error.\n\n**The test of verse 17.** “If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching.” This is the most practical apologetic in the Gospels. The problem with unbelief is usually not information but willingness. Sproul: “If you wanted to do the will of God, you would hear My voice, and you would listen to Me.” Henry: “Those who resemble God are most likely to understand him.” Spurgeon: godly living makes “a far better critic as to what truth is” than learning.\n\n**Circumcision and the Sabbath (vv21–24).** The “one deed” is the healing at Bethesda (5:1–9), still causing a stir. Jesus argues from the lesser to the greater: the Law requires circumcision on the eighth day even when it is a Sabbath; if one part of a man may be put right on the Sabbath, how much more “an entire man” (v23)? Hence the command: do not judge by appearance (*kat’ opsin*), but with righteous judgment.\n\n**Where is He from (vv27–29, 41–42, 52)?** The crowd holds two contradictory traditions — no one will know where the Christ is from (v27), and the Christ comes from Bethlehem (v42). They “know” Jesus is from Nazareth, so He can’t be either. John lets the irony stand: his readers know Jesus was born in Bethlehem (Matt 2:1; Luke 2:4–7), and His true origin is the Father (v29). As for “no prophet arises out of Galilee” (v52), Guzik notes the obvious exception — Jonah, of Gath-hepher in Galilee (2 Kgs 14:25).\n\n**What is “the last day, the great day of the feast” (v37)?** Either the seventh day, the climax of the water ceremony, or the eighth day, the holy convocation (Lev 23:36). Guzik understands the water was poured on the earlier days and apparently not on the eighth; Sproul sets Jesus’ cry “while the Jews are pouring the water out, remembering the water that came from the rock.” I don’t need to settle it to see the point: in the middle of the feast’s remembering, Jesus stands up and says the water is Him.\n\n**Whose “innermost being” (v38)?** NASB and most readers take it of the believer: the one who drinks becomes a channel. Some early writers took it of Christ: the rivers flow from Him (cf. 19:34; Rev 22:1). John’s comment settles what the water is — the Spirit (v39) — and when it flows: after Jesus is glorified. Henry holds both together: “Believers drink of a rock in them, Christ in them.”\n\n**“The Spirit was not yet given” (v39).** Not that the Spirit did not exist — He moved over the waters in Genesis 1 and filled the prophets — but that the promised outpouring of the new covenant waited for the cross, resurrection and ascension (John 16:7; Acts 2:33). Sproul: “Today, that is the chief ministry of the Holy Ghost: to take the work of the Son and bring it to fruition in us.”\n\n**The Feast of Booths and the future.** Zechariah 14 sees living waters flowing out of Jerusalem (14:8) and the nations going up year by year to keep the Feast of Booths before the King (14:16). I read that as a real future for Jerusalem and Israel in the Messiah’s kingdom. What Jesus offered at the feast in John 7 to “anyone” He will one day display before the whole world from the same city.\n\n**Nicodemus (vv50–52).** The man who came by night (3:2) now asks a legal question in the open — “Our Law does not judge a man unless it first hears from him … does it?” Sproul: “Excuse me. Is this the way we operate with our law?” Henry: “Facts, and not faces, must be known in judgment.” It’s a small step, and he is mocked for it; by 19:39 he is carrying spices to Jesus’ tomb.\n\n**Verse 53 and the bracket.** NASB opens a bracket at 7:53 — “[Everyone went to his home.” — because 7:53–8:11 is not found in the earliest manuscripts of John. I deal with that honestly in the John 8 study; here I just note that 7:52 reads straight on to 8:12.\n\n**Word study (Greek):**\n- **time — *kairos* (G2540):** the fit, appointed moment (vv6, 8).\n- **hour — *hōra* (G5610):** John’s word for the cross and glory (v30; 2:4; 12:23; 17:1).\n- **Feast of Booths — *skēnopēgia* (G4634):** “tent-pitching”; only here in the NT (cf. *eskēnōsen*, 1:14).\n- **learned — *grammata* (G1121):** “letters,” formal learning (v15; Acts 26:24).\n- **appearance — *opsis* (G3799):** outward look; only John 7:24; 11:44; Rev 1:16.\n- **seize — *piazō* (G4084):** to grip, arrest; eight of twelve NT uses in John (vv30, 32, 44).\n- **innermost being — *koilia* (G2836):** belly, womb; figuratively the inner self (v38).\n- **glorified — *doxazō* (G1392):** John’s word for the cross and exaltation (v39).\n- **division — *schisma* (G4978):** a tear; John uses it three times of people split over Jesus (7:43; 9:16; 10:19).\n\n**Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):**\n1. **Nearness is not faith** — His brothers saw everything and did not believe (v5); later they did (Acts 1:14).\n2. **Two words for time** — *kairos* (vv6, 8) and *hōra* (v30); Jesus waits for the Father’s hour.\n3. **Jesus kept the Father’s clock** — Spurgeon: “Our Lord Jesus Christ did everything, as it were, by the clock.”\n4. **Obedience opens understanding** (v17) — Henry: “Those who resemble God are most likely to understand him.”\n5. **Judge rightly, not by the surface** (v24) — “No righteous judgment can be come to if appearances decide” (Dods, in Guzik).\n6. **Jesus is the fulfillment of the feast** — the water poured for the rock points to Him (vv37–38).\n7. **Thirst is the only qualification** — bring nothing but your thirst (Spurgeon).\n8. **The river waited for the glory** — Spirit after the cross and ascension (v39; Acts 2:33).\n9. **The arresting officers were arrested** — “they could not take him, for he had fairly taken them” (Spurgeon).\n10. **Nicodemus is moving** — by night (3:2), in council (7:50), at the tomb (19:39).\n\n**Cross-references:** Exod 17:6; Lev 23:34–43; Deut 16:16; 18:15; 1 Sam 16:7; 2 Kgs 14:25; Isa 12:3; 55:1; 58:11; Ezek 47:1–12; Mic 5:2; Zech 14:8, 16; Matt 2:1; Luke 2:52; 12:51; John 1:14; 3:2; 4:10–14; 5:1–18; 6:66–68; 10:18; 16:7; 19:39; Acts 1:14; 2:33; 1 Cor 15:7; Rev 22:1, 17.", "A": "**Command to obey — “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.”** I know what thirst does to a man. Most of the men I walk with have tried to drink their way out of it — the bottle, the pipe, the screen, the woman who isn’t their wife, the next deal. Jesus didn’t shout at the feast to condemn thirsty people; He shouted to invite them. Spurgeon is right: I bring nothing but my thirst, and coming is believing. This week, when the thirst hits, I will say it out loud — “Lord, I’m thirsty” — and come to Him first, before I reach for anything else.\n\n**Sin to confess — judging by appearance.** I size men up fast: the tattoos, the record, the way he talks, the suit he wears. Verse 24 stops me. The crowd judged Jesus by His hometown and His lack of a diploma and missed the Son of God. I confess the times I have written a man off — or trusted one — because of how things looked. Facts, not faces.\n\n**Example to follow — Jesus on His Father’s clock.** His brothers wanted Him to make a move. He waited. I am not good at waiting; I want God to show Himself now, on my terms. Jesus’ “My time is not yet here” teaches me that God’s delays are not God’s denials, and that a man walking in the Father’s will cannot be hurried by his friends or stopped by his enemies.\n\n**Truth to live in — obedience before understanding.** “If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know” (v17). Some of my questions are honest; some are excuses. Where I already know what God wants and I’m stalling, the next light will come when I obey the light I have.\n\n**Promise to trust — rivers, not a trickle.** The Spirit Jesus gives doesn’t just quench my thirst; He flows out of me to the next man. The thing God is healing in me is the thing He wants to pour through me into someone else’s dry life.\n\n**Example to follow — Nicodemus’ small step.** He didn’t preach a sermon in the council; he asked one fair question and got mocked for it. Sometimes faithfulness is one sentence in a hostile room.\n\n**Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):**\n1. Who in my own family has watched my life and still doesn’t believe? What does Jesus’ patience with His brothers teach me about waiting for them? (7:3–5; Acts 1:14) *His brothers didn’t believe in John 7 — and were praying with the church in Acts 1:14.*\n2. Where am I pushing God to act on my timetable — “show Yourself” — instead of trusting His time? (7:6–8, 30) *Kairos, the fit moment, belongs to the Father.*\n3. Is there a truth in Scripture I keep arguing with because I’m not yet willing to obey it? (7:17) *Verse 17: the will comes before the knowing.*\n4. Where have I judged a man — or been judged — by appearance? What would “righteous judgment” look like there? (7:24; 1 Sam 16:7) *Facts, not faces (Henry).*\n5. What am I thirsty for right now, and where have I been trying to drink instead of coming to Jesus? (7:37–38; Isa 55:1) *Bring nothing but your thirst (Spurgeon).*\n6. Like Nicodemus, where do I need to speak up for Jesus in a room that is against Him? (7:50–51; 19:39) *Small steps of courage in the open.*\n\n**Worship.** The feast remembered water from a rock and a pillar of fire in the night; Jesus stood in the middle of it and said, in effect, “That was Me.” Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks. He keeps the Father’s time, He speaks the Father’s words, and He gives the Father’s Spirit — rivers of living water.\n\n**Prayer.** Lord Jesus, I’m thirsty. I have tried to drink from wells that left me drier than before. I come to You with nothing but my thirst — let me drink. Give me a willing heart to do Your will, so that I will know Your truth. Keep me from judging by appearance. Teach me to wait on Your time and not push for mine. Pour Your Spirit through me like rivers into the lives of the men around me, and give me the courage of Nicodemus to speak up for You when it costs me. Amen."}, "43:8": {"O": "**Setting.** Still in the temple in Jerusalem, at or just after the Feast of Booths (John 7). The NASB brackets 7:53–8:11 — the woman caught in adultery — because the earliest manuscripts of John do not contain it; the bracket closes at the end of verse 11. From verse 12, “Jesus again spoke to them”; verse 20 places the words “in the treasury, as He taught in the temple.” The chapter ends with Jesus going out of the temple (v59).\n\n**Structure:**\n- [7:53]–8:11 — **the woman and her accusers (bracketed):** Mount of Olives, then the temple at dawn (vv1–2). Scribes and Pharisees bring a woman “caught in adultery, in the very act” to test Him (vv3–6). He writes on the ground; “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her” (v7). They leave one by one, oldest first (v9). “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more” (v11).\n- vv12–20 — **the Light of the world:** the claim (v12); “Your testimony is not true” (v13); Jesus and the Father as two witnesses (vv14–18); “Where is Your Father?” (v19); in the treasury, and no one seized Him (v20).\n- vv21–30 — **die in your sins:** “where I am going, you cannot come” (vv21–22); from below / from above (v23); “unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins” (v24); “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He” (v28); “many came to believe in Him” (v30).\n- vv31–36 — **truth and freedom:** “If you continue in My word … the truth will make you free” (vv31–32); “never yet been enslaved” (v33); the slave of sin; the son remains; “free indeed” (vv34–36).\n- vv37–47 — **whose children:** Abraham’s descendants who seek to kill Him (vv37–40); “we have one Father: God” (v41); “If God were your Father, you would love Me” (v42); “You are of your father the devil” (v44); “He who is of God hears the words of God” (v47).\n- vv48–59 — **I AM:** “a Samaritan and have a demon” (v48); “if anyone keeps My word he will never see death” (v51); “Abraham died” (vv52–53); “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day” (v56); “before Abraham was born, I am” (v58); stones, and He goes out of the temple (v59).\n\n**Repeated words, with counts:**\n- “Father” (capital F, God) ×12 — vv16, 18, 19 (×3), 27, 28, 38, 41, 42, 49, 54; “father” (lowercase) ×8 — vv38, 39, 41, 44 (×3), 53, 56 — twenty in all, the chapter’s great question.\n- “Abraham / Abraham’s” ×11 — vv33, 37, 39 (×3), 40, 52, 53, 56, 57, 58.\n- “know / knew / known” ×13 — vv14 (×2), 19 (×3), 28, 32, 37, 52, 55 (×4).\n- “speak / spoke” ×12 — vv12, 20, 26 (×2), 27, 28, 30, 38, 44 (×2), 45, 46.\n- “true / truly” ×9 — vv13, 14, 16, 17, 26, 31, 34, 51, 58 (“Truly, truly” ×3 — vv34, 51, 58).\n- “sin / sins” ×8 — vv7, 11, 21, 24 (×2), 34 (×2), 46.\n- “die / died / death” ×8 — vv21, 24 (×2), 51, 52 (×2), 53 (×2).\n- “testify / testifies / testimony” ×7 — vv13 (×2), 14 (×2), 17, 18 (×2).\n- “truth” ×7 — vv32 (×2), 40, 44 (×2), 45, 46.\n- “where” ×7 — vv9, 10, 14 (×4), 21; “hear / heard” ×7 — vv9, 26, 38, 40, 43, 47 (×2).\n- “judge / judging / judgment / judges” ×6 — vv15 (×2), 16 (×2), 26, 50; “condemn” ×2 — vv10, 11.\n- “word” ×6 — vv31, 37, 43, 51, 52, 55.\n- “believe / believed” ×5 — vv24, 30, 31, 45, 46; “sent” ×5 — vv16, 18, 26, 29, 42; “seek(s)” ×5 — vv21, 37, 40, 50 (×2).\n- “free” ×4 — vv32, 33, 36 (×2); “slave(s) / enslaved” ×3 — vv33, 34, 35.\n- “glory / glorify / glorifies” ×4 — vv50, 54 (×3); “demon” ×3 — vv48, 49, 52; “kill” ×3 — vv22, 37, 40.\n- “I am He” ×2 — vv24, 28; and the bare “I am” of v58; “Light” ×2 — v12.\n\n**Contrasts:** condemnation ⟷ “I do not condemn you” (vv10–11). Darkness ⟷ the Light of life (v12). From below ⟷ from above; of this world ⟷ not of this world (v23). Slave ⟷ son; the house for a time ⟷ forever (v35). Abraham’s descendants ⟷ Abraham’s children (vv37–39). God as Father ⟷ the devil as father (vv42–44). Truth ⟷ lies (vv44–45). Honor ⟷ dishonor (v49). Never see death ⟷ Abraham died (vv51–53). Abraham came to be ⟷ “I am” (v58).\n\n**Shape of the chapter:** a bracketed scene of mercy (1–11), then five rounds of claim and objection (12–20, 21–30, 31–36, 37–47, 48–59), each one sharper, until “I am” meets the stones. Those who “believed” in verse 31 are the ones holding rocks in verse 59.\n\n**Chapter theme (my words):** Jesus tells the truth about who He is and who we are. He is the Light, the Son, the I AM; we are slaves of sin who need Him to set us free. Only those who stay in His word find out how free they really are.", "I": "**Is John 7:53–8:11 Scripture? — said plainly.** The NASB prints it in brackets with a note that later manuscripts add it. The facts: it is absent from the earliest Greek copies of John (P66, P75, Sinaiticus, Vaticanus); the first Greek manuscript that has it is Codex Bezae; Jerome kept it in the Vulgate and Augustine defended it; some manuscripts put it after John 7:36, after John 21:25 or after Luke 21:38. Guzik: “it seems unlikely that this portion was part of the original text of John’s gospel.” Sproul: “Frankly, the best gospel of John manuscripts from antiquity do not include this story” — yet he reports that scholars also broadly judge it authentic and apostolic, and he preached it: “Whether it belongs here in John’s gospel, at the end of Luke 21, or somewhere else, I leave for the ages.” Spurgeon and Henry expound it as it stood in their Bibles (Henry even notes a phrase in v6 that “most copies have it not”). My position for the men I teach: we read it, we learn from it, we tell the truth about its history, and we don’t build any doctrine on it alone. Nothing in it contradicts the rest of Scripture — Jesus says the same thing to the man at Bethesda: “do not sin anymore” (5:14).\n\n**What was the trap (vv3–6)?** The Law required death for both the adulterer and the adulteress (Lev 20:10), and the witnesses’ hands first (Deut 17:7). The man is missing. Sproul sees a vise between Rome and Moses: if Jesus says “stone her,” He defies Rome, which reserved capital punishment; “If He says, ‘Don’t stone her,’ He is in trouble with the Jewish authorities.”\n\n**What did He write?** No one knows. Guzik: “an endless source of speculation.” Henry: “It is impossible to tell, and therefore needless to ask, what he wrote.” Sproul quotes Calvin: “When God closes His holy mouth, let us desist from inquiry.” I won’t guess either.\n\n**“I do not condemn you, either” — is that soft on sin?** No. Henry is careful that Christ would not take the office of a civil judge, “no judge nor divider”; Spurgeon, that “He condemned the sin, his own pure and holy life was the best condemnation of that.” The order is the gospel: no condemnation, then “From now on sin no more.” Pardon is not the reward for changing; it is the power to change.\n\n**The Light of the world (v12) and the two witnesses (vv13–18).** Beside the great lamps of the feast (Guzik: lit “in the court of the women”), Jesus claims to be what the pillar of fire was to Israel (Exod 13:21) — light for the way. The Pharisees object that self-testimony proves nothing; Jesus answers with their own Law of two witnesses: Himself and the Father. Guzik: “those two witnesses exist; they are Jesus and His Father.” Sproul: Jesus is not only a witness to the truth but truth incarnate; the problem is that they do not know the Father.\n\n**“I am He” (vv24, 28).** The NASB italicizes “He” because the Greek has only *egō eimi*. Guzik: “The ‘He’ is rightly in italics and added by the translators” — the bare “I am” is “a claim to deity.” Sproul: words that “call back to a title of God in the Old Testament.” The background is Isaiah 43:10 — “that I am He.” The stakes: “unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” Sproul: “The only other way you can die is to die in your sins.”\n\n**“When you lift up the Son of Man” (v28).** “Lifted up” in John always means the cross (3:14; 12:32–34). Guzik: it “had nothing to do with ‘exalting’ Jesus in ways we normally think.” Yet the cross is where He is most clearly seen. Henry: “When the Son of man was crucified, the Son of man was glorified.”\n\n**Believers who pick up stones (vv30–59).** Verse 30 says “many came to believe in Him,” and verse 31 addresses “those Jews who had believed Him.” By verse 59 they are reaching for rocks. Spurgeon: “There is such a thing as a temporary faith; beware of it.” Sproul: “We must possess what we profess.” Real disciples continue (*menō*) in His word.\n\n**What kind of freedom (vv32–36)?** They claimed never to have been slaves — with Egypt, Babylon and Rome in their history. Jesus means a deeper bondage: “everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.” Guzik: “Slavery to sin is the worst kind of slavery, because there is no escape from our self.” Sproul: “By nature you’re slaves, you’re slaves to your own wicked desires.” Spurgeon: “we are not only free from, but we are free to.” Henry: “Those whom Christ makes free are free indeed.” The truth that frees is a Person — the Son (v36; 14:6).\n\n**“Your father the devil” (v44) — is Jesus being harsh?** He is telling the truth that sonship is shown by likeness. Sproul: “You are the children of the one you obey,” and “We are volunteers in the kingdom of darkness.” Guzik cites Alford: “one of the most decisive testimonies for the objective personality of the devil.” This is not a word against the Jewish people — Jesus, His disciples and the first church were Jews, and God’s promises to Israel stand (Rom 11:1–2, 25–29). It is a word to every religious man, in any nation, who claims God and acts like the murderer and liar.\n\n**“Before Abraham was born, I am” (v58).** Abraham *came to be*; Jesus *is*. Henry: “he does not say, I was, but I am.” Spurgeon: “he claimed the Godhead, he declared that he was certainly God, self-existent from all eternity.” Sproul calls it the most dramatic of all the I AM sayings. Guzik: the voice of the covenant God at the burning bush (Exod 3:14). The stones in verse 59 settle the question of what they heard: blasphemy carried the death penalty (Lev 24:16). And Abraham “rejoiced to see My day” (v56) — he saw the promise from a distance (Heb 11:13) and was glad.\n\n**Word study (Greek):**\n- **without sin — *anamartētos* (G361):** sinless; only John 8:7.\n- **condemn — *katakrinō* (G2632):** pass the sentence against (vv10–11; Rom 8:34).\n- **light — *phōs* (G5457):** light; God’s self-revelation (v12; 1:4–9).\n- **treasury — *gazophylakion* (G1049):** the offering chests, Court of the Women (v20; Mark 12:41).\n- **I am — *eimi* (G1510):** *egō eimi* with no predicate (vv24, 28, 58).\n- **lift up — *hypsoō* (G5312):** raise high; in John always the cross (3:14; 8:28; 12:32, 34).\n- **continue — *menō* (G3306):** remain, abide (vv31, 35).\n- **make free — *eleutheroō* (G1659):** set free; John 8:32, 36; Rom 6:18, 22; 8:2, 21; Gal 5:1.\n- **indeed — *ontōs* (G3689):** really, actually (v36).\n- **murderer — *anthrōpoktonos* (G443):** man-killer; only John 8:44 and 1 John 3:15.\n- **rejoiced — *agalliaō* (G21):** leaped for joy (v56).\n- **was born — *ginomai* (G1096):** came into being — set against “I am” (v58).\n\n**Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):**\n1. **Honesty about the text honors the text** — the bracket is there for a reason, and we can say so.\n2. **No condemnation, then “sin no more”** — pardon first, then holiness (8:11).\n3. **Only the sinless could throw the first stone** — and He didn’t (Guzik).\n4. **The Light was spoken beside the lamps** — in the treasury, at the feast (8:12, 20).\n5. **“I am He” — the “He” is not in the Greek** (vv24, 28; Isa 43:10).\n6. **The cross is where He is known** (v28) — crucified and glorified (Henry).\n7. **Believing is not the same as continuing** (vv30–31, 59) — beware a temporary faith (Spurgeon).\n8. **The worst slavery is to self** (Guzik); the Son makes free *ontōs*, really (v36).\n9. **You are the child of the one you obey** (Sproul; vv39–47).\n10. **Not “I was” but “I am”** (v58) — and the stones prove they understood.\n\n**Cross-references:** Gen 3:4; 22:8, 18; Exod 3:14; 13:21; Lev 20:10; 24:16; Deut 17:6–7; 19:15; Ps 27:1; Isa 9:2; 42:6; 43:10; 49:6; Matt 7:3–5; Mark 12:41–43; Luke 1:47; 21:38; John 1:4–9; 3:14; 5:14; 7:37–38; 12:32–34; 14:6; 15:4–10; Rom 5:12; 6:17–18; 8:1, 34; 11:1–2, 25–29; Gal 5:1; Heb 11:13; 1 John 1:7; 3:8, 12, 15.", "A": "**Promise to trust — “I do not condemn you, either.”** I know men who were dragged into a public place and had their sin read out — in a courtroom, in a newspaper, in front of their kids. Some of them still hear the crowd. I’ve heard my own. I tell them honestly that this story is bracketed in our Bibles, and then I tell them what the whole Bible says just as plainly: “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1). The Judge who alone could throw the stone put it down.\n\n**Command to obey — “From now on sin no more.”** Mercy is not permission. Jesus did not say, “Go, it doesn’t matter.” He said, “Go. From now on sin no more.” Pardon is the power to change, not a pass to stay the same. This week I will name the thing I keep going back to and, with a brother, cut off the road back to it.\n\n**Sin to confess — picking up stones.** I can be quick to grab a rock — the man who relapsed, the brother who failed, the one whose sin is uglier than mine. Verse 9 says they left “one by one, beginning with the older ones.” The longer I live, the more I should know my own heart. I confess my stones.\n\n**Example to follow — the Light, and following Him.** “He who follows Me will not walk in the darkness” (v12). Following is a daily walk, not a one-time decision. I want to bring the hidden things into His light before they grow in the dark.\n\n**Command to obey — continue in His word.** The men who “believed” in verse 31 held stones in verse 59. I have seen jailhouse faith evaporate in the parking lot on release day. Real freedom comes to the man who stays in the word — daily, when it’s dull, when it convicts him.\n\n**Promise to trust — free indeed.** “Everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin” — I don’t have to be told; I’ve lived it. But “if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” Not free in name. Really free. Spurgeon is right: free from, and free to.\n\n**Truth to live in — whose son am I?** Jesus tested every claim to a father by the son’s deeds. Sproul: “You are the children of the one you obey.” My family resemblance shows in what I do with the truth, how I treat the man in front of me, and whether I hear God’s words.\n\n**Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):**\n1. Which voice condemns me most loudly — my own, someone else’s, the accuser’s? What does Jesus say to that voice in 8:10–11? (8:10–11; Rom 8:1) *Pardon first, then “sin no more” — never the other way around.*\n2. When I’m quick to pick up a stone against another man, what sin of my own am I ignoring? (8:7–9; Matt 7:3–5) *“He who is without sin among you …”*\n3. Where am I still walking in darkness — a habit, a secret, a resentment — that I need to bring into His light? (8:12; 1 John 1:7) *The follower “will not walk in the darkness.”*\n4. Am I continuing in His word, or did I believe once and drift? What does staying put look like for me this week? (8:31–32) *A temporary faith is not a saving faith (Spurgeon).*\n5. What chain still holds me, and have I ever asked the Son — not my willpower — to make me free indeed? (8:34–36; Rom 6:18) *Habits are the chains which slaves wear; the Son breaks them.*\n6. If someone judged my father by my deeds this week, whom would they say I belong to? (8:39–44; 1 John 3:8) *You are the children of the one you obey (Sproul).*\n\n**Worship.** Before Abraham was born, He is. The God who spoke from the burning bush stood in the temple treasury and said, “I am.” The Light of the world walked into the darkness of the cross so that men who walk in darkness could have the Light of life. He who is without sin did not throw the stone — He took the stones.\n\n**Prayer.** Lord Jesus, You are the I AM, the Light of the world, the Son who sets slaves free. Thank You that You do not condemn me. Now give me the power to go and sin no more. Shine into the places I have kept dark. Keep me in Your word when my faith feels thin. Break the chains I could never break, and make me free indeed. Make me look like my Father, so that the men around me see Your family in me. Take the stones out of my hands. Amen."}, "43:9": {"O": "**Setting.** Jerusalem, just after the Feast of Tabernacles (7:2, 37). Jesus has said “I am the Light of the world” (8:12), claimed “before Abraham was born, I am” (8:58), and slipped out of the temple as they picked up stones (8:59). As He passes by, He sees a man blind from birth. The healing happens on a Sabbath (v14), at the pool of Siloam south of the temple.\n\n**Structure:**\n- vv1–7 — **the sign:** the disciples ask who sinned; Jesus: neither, but “so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” We must work while it is day; “I am the Light of the world.” Clay, spittle, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (“Sent”); he went, washed, came back seeing.\n- vv8–12 — **the neighbors:** is this the beggar? “I am the one.” He tells it plainly: the man called Jesus made clay, I washed, I received sight. Where is He? “I do not know.”\n- vv13–17 — **the Pharisees (1):** it was a Sabbath. “This man is not from God” vs. “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” — a division. The man: “He is a prophet.”\n- vv18–23 — **the parents:** yes, our son; yes, born blind; how he sees, ask him. They feared being put out of the synagogue (v22).\n- vv24–34 — **the Pharisees (2):** “Give glory to God; we know that this man is a sinner.” “One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” They revile him; he reasons: if this man were not from God, He could do nothing (v33). “You were born entirely in sins” — and they put him out.\n- vv35–38 — **Jesus finds him:** “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped Him.\n- vv39–41 — **the verdict:** “For judgment I came into this world” — those who do not see will see, those who see will become blind. “Since you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”\n\n**Repeated words, with counts:**\n- “blind” ×13 — vv1, 2, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 24, 25, 32, 39, 40, 41.\n- “see / sees / seeing / seen / saw / sight” ×16 — vv1, 7, 8, 11, 15 (×2), 18 (×2), 19, 21, 25, 37, 39 (×3), 41.\n- “know” ×11 — vv12, 20, 21 (×2), 24, 25 (×2), 29 (×2), 30, 31.\n- “eyes” ×10 — vv6, 10, 11, 14, 15, 17, 21, 26, 30, 32; “open / opened” ×7 — vv10, 14, 17, 21, 26, 30, 32.\n- “God” ×7 — vv3, 16, 24, 29, 31 (×2), 33.\n- “sin / sinned / sins” ×5 — vv2, 3, 34, 41 (×2); “sinner(s)” ×4 — vv16, 24, 25, 31.\n- “clay” ×5 — vv6 (×2), 11, 14, 15; “wash / washed” ×5 — vv7 (×2), 11 (×2), 15.\n- “from” (where He is from / from God) ×5 — vv1, 16, 29, 30, 33.\n- “believe” ×4 — vv18, 35, 36, 38; “disciple(s)” ×4 — vv2, 27, 28 (×2); “Pharisees” ×4 — vv13, 15, 16, 40.\n- “put (him) out” ×3 — vv22, 34, 35.\n\n**Contrasts:** blind ⟷ seeing (the whole chapter, turned inside out in vv39–41). Day ⟷ night (v4). “Who sinned?” ⟷ “the works of God” (vv2–3). “We know” (vv24, 29) ⟷ “I do not know … one thing I do know” (v25). Disciples of Moses ⟷ His disciple (v28). Put out by men (v34) ⟷ found by Jesus (v35). The man’s growing view of Jesus — a man, a prophet, from God, Lord — ⟷ the Pharisees’ shrinking one — not from God, a sinner, we don’t know where He is from.\n\n**Shape of the chapter:** a sign (1–7), a series of hearings in which Jesus is absent (8–34), and a meeting in which Jesus finds the man and pronounces judgment (35–41). The man moves from the roadside to the synagogue door to Jesus’ feet; the Pharisees move from judges to the judged.\n\n**Chapter theme (my words):** The Light of the world opens the eyes of a man born blind and then opens his heart to see who He is. Every honest step toward Jesus costs the man something, and every step away from Jesus leaves the experts darker than before.", "I": "**Did sin cause the blindness (vv2–3)?** The disciples assumed suffering is always a direct payback for someone’s sin. Jesus says not in this case. Sproul calls it a false dilemma: Scripture shows that “God can and does visit people with afflictions when they disobey,” but we can’t read every affliction that way — “I have no idea why Harvey has cerebral palsy, and he does not either.” The point is purpose, not blame: “so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” Spurgeon: “Christ is ever for seeking out, not the cause, but the remedy.”\n\n**Why clay and spittle?** All four teachers refuse to make a method out of it. Guzik notes that spittle was thought to have healing qualities, hears an echo of the dust of Genesis 2:7, and says Jesus varied His methods “so one could never make a formula of the methods.” Sproul: “Do not think there is a chemical formula in Palestinian clay.” Henry: “Clay made of Christ’s spittle was much more precious than the balm of Gilead.” The clay also made it a Sabbath case — making clay counted as work under the traditions (v14).\n\n**Why Siloam (“Sent”)?** John translates the name on purpose. Jesus is the One “sent” by the Father all through this Gospel (v4, “Him who sent Me”), and He sends the man to the pool called Sent. The man obeys while still blind — the faith of a few steps, not yet of full sight.\n\n**The parents and the synagogue (v22).** *Aposynagōgos* — put out of the synagogue — appears only in John (9:22; 12:42; 16:2). It meant losing worship, friends and livelihood. Guzik is gentle with the parents (“It is instinctive and normal for parents to protect their children”); Henry is not (“The fear of man brings a snare”). Both are true.\n\n**Testimony and gospel (v25).** Spurgeon preached v25 as an unanswerable argument: “If the gospel of God be true, it can stand any quantity of questioning.” Sproul honors the man’s witness but draws a line: “Do not ever confuse your personal testimony with the gospel. … The gospel is about Him.” I need both: my story opens the door; Christ’s person and work is what I carry through it.\n\n**“Son of Man” or “Son of God” (v35)?** The NASB follows the oldest manuscripts (“Son of Man”); the KJV reads “Son of God.” Guzik notes the difference and says both point to God’s Messiah. Henry, working from the KJV, comments on “Son of God.” The man worships either way (v38), and Jesus accepts it — Sproul: worship belongs only to God, so Jesus’ acceptance is a claim to deity.\n\n**“For judgment I came” (v39) and 3:17.** Jesus came to save, not to condemn, but His coming brings a verdict as light exposes what is there. Those who admit blindness receive sight; those who insist they see are left in their sin (v41). Guzik: “We are all spiritually blind from birth.” Henry: “Those that are convinced of their disease are in a fair way to be cured.”\n\n**Word study (Greek):**\n- **clay — *pēlos* (G4081):** wet earth, potter’s clay; five times in John 9, once in Rom 9:21.\n- **Siloam / sent — *Silōam* (G4611), *apostellō* (G649):** the pool named “Sent”; the verb behind “apostle.”\n- **division — *schisma* (G4978):** a tear; in John always over Jesus (7:43; 9:16; 10:19).\n- **put out of the synagogue — *aposynagōgos* (G656):** excommunicated; only John 9:22; 12:42; 16:2.\n- **know — *oida* (G1492):** knowledge from having seen; the battle word of vv24–34.\n- **reviled — *loidoreō* (G3058):** to heap verbal abuse (1 Pet 2:23).\n- **disciple — *mathētēs* (G3101):** learner, follower — the insult that was really an honor (v28).\n- **worshiped — *proskyneō* (G4352):** to bow down in homage — accepted by Jesus (v38).\n- **judgment — *krima* (G2917):** a verdict and its result (v39).\n- **blind — *typhlos* (G5185):** physically or spiritually blind; the chapter’s key word.\n\n**Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):**\n1. **Jesus answers “why?” with “what now”** — the works of God displayed (v3).\n2. **The sign acts out the saying** — “I am the Light of the world” (v5; 8:12).\n3. **The man obeyed before he could see** — clay on his eyes, walking to “Sent” (v7).\n4. **There is no formula in the clay** (Sproul, Guzik).\n5. **The same miracle, two verdicts** — *schisma*, division (v16).\n6. **Fear of man silences people who know the truth** — the parents (v22).\n7. **“One thing I do know”** — hold to what Jesus has done (v25).\n8. **A testimony is not yet the gospel** (Sproul) — it points to a Person.\n9. **When the synagogue threw him out, Jesus found him** (v35).\n10. **The most dangerous words are “We see”** (v41).\n\n**Cross-references:** Gen 1:3; 2:7; Exod 4:11; Ps 146:8; Prov 29:25; Isa 6:9–10; 35:5; 42:6–7, 16–19; Dan 7:13–14; Matt 15:14; Luke 4:18; John 1:4–9; 3:17–21; 5:17; 8:12, 58–59; 10:19–21; 11:9–10; 12:35–46; 16:2; Acts 10:25–26; Rom 9:21; 2 Cor 4:4–6; Eph 5:8; 1 Pet 2:9, 23; Rev 3:17–18.", "A": "**Example to follow — the man who went.** Jesus put clay on his eyes and said go. He couldn’t see the pool, the road or the result. He went anyway, and came back seeing. Most of the men I walk with want to see the whole road before they take the first step — I’m the same. This week I will do the next obedient thing Jesus has already made plain, before I can see how it turns out.\n\n**Truth to live in — “neither this man sinned, nor his parents.”** I know men who have spent years asking “whose fault is this?” about the way they were born, the house they grew up in, the addiction that runs in their family. Some of that history is real sin, and it needs to be named and confessed. But Jesus won’t let the blame question be the last word. He says: watch what God will do here. My worst chapter can become the place where the works of God are displayed.\n\n**Sin to confess — the fear of man.** The parents knew the truth and kept their mouths shut so they wouldn’t be put out. I confess the times I’ve gone quiet about Jesus at work, on the yard, at the family table, because I didn’t want to lose standing. Fear of man is a snare, and it has caught me.\n\n**Command to obey — tell your “one thing.”** The man didn’t have a theology degree. He had one thing he knew: “though I was blind, now I see.” Sproul is right that my story isn’t the gospel — the gospel is about Him — but my story can point to Him. This week I will tell one man what Jesus has done for me in two sentences, and then tell him who Jesus is and what He did on the cross.\n\n**Promise to trust — He finds the ones they put out.** The synagogue threw the man out, and Jesus went looking for him. Some of my brothers have been thrown out of families, churches, jobs, communities. Some deserved consequences; some didn’t. Either way, verse 35 is true: Jesus heard, and Jesus found him. Being put out by men can be the very place Jesus finds you.\n\n**Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):**\n1. What hard thing in my life have I spent years asking “who sinned?” about — and what might it look like for the works of God to be displayed in it? (9:1–3; Rom 8:28) *Jesus refused the blame question and turned to what God would do.*\n2. Jesus told the man to go and wash before he could see anything. Where is Jesus asking me to obey before I see the result? (9:6–7) *He went, washed and came back seeing — obedience before sight.*\n3. The parents knew the truth but kept quiet for fear of being put out. Whose opinion keeps me quiet about Jesus? (9:20–23; Prov 29:25) *The fear of man brings a snare; the Light is worth the cost.*\n4. What is my “one thing I do know”? Can I tell it in two sentences — and then point past it to Jesus Himself? (9:25; 1 Cor 15:3–4) *Testimony is powerful, but the gospel is about Him, not me.*\n5. Have I ever been thrown out — by family, a church, a crowd — for following Jesus? How does verse 35 speak to that? (9:34–35; Heb 13:12–13) *When they put him out, Jesus found him.*\n6. Where am I saying “We see” — sure I already understand — in a way that might be keeping me blind? (9:39–41; Rev 3:17–18) *Admitting blindness is the door to sight.*\n\n**Worship.** “Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind.” But He did. The Light of the world stopped for a beggar nobody else saw, made new eyes out of clay, and then came back to find him when everyone else threw him out. The right response is the man’s: “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped Him.\n\n**Prayer.** Lord Jesus, Light of the world, I was born blind and You opened my eyes. Thank You for passing by, for seeing me when I was just a problem to others, and for finding me when I was put out. Give me the courage to obey before I see, to speak when fear says be quiet, and to tell my one thing and then point to You. Keep me from ever saying “I see” in pride. Open the eyes of the men I serve. Lord, I believe — and I worship You. Amen."}, "43:10": {"O": "**Setting.** Jerusalem. Verses 1–21 continue straight from 9:39–41: Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees who had just put the healed man out. Verses 22–39 are set two months or so later, at the Feast of the Dedication (Hanukkah), in winter, in Solomon’s portico of the temple. Verses 40–42: Jesus withdraws beyond the Jordan to where John first baptized.\n\n**Structure:**\n- vv1–6 — **the figure:** the thief climbs in another way; the shepherd enters by the door, calls his own sheep by name, leads them out; they follow because they know his voice; strangers they flee. The hearers did not understand (v6).\n- vv7–10 — **“I am the door”:** all who came before were thieves and robbers; whoever enters through Me will be saved, go in and out, find pasture. The thief steals, kills, destroys; “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”\n- vv11–18 — **“I am the good shepherd”:** He lays down His life for the sheep; the hired hand flees from the wolf. “I know My own and My own know Me.” Other sheep not of this fold — one flock, one shepherd. “I lay it down on My own initiative … authority to take it up again.”\n- vv19–21 — **division:** “He has a demon and is insane” vs. “A demon cannot open the eyes of the blind, can he?”\n- vv22–30 — **Dedication:** “If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” “I told you, and you do not believe … you are not of My sheep.” My sheep hear, I know them, they follow; eternal life; never perish; no one will snatch them out of My hand or the Father’s. “I and the Father are one.”\n- vv31–39 — **stones:** “for blasphemy … You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God.” Psalm 82:6: “YOU ARE GODS”; the Scripture cannot be broken; believe the works — the Father is in Me and I in the Father. He eluded their grasp.\n- vv40–42 — **beyond the Jordan:** “John performed no sign, yet everything John said about this man was true.” Many believed in Him there.\n\n**Repeated words, with counts:**\n- “sheep” ×15 — vv1, 2, 3 (×2), 4, 7, 8, 11, 12 (×2), 13, 15, 16, 26, 27.\n- “Father” ×13 — vv15 (×2), 17, 18, 25, 29 (×2), 30, 32, 36, 37, 38 (×2); plus “Father’s” ×2 — vv25, 29.\n- “know / knows” ×8 — vv4, 5, 14 (×2), 15 (×2), 27, 38.\n- “shepherd” ×6 — vv2, 11 (×2), 12, 14, 16.\n- “believe / believed” ×6 — vv25, 26, 37, 38 (×2), 42.\n- “voice” ×5 — vv3, 4, 5, 16, 27; “follow” ×3 — vv4, 5, 27.\n- “life” ×5 — vv10, 11, 15, 17, 28; “lay(s) down / lay it down” ×5 — vv11, 15, 17, 18 (×2).\n- “work(s)” ×5 — vv25, 32, 33, 37, 38.\n- “I am” ×5 — vv7, 9, 11, 14, 36 (“I am the Son of God”).\n- “door” ×4 — vv1, 2, 7, 9; “thief / thieves” ×3 — vv1, 8, 10; “robber(s)” ×2 — vv1, 8.\n- “stone(s) / stoning” ×4 — vv31 (×2), 32, 33; “blasphemy / blaspheming” ×2 — vv33, 36.\n- “hand” (grip) ×2 — vv28, 29; “snatch(es)” ×3 — vv12, 28, 29; “hired hand” ×2 — vv12, 13.\n- “Truly, truly” ×2 — vv1, 7.\n\n**Contrasts:** door ⟷ “some other way” (v1). Shepherd ⟷ thief, robber, stranger, hired hand (vv1–13). Steal, kill, destroy ⟷ life abundantly (v10). Flees ⟷ lays down His life (vv11–13). This fold ⟷ other sheep, one flock (v16). Taken from Me ⟷ I lay it down (v18). Demon-possessed ⟷ opens the eyes of the blind (vv20–21). Not My sheep ⟷ My sheep (vv26–27). Perish ⟷ eternal life (v28). Jerusalem stones (v31) ⟷ beyond the Jordan, many believed (v42).\n\n**Shape of the chapter:** a picture (1–6), two “I am” explanations (7–18), a division (19–21), then a winter confrontation that climbs from “tell us plainly” to “I and the Father are one” to stones (22–39), and a quiet ending where people believe (40–42).\n\n**Chapter theme (my words):** Jesus is the only way into God’s flock and the only Shepherd who dies for it. He knows His sheep by name, they know His voice, and the grip that holds them is His and the Father’s — and they are one.", "I": "**Who are the thieves and robbers (vv1, 8)?** Sproul is clear: not the devil or vague false messiahs, but the leaders of Israel who had just thrown out the man born blind — “those whom God had called to be the shepherds over His flock, the clergy of His day.” Guzik agrees the words rebuke the corrupt leaders of Jesus’ day. Ezekiel 34 is the background: God against the shepherds who fed themselves.\n\n**How can Jesus be both the door and the shepherd?** Guzik explains the custom: at night a shepherd lay across the opening of the fold — “The shepherd was in fact the door.” Sproul: “Jesus is not only the shepherd of the sheep, but He is the door to the sheepfold.” The point of the door is exclusive: one way in (Acts 4:12). Spurgeon shuts the false doors — baptism without faith, church membership, family heritage.\n\n**What is “abundant life” (v10)?** Not prosperity. Guzik: “Abundant life isn’t an especially long life”; it is “a life of satisfaction and contentment in Jesus.” Henry: “Life in abundance is eternal life, life without death or fear of death.” I have to say this plainly to my men: abundant life can be lived in a cell, in a hospital, in a hard marriage, because it is Him.\n\n**The voluntary death (vv17–18).** All four stress that no one took Jesus’ life. Sproul: “the death of Christ, His perfect sacrifice for us, was voluntary.” Guzik: “Anyone can lay down his life; only Jesus could take His life up again,” and it “was not an indirect suicide in any sense.” Henry: “such a challenge as was never given by the most daring hero.” The cross was not an accident or a defeat; it was a Shepherd’s choice.\n\n**Who are the “other sheep” (v16)?** Guzik and Sproul: Gentile believers — the gospel going beyond Israel. Spurgeon notices the tense: “I have,” not “shall have.” Guzik adds that Jerome’s “one fold” bent this into exclusiveness; Jesus promised one flock under one Shepherd. The church is not Israel’s replacement but Gentiles brought into one flock with believing Israel under the one Messiah — and God still has a future for the nation (Rom 11).\n\n**Can a sheep be lost (vv28–29)?** Our four teachers read these verses as the believer’s final security. Sproul: “We are secure, not in ourselves, but because of the One in whose hands we are held.” Spurgeon: “A double-handed force keeps them safe against all ill.” Henry: “Those are safe who are in the hands of the Lord Jesus.” Many Arminian Christians agree no outside power can snatch a sheep but hold that a sheep may stop following. I want my men to know both views exist — and to notice the description in v27: the secure sheep are the ones who hear and follow. Spurgeon insists security breeds holiness, not carelessness.\n\n**“You do not believe because you are not of My sheep” (v26).** Jesus does not say they are not His sheep because they don’t believe, but the reverse. Henry states the Reformed reading sharply (“Those to whom God never gives the grace of faith were never designed for heaven”). Others read “not of My sheep” as describing a settled refusal. Either way, the call stands: hear His voice and follow.\n\n**“I and the Father are one” (v30).** *Hen* is neuter — one thing, not one person. Guzik: distinct Persons, one essence, refuting both Sabellianism and Arianism. Sproul rejects the Arian reading that makes it a mere unity of purpose. The stones settle what the hearers thought it meant (v33).\n\n**“You are gods” (v34; Psalm 82:6).** Not a teaching that humans are divine. Guzik: the judges of Psalm 82 were called “gods” because “in their office they determined the fate of other men,” and Jesus did not apply it “to all humanity or to all believers.” Sproul: “one of those lesser-to-greater arguments.” If God’s word called mere judges “gods,” how is it blasphemy for the One the Father sanctified and sent to say “I am the Son of God”? And it rests on one word, because “the Scripture cannot be broken.”\n\n**Hanukkah and Daniel.** The Feast of Dedication remembered Antiochus IV’s desecration (167 BC) and the temple’s cleansing (164 BC), events Daniel foresaw (Dan 8:9–14; 11:31). I read Antiochus as a preview of a greater desecration still to come (Dan 9:27; Matt 24:15; 2 Thess 2:3–4). In John 10 the true Temple stands in the rededicated one — and they pick up stones.\n\n**Word study (Greek):**\n- **figure of speech — *paroimia* (G3942):** a veiled saying; John 10:6; 16:25, 29.\n- **door — *thyra* (G2374):** the opening itself; “I am the door.”\n- **abundantly — *perissos* (G4053):** overflowing, beyond measure; only here in John.\n- **shepherd — *poimēn* (G4166):** six times in John, all in ch. 10.\n- **good — *kalos* (G2570):** beautiful, noble, admirable good.\n- **lay down — *tithēmi* (G5087)** + **life — *psychē* (G5590):** five times in vv11–18.\n- **hired hand — *misthōtos* (G3411):** wage-worker; Mark 1:20; John 10:12–13.\n- **fold — *aulē* (G833)** vs **flock — *poimnē* (G4167):** walled courtyard vs. one flock (v16).\n- **Dedication — *enkainia* (G1456):** renewal; only here — Hanukkah.\n- **snatch — *harpazō* (G726):** seize by force — the wolf’s verb (v12), denied twice (vv28–29).\n- **one — *hen* (G1520):** neuter; one in nature, not one person.\n- **broken — *lyō* (G3089):** loosed, dissolved — Scripture cannot be (v35).\n\n**Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):**\n1. **The thieves had names** — the leaders who threw out the blind man (Sproul).\n2. **One door — and He is it** (vv7, 9).\n3. **Abundant life is a Person, not a lifestyle** (v10).\n4. **“Good” means beautiful** — *kalos*, the Shepherd as He should be.\n5. **Nobody took His life** — He laid it down and took it up (v18).\n6. **“I have other sheep”** — already His (v16).\n7. **Sheep are known by ear and foot** — they hear and follow (v27).\n8. **Two hands hold the sheep** (vv28–29).\n9. **“One” is neuter** — one in nature (v30).\n10. **One word in a psalm cannot be broken** (v35).\n\n**Cross-references:** Exod 3:14; Num 27:16–17; 1 Kgs 8:63; Ps 23; 80:1; 82:6; 95:7; Isa 40:11; 53:6; Jer 23:1–4; Ezek 34; 37:24; Dan 8:9–14; 9:27; 11:31; Zech 11:4–17; 13:7; Matt 5:18; 9:36; 24:15; Mark 6:34; Luke 15:3–7; John 1:14, 28; 2:19–21; 5:18; 8:58–59; 9:35–41; 14:6; 16:25; 21:15–17; Acts 4:12; 20:28–29; Rom 8:38–39; 11:25–26; Eph 2:13–16; Phil 1:6; 2 Thess 2:3–4; Heb 13:20; 1 Pet 2:25; 5:2–4; Rev 7:17.", "A": "**Promise to trust — “no one will snatch them out of My hand.”** I know men who are sure they’ve blown it one too many times — that one more relapse, one more failure, and God will let go. Jesus says the grip is His, and over His hand is the Father’s. Sproul’s picture of a father holding his small child’s hand near the railroad tracks is the one I need: the safety is in His grip, not mine. That doesn’t make me careless; it makes me want to follow the One who won’t let go.\n\n**Command to obey — hear and follow.** “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (v27). There are a lot of voices in my head — the accuser, the old crowd, the bottle, my own pride. The Shepherd’s voice comes through His Word. This week I will spend the first ten minutes of every day with Scripture before I pick up my phone, and do the next thing He says.\n\n**Sin to confess — acting like a hired hand.** The hired hand runs when the wolf comes because the sheep aren’t his. I confess the times I’ve treated my wife, my kids, the men God gave me, as a job — present when it was easy, gone when it cost something. Jesus lays down His life; I can at least lay down my comfort.\n\n**Truth to live in — one door.** Not my family’s faith, not a program, not a church card, not being a better man than the next guy. Spurgeon: “If you have not Christ your Church certificates are waste paper.” Jesus is the door, and whoever enters through Him will be saved and find pasture.\n\n**Example to follow — the Shepherd who knows names.** “He calls his own sheep by name.” In prison ministry men become numbers; in recovery they become “the addict.” The Good Shepherd knows names. I will learn and use the name of every man I serve, and pray for each one by name.\n\n**Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):**\n1. What other “doors” have I tried — religion, family, my own effort, a program — and what does it mean that Jesus says “I am the door”? (10:7–9; Acts 4:12) *One opening into the fold, and He is it.*\n2. Which thief has been working on my life — stealing, killing, destroying — and what does the abundant life of verse 10 look like for me this week? (10:10) *Not a longer life but His life, overflowing.*\n3. When hard times came, where have I acted like a hired hand toward the people God gave me — my family, my men, my church? (10:12–13; 1 Pet 5:2–4) *The hired hand runs because the sheep are not his.*\n4. How do I recognize the Shepherd’s voice over all the other voices in my head — and what is He saying to me right now? (10:3–5, 27) *Sheep are marked in the ear and in the foot: they hear and follow.*\n5. If no one can snatch me from His hand, what fear am I still carrying that verses 28–29 answer? (10:28–29; Rom 8:38–39) *Two hands hold the sheep — the Son’s and the Father’s.*\n6. Jesus said “the Scripture cannot be broken.” How does His view of the Bible shape the way I read mine? (10:34–36; Matt 5:18) *He rested His case on one word of one psalm.*\n\n**Worship.** The Lord who said “I Myself will search for My sheep” came Himself. He is the door and the Shepherd, the One who laid down His life on His own initiative and took it up again, the great Shepherd brought up from the dead. He and the Father are one, and the hand that holds me is the hand that made the world and was pierced for me.\n\n**Prayer.** Good Shepherd, thank You for coming in by the door and calling me by name. Thank You for laying down Your life for me when no one could take it from You. Tune my ear to Your voice and teach my feet to follow. Forgive me for running like a hired hand. Hold the men I serve, and bring in the other sheep You already call Yours. When I am afraid I will fall, remind me that no one can snatch me out of Your hand or the Father’s. Amen."}, "43:11": {"O": "**Setting.** Jesus is across the Jordan, where He withdrew after the Jews tried to stone Him at the Feast of Dedication (10:31, 39–40). Word comes from Bethany, two miles from Jerusalem (11:18), that Lazarus — brother of Mary and Martha — is sick. The Passover is near (11:55); this is the last sign before the Passion week.\n\n**Structure:**\n- vv1–16 — **the delay:** the message (v3), “This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God” (v4), Jesus loved them — so He stayed two days longer (vv5–6). “Let us go to Judea again”; twelve hours in the day (vv7–10). Lazarus “has fallen asleep” — “Lazarus is dead” (vv11–15). Thomas: “Let us also go, so that we may die with Him” (v16).\n- vv17–27 — **Martha:** four days in the tomb (v17); “Lord, if You had been here” (v21); “Your brother will rise again” — “on the last day” (vv23–24); “I am the resurrection and the life … Do you believe this?” (vv25–26); her confession (v27).\n- vv28–37 — **Mary and the tears:** “The Teacher is here and is calling for you” (v28); Mary at His feet with the same words (v32); He was deeply moved and troubled (v33); “Jesus wept” (v35); two readings from the crowd (vv36–37).\n- vv38–44 — **the tomb:** “Remove the stone”; Martha’s objection; “if you believe, you will see the glory of God” (vv39–40); the prayer of thanks (vv41–42); “Lazarus, come forth” (v43); “Unbind him, and let him go” (v44).\n- vv45–57 — **the verdict:** many believed; some reported (vv45–46). The council: “If we let Him go on like this … the Romans will come” (vv47–48). Caiaphas: “one man die for the people” (vv49–50), which John calls prophecy (vv51–52). “From that day on they planned together to kill Him” (v53). Jesus withdraws to Ephraim; Passover crowds look for Him; orders to report Him (vv54–57).\n\n**Repeated words, with counts:**\n- “believe / believed / believes” ×9 — vv15, 25, 26 (×2), 27, 40, 42, 45, 48.\n- “die / died / dies” ×8 — vv16, 21, 25, 26, 32, 44, 50, 51; plus “death” ×2 (vv4, 13) and “dead” ×2 (vv14, 39).\n- “Martha” ×8 — vv1, 5, 19, 20, 21, 24, 30, 39; “Mary” ×8 — vv1, 2, 19, 20, 28, 31, 32, 45.\n- “the Jews” ×8 — vv8, 19, 31, 33, 36, 45, 54, 55.\n- “Lord” ×8 — vv2, 3, 12, 21, 27, 32, 34, 39.\n- “Lazarus” ×6 — vv1, 2, 5, 11, 14, 43.\n- “rise / resurrection” ×4 — vv23, 24 (×2), 25.\n- “sleep / asleep” ×4 — vv11 (×2), 12, 13.\n- “weep / weeping / wept” ×4 — vv31, 33 (×2), 35.\n- “nation” ×4 — vv48, 50, 51, 52.\n- “love / loved” ×3 — vv3, 5, 36.\n- “glory / glorified” ×3 — v4 (×2), v40.\n- “if You had been here” ×2 — vv21, 32 (word for word, from both sisters); “four days” ×2 — vv17, 39; “deeply moved” ×2 — vv33, 38.\n\n**Contrasts:** sickness “not to end in death” (v4) ⟷ “Lazarus is dead” (v14). Walking in the day ⟷ walking in the night (vv9–10). Literal sleep ⟷ the sleep of death (vv11–13). Resurrection “on the last day” ⟷ “I am the resurrection” (vv24–25). Mourners’ loud weeping ⟷ Jesus’ quiet tears (vv33, 35). The stench of four days ⟷ the glory of God (vv39–40). Many believed ⟷ some went to the Pharisees (vv45–46). Caiaphas’s meaning ⟷ God’s meaning (vv50–52). Lazarus given life ⟷ Jesus marked for death (vv44, 53).\n\n**Shape of the chapter:** a message and a delay (1–16), a conversation on the road (17–27), tears at the tomb (28–37), a voice into the grave (38–44), and a council in the city (45–57). It moves from a sickbed to a death sentence — and the death sentence falls on the One who gave life.\n\n**Chapter theme (my words):** Jesus is the resurrection and the life, and He proves it by calling a four-days-dead friend out of the tomb. But the gift of life to Lazarus starts the plot that will take Jesus’ own life — one man dying for the people.", "I": "**Why did Jesus wait (v6)?** John puts love and delay side by side on purpose: “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. *So* when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days longer.” Sproul says the delay made the death undeniable — by the fourth day no one could call it a revival: “Jesus lets enough time pass to make it absolutely certain.” Spurgeon says Jesus was “glad” (v15) because He values faith too much to spare us the trials that grow it: “Faith untried may be true faith, but it is sure to be little faith.” Henry: “man’s extremity is God’s opportunity.” None of them says the delay cost the sisters nothing; all of them say it was love.\n\n**What does “not to end in death” mean (v4)?** Lazarus did die. Jesus did not mean he would not die; He meant death would not be the last word. The goal is “the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it” — Sproul: “the Father is glorified through the glory of His Son.” In John, Jesus’ glory and His cross are tied together, and verse 53 shows how: this sign leads straight to the plot.\n\n**Martha’s theology and Jesus’ correction (vv23–27).** Martha is orthodox: she believes in the resurrection “on the last day” (Dan 12:2; John 5:28–29; 6:40). Jesus doesn’t deny that day — I still look for it, when “God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus” (1 Thess 4:14). But He refuses to let it stay far away: “I am the resurrection and the life.” Spurgeon: she “set the promise in the remote distance,” and “‘I am,’ not ‘I can get the Resurrection.’” Sproul: “I don’t just teach the resurrection.” Verse 25 answers the believer who dies (he will live); verse 26 answers the believer who lives (he will never die — Sproul’s *thanatos* vs *zōē*).\n\n**Why was Jesus angry (vv33, 38)?** *Embrimaomai* is the language of indignation; KJV “groaned.” Guzik and Sproul both read it as anger at death itself — the enemy He would defeat at the cross — not at the mourners. Spurgeon hears a storm of indignation, grief and sorrow over unbelief that came out as tears; Henry adds that He groaned more for the sins of men than for His own pain. Verse 33 says literally “He troubled Himself” (Henry: “very significantly”) — His emotions were real and freely taken up.\n\n**Why weep if He knew He would raise him?** Because compassion is not only for problems you can’t fix. Sproul: He wept with them though He was about to perform the miracle. Spurgeon: “I like not lightning without rain, nor indignation without tears.” Hebrews 4:15 — a high priest who sympathizes.\n\n**Resuscitation or resurrection?** Guzik: “Lazarus was not resurrected, but resuscitated.” Lazarus came out bound and would die again; Jesus rose and left the face-cloth “rolled up in a place by itself” (20:5–7). Bethany is a preview of 5:28 — “all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth.”\n\n**Why the prayer out loud (vv41–42)?** Not for the Father’s sake — “I knew that You always hear Me” — but for the crowd, “so that they may believe that You sent Me.” Henry: “prayer may preach.” Sproul contrasts it with preachers who pretend to pray while talking to the congregation.\n\n**How could Caiaphas prophesy (vv49–52)?** He was a schemer, not a saint. Guzik: “Caiaphas thought logically but not morally.” Sproul: “God can speak even through a donkey.” Henry: malicious in intent, prophetic in meaning — God overruled it. John says the death was “for the nation” (Israel) “and not for the nation only” but to gather the scattered children of God (10:16; 1 John 2:2). I read “the nation” plainly as Israel — Jesus died for His own people, who still have a future in God’s plan (Rom 11:26) — and the Gentiles gathered in with them. The irony of verse 48: they killed Him to keep the Romans from taking their place and nation, and in A.D. 70 the Romans took both.\n\n**Word study (Greek):**\n- **love — *phileō* (G5368) / *agapaō* (G25):** the sisters’ word (v3) and John’s word (v5); both say the same thing — they were loved.\n- **fallen asleep — *koimaō* (G2837):** sleep as the believer’s word for death; perfect tense in v11.\n- **resurrection — *anastasis* (G386):** a standing up again; “I am the resurrection” (v25).\n- **life — *zōē* (G2222):** the life of God shared with men; “will never die” uses the strongest Greek negative (v26).\n- **deeply moved — *embrimaomai* (G1690):** indignant, snorting; only five times in the NT, twice here (vv33, 38).\n- **wept — *dakryō* (G1145):** to shed quiet tears; only here (v35). The mourners’ *klaiō* (G2799) is loud wailing.\n- **come forth — *deuro exō* (G1204):** “Here! Out!” — three words with a loud voice (v43).\n- **wrappings — *keiria* (G2750):** grave bands; only here (v44).\n- **expedient — *sympherō* (G4851):** advantageous; Caiaphas’s calculation (v50; 18:14).\n\n**Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):**\n1. **Love waited on purpose** — “So … He then stayed two days longer” (vv5–6).\n2. **The fourth day closed every loophole** (Sproul).\n3. **Sleep is a word for waking up** — *koimaō*; Henry: names that make death “less formidable.”\n4. **Jesus brings the last day into the present tense** — “I am the resurrection” (Spurgeon).\n5. **He was angry before He wept** — indignation at death (vv33, 38).\n6. **God weeps before He fixes** — “no lightning without rain” (Spurgeon).\n7. **Believing God is harder than believing in God** (Sproul, v40).\n8. **Christ raises; we unbind** — “economical with miracles” (Spurgeon, v44).\n9. **The same sign, two verdicts** — believed or reported (vv45–46).\n10. **A wicked man spoke a true word** — one man for the people (vv50–52).\n\n**Cross-references:** Dan 12:2; Isa 25:8; Hos 13:14; Num 22:28; Luke 10:38–42; John 1:4; 5:28–29; 6:39–40; 9:4; 10:16, 31, 39–40; 12:1–11; 18:14; 20:5–7, 30–31; Rom 11:26; 12:15; 1 Cor 15:20–26, 55; 1 Thess 4:13–17; Heb 2:14–15; 4:15; 1 John 2:2; Rev 21:4.", "A": "**Promise to trust — “I am the resurrection and the life.”** I have stood at gravesides with men who buried fathers they never made peace with, sons they lost to the needle, brothers from the program. Jesus didn’t hand Martha a doctrine; He handed her Himself. If I belong to Him, death is sleep and the last day is as sure as the One standing on the road. I can grieve — He did — but I do not grieve “as do the rest who have no hope” (1 Thess 4:13).\n\n**Example to follow — “Jesus wept.”** He knew He was about to fix it, and He still wept. Too often I rush to the fix — the verse, the advice, the plan. This week, when a man tells me about his loss, I will sit with him first. Being there matters more than the right words (Sproul).\n\n**Command to obey — “Remove the stone … Unbind him, and let him go.”** Only Jesus can raise a dead man. But He gave the people standing around two jobs: move the stone and loosen the grave-clothes. A lot of the men I walk with are alive in Christ and still wrapped up — old habits, shame, fear, the language of the yard or the bar. I can’t raise anybody, but I can help unwrap. And I have to let Jesus roll away the stones in me that I would rather keep shut because of what’s behind them (vv39–40).\n\n**Sin to confess — expedience.** Caiaphas did the math: one man for the sake of the rest. I confess the times I’ve sacrificed the truth or a person to protect my place — told the easy lie, kept quiet to stay in good standing, thrown a brother under the bus. That logic crucified my Lord.\n\n**Truth to live in — love sometimes waits.** When I prayed for my friend and the answer came “two days longer,” it felt like neglect. John says it was love: verse 5 comes before verse 6. I can say “Lord, if You had been here” honestly — both sisters did — and still trust that He is never late.\n\n**Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):**\n1. Where has God’s timing felt like neglect to me — a prayer for someone I love that seemed to go unanswered for “two days longer”? (11:5–6, 15; Rom 8:28) *Verse 5 comes before verse 6: love first, then the delay.*\n2. Martha believed the right doctrine about the last day. Where do I keep Jesus’ promises at a safe distance instead of letting Him say “I am” about my situation today? (11:23–27) *Spurgeon: she set the promise in the remote distance.*\n3. Jesus wept with people He was about to help. Who around me is grieving, and what would it look like to be present before I try to fix anything? (11:33–35; Rom 12:15) *Sproul: being present matters more than finding the right words.*\n4. What “stone” am I afraid to let Jesus remove because of what it might expose — the stench of something long dead? (11:39–40) *“Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”*\n5. Lazarus came out alive but still bound. What grave-clothes am I still wearing — and which brother has Jesus told to help unbind me (or me to help unbind)? (11:44; Gal 6:1–2) *Christ raises; human hands unbind.*\n6. Caiaphas chose what was expedient over what was right. Where am I tempted to sacrifice the truth, or a person, to keep my place? (11:47–53) *“It was expedient” is the logic that crucified the Lord.*\n\n**Worship.** The Lord of life stood at a tomb and wept. He was angry at death, and then He spoke to it — and death gave Lazarus back. A week later He would walk into His own tomb so that death could never keep any of us. “O Death, where is your victory? O Death, where is your sting?”\n\n**Prayer.** Lord Jesus, You are the resurrection and the life. Thank You that You love me even when You make me wait, and that You weep with me at my graves. Roll away the stones I keep closed. Call me out of every dead place by name. Give me hands to unbind my brothers, and keep me from the cold math of Caiaphas. I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, the One who came into the world. Amen."}, "43:12": {"O": "**Setting.** Six days before the Passover, after the council’s death sentence (11:53) and the retreat to Ephraim (11:54). Jesus comes back to Bethany, then into Jerusalem, crowded with festival pilgrims. This is the last chapter of His public ministry in John; from 13:1 He is alone with His disciples.\n\n**Structure:**\n- vv1–11 — **the supper at Bethany:** Martha serving, Lazarus at the table (v2); Mary’s pound of pure nard on His feet, wiped with her hair, “the house was filled with the fragrance” (v3); Judas’s objection — three hundred denarii — and John’s verdict, “he was a thief” (vv4–6); “Let her alone … for the day of My burial” (vv7–8). The crowd comes to see Lazarus; the chief priests plan to kill him too (vv9–11).\n- vv12–19 — **the entry:** palm branches and “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel” (vv12–13); a young donkey, Zechariah 9:9 (vv14–15); understood only after He was glorified (v16); the Lazarus witnesses testify (vv17–18); “the world has gone after Him” (v19).\n- vv20–26 — **the Greeks and the grain:** “Sir, we wish to see Jesus” (v21); “The hour has come” (v23); the grain of wheat (v24); loving and hating one’s life (v25); serving and following (v26).\n- vv27–36 — **the troubled soul:** “Now My soul has become troubled” (v27); “Father, glorify Your name” — the voice from heaven, heard as thunder (vv28–30); judgment, the ruler cast out, “lifted up … draw all men” (vv31–33); the crowd’s question about the Son of Man (v34); walk in the Light while you have it (vv35–36); He hides Himself.\n- vv37–43 — **John’s verdict on unbelief:** so many signs, yet not believing (v37); Isaiah 53:1 (v38) and 6:10 (vv39–40); “Isaiah … saw His glory” (v41); rulers who believed but would not confess, loving men’s approval (vv42–43).\n- vv44–50 — **the last public cry:** believing and seeing Him is believing and seeing the Father (vv44–45); “I have come as Light” (v46); not to judge but to save; the word will judge at the last day (vv47–48); He speaks the Father’s commandment, which is eternal life (vv49–50).\n\n**Repeated words, with counts:**\n- “believe / believed / believes / believing” ×9 — vv11, 36, 37, 38, 39, 42, 44 (×2), 46.\n- “die / dies / death / dead” ×8 — vv1, 9, 10, 17, 24 (×2), 33 (×2).\n- “world” ×7 — vv19, 25, 31 (×2), 46, 47 (×2).\n- “Light” ×6 — vv35 (×2), 36 (×3), 46; “darkness” ×3 — vv35 (×2), 46.\n- “glory / glorify / glorified” ×6 — vv16, 23, 28 (×3), 41.\n- “Father” ×5 — vv26, 27, 28, 49, 50.\n- “judge / judges / judgment” ×5 — vv31, 47 (×2), 48 (×2).\n- “Lazarus” ×5 — vv1, 2, 9, 10, 17.\n- “life” ×4 — vv25 (×3), 50.\n- “hour” ×3 — vv23, 27 (×2); “Son of Man” ×3 — vv23, 34 (×2).\n- “serves / servant” ×3 — v26; “sent” ×3 — vv44, 45, 49; “Isaiah” ×3 — vv38, 39, 41; “poor” ×3 — vv5, 6, 8.\n- “approval” ×2 — v43; “King” ×2 — vv13, 15; “lifted up” ×2 — vv32, 34; “commandment” ×2 — vv49, 50.\n\n**Contrasts:** Mary’s extravagance ⟷ Judas’s calculation (vv3–6). The poor always with you ⟷ “you do not always have Me” (v8). Palms of a conqueror ⟷ a donkey’s colt (vv13–15). A grain that remains alone ⟷ a grain that dies and bears much fruit (v24). Loving one’s life ⟷ hating one’s life (v25). “Save Me from this hour” ⟷ “for this purpose I came to this hour” (v27). Thunder ⟷ a voice from heaven (vv28–29). Light ⟷ darkness (vv35–36, 46). The approval of men ⟷ the approval of God (v43). Not to judge ⟷ to save (v47).\n\n**Shape of the chapter:** a supper (1–11), a procession (12–19), a request (20–26), a prayer and a voice (27–36), a verdict on unbelief (37–43), and a final cry (44–50). It moves from a house filled with fragrance to a world left in darkness — and the hinge is “The hour has come.”\n\n**Chapter theme (my words):** Jesus is the King who comes humble and the grain of wheat that must die. His hour of death is His hour of glory, and the only right response is the one Mary gave — pour it all out — not the silence of the rulers who loved men’s approval.", "I": "**Why did Mary anoint His feet (vv3, 7)?** A pound of pure nard was worth three hundred denarii — about a year’s wages. Jesus interprets it: she kept it “for the day of My burial.” Sproul sets her beside Caiaphas in one sermon, “Expediency & Extravagance”: the council calculated, Mary worshiped — “a reckless manifestation of extravagant love and worship.” Guzik: “Judas successfully hid the darkness of his heart from everyone except Jesus.” Henry: “Christ would not have those censured nor discouraged who sincerely design to please him.” Mark 14:9 adds that her act will be told wherever the gospel is preached.\n\n**Does “the poor you always have” excuse neglecting them (v8)?** No. Jesus is quoting Deuteronomy 15:11, which goes on to command open-handed giving. His point is timing: the poor would always be there to help; He would not. Judas’s “concern” was a cover (v6).\n\n**What kind of King (vv12–16)?** The palms said national victory (Sproul: “The palm branch became their national symbol of victory”); “Hosanna” means “save now.” Guzik: “The crowd looked to Jesus as a political and national savior, but not so much as a spiritual savior.” Jesus answers with Zechariah 9:9 — humble, on a donkey. I believe the crowd’s words were true even if their timing was off: He is “the King of Israel” (v13), and the same Zechariah who saw Him on a donkey saw Him standing on the Mount of Olives as King over all the earth (Zech 14:4, 9). The first coming was on a colt; the second will be in glory.\n\n**Why do the Greeks matter (vv20–23)?** Gentiles who could go no farther than the outer court (Sproul) ask to see Jesus — and that is His signal: “The hour has come.” Henry sees them as firstfruits of the Gentiles. The answer to “we wish to see Jesus” is the cross: “if I am lifted up from the earth, [I] will draw all men to Myself” (v32).\n\n**The grain of wheat (vv24–26).** First about Jesus: His death bears the harvest. Sproul presses it — “It is not possible, not even theoretically possible, that the atonement of Christ could go without fruit” (a Reformed reading; others frame the atonement more broadly). Then about us: the self-protected life “remains alone.” Spurgeon: “Death precedes growth.” Guzik, quoting Spurgeon: “We are not saved by service, but we are saved to service.”\n\n**John’s Gethsemane (vv27–28).** *Tetaraktai* — “My soul has become troubled.” Jesus faces the cup days before the garden. Guzik: “Jesus received this crucial hour, yet it troubled Him.” Sproul: “Jesus expresses the horror that grabs His soul.” He considers asking to be saved from the hour and instead prays, “Father, glorify Your name.” Being troubled is not sin; refusing the Father’s will would be.\n\n**Who is drawn, and who is cast out (vv31–32)?** The cross is the judgment of this world and the defeat of its ruler (Heb 2:14; Col 2:15). “Draw” (*helkō*) is strong — the Father’s drawing of 6:44. Teachers differ on “all men”: all kinds of people (Jews and the Greeks who asked), or all people without exception, drawn but not all coming. Spurgeon preached it as the heart of preaching: “He was never so lifted up as when he was cast down.” Henry: to some a stumbling-stone, to others “a loadstone.”\n\n**“They could not believe” (vv37–40).** This is the hardest part of the chapter. They kept on not believing (v37); then they could not (v39). Sproul: “If people do not want to hear, God stops their ears.” Guzik, with Morris: the blinding does not take place “without the will or against the will of these people.” Henry: a settled moral refusal met by God’s just judgment. I hold this beside Romans 11: the hardening of Israel is partial and temporary, “until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved” (Rom 11:25–26). God is not finished with the nation.\n\n**“Isaiah … saw His glory” (v41).** Isaiah 6 — “I saw the Lord sitting on a throne.” John says that was Jesus. Sproul: “Isaiah saw Christ on the throne in His glory before Christ was even born.” The Lord on the throne and the Servant despised in Isaiah 53 are one Person (see the figure).\n\n**Secret believers (vv42–43).** Barclay (in Guzik): “Secret discipleship is a contradiction in terms.” Trench (in Guzik): “Is there no smoking flax?” Henry holds both: love of praise is “a very great prejudice” to godliness, yet “Some are really better than they seem to be.” Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea (19:38–39) show that secret believers can come into the open.\n\n**The last appeal (vv44–50).** Guzik: “These are the last words in John’s gospel from Jesus to the public,” and (Morris) “His last word is not one of condemnation. It is one of tender appeal.” He came to save, not to judge; but the word rejected becomes the judge at the last day.\n\n**Word study (Greek):**\n- **pure nard — *nardos pistikē* (G3487, G4101):** genuine spikenard, nothing added; only here and Mark 14:3.\n- **money box — *glōssokomon* (G1101):** Judas’s box; only 12:6; 13:29.\n- **Hosanna — *hōsanna* (G5614):** “Save, we pray!” from Ps 118:25; only at the entry.\n- **palm branches — *baia* (G902):** only here.\n- **young donkey — *onarion* (G3678):** a little donkey; only here.\n- **grain — *kokkos* (G2848):** a single seed; “remains alone” or “bears much fruit.”\n- **loves / hates — *phileō* (G5368) / *miseō* (G3404):** clutching the self-life vs. loving it less than Christ.\n- **troubled — *tarassō* (G5015):** stirred, agitated; perfect tense in v27; compare 14:1.\n- **lifted up — *hypsoō* (G5312):** in John always the cross, always exaltation (3:14; 8:28; 12:32, 34).\n- **draw — *helkō* (G1670):** to haul, drag; 6:44; 12:32.\n- **cast out — *ekballō* (G1544):** the ruler of this world thrown out (v31).\n- **blinded — *typhloō* (G5186) / hardened — *pōroō* (G4456):** judicial blinding and callousing (v40).\n- **put out of the synagogue — *aposynagōgos* (G656):** John only (9:22; 12:42; 16:2).\n\n**Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):**\n1. **Love is extravagant; calculation is Judas’s language** (Sproul).\n2. **Pure nard, nothing cut into it** — genuine worship.\n3. **Hosanna means “Save us now”** — they meant Rome.\n4. **The palms and the donkey argue with each other** — “The ass speaks of peace.”\n5. **“The hour has come”** — after “not yet” all through John.\n6. **A seed kept is a seed lost** — “Death precedes growth” (Spurgeon).\n7. **Troubled and obedient at once** — John’s Gethsemane.\n8. **Lifted up means both cross and throne.**\n9. **Isaiah saw Jesus** (v41).\n10. **Glory from men or glory from God** (v43).\n\n**Cross-references:** Num 21:8–9; Deut 15:11; Ps 118:25–26; Isa 6:1–10; 53:1; Zech 9:9; 14:4, 9; Matt 20:2; 26:6–15; Mark 8:36; 14:3–9, 32–36; Luke 14:26; John 2:4; 3:14; 6:44; 7:30; 8:12, 20, 28; 13:1; 17:1; 19:38–39; Rom 11:7, 25–26; 1 Cor 15:36; 2 Cor 4:4; Phil 2:8–9; Col 2:15; Heb 2:14.", "A": "**Example to follow — Mary’s pound of nard.** Mary didn’t calculate. A year’s wages, poured on His feet, wiped with her hair, and the whole house smelled like it. I’ve spent a lot of my life doing the math Judas did — what’s it worth, what do I get back. This week I want to “waste” something on Jesus: an hour in worship I would have spent on myself, a gift I can feel, an act of service nobody will thank me for.\n\n**Command to obey — “If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me.”** Following Jesus in John 12 means following Him toward a cross. The grain kept in the hand stays safe — and alone. Some of the men I walk with have survived by holding everything tight: trust no one, need nobody. Jesus says that life stays alone. Letting go — of control, of image, of the old self — is how fruit comes. I will name one thing I’m holding in my fist and open my hand.\n\n**Sin to confess — loving the approval of men.** The rulers believed and said nothing because they were afraid of losing their seat. I confess the rooms where I go quiet about Jesus — the job site, the family table, the guys from the old life. And I confess that I sometimes measure myself by who claps for me. The *doxa* of men or the *doxa* of God — I can’t live for both.\n\n**Promise to trust — “I will draw all men to Myself.”** Jesus didn’t say He might. The cross is the magnet. When I pray for a man who seems too hard, too far gone, too long in the dark, I remember that the lifted-up Christ draws, and the ruler of this world has been cast out.\n\n**Truth to live in — troubled is not the same as disobedient.** Jesus said, “Now My soul has become troubled,” and then, “Father, glorify Your name.” I don’t have to fake calm to be faithful. I can bring a troubled soul to the Father and still say yes.\n\n**Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):**\n1. What would it look like for me to “waste” something costly on Jesus this week — time, money, pride — without calculating the return? (12:3–8; Mark 14:9) *Mary poured out about a year’s wages; Judas priced it.*\n2. Like the crowd, what “private agenda” have I brought to Jesus — and how have I been disappointed when He came on a donkey instead of a warhorse? (12:12–16; Zech 9:9) *Sproul: the King God appointed, not the king we conjure up.*\n3. What part of my life am I keeping “in the hand” so it stays safe — and alone? What would it mean to let it fall into the ground? (12:24–25) *A seed kept is a seed lost; death precedes growth.*\n4. Jesus said, “Now My soul has become troubled,” and still obeyed. Where is my soul troubled right now, and what would “Father, glorify Your name” sound like in that place? (12:27–28; 14:1) *Troubled and obedient at once.*\n5. Whose approval am I most afraid to lose if I openly confess Christ — at work, at home, on the yard, with old friends? (12:42–43; Matt 10:32) *They loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.*\n6. Jesus’ last public words were an appeal, not a threat. Who do I know who is walking in darkness, and how can I point him to the Light while there is time? (12:35–36, 46–47) *“Walk while you have the Light.”*\n\n**Worship.** Isaiah saw Him high and lifted up on the throne. John saw Him lifted up on a cross. Same glory, same Lord. The King of Israel rode in on a borrowed colt, went into the ground like a grain of wheat, and is bearing a harvest from every nation — Greeks, Jews, and men like me.\n\n**Prayer.** Father, glorify Your name in me. Lord Jesus, You came as Light into the world so that I would not remain in darkness. Make my worship like Mary’s — pure, costly, and unashamed. Break my love for the approval of men. Teach me to let my life fall into the ground so it can bear fruit, and to follow You where You lead, even when my soul is troubled. Draw the men I love to Yourself. Amen."}, "43:13": {"O": "**Setting.** The last evening before the cross, “before the Feast of the Passover” (v1), at supper in a room in Jerusalem. Jesus’ “hour” has come (v1; compare 2:4; 12:23). The Twelve recline around a low table; Judas is among them, and the devil has already put the betrayal into his heart (v2). This is the first night of the Upper Room Discourse (chapters 13–17).\n\n**Structure:**\n- vv1–11 — **the towel:** knowing His hour had come and that all things were in His hands, Jesus gets up, lays aside His garments, girds Himself with a towel, pours water and washes the disciples’ feet. Peter refuses — “Never shall You wash my feet!” — then asks for a full bath. “He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet … you are clean, but not all of you” (v10).\n- vv12–20 — **the example:** “Do you know what I have done to you?” Teacher and Lord washed their feet; they ought to wash one another’s. A slave is not greater than his master; blessed if you do them (v17). Not all are chosen — Psalm 41:9 must be fulfilled. He tells them beforehand “so that … you may believe that I am He” (v19).\n- vv21–30 — **the night:** troubled in spirit, Jesus says one of them will betray Him. Peter signals the disciple reclining on Jesus’ bosom to ask; Jesus gives the morsel to Judas; Satan enters him; “What you do, do quickly.” No one understands. Judas goes out — “and it was night” (v30).\n- vv31–38 — **the commandment:** “Now is the Son of Man glorified” (vv31–32). “Little children … where I am going, you cannot come” (v33). A new commandment: love one another, even as I have loved you; by this all men will know (vv34–35). Peter: “I will lay down my life for You.” Jesus: a rooster will not crow until you deny Me three times (vv36–38).\n\n**Repeated words, with counts:**\n- “wash / washed” ×9 — wash vv5, 6, 8 (×2), 9, 10, 14; washed vv12, 14.\n- “feet” ×8 — vv5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14 (×2).\n- “know / knew / knowing” ×9 — knowing vv1, 3; knew vv11, 28; know vv12, 17, 18, 22, 35.\n- “Lord” ×7 — vv6, 9, 13, 14, 25, 36, 37.\n- “love / loved” ×7 — loved v1 (×2), 23, 34; love v34 (×2), 35.\n- “Simon / Peter” — Peter ×6 (vv6, 8, 9, 24, 36, 37); “Simon” ×6, four of them Peter and two Judas’s father (vv2, 26).\n- “one another” ×5 — vv14, 22, 34 (×2), 35.\n- “glorified / glorify” ×5 — glorified v31 (×2), 32; glorify v32 (×2).\n- “God” ×5 — vv3 (×2), 31, 32 (×2).\n- “morsel” ×4 — vv26 (×2), 27, 30.\n- “Truly, truly, I say to you” ×4 — vv16, 20, 21, 38.\n- “send / sent” ×4 — sent v16 (×2), 20; send v20.\n- “betray / betraying” ×3 — vv2, 11, 21; “clean” ×3 — vv10 (×2), 11; “follow” ×3 — vv36 (×2), 37.\n\n**Contrasts:** the Father had given all things into His hands (v3) ⟷ He took a towel (v4). “Never shall You wash my feet!” ⟷ “not only my feet, but also my hands and my head” (vv8–9). Clean ⟷ not all clean (vv10–11). Knowing ⟷ doing (v17). The disciple on Jesus’ bosom (v23) ⟷ the disciple who goes out (v30). Night (v30) ⟷ glory (v31). “I will lay down my life for You” ⟷ “Will you lay down your life for Me?” (vv37–38).\n\n**Shape of the chapter:** a basin (1–11), a lesson (12–20), a morsel (21–30), a commandment and a warning (31–38). It opens with Jesus’ love for His own and closes with one of His own about to deny Him — and the love does not change.\n\n**Chapter theme (my words):** The Lord who holds all things kneels to wash His disciples’ feet, betrayer and denier included, and then commands them to love one another the way He has loved them. Love is the mark of the disciple; self-confidence is not.", "I": "**Is this the Passover meal?** John says “before the Feast of the Passover” (v1) and later has the priests not yet eating the Passover on Friday morning (18:28; 19:14); the other Gospels call the Last Supper a Passover meal. Guzik treats the timing as an open question. I won’t build anything on it; the point John makes is the “hour.”\n\n**Why did Jesus wash their feet?** Two meanings, and the chapter gives both. First, a cleansing only He can give (vv6–10): “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” Second, an example we must follow (vv12–17): “you also ought to wash one another’s feet.” Morris (in Guzik) calls it “a parable in action.” Henry: “no miracle, unless we call it a miracle of humility.” Sproul: “Only a gentile slave could be required to do such a menial task.”\n\n**Bathed and washed (v10).** *Louō* is the whole bath; *niptō* is the feet. Spurgeon separates the once-for-all cleansing by Christ’s blood from the daily washing a child of God needs after walking through the world. Sproul: “One touch of the cleansing power of Christ cleanses us from all sin.” Justification is not repeated; confession and cleansing go on (1 John 1:9).\n\n**Is foot washing an ordinance?** Some churches practice it, and I respect that. Sproul: “Jesus is not instituting a sacrament to be repeated on a regular basis among the people of God,” and Guzik cites Calvin against turning it into ceremony while neglecting its meaning. All four agree on the main thing: humble, costly service of one another is commanded.\n\n**“His own” (v1).** Sproul reads it as particular redemption — “an atonement not for the whole world, but for His own.” Many evangelicals read John’s “world” texts (3:16; 1 John 2:2) more broadly. Both agree that Jesus loves His own to the end, and that Judas, though he sat at the table, was not clean (vv10–11).\n\n**Was Judas ever a believer?** Jesus says “not all of you are clean” (v10), “I know the ones I have chosen” (v18), and in 6:64, 70 that He knew from the beginning who would betray Him. Guzik: “Judas had the best example and the greatest Teacher, and was still lost.” Spurgeon: the others never suspected him. Judas was near Jesus, never His.\n\n**Who is responsible — Satan or Judas?** Both, and God is not surprised. The devil “put into the heart” (v2), Satan “entered into him” (v27), and Scripture had foretold it (v18). Bruce (in Guzik) says Satan entered only because Judas let him; Henry: “Christ needed not to expel him, he expelled himself.” God’s plan never excuses a man’s sin.\n\n**“I am He” (v19).** In Greek simply *egō eimi*. Sproul hears the divine name, as in 8:58 and 18:5–6. Jesus predicts the betrayal so that when it happens their faith in who He is will grow, not collapse.\n\n**What is “new” in the new commandment? — the teachers differ.** Sproul: “There is nothing new about that commandment” — the newness is “the context of the betrayal.” Spurgeon: new in extent (“as I have loved you,” not “as yourself”), motive and nature. Henry: renewed after neglect, and “so strangely new as to be always so.” Guzik/Tenney: *kainos*, fresh in quality. I land here: the command is old; the standard — the cross — is new.\n\n**Peter and Judas.** Both are warned, both fail. Guzik: “Peter’s denial was terrible, but it wasn’t the same as what Judas did.” Sproul: “It is not just Judas, but Simon as well.” The difference is not the size of the sin but where each man went with it.\n\n**Word study (Greek):**\n- **to the end — *telos* (G5056):** the end, goal, completion; compare *tetelestai*, “It is finished” (19:30).\n- **towel — *lention* (G3012):** a servant’s linen cloth; only vv4–5.\n- **bathed — *louō* (G3068):** to bathe the whole body; perfect tense in v10.\n- **wash — *niptō* (G3538):** to wash a part — hands, face, feet.\n- **part — *meros* (G3313):** a share, portion; no washing, no share in Him.\n- **example — *hypodeigma* (G5262):** a pattern to copy (or a warning); six NT uses.\n- **heel — *pterna* (G4418):** only here; lifting the heel against a friend (Ps 41:9).\n- **I am — *egō eimi* (G1510):** “I am He” (v19); the divine name echoed (Exod 3:14).\n- **troubled — *tarassō* (G5015):** stirred up; of Jesus (11:33; 12:27; 13:21), then “do not let your heart be troubled” (14:1, 27).\n- **bosom — *kolpos* (G2859):** John on Jesus’ bosom (v23), as the Son in the bosom of the Father (1:18).\n- **morsel — *psōmion* (G5596):** a mouthful of bread; all four NT uses in this scene.\n- **glorify — *doxazō* (G1392):** five times in vv31–32.\n- **little children — *teknion* (G5040):** only here in the Gospels; seven times in 1 John.\n- **new — *kainos* (G2537):** new in kind and quality, not merely in time (*neos*).\n\n**Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):**\n1. **He knew everything — and took a towel** (vv3–4). Security in the Father frees a man to serve.\n2. **Bathed once, washed daily** — *louō* and *niptō* (v10).\n3. **Pride can look like humility** — Peter’s refusal; a part with Jesus begins with receiving (Guzik).\n4. **Blessed is in the doing** (v17).\n5. **Jesus washed the feet of the man who would betray Him.**\n6. **Closeness to Jesus is not the same as faith in Jesus** — Judas.\n7. **“And it was night”** (v30) — Judas expelled himself (Henry).\n8. **The cross is the glory** — *doxazō* five times in vv31–32.\n9. **New in kind, not just in time** — *kainos*; the measure is “as I have loved you.”\n10. **Two failures, two endings** — Judas went out; Peter was prayed for and restored.\n\n**Cross-references:** Exod 3:14; Lev 19:18; Ps 41:9; Isa 53:12; Matt 26:14–16; Mark 10:45; Luke 22:3, 24–27, 31–34, 62; John 1:11, 18; 2:4; 6:64, 70; 8:12, 24, 58; 12:23–33; 18:5–6, 17, 25–27; 19:30; 21:15–19; Phil 2:5–11; 1 Pet 5:5; 1 John 1:9; 2:7–8; 3:16.", "A": "**Example to follow — the towel.** Jesus knew the Father had given all things into His hands, and that is exactly why He could kneel (vv3–4). Most of the men I walk with are not too proud to serve because they feel big; they are too insecure. They need to look strong. A man who knows who he is in the Father can pick up a towel. This week I want to do one hidden, menial thing for a brother — no announcement, no credit.\n\n**Sin to confess — Peter’s kind of pride.** “Never shall You wash my feet!” sounds humble, but it is a man who would rather do it himself. I confess the times I would not let Jesus — or a brother — help me, because being helped felt like weakness. A part with Jesus begins with receiving (Guzik). I have to let Him wash me before I can wash anyone else.\n\n**Promise to trust — “you are clean.”** If I have been bathed in Christ, I am “completely clean” (v10). I don’t need to get saved again every time I fall; I need my feet washed — honest confession, and His daily cleansing. That is good news for men who are afraid one relapse undoes everything.\n\n**Warning to heed — Judas.** Judas sat near Jesus, carried the money, heard every sermon, and still went out into the night. Being in the room is not the same as belonging to Him. I want my men to ask the honest question, and I ask it of myself: is there a hidden love — money, a habit, a resentment — that I am letting the enemy use as a door?\n\n**Command to obey — love one another, even as I have loved you.** Not as I feel like it, not as they deserve, but as He did: patiently, practically, to the end, including the brother who lets me down. Jesus said the world would know we are His by this — not by our programs or our arguments (v35).\n\n**Comfort for the man who failed — Peter.** Peter promised more than he could keep. Jesus told him the truth about himself and prayed for him before he fell (Luke 22:32). Then He met him again by a charcoal fire and gave him work to do (21:15–17). Failure was not the end for Peter, and it is not the end for any man who comes back.\n\n**Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):**\n1. Jesus knew all things were in His hands — and that freed Him to kneel (vv3–4). Where does my insecurity keep me from serving? (13:3–5; Phil 2:7) *A victor, not a victim: security in the Father makes a man able to stoop.*\n2. Like Peter, where do I refuse to let Jesus — or a brother — do something for me? (13:6–10) *A part with Jesus begins with receiving, not achieving.*\n3. Whose feet is Jesus asking me to wash this week — and whose is the hardest to wash? (13:14–17) *He washed Judas’s feet too. Blessed is in the doing.*\n4. Judas was close to Jesus for three years and was still lost. What is the difference between being near Jesus and belonging to Him? (13:18, 21–30) *The best example and the greatest Teacher are not enough without a new heart.*\n5. “By this all men will know …” If someone watched our group for a month, what would they conclude about our love? (13:34–35; 1 John 3:16) *Brotherly love is the badge of Christ’s disciples.*\n6. Peter promised more than he could deliver. What promise have I made to God in my own strength — and what does Luke 22:32 say to me? (13:36–38; Luke 22:32; John 21:17) *Jesus knew Peter’s weakness and prayed for him before he fell.*\n\n**Worship.** The hands into which the Father had given all things held a towel and a basin. The One who is “I am” knelt on the floor of a borrowed room and washed dirt off a fisherman’s feet — and a traitor’s. He called the cross His glory. That is my Lord.\n\n**Prayer.** Lord Jesus, You loved Your own to the end. Wash me — not only my feet but every hidden place I have kept from You — and keep me clean. Take the pride out of me that will not be served, and the pride that will not serve. Guard my heart from every door Judas left open. Teach me and the men I serve to love one another the way You loved us, so the world will know we are Yours. And when I fail like Peter, pray for me, turn me again, and give me work to do. Amen."}, "43:14": {"O": "**Setting.** The same night and the same room as chapter 13. Judas has gone out (13:30); Peter has just been told he will deny Jesus three times (13:38). Jesus speaks to the eleven. The chapter ends with “Get up, let us go from here” (v31) — chapters 15–17 are spoken on the way toward the Kidron and Gethsemane (18:1).\n\n**Structure:**\n- vv1–6 — **a place and a way:** “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.” Many dwelling places in My Father’s house; I go to prepare a place; I will come again and receive you to Myself (vv2–3). Thomas: “how do we know the way?” Jesus: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me” (v6).\n- vv7–14 — **the Father seen:** if you had known Me you would have known My Father (v7). Philip: “show us the Father.” “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (v9). I am in the Father and the Father in Me; believe because of the works (vv10–11). Greater works, because I go to the Father (v12); whatever you ask in My name (vv13–14).\n- vv15–26 — **another Helper:** if you love Me, you will keep My commandments (v15). Another Helper, the Spirit of truth, with you forever, in you (vv16–17). Not orphans; because I live, you will live also; you in Me and I in you (vv18–20). Love and obedience, love and disclosure (v21). Judas (not Iscariot) asks why not to the world (v22); We will come and make Our abode with him (v23). The Helper will teach and remind (v26).\n- vv27–31 — **peace left behind:** “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you” (v27). “If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced … the Father is greater than I” (v28). Told beforehand so you may believe (v29). The ruler of the world is coming and has nothing in Me; I do as the Father commanded. “Get up, let us go from here” (vv30–31).\n\n**Repeated words, with counts:**\n- “Father” ×23 — vv2, 6, 7, 8, 9 (×2), 10 (×3), 11 (×2), 12, 13, 16, 20, 21, 23, 24, 26, 28 (×2), 31 (×2).\n- “Me” ×23, plus “Myself” ×2 (vv3, 21) — the chapter is about knowing, believing and loving Him.\n- “know / known” ×11 — know vv4, 5 (×2), 7, 9, 17 (×2), 20, 31; known v7 (×2).\n- “love / loves / loved” ×10 — love vv15, 21, 23, 24, 31; loves vv21 (×2), 23; loved vv21, 28.\n- “in Me” ×7 — vv1, 10 (×2), 11, 12, 20, 30; “in the Father” vv10, 11 (and “in My Father,” v20).\n- “go / going” — go ×6 (vv2, 3, 12, 28 ×2, 31); “going” vv4, 5, 22.\n- “believe / believes” ×6 — vv1 (×2), 10, 11, 12, 29.\n- “world” ×6 — vv17, 19, 22, 27, 30, 31.\n- “come” ×5 — vv3, 9, 18, 23, 28 (“I will come” vv3, 18, 28; “We will come” v23).\n- “works” ×4 — vv10, 11, 12 (×2).\n- “keep / keeps” ×4 — vv15, 21, 23, 24; “commandments / commanded” ×3 — vv15, 21, 31.\n- “ask” ×3 — vv13, 14, 16; “in My name” ×3 — vv13, 14, 26.\n- “see / seen” ×6 — see vv17, 19 (×2); seen vv7, 9 (×2).\n- “troubled” ×2 — vv1, 27 (the bookends); “Helper” ×2 — vv16, 26; “disclose” ×2 — vv21, 22.\n\n**Contrasts:** a troubled heart ⟷ My peace (vv1, 27). I go ⟷ I will come again (vv2–3, 28). We do not know the way ⟷ I am the way (vv5–6). Show us the Father ⟷ He who has seen Me has seen the Father (vv8–9). The world cannot receive Him ⟷ you know Him (v17). The world will no longer see Me ⟷ you will see Me (v19). He who loves Me keeps My word ⟷ he who does not love Me does not keep My words (vv23–24). Not as the world gives (v27). The ruler of the world ⟷ he has nothing in Me (v30).\n\n**Shape of the chapter:** four answers to four disciples — Peter’s “where?” (13:36) answered with a place, Thomas’s “how?” with a Person, Philip’s “show us” with the Son, Judas’s “why us?” with an abode. It is framed by “Do not let your heart be troubled” and closes with Jesus walking toward the cross.\n\n**Chapter theme (my words):** Jesus is going away, but not leaving. He goes to the Father to prepare a place, He is Himself the only way there, the Father is seen in Him, and He sends another Helper so that the Father and the Son make their home in everyone who loves Him. So His men can have His peace on the worst night of their lives.", "I": "**Why “troubled” — and how can Jesus command it?** The verb (*tarassō*) is the one used of Jesus at Lazarus’s tomb (11:33), at the coming hour (12:27) and as He named the betrayer (13:21). He is not scolding feelings; He is giving a remedy. Guzik: “a radical call to trust in Jesus *just as* one would trust in God the Father.” Spurgeon: “It is a dark night, but the darkness of your heart will not light a candle for you.” Henry: “The heart is the main fort.”\n\n**“Many dwelling places” — mansions or rooms?** *Monē* is a place to stay; “mansions” comes through Latin *mansiones*, dwellings. Guzik prefers “dwelling places” but adds, “it will be as glorious as a mansion.” The only other use is v23 — the Father and Son make their *monē* with the believer. The house is future; the home begins now.\n\n**“I will come again” (v3) — what coming?** Guzik sees “the great gathering together of His people at the end of the age” and, with Tasker, ties it to 1 Thessalonians 4; he also sees foretastes in the resurrection and the Spirit’s coming (v18). Henry and Sproul read it as Christ returning to bring His people home. None of them uses the word “rapture.” I read it with 1 Thess 4:16–17: Jesus Himself comes for His church, receives us to Himself, and takes us to the Father’s house — which fits a coming *for* His own before He comes *with* them in judgment. Faithful readers differ on the timing; all agree on the promise: “where I am, there you may be also.”\n\n**Is Jesus really the only way (v6)?** All four teachers say yes, plainly. Guzik: “if Jesus is not *the only* way to God, then He is not *any way* to God.” Sproul: “It is because Jesus said that He was the only way. If I deny that, I deny Him.” Spurgeon: “Heaven hath but this one gate.” Henry: other ways “may seem right, but the end of them is the way of death” (Prov 14:12). Sproul’s closing prayer turns the objection around: the burning question is not why there are not more ways, “but rather why there is even one.”\n\n**“He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (v9).** Jesus is not a picture of God; He is God made visible (1:18; Col 1:15). Guzik: “To know Jesus is to know God.” Spurgeon warns that a man can be near Christ and not know Him — Judas was. Henry is gentle: many disciples “have more knowledge and more grace than they think they have.”\n\n**What are the “greater works” (v12)?** Not bigger miracles. Guzik: “greater in magnitude,” the worldwide spread of the gospel — “We earnestly await proof of those who have repeatedly done greater works than walking on water.” Sproul connects them to the Spirit poured on the whole church (Num 11; Joel 2; Acts 2). The reason Jesus gives is “because I go to the Father.”\n\n**Asking in His name (vv13–14).** Guzik: it “is not a magic incantation of prayer.” Sproul rejects “name it and claim it.” To pray in His name is to pray as His representatives, for His glory, in line with His will.\n\n**Who is the Helper?** *Allos paraklētos* — another of the same kind as Jesus, who is Himself our Advocate (1 John 2:1). Sproul: “For there to be two, there has to be one before the second.” Not a force but a Person who teaches, reminds, abides and indwells. Spurgeon: “The Spirit is a convincer before he is a Comforter.”\n\n**Love and obedience (vv15, 21, 23–24).** Said four ways. Sproul: “Sanctification always flows automatically and necessarily out of our justification.” Henry: “The surest evidence of our love to Christ is obedience.” This is not earning love; it is what love does.\n\n**“The Father is greater than I” (v28).** Arians once used this to deny Christ’s deity. Our teachers answer together: greater in role, not in being. Guzik: “greater than the Son in position, especially in regard to the incarnation. Yet … not greater … in essence or being.” Sproul: “subordination,” not “inferiority”; the Son is “coessential with the Father.” Henry: the Father’s kingdom “will be greater than the mediatorial kingdom.”\n\n**Word study (Greek):**\n- **troubled — *tarassō* (G5015):** to stir up, agitate; vv1, 27 (and of Jesus in 11:33; 12:27; 13:21).\n- **dwelling places / abode — *monē* (G3438):** a place to stay; only 14:2, 23.\n- **way — *hodos* (G3598):** road, path; “the Way” became a name for the church (Acts 9:2).\n- **seen — *horaō* (G3708):** perfect tense — having seen and still seeing.\n- **greater — *meizōn* (G3187):** comparative of *megas* — in v12 (works) and v28 (the Father).\n- **name — *onoma* (G3686):** a person’s authority and character.\n- **another — *allos* (G243):** another of the same kind (not *heteros*).\n- **Helper — *paraklētos* (G3875):** one called alongside; advocate, strengthener (John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7; 1 John 2:1).\n- **orphans — *orphanos* (G3737):** fatherless; only here and James 1:27.\n- **peace — *eirēnē* (G1515):** *shalom*; wholeness, right relation with God.\n- **fearful — *deiliaō* (G1168):** to shrink back in cowardice; only v27.\n- **ruler — *archōn* (G758):** Satan as “ruler of this world” (12:31; 14:30; 16:11).\n\n**Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):**\n1. **The comfort comes on the worst night** — straight after Peter’s warning (13:38).\n2. **Heaven is a home, not a camp** (Henry) — and He comes for us Himself.\n3. **One word, two homes** — *monē* in v2 and v23.\n4. **The way is a Person** (Guzik).\n5. **Exclusive because He said so** (Sproul).\n6. **Philip had been looking at the answer** (v9).\n7. **“Another” of the same kind** — the Spirit is a Helper like Jesus.\n8. **Love that does not obey is not love** (vv15, 21, 23–24).\n9. **Not orphans** (v18).\n10. **Peace as an inheritance** — the world’s peace ends in trouble; Christ’s in everlasting peace (Henry).\n\n**Cross-references:** Exod 3:14; 33:18; Num 6:26; 11:16–17, 25; Ps 23:6; Prov 14:12; Isa 26:3; Ezek 37:27; Joel 2:28; John 1:14, 18; 10:9, 30; 12:31; 13:21, 33–38; 15:26; 16:7–15; 17:24; Acts 2:16–18; 4:12; 9:2; Rom 5:1; 2 Cor 5:1; Phil 4:7; Col 1:15; 1 Thess 4:16–17; 1 Tim 2:5; Heb 1:3; James 1:27; 1 John 2:1.", "A": "**Command to obey — “Do not let your heart be troubled.”** Jesus says it twice (vv1, 27), and He says it to men who are about to fail Him. I know men lying awake tonight over a court date, a diagnosis, a son who won’t call, a relapse. Jesus doesn’t tell them to stop feeling; He tells them where to put their trust: “believe in God, believe also in Me.” This week, when the trouble rises, I will name it to Him out loud and say verse 1 back to Him.\n\n**Promise to trust — a place, and His coming.** “I will come again and receive you to Myself.” Not sent for — taken by Him. I am looking for the day He comes for His church (1 Thess 4:17), and I want that hope to change how I live tonight. The goal is not a room; it is a Person: “where I am, there you may be also.”\n\n**Truth to hold — the only way.** In a world that says every road leads to God, Jesus says, “no one comes to the Father but through Me.” That isn’t arrogance; it’s rescue. If there were another way, He would not have gone to the cross the next morning. I can say it humbly and with love, the way Sproul did: I believe it because He said it.\n\n**Sin to confess — love that doesn’t obey.** Jesus says four times that love keeps His word. I confess the times I have sung about loving Him and then gone my own way. Love isn’t a feeling I wait for; it’s what I do with His commandments this week.\n\n**Comfort for the fatherless — “I will not leave you as orphans.”** So many of the men I serve grew up without a father, or with one they had to survive. Jesus promises that the Father and the Son will come and make their home with the man who loves Him (v23), and that the Helper will be with him forever (v16). I am not alone in the cell, the truck, the empty apartment.\n\n**Example to follow — “Get up, let us go from here.”** Jesus had just been told the ruler of the world was coming, and He stood up and walked toward it, because He loved the Father (v31). Peace isn’t hiding; it is walking into the next hard thing with Him.\n\n**Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):**\n1. What is troubling my heart tonight — and what would it look like to “believe also in Me” about that exact thing? (14:1, 27) *Worry lights no candle; trust Jesus just as you trust the Father.*\n2. When I picture heaven, do I picture a place or a Person? What changes when “where I am, there you may be also” is the center? (14:2–3; 1 Thess 4:17) *Communion with Jesus is glory.*\n3. Where am I tempted to think there are other ways — for me, or for someone I love? (14:6; Acts 4:12) *If Jesus is not the only way, He is not any way.*\n4. Like Philip, where have I been “so long” with Jesus and still not trusted Him with something small? (14:8–11) *Thou knowest him not if thou canst not trust him with anything and everything.*\n5. Jesus ties love to obedience four times. Which of His commands is my love for Him being tested on this week? (14:15, 21, 23–24) *Love that does not keep His commandments isn’t love at all.*\n6. Many of us know what it is to feel fatherless. What does “I will not leave you as orphans” mean for me right now? (14:16–18, 23) *The Spirit is another Helper like Jesus, with you forever, in you.*\n\n**Worship.** The night before the cross, the One about to be betrayed comforted the ones about to run. He is the way, the truth and the life. To see Him is to see the Father. He gives His Spirit, makes His home in us, and leaves us His own peace. And He is coming again.\n\n**Prayer.** Lord Jesus, my heart is troubled, and I bring it to You. I believe in God; I believe in You. Thank You for the place You are preparing and for Your promise to come and receive me to Yourself. You are the only way to the Father — keep me on that way, and help me tell others about it with love. Holy Spirit, Helper, teach me, remind me of His words, and live in me. Make me a man whose love for Jesus shows in obedience. Give me Your peace, not the world’s, and when the next hard thing comes, help me get up and go with You. Amen."}, "43:15": {"O": "**Setting.** Thursday night of Passion Week. Judas has left (13:30); Jesus has washed the disciples’ feet, given the new commandment, and promised the Helper (ch. 14). At 14:31 He says, “Get up, let us go from here,” and 18:1 says He crossed the Kidron only after chapter 17 — so John 15 is spoken as they leave the upper room or walk through Jerusalem toward the garden. All of it is Jesus speaking; the disciples say nothing in this chapter.\n\n**Structure:**\n- vv1–8 — **the vine:** “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.” Fruitless branches He takes away; fruitful ones He prunes (v2). “You are already clean because of the word” (v3). “Abide in Me, and I in you” (v4). “Apart from Me you can do nothing” (v5). The branch that does not abide is thrown away, dries up and is burned (v6). Abiding brings answered prayer (v7) and much fruit that glorifies the Father and proves discipleship (v8).\n- vv9–11 — **abide in My love:** as the Father loved the Son, so the Son loves us; keep His commandments as He kept the Father’s; “so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.”\n- vv12–17 — **friends:** “love one another, just as I have loved you” (v12); greater love — laying down one’s life (v13); friends, not slaves, because He has made known all He heard from the Father (vv14–15); “You did not choose Me but I chose you,” appointed to bear lasting fruit (v16); the command repeated (v17).\n- vv18–25 — **the world’s hatred:** it hated Me first (v18); you are not of the world because I chose you out of it (v19); a slave is not greater than his master (v20); they do not know the One who sent Me (v21); no excuse for their sin (vv22–24); “THEY HATED ME WITHOUT A CAUSE” (v25, Psalm 69:4).\n- vv26–27 — **the witness:** the Helper, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, will testify about Me, “and you will testify also.”\n\n**Repeated words, with counts (NASB95):**\n- “Me” ×16 and “My” ×17 — the chapter is centered on Christ: abide in *Me*, *My* words, *My* love, *My* commandments, *My* joy, *My* friends, *My* name.\n- “love / loves / loved” ×10 — vv9 (×3), 10 (×2), 12 (×2), 13, 17, 19.\n- “Father / Father’s” ×10 — vv1, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 23, 24, 26 (×2).\n- “abide / abides” ×9 — vv4 (×2), 5, 6, 7 (×2), 9, 10 (×2); plus “remain” (same Greek *menō*) v16.\n- “fruit” ×8 — vv2 (×3), 4, 5, 8, 16 (×2).\n- “hate / hates / hated” ×8 — vv18 (×3), 19, 23 (×2), 24, 25.\n- “world” ×6 — vv18, 19 (×5).\n- “branch / branches” ×5 — vv2 (×2), 4, 5, 6.\n- “commandment(s) / command” ×5 — vv10 (×2), 12, 14, 17.\n- “word / words” ×5 — vv3, 7, 20 (×2), 25.\n- “friends” ×3 — vv13, 14, 15; “slave(s)” ×3 — vv15 (×2), 20; “chose” ×3 — vv16 (×2), 19.\n- “joy” ×2 — v11; “ask” ×2 — vv7, 16; “testify” ×2 — vv26, 27; “sin” ×3 — vv22 (×2), 24.\n\n**Contrasts:** the true vine ⟷ Israel’s fruitless vine (OT background). Branches that bear fruit ⟷ branches that do not (v2). Abiding ⟷ apart from Me (vv4–6). Slaves ⟷ friends (v15). You chose ⟷ I chose (v16). Loved by Christ ⟷ hated by the world (vv12, 18). Of the world ⟷ chosen out of the world (v19). No sin ⟷ no excuse (vv22, 24).\n\n**Shape of the chapter:** it moves outward in three circles — union with Christ (1–11), love among the branches (12–17), and witness to a hostile world (18–27). It begins with the Father tending the vine and ends with the Spirit proceeding from the Father to testify.\n\n**Chapter theme (my words):** Life comes from staying joined to Jesus. Joined to Him, I bear fruit, obey, love my brothers as His friend, and stand when the world hates me — because He chose me and His Spirit testifies through me.", "I": "**Who is the true vine, and why “true”?** The Old Testament calls Israel God’s vine (Psalm 80:8; Isaiah 5:1–7; Jeremiah 2:21), and every one of those passages laments missing fruit. Guzik: “God repeatedly used a vine as a symbol of His people in the Hebrew Scriptures … In contrast, Jesus is the true vine.” Henry opens the same way: “Jesus Christ is the vine, the true vine.” *Alēthinos* is “genuine” — the real thing the picture pointed toward.\n\n**“He takes away” — or “He lifts up”? (v2)** The Greek *airō* can mean either. Guzik keeps “takes away” but says the “lifts up” view (the vinedresser raising a trailing branch out of the dirt) “bears some consideration.” Sproul, per Ligonier’s summary of his 2003 sermon, stresses “the difference between branch removal and pruning.” I take “takes away” as the plain reading because v6 explains it — but the comfort for fruitful branches is unmistakable: they are pruned, not removed. Spurgeon: “What a mercy it is to the believer that it is pruning with him and not cutting off!”\n\n**Who are the burned branches of verse 6?** This is where Christians differ. Guzik lists three views: true believers who fall away and are lost; people who only looked like disciples, like Judas; and fruitless believers whose lives are wasted though they are saved. He leans toward the second: “The branches that are taken away were never properly abiding in the vine.” Sproul raises the same question about the perseverance of the saints, and the Reformed tradition (Sproul, Spurgeon, Henry) reads these as professors, not possessors — Henry: “Unfruitful professors are unfaithful professors; professors, and no more.” Arminian readers take the warning as describing real believers who can fall away. Everyone agrees the warning is real and the evidence of life is fruit. Judas had walked out of this very room hours earlier.\n\n**What does it mean to abide?** Not a mystical state. Verse 7 ties it to His words abiding in us, verse 10 to keeping His commandments. Guzik: “This is not some mystical experience. It is simple obedience.” And it is not one-sided effort; Henry: “the communion between Christ and believers never fails on his side.” Spurgeon: “You can do nothing if there be not constant union.”\n\n**“Ask whatever you wish” (v7).** The promise is to abiding branches whose desires are being shaped by His words. Henry: “Those that abide in Christ as their heart’s delight shall have, through Christ, their heart’s desire.” It is not a blank check for the flesh; it is a promise that the Vine’s life will flow through the branch’s prayers.\n\n**Joy — whose and how much? (v11)** Sproul: “First, the joy that Jesus wants to see in us is His joy.” “He wants us to have a permanent joy, not a roller-coaster ride of moods shifting between joy and misery.” Guzik: “The joy of Jesus isn’t the same as what is commonly understood as happiness or excitement.”\n\n**Friends, not slaves (v15).** The difference is not that friends don’t obey (v14) but that friends are told what the Master is doing. Henry: those who do the duty of servants are “advanced to the dignity of his friends.” Spurgeon: “friendship needs something from us,” and “Familiarity with Jesus ceases when we become familiar with known sin.”\n\n**“You did not choose Me but I chose you” (v16).** In context Jesus speaks of choosing the Eleven as apostles and appointing them to bear fruit — but the principle runs wider (v19, “I chose you out of the world”). Guzik: “They were all rooted in the fact that Jesus chose them, not that they chose Him.” Henry: “Christ’s choice is prior to theirs and directs and determines it.” Readers differ on how far this verse speaks to individual election to salvation; all agree the initiative in this friendship is His.\n\n**Why does the world hate?** Because it hated Him first, and because the disciples now belong to Him and not to it (vv18–19). Spurgeon: “man naturally hates goodness, because he is so evil that he cannot but detest it,” and “Indifference with regard to Christ is a clear impossibility.” Henry: “Whom Christ blesseth the world curseth.” Verses 22–24 do not say the unevangelized are sinless; they say that rejecting Jesus after His words and works removes every excuse (*prophasis*, “cloak”).\n\n**The Helper and the witnesses (vv26–27).** The Spirit testifies about Christ, and the disciples testify too — one witness, two voices (Tasker, quoted by Guzik). Henry: the Spirit’s working “is not to supersede, but to engage and encourage ours.” Sproul: “The New Testament clearly identifies the first Helper, or Paraclete, as Jesus Himself.” The phrase “proceeds from the Father” lies behind the creed’s wording and the East–West dispute over “and the Son”; Guzik notes it without taking sides, and in this verse Jesus also says He Himself will send the Spirit.\n\n**Word study (Greek):**\n- **true — *alēthinos* (G228):** genuine, real — the true light, the true bread, the true vine.\n- **vine — *ampelos* (G288):** the grapevine; Israel’s emblem.\n- **vinedresser — *geōrgos* (G1092):** farmer, tiller of the soil (KJV “husbandman”).\n- **takes away — *airō* (G142):** take away / lift up (1:29, the Lamb “takes away” sin).\n- **prunes — *kathairō* (G2508):** cleanses, prunes; wordplay with *katharos* (G2513), “clean” (v3; 13:10).\n- **abide — *menō* (G3306):** remain, stay, dwell; ×9 as “abide” in vv4–10, “remain” in v16.\n- **friends — *philos* (G5384):** a loved one; Abraham “the friend of God” (James 2:23).\n- **slaves — *doulos* (G1401):** owned, under orders, not told the master’s plans.\n- **chose — *eklegomai* (G1586):** picked out for Himself (6:70; 13:18).\n- **appointed — *tithēmi* (G5087):** set, place, lay down — same verb as “lay down his life” (v13).\n- **hate — *miseō* (G3404):** settled hostility; perfect tense in v18, “has hated.”\n- **excuse — *prophasis* (G4392):** pretext, cloak.\n- **without a cause — *dōrean* (G1432):** as a gift, for nothing (Romans 3:24).\n- **Helper — *paraklētos* (G3875):** one called alongside; advocate (14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7; 1 John 2:1).\n- **proceeds — *ekporeuomai* (G1607):** goes out from.\n- **testify — *martyreō* (G3140):** bear witness.\n\n**Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):**\n1. **Jesus is the vine Israel was meant to be** — every Old Testament vine passage laments missing fruit.\n2. **The knife is a mercy** — fruitless branches are taken away, fruitful ones pruned.\n3. **The pruning knife is the Word** (v3; Henry: “a cleansing virtue in that word”).\n4. **Fruit, more fruit, much fruit, fruit that remains** — every rung reached by abiding.\n5. **Nothing means nothing** — “apart from Me you can do nothing” (v5).\n6. **Abiding is obedience, not a mood** (v10; Guzik).\n7. **His joy, made full** — permanent, not a roller-coaster (Sproul).\n8. **The One who lays down His life lays us down to bear fruit** — *tithēmi* in vv13 and 16.\n9. **Hated for nothing, loved for nothing** — *dōrean* (v25).\n10. **The Spirit testifies, and so do we** (vv26–27).\n\n**Cross-references:** Exod 3:14; 33:11; Ps 35:19; 69:4; 80:8–16; Isa 5:1–7; 41:8; Jer 2:21; Matt 10:8; John 1:29, 38–39; 6:35, 70; 13:10, 18, 34–35; 14:16–17, 26, 31; 16:7; 18:1; Rom 3:24; Gal 5:22–23; Heb 12:11; Jas 2:23; 1 John 2:1, 19; 3:16; 2 Tim 3:12.", "A": "**Command to obey — “Abide in Me.”** I have spent a lot of my life trying to produce fruit by gritting my teeth. Jesus doesn’t tell the branch to try harder; He tells it to stay. For me that means His words living in me (v7) — real time in the Word every day, not just on Sundays — and doing what He says when I’d rather not (v10). This week I will start each day with one paragraph of John 15 and one honest prayer before I touch my phone.\n\n**Sin to confess — trying to live apart from Him.** “Apart from Me you can do nothing.” I confess the plans, the ministry, the recovery work I have tried to carry in my own strength, and the pride that wanted the credit. Spurgeon is right: “The power lies with the Master, not with the servant.”\n\n**Promise to trust — pruning, not cutting off.** Some of the men I walk with are under the knife right now — a job lost, a marriage hurting, a body breaking down, a sentence still running. The Vinedresser’s knife is not punishment for the fruitful branch; it is preparation for more fruit (v2; Heb 12:11). I want to help my brothers see the difference, and I want to believe it myself when it’s my turn.\n\n**Example to follow — the love that lays down its life.** “Love one another, just as I have loved you” (v12). The measure is the cross. In a men’s group that means showing up, telling the truth, carrying a brother’s load, forgiving what he did to me, and putting his good ahead of my comfort. Henry: “Christ’s love to us should direct and engage our love to each other.”\n\n**Truth to live in — friends, chosen.** So many men I serve have been told they were nobody’s choice. Jesus says, “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit.” I am His friend, not a slave waiting to be fired, and He has told me what He is doing.\n\n**Courage to stand — the world will not applaud.** If the world hated Him without a cause, it will not cheer for me. My job is to make sure that when I am rejected, it is for His name’s sake and not for my own foolishness — and to keep testifying, knowing the Spirit is testifying with me.\n\n**Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):**\n1. Where am I trying to produce fruit by effort instead of by abiding — and what would “staying close to the Vine” look like this week? (15:4–5) *Fruit is the branch’s result, not its work. “Apart from Me you can do nothing.”*\n2. What is the Father pruning in my life right now? Am I calling it punishment when it may be preparation for more fruit? (15:2–3; Heb 12:11) *Spurgeon: pruning is the lot of the fruitful; it is never condemnation.*\n3. Verse 6 is a warning. How do I tell the difference between a pruned branch and a dead one — in myself and in the men I walk with? (15:2, 6; 1 John 2:19) *Guzik’s three views; fruit and abiding are the evidence.*\n4. Jesus says “abide in My love” and “keep My commandments” in the same breath. Which command is He pressing on me right now? (15:9–10, 14) *Not a mystical feeling — simple obedience (Guzik).*\n5. What does it change to know that I am His friend, chosen and appointed — not a slave on probation? (15:15–16) *“You did not choose Me but I chose you.”*\n6. Where am I feeling the world’s pressure for following Christ — and is it for His name’s sake or for my own foolishness? (15:18–21; 2 Tim 3:12) *Spurgeon: “Take care, if the world does hate you, that it hates you without a cause.”*\n\n**Worship.** The Father tends the vine, the Son is the vine, the Spirit testifies about the Son. The One who said “I am the true vine” went out that same night to be cut down — He laid down His life for His friends — so that branches like me could be grafted in and bear fruit that remains.\n\n**Prayer.** Lord Jesus, true Vine, keep me in You. Let Your words live in me, and let me keep Your commandments and stay in Your love. Father, prune what needs pruning, and give me grace to trust Your knife. Make my joy full with Your joy. Teach me to love my brothers the way You loved me, and give me courage when the world pushes back. Holy Spirit, testify about Jesus through my life and my words this week. Amen."}, "43:16": {"O": "**Setting.** Still Thursday night, the last words of the farewell discourse before Jesus’ prayer (ch. 17) and the walk to the garden (18:1). For the first time since chapter 14 the disciples speak — confused among themselves (vv17–18) and then over-confident (vv29–30).\n\n**Structure:**\n- vv1–6 — **the warning:** spoken “so that you may be kept from stumbling” (v1). Outcasts from the synagogue; killers who think they serve God (v2), because they have not known the Father or Me (v3). Told now so you will remember (v4). “I am going to Him who sent Me” — and sorrow has filled your heart (vv5–6).\n- vv7–11 — **the Helper and the world:** “it is to your advantage that I go away” (v7). He will convict the world concerning sin (unbelief, v9), righteousness (I go to the Father, v10), and judgment (the ruler of this world judged, v11).\n- vv12–15 — **the Helper and the disciples:** more to say than they can bear now (v12); the Spirit of truth will guide you into all the truth, speak what He hears, disclose what is to come (v13); He will glorify Me, taking of Mine (vv14–15).\n- vv16–24 — **a little while:** you will not see Me, then you will see Me (v16); the disciples’ confusion (vv17–19); you will weep, the world will rejoice, your grief turned into joy (v20); the woman in labor (v21); I will see you again and no one will take your joy (v22); ask the Father in My name (vv23–24).\n- vv25–33 — **plainly:** no more figures; the Father Himself loves you (vv25–28); “now You are speaking plainly … we believe” (vv29–30); “Do you now believe?” — you will be scattered, yet I am not alone (vv31–32); peace in Me, tribulation in the world, take courage, I have overcome the world (v33).\n\n**Repeated words, with counts (NASB95):**\n- “Me” ×17 — vv3, 5 (×2), 9, 10, 14, 16 (×2), 17 (×2), 19 (×2), 23, 27, 32 (×2), 33.\n- “Father” ×12 — vv3, 10, 15, 17, 23, 25, 26, 27 (×2), 28 (×2), 32.\n- “go / going” ×9 — vv5 (×2), 7 (×3), 10, 17, 28 (×2).\n- “see” ×8 — vv10, 16 (×2), 17 (×2), 19 (×2), 22.\n- “world” ×8 — vv8, 11, 20, 21, 28 (×2), 33 (×2).\n- “these things” ×7 — vv1, 3, 4 (×2), 6, 25, 33; the formula “These things I have spoken to you” ×4 — vv1, 4, 25, 33.\n- “little while” ×7 — vv16 (×2), 17 (×2), 18, 19 (×2).\n- “grief / grieve / sorrow / pain / anguish” ×6 — vv6, 20 (×2), 21 (×2), 22; “joy” ×4 — vv20, 21, 22, 24; “rejoice” ×2 — vv20, 22.\n- “hour” ×5 — vv2, 4, 21, 25, 32.\n- “ask / asks / asked” ×5 — vv5, 23, 24 (×2), 26; “question” ×3 — vv19, 23, 30; “in My name” ×3 — vv23, 24, 26.\n- “disclose” ×3 — vv13, 14, 15; “truth” ×3 — vv7, 13 (×2); “Mine” ×3 — vv14, 15 (×2).\n- “figurative language / figure of speech” ×3 — vv25 (×2), 29; “plainly” ×2 — vv25, 29; “believe” ×3 — vv9, 30, 31.\n\n**Contrasts:** offering service to God ⟷ not knowing God (vv2–3). I go away ⟷ the Helper comes (v7). You will weep ⟷ the world will rejoice (v20). Grief ⟷ joy (vv20–22). Pain ⟷ birth (v21). Figurative language ⟷ plainly (v25). Scattered and leaving Me alone ⟷ I am not alone (v32). In Me peace ⟷ in the world tribulation (v33).\n\n**Shape of the chapter:** from night to morning — warning and sorrow (1–6), the Spirit’s work in the world and in the disciples (7–15), grief turning to joy (16–24), and peace in the Victor (25–33). It begins with “kept from stumbling” and ends with “take courage.”\n\n**Chapter theme (my words):** Jesus’ going away was not loss but gain: it sent the Spirit, it turned grief into joy, and it won the victory over the world. In Him I have peace even when the world gives me tribulation.", "I": "**Why is it better that Jesus go away (v7)?** Because the Helper comes only if He goes — the cross, resurrection and ascension come before Pentecost (Acts 2:33). Sproul: “it is expedient or necessary for Him to go away so that the disciples may be filled with the Holy Spirit,” and “What sounds like an absolute disadvantage, Jesus promises will turn into an advantage.” Henry: Christ in the flesh was in one place; “his Spirit is every where, in all places, at all times.” Guzik: “Jesus meant that the presence and work of the Holy Spirit would actually be better for believers.” Notice the same words in Caiaphas’s mouth (11:50): “it is expedient for you.”\n\n**What does the Spirit convict the world of (vv8–11)?** *Elenchō* means to expose and prove guilty, not merely to accuse. **Sin** — “because they do not believe in Me”; Guzik: “It is unbelief, the rejection of Jesus, which ultimately proves one to be guilty.” **Righteousness** — “because I go to the Father”: the Father’s receiving Jesus vindicates the Man the world condemned; Spurgeon also hears the righteousness Christ gives, which “makes him righteous on the spot.” **Judgment** — “because the ruler of this world has been judged” (12:31); Spurgeon: “the Lord Jesus overthrew the devil for you.” Henry: the Spirit works “first to convince, and then to comfort.”\n\n**“Guide you into all the truth” — to whom (v13)?** First to the apostles: Jesus has more to say than they can bear, and the Spirit will remind (14:26), guide and disclose “what is to come” — which is why we trust the New Testament they wrote. Guzik adds, “In another sense the Holy Spirit continues today to personally lead us into truth.” That guidance never adds to Christ or contradicts Scripture; Spurgeon: “The Spirit never says one thing at one time and another thing at another.” Its test is v14: “He will glorify Me.”\n\n**What is “a little while” (vv16–19)?** Most naturally, the hours until the cross and the three days until Easter (20:20, “The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord”). Henry hears layers: the resurrection, the coming of the Spirit, and Christ’s second coming. As a futurist I take the first meaning as primary and the last as a true echo — the whole church now lives in a “little while” before He comes (Hebrews 10:37).\n\n**Grief turned, not replaced (vv20–22).** The cross that caused the grief became the cause of the joy. Guzik: “God’s work was not to replace their sorrow with joy, but to turn sorrow into joy.” The woman’s labor shows it: the pain itself brings the child. Henry: “Believers have joy or sorrow according as they have or have not a sight of Christ.” Sproul: their mourning gives way “to a great and fulfilling joy.”\n\n**Asking in His name (vv23–27).** “In that day” — after the resurrection and the Spirit’s coming — they will pray to the Father directly in Jesus’ name. That doesn’t mean Christ stops interceding (Romans 8:34; 1 John 2:1); it means the Father does not need persuading. Guzik: “Jesus makes it clear that the Son did not need to persuade an angry Father to be gracious.” “The Father Himself loves you” (v27).\n\n**“Do you now believe?” (v31).** The disciples’ confession is real but premature; within hours they scatter (Zechariah 13:7). Henry hears a gentle check on overconfidence. Jesus is not alone even when they leave Him, “because the Father is with Me” — Guzik: “In the loneliest moments imaginable, He understood that the Father was with Him.”\n\n**“I have overcome the world” (v33).** Perfect tense, spoken before the cross. Guzik: “Peace is offered to us, but tribulation is promised.” Spurgeon: Christ conquered as our Head, so we overcome in Him; Sproul: “Christ, by His resurrection, has overcome the world” (Renewing Your Mind). Henry: “Never was there such a conqueror of the world as Christ was.” John’s first letter gives the application: “this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith” (1 John 5:4).\n\n**Word study (Greek):**\n- **stumbling — *skandalizō* (G4624):** to trip up, cause to fall (KJV “offended”).\n- **outcasts from the synagogue — *aposynagōgos* (G656):** only John 9:22; 12:42; 16:2.\n- **service — *latreia* (G2999):** priestly, sacrificial worship.\n- **advantage — *sympherō* (G4851):** to be profitable, expedient (11:50; 18:14; 16:7).\n- **Helper — *paraklētos* (G3875):** one called alongside; advocate.\n- **convict — *elenchō* (G1651):** expose, prove guilty (3:20; 8:46).\n- **ruler — *archōn* (G758):** prince, ruler of this world (12:31; 14:30; 16:11).\n- **guide — *hodēgeō* (G3594):** lead the way (Acts 8:31; Rev 7:17; LXX Ps 25:5).\n- **little while — *mikron* (G3398):** a short time; ×7 in vv16–19.\n- **grief — *lypē* (G3077):** sorrow, pain of heart (vv6, 20–22).\n- **joy — *chara* (G5479):** gladness that no one can take away.\n- **anguish / tribulation — *thlipsis* (G2347):** pressure, affliction (vv21, 33).\n- **figurative language — *paroimia* (G3942):** proverb, veiled saying (10:6).\n- **plainly — *parrēsia* (G3954):** openly, boldly (Acts 4:13, 29, 31).\n- **scattered — *skorpizō* (G4650):** dispersed (Zech 13:7).\n- **take courage — *tharseō* (G2293):** be of good cheer (Matt 9:2; 14:27; Acts 23:11).\n- **have overcome — *nikaō* (G3528):** conquer; perfect tense *nenikēka* (1 John 5:4).\n\n**Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):**\n1. **Forewarned is forearmed** — “These things I have spoken to you” ×4.\n2. **Religious zeal can kill** — *latreia*, and Saul of Tarsus (Acts 26:9).\n3. **Caiaphas and Jesus used the same words** — “it is expedient for you” (11:50; 16:7).\n4. **The Spirit proves the case** — first to convince, then to comfort.\n5. **Unbelief is the sin the Spirit presses** (v9).\n6. **Into the truth, not just to it** — and He always glorifies Jesus (v14).\n7. **An absolute disadvantage turned into an advantage** (Sproul).\n8. **Grief turned, not replaced** (Guzik).\n9. **The mother’s anguish and the world’s tribulation are one word** — *thlipsis*.\n10. **Victory in the perfect tense** — *nenikēka*.\n\n**Cross-references:** Ps 25:5; Isa 26:17–19; 66:7–14; Zech 13:7; Matt 9:2, 22; 14:27; 26:31; John 3:20; 8:46; 9:22; 11:50–51; 12:31, 42; 14:16–17, 26, 30; 15:18–27; 18:1, 14; 20:19–20; Acts 2:33; 4:13, 29–31; 5:41; 8:1–3, 31; 23:11; 26:9–11; Rom 8:34, 37; Heb 10:37; 1 John 2:1; 5:4; Rev 7:17; 21:4.", "A": "**Promise to trust — “it is to your advantage that I go away.”** I have prayed for Jesus to just show up and fix things the way I want. He tells me something better is already here: the Helper living in me. When I feel like He’s far away, I will remember that His going away is how the Spirit came to me — not a loss, an advantage.\n\n**Command to obey — “ask … so that your joy may be made full.”** Jesus says, “Until now you have asked for nothing in My name.” Too often that’s me — I worry, plan and complain, but I don’t ask. This week I will write down three things I have stopped asking the Father for and ask Him every morning, in Jesus’ name, believing the Father Himself loves me (v27).\n\n**Sin to confess — over-confidence and running.** The disciples said, “Now we know … we believe,” and within hours they scattered, “each to his own home.” I know that pattern: big words in the group, then running when it gets hard. I confess it, and I take comfort that Jesus told them ahead of time and took them back afterward.\n\n**Truth to live in — grief turned into joy.** Many of the men I walk with carry real grief — a child they can’t see, years lost, a wife who left, a father who died before they got right. Jesus doesn’t say the grief is fake or that it will be swapped for something else. He says it will be *turned* — like a mother whose pain becomes the joy of a child born. I want to hold my grief like labor pain, not a dead end.\n\n**Example to follow — “not alone, because the Father is with Me.”** Jesus faced the loneliest night in history knowing the Father was with Him. When I’m in a cell, a hospital room or an empty house, I’m not alone either.\n\n**Courage to stand — “take courage; I have overcome the world.”** I am promised tribulation and offered peace. The peace is in Him, not in my circumstances. When the world pushes on me this week, I will say out loud: “He has overcome the world.”\n\n**Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):**\n1. What trouble has come into my life that Jesus actually warned me about — and did it shake my faith or confirm His word? (16:1–4) *“These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling.”*\n2. Where do I need to believe that Jesus’ “going away” — something I would never have chosen — is to my advantage? (16:6–7) *Sproul: an absolute disadvantage turned into an advantage.*\n3. When has the Holy Spirit convicted me — not just made me feel bad, but proved the case? What did He show me about sin, righteousness or judgment? (16:8–11; 8:46) *First to convince, then to comfort (Henry).*\n4. What grief am I carrying that I need to see as labor pain rather than a dead end? (16:20–22; Rev 21:4) *Grief turned into joy — the woman in labor.*\n5. Jesus says “Until now you have asked for nothing in My name.” What have I stopped asking the Father for? (16:23–24) *“Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full.”*\n6. Where am I feeling alone and scattered this week — and what does it mean that Jesus was “not alone” and has “overcome the world”? (16:32–33; 1 John 5:4) *Peace is offered, tribulation is promised (Guzik).*\n\n**Worship.** The Father sent the Son; the Son went back to the Father; the Spirit came from the Father in the Son’s name to glorify the Son. The night of the cross was a little while, and the morning came. Jesus spoke victory before the battle, and the empty tomb proved He was right.\n\n**Prayer.** Father, thank You that You Yourself love me. Lord Jesus, thank You for telling me the truth ahead of time, and for going away so the Helper could come. Holy Spirit, convict me where I need it, guide me into the truth, and show me Jesus. Turn my grief into joy. Teach me to ask in Jesus’ name again. When I want to run and scatter, hold me. Give me peace in You and courage in the world, because You have overcome the world. Amen."}, "43:17": {"O": "**Setting.** The night before the cross, at the end of the Upper Room teaching (John 13–16). Judas has gone out into the night (13:30). Jesus has just said, “In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world” (16:33). Then He lifts His eyes to heaven and prays aloud in front of the Eleven. Right after, they cross the ravine of the Kidron to the garden (18:1).\n\n**Structure:**\n- vv1–5 — **for Himself:** “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son.” Authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom the Father has given Him (v2). Eternal life = knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent (v3). “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work” (v4); “glorify Me … with the glory which I had with You before the world was” (v5).\n- vv6–12 — **for the Eleven — who they are:** He manifested the Father’s name to the men given Him out of the world; they kept His word, received His words, believed He was sent (vv6–8). He asks for them, not for the world (v9). “Holy Father, keep them in Your name … that they may be one” (v11). He kept and guarded them; not one perished but the son of perdition (v12).\n- vv13–19 — **for the Eleven — what He asks:** My joy made full in them (v13). The world hated them because they are not of the world (v14). Not out of the world, but kept from the evil one (v15). “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth” (v17). As You sent Me, I have sent them (v18). “For their sakes I sanctify Myself” (v19).\n- vv20–26 — **for all who will believe through their word:** that they may all be one, as the Father and the Son, so that the world may believe (v21). The glory given to them, that they may be one, perfected in unity, so the world may know (vv22–23). “Father, I desire that they … be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory” (v24). The world has not known You; I have known You (v25). I have made Your name known and will, that Your love may be in them, and I in them (v26).\n\n**Repeated words, with counts:**\n- “world” ×18 — vv5, 6, 9, 11 (×2), 13, 14 (×3), 15, 16 (×2), 18 (×2), 21, 23, 24, 25.\n- “give / gave / given” ×17 — vv2 (×3), 4, 6 (×2), 7, 8 (×2), 9, 11, 12, 14, 22 (×2), 24 (×2).\n- “glorify / glorified” ×5 — vv1 (×2), 4, 5, 10; “glory” ×3 — vv5, 22, 24 (eight in all).\n- “know / known / knowing” ×8 — vv3, 7, 23, 25 (×3), 26 (×2).\n- “sent” ×7 — vv3, 8, 18 (×2), 21, 23, 25 (“You sent Me” five times — vv8, 18, 21, 23, 25).\n- “Father” ×6 — vv1, 5, 11 (“Holy Father”), 21, 24, 25 (“O righteous Father”).\n- “one” ×6 — vv11, 12, 15, 21, 22 (×2); four of them are “one” as unity (vv11, 21, 22 ×2), with “perfected in unity” (v23).\n- “Mine / Yours” ×6 — vv6, 9, 10 (×4).\n- “name” ×5 — vv6, 11 (×2), 12, 26; “word / words” ×5 — vv6, 8, 14, 17, 20.\n- “love / loved” ×5 — vv23 (×2), 24, 26 (×2).\n- “keep / keeping / kept” ×4 — vv6, 11, 12, 15; “ask” ×4 — vv9 (×2), 15, 20.\n- “not of the world” ×4 — vv14 (×2), 16 (×2).\n- “truth” ×3 — vv17 (×2), 19; “sanctify / sanctified” ×3 — vv17, 19 (×2).\n\n**Contrasts:** the glory before the world was (v5) ⟷ the work accomplished on the earth (v4). The men given out of the world (v6) ⟷ the world (v9). Kept and guarded (v12) ⟷ the son of perdition (v12). In the world (v11) ⟷ not of the world (vv14, 16). Taken out of the world ⟷ kept from the evil one (v15). The world has not known You ⟷ I have known You (v25).\n\n**Shape of the chapter:** three widening circles — the Son (1–5), the Eleven (6–19), all believers (20–26). It begins with the Father glorifying the Son and ends with the Father’s love living in the people, “and I in them.”\n\n**Chapter theme (my words):** On the eve of the cross the Son asks the Father to glorify Him through the cross, and then prays for His people — to be kept, sanctified, sent, united and finally brought to see His glory. Everything He asks for us rests on what He is about to do.", "I": "**Why call it the High Priestly Prayer?** Like Aaron carrying Israel’s names over his heart into the holy place (Exod 28:29), Jesus brings His people by name before the Father on the eve of the sacrifice — and verse 19 shows He is both priest and offering: “For their sakes I sanctify Myself.” Henry: “He, as the priest and altar, sanctified himself as the sacrifice.” Isaiah 53:12 said the Servant would bear the sin of many “And interceded for the transgressors”; here is the intercession, and tomorrow the bearing. Sproul: “Christ’s priestly work did not end on the cross” (Heb 7:25; Rom 8:34).\n\n**What is the “hour,” and what is the glory?** John has counted toward this hour since Cana (2:4; 7:30; 8:20; 12:23; 13:1). The hour is the cross, and through it the resurrection and ascension. Guzik: the hour of glorification begins with His death. In verse 5 He asks to return to “the glory which I had with You before the world was.” Sproul: “It is a tacit claim to His participation in the eternal glory of God.” Isaiah 42:8 says God will not give His glory to another — so the Son is not “another.”\n\n**Eternal life (v3).** Not first a quantity of time but a quality of life: knowing God. *Ginōskō* is relational, covenant knowing (Jer 31:34). Guzik: “Eternal life is found in an experiential knowledge (ginosko) of both God the Father and Jesus Christ, God the Son.” Henry: “Life eternal lies in the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ.” And the object includes Jesus Christ beside “the only true God” — Guzik calls verse 2 “a clear and startling claim to deity.”\n\n**“I do not ask on behalf of the world” (v9) — where Christians differ.** Sproul reads it as particular intercession: “Jesus is praying for all those who belong to God, not for everyone on the planet,” and in *The Truth of the Cross* ties it to the extent of the atonement (“He was praying for the elect”). Henry: “There is a world of people that Jesus Christ did not pray for.” Spurgeon: He prays the more for us “because we are the Father’s.” Guzik puts it more modestly: “Jesus specifically had His disciples in mind in this prayer.” Many non-Reformed believers read verse 9 as the focus of this prayer rather than a limit on God’s love (John 3:16), and the prayer itself keeps the world in view — “so that the world may believe” (v21). I want my men to see both readings and hold the comfort they share: if you belong to Him, He has prayed for you by name.\n\n**Judas, the son of perdition (v12).** The idiom marks a man by his end. Henry: “He deserved perdition, and God left him to throw himself headlong into it.” Guzik: “There was one exception to Jesus’ work in keeping the disciples, Judas.” The same title is used of the coming man of lawlessness in 2 Thess 2:3. Judas was near Jesus for three years and never His; Peter fell hard that same night and was restored. Sproul: “Like Judas, Peter had a great fall,” but “Unlike Judas, Peter was restored and persevered in faith.”\n\n**In the world, not of it (vv11–18).** Jesus refuses both escape and absorption. Guzik: “Jesus didn’t pray that we would be taken out of the battle, but that we would be strengthened and protected in it.” Henry: “Not that they may be kept from all conflict with the world, but that they may not be overcome by it.” Spurgeon (1855) used verse 15 against the monastery and against wishing to die early: we are left here to serve.\n\n**Sanctified in the truth (vv17–19).** Sanctification is being set apart from sin and to God; the means is the Word. Guzik: “Sanctify means to be set apart for God’s special pleasure and use.” Spurgeon: “Justification is perfect the moment it is received, but sanctification is a matter of growth,” and “God works sanctification in us by the truth, and by nothing else.” Sproul: “If you don’t care about truth, there’s no concern about sanctification.”\n\n**What kind of unity (vv20–23)?** Not institutional merger but shared life — “even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You.” Guzik: organic unity, not uniformity, and “Jesus essentially gave the world permission to judge the validity of His ministry based on the unity of His people.” Henry: one body, one Spirit, one love; “The unity of the gospel ministers is both the beauty and strength of the gospel interest.” Unity apart from the truth of verse 17 is not the unity Jesus prayed for.\n\n**“Father, I desire” (v24).** The one petition for heaven. Spurgeon: “It is the very pith and marrow of heaven to be with Christ.” Guzik: “Jesus was not yet in heaven, yet He spoke as if He already were there.” In the garden He will say, “not My will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42); He surrenders His will to the cross so that this will of His — us with Him — is done.\n\n**Word study (Greek):**\n- **hour — *hōra* (G5610):** the appointed time; John’s countdown (2:4 → 17:1).\n- **glorify — *doxazō* (G1392):** to make visible someone’s weight and worth; the cross as glory.\n- **know — *ginōskō* (G1097):** relational, covenant knowing; present tense in v3.\n- **accomplished / perfected — *teleioō* (G5048):** to bring to completion (vv4, 23; cf. 19:28).\n- **manifested — *phaneroō* (G5319):** to bring into the open; He showed the Father’s name.\n- **keep — *tēreō* (G5083):** to guard, preserve (vv6, 11, 12, 15).\n- **perdition — *apōleia* (G684):** ruin, destruction; wordplay with “perished” in v12; cf. 2 Thess 2:3.\n- **sanctify — *hagiazō* (G37):** to set apart as holy — from sin, to God (vv17, 19).\n- **evil one — *ponēros* (G4190):** active malignant evil; “the evil one” as in 1 John 5:18–19.\n- **one — *heis / hen* (G1520):** “one thing” — unity of life, modeled on the Father and Son.\n- **I desire — *thelō* (G2309):** “I will” — the Son’s authoritative request (v24).\n\n**Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):**\n1. **The hour has finally come** — the countdown since Cana ends at the cross.\n2. **Eternal life is a relationship before it is a length of time** (v3).\n3. **Jesus claims the Father’s own glory** (v5; Sproul).\n4. **Most of what the Father gave the Son is people** — “those whom You have given Me.”\n5. **The one who was lost was never one of the given** (v12; Ps 41:9).\n6. **Kept in the battle, not taken out of it** (v15; Guzik).\n7. **Truth is the tool of holiness** (v17; Spurgeon).\n8. **He sanctified Himself so we could be sanctified** (v19; Henry).\n9. **You are in this prayer** (v20; Sproul).\n10. **Unity is evidence** — “so that the world may believe” (vv21, 23).\n\n**Cross-references:** Exod 28:29; 34:5–7; Ps 41:9; 119:9; Isa 42:8; 53:12; Jer 31:34; Luke 22:42; John 1:14; 2:4; 3:16; 7:30; 8:20; 10:28–30; 12:23, 32; 13:1, 18, 31; 14:6, 9; 16:33; 19:30; Acts 1:8; Rom 8:34; Eph 4:3–6; 2 Thess 2:3; Heb 7:25; 1 John 3:2; 5:18–19; Rev 7:9.", "A": "**Promise to trust — “I ask on their behalf” (v9).** I have men at my table who have never had anyone pray for them by name — not a father, not a pastor. Jesus did, the night before He died, and He still does: He “always lives to make intercession” (Heb 7:25). Peter fell hard that same night and came back because Jesus had prayed for him. When I can’t pray for myself — the night after a relapse, the day the papers come — I can rest in this: the Son is talking to the Father about me, and His prayers do not fail.\n\n**Command to obey — sanctified in the truth (v17).** Jesus didn’t ask the Father to make us feel holy; He asked Him to set us apart by the Word. So this week I will open the Word before I open my phone, every morning, and I’ll ask one other man to hold me to it. Holiness grows in the soil of truth, and I can’t skip the soil.\n\n**Sin to confess — wanting out, or blending in (vv15–16).** Some days I want God to take me out of the world — out of the job, the neighborhood, the cell block, the family mess. Other days I just blend in so nobody notices whose I am. Jesus prayed against both. I confess my escapes and my camouflage, and I ask to be kept from the evil one right where He has put me.\n\n**Example to follow — the Son who prayed before He fought.** Before the torches came up the hill, Jesus prayed. Spurgeon said God “never” had “a son who did not pray.” When I see trouble coming, my first move should be the Father, not the phone, not the bottle, not the fist.\n\n**Calling to live — one, so the world may believe (v21).** The world is watching how believers treat each other. The men in our group come from different churches, colors and records; our love for each other is part of the evidence that the Father sent the Son. I will reach out this week to the brother I’ve been avoiding.\n\n**Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):**\n1. If eternal life is knowing God (v3), how would I describe where my knowing of Him actually stands this week — about Him, or Him? (17:3; Jer 31:34) *Present tense: keep on knowing. Life is measured by relationship before length.*\n2. Jesus calls His men a gift from the Father (vv6, 9, 24). How would it change the way I treat the men in this group if I believed that about them? (17:6–10) *“Those whom You have given Me” — the prayer’s favorite name for believers.*\n3. Judas walked with Jesus for three years and was lost. What is the difference between being near Jesus and being kept by Him? (17:12; 13:18) *Henry: the one loss was no failure of the Keeper.*\n4. Where am I tempted to escape the world — or to blend into it? What would “kept from the evil one” look like in that exact place? (17:15–16; 1 John 5:18–19) *Not out of the battle, but protected in it.*\n5. Jesus says the Word is the means of sanctification. What place does Scripture really have in my week, and what would change if it had more? (17:17; Ps 119:9) *“Your word is truth” — God sanctifies by the truth and by nothing else.*\n6. The world is meant to look at our unity and believe. What division among believers near me could I help heal this month? (17:21–23; Eph 4:3–6) *“So that the world may believe that You sent Me.”*\n\n**Worship.** The Son who had glory with the Father before the world was stepped into our world, finished the Father’s work, and on His last night spent His breath praying for us. He wants us with Him, where He is, to see His glory. That is where this whole story is going.\n\n**Prayer.** Holy Father, righteous Father — thank You that Your Son prayed for me before I was born and prays for me still. Keep me in Your name. Keep me from the evil one, right where You’ve put me. Sanctify me in the truth; make Your Word the soil I live in. Make me one with my brothers so the world may believe You sent Jesus. And bring me, and the men I serve, to be with Him where He is, to see His glory. In His name, Amen."}, "43:18": {"O": "**Setting.** Thursday night into Friday dawn of Passover week. Jesus leaves the city with the Eleven, crosses the ravine of the Kidron east of the temple, and enters a garden on the Mount of Olives where He often met with them (vv1–2). From there: back into the city to the house of the high priest (Annas, then Caiaphas, vv13, 24), and at daybreak to Pilate’s Praetorium (v28).\n\n**Structure:**\n- vv1–11 — **the garden:** Judas comes with the Roman cohort and temple officers, “with lanterns and torches and weapons” (v3). Jesus, knowing everything, goes out: “Whom do you seek?” … “I am He” — and they drew back and fell to the ground (vv4–6). “If you seek Me, let these go their way,” fulfilling “I lost not one” (vv8–9). Peter cuts off Malchus’ right ear; “Put the sword into the sheath; the cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?” (vv10–11).\n- vv12–27 — **two scenes, cut together:** Jesus bound and led to Annas, father-in-law of Caiaphas (vv12–14). Peter gets in through another disciple; to the slave-girl at the door, “I am not” (vv15–17); he stands warming himself at the charcoal fire (v18). Inside, Jesus questioned about His disciples and teaching: “I have spoken openly to the world” (vv19–21); an officer strikes Him; “if rightly, why do you strike Me?” (vv22–23). Sent bound to Caiaphas (v24). Outside, “I am not” again (v25); Malchus’ relative: “Did I not see you in the garden?”; denied again, and immediately a rooster crowed (vv26–27).\n- vv28–40 — **the Praetorium:** they will not enter, so as not to be defiled before the Passover (v28). Pilate goes out: “What accusation?” — “If this Man were not an evildoer…” — “Take Him yourselves” — “We are not permitted to put anyone to death,” fulfilling the word of the kind of death He would die (vv29–32). Inside: “Are You the King of the Jews?” … “My kingdom is not of this world” … “For this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth” … “What is truth?” (vv33–38a). Out again: “I find no guilt in Him”; the Passover custom; “Not this Man, but Barabbas.” Now Barabbas was a robber (vv38b–40).\n\n**Repeated words, with counts:**\n- “Jesus” ×20; “Peter” ×10 — vv10, 11, 15, 16 (×2), 17, 18, 25, 26, 27.\n- “disciple(s)” ×9 — vv1 (×2), 2, 15 (×2), 16, 17, 19, 25.\n- “high priest” ×9 — vv10, 13, 15 (×2), 16, 19, 22, 24, 26; “Annas / Caiaphas” ×6 — vv13 (×2), 14, 24 (×2), 28.\n- “Jews / Jew” ×9 — vv12, 14, 20, 31, 33, 35, 36, 38, 39.\n- “Pilate” ×6 — vv29, 31, 33, 35, 37, 38.\n- “standing / stood” ×6 — vv5, 16, 18 (×2), 22, 25.\n- “slave(s) / slave-girl” ×5 — vv10 (×2), 17, 18, 26; “officer(s)” ×4 — vv3, 12, 18, 22.\n- “went forth / went out” ×5 — vv1, 4, 16, 29, 38.\n- “king / King” ×4 — vv33, 37 (×2), 39; “kingdom” ×3 — v36 (×3); “world” ×4 — vv20, 36 (×2), 37.\n- “I am He” ×3 — vv5, 6, 8; “I am not” ×3 — vv17, 25 (Peter), 35 (Pilate: “I am not a Jew, am I?”).\n- “truth” ×3 — vv37 (×2), 38; “Praetorium” ×3 — vv28 (×2), 33; “warming” ×3 — vv18 (×2), 25.\n- “Whom do you seek?” ×2 — vv4, 7; “Jesus the Nazarene” ×2 — vv5, 7; “bound” ×2 — vv12, 24; “denied” ×2 — vv25, 27.\n\n**Contrasts:** “I am He” (vv5, 6, 8) ⟷ “I am not” (vv17, 25). Armed men fall down (v6) ⟷ one unarmed Man stands. Peter’s sword (v10) ⟷ the Father’s cup (v11). Jesus spoke “openly” (v20) ⟷ a trial held at night. Careful about defilement (v28) ⟷ careless about an innocent man’s blood. A kingdom not of this world (v36) ⟷ the King of the Jews they reject (v39). “I find no guilt in Him” (v38) ⟷ “Not this Man, but Barabbas” (v40).\n\n**Shape of the chapter:** three places — garden, courtyard, Praetorium — and in each the bound Man is the free one and everyone around Him is trapped: soldiers on the ground, Peter by the fire, Pilate shuttling in and out, the crowd choosing a robber.\n\n**Chapter theme (my words):** Jesus goes to His death on purpose. He gives Himself up so His men go free, drinks the cup His Father gives, and bears witness to the truth before men who refuse it — and the guilty go free while the Innocent is condemned.", "I": "**“I am He” — and why they fell (vv4–8).** In Greek Jesus says only *egō eimi*, “I am” — the words of 8:24, 8:58, 13:19 and Isaiah 43:10. At one level it simply identifies Him; but John tells us twice more that He said it and that armed men “drew back and fell to the ground.” Guzik: “There was such a display of divine presence, majesty, and power in those two words.” Henry: “Christ was declared to be more than a man.” Psalm 27:2 had sung, “When evildoers came upon me … they stumbled and fell.” The point is not a magic trick but a surrender: “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative” (10:18). Spurgeon: “There was no power on earth that could have bound Him had He been unwilling.”\n\n**“Let these go their way” (vv8–9).** John says this fulfilled Jesus’ word, “Of those whom You have given Me I lost not one” (17:12; 6:39). The garden is the gospel in small: the Shepherd is seized and the sheep go free. Spurgeon puts it in Christ’s mouth: “Here I am; but let these, for whom I stood, go their way.”\n\n**Peter’s sword and the Father’s cup (vv10–11).** Peter was brave and wrong. Guzik suspects he picked an unarmed slave; Henry: “Thus, while he seemed to fight for Christ, he fought against him.” Luke adds that Jesus healed the ear (Luke 22:51). The cup in the prophets is God’s wrath against sin (Isa 51:17; Jer 25:15). Jesus does not see Judas or Caiaphas handing it to Him; He sees His Father — “the cup which the Father has given Me.”\n\n**Annas or Caiaphas (vv13–24)?** Annas was the power behind the office (Guzik: “he was the one who put Caiaphas in office”). Guzik and Sproul take the questioner in v19 to be Annas; Spurgeon, preaching the whole trial from Psalm 2:2, has Caiaphas asking about the disciples and the doctrine. John calls both men “high priest,” and verse 24 sends Jesus on to Caiaphas. The hearing broke the law’s own rules — Sproul: “It was inappropriate, improper, and illegal for a capital trial to be carried out at night.” Jesus asks only for witnesses; Spurgeon: “Truth is never shamefaced.”\n\n**Peter by the fire (vv15–18, 25–27).** John cuts back and forth: Jesus standing firm inside, Peter crumbling outside. The steps down: following at a distance, getting inside, standing with the slaves and officers, warming himself at their fire. Henry: “It is ill warming ourselves with those with whom we are in danger of burning ourselves.” Guzik: “it was not the faith of Peter that failed, but his courage.” Spurgeon: “Backslide a little and you are on the way to utter apostasy.” And John alone uses the rare *anthrakia*, charcoal fire — again only at 21:9, where Jesus restores Peter with three questions. Sproul’s commentary, quoted at Ligonier: Jesus “had no need to die for people who are sinless, for there are no such people.”\n\n**Clean hands, dirty hearts (v28).** They would not enter a Gentile house before eating the Passover, while handing over the true Passover Lamb. Guzik: “They refused to break relatively small commands regarding ceremonial defilement.” Henry: “They strained at a gnat, and swallowed a camel.” Verse 32: Rome executed by crucifixion; Jesus had said He would be “lifted up” (12:32–33). Henry: “No word of Christ shall fall to the ground.”\n\n**“My kingdom is not of this world” (v36).** “Of” (*ek*) speaks of source, not location. Sproul’s commentary, as quoted: Jesus “did not say that His dominion and authority did not include this world,” nor that it was “a transcendent spiritual Neverland.” Henry: “Its nature is not worldly; it is a kingdom within men,” and “its weapons are spiritual.” Spurgeon: “His kingdom was not of this world, nor to be sustained by force.” I read this with Daniel 7:14 and Revelation 11:15: today His kingdom advances by truth, not swords; one day the King returns and His kingdom fills the earth. It does not come from here — but it is coming here.\n\n**“What is truth?” (v38).** Guzik: “Probably, Pilate did not mean that there was no truth” — it is the shrug of a politician — and “Many in our day ask Pilate’s question, but from a different perspective.” Henry: “Truth is that pearl of great price which the human understanding has a desire for,” yet Pilate walked out on the answer standing in front of him (14:6).\n\n**Barabbas (vv39–40).** A *lēstēs*, a violent bandit (Mark 15:7: an insurrectionist and murderer). Guzik: “The cross Jesus hung upon was probably originally intended for Barabbas.” Spurgeon: “Barabbas must die or Christ must die,” and “He dies that we may be delivered.” Henry: “Thus those do who prefer their sins before Christ.” I am both — the crowd that preferred my sin, and the robber who walked out free.\n\n**Word study (Greek):**\n- **Kidron — *Kedrōn* (G2748):** the valley east of the temple; only here in the NT (cf. 2 Sam 15:23).\n- **cohort — *speira* (G4686):** a Roman cohort, up to ~600 men, or a detachment (vv3, 12).\n- **I am — *egō eimi* (G1473, G1510):** “I am He” — the words of 8:58 and Isa 43:10.\n- **cup — *potērion* (G4221):** in the prophets, the cup of God’s wrath (Isa 51:17).\n- **charcoal fire — *anthrakia* (G439):** only John 18:18 and 21:9.\n- **deny — *arneomai* (G720):** to disown; Peter’s *ouk eimi*, “I am not.”\n- **blow — *rhapisma* (G4475):** a slap or blow; only Mark 14:65; John 18:22; 19:3.\n- **Praetorium — *praitōrion* (G4232):** the Roman governor’s headquarters (vv28, 33).\n- **kingdom — *basileia* (G932):** reign; “not of (*ek*) this world” — source, not location.\n- **truth — *alētheia* (G225):** reality unhidden; Jesus is the truth (14:6).\n- **robber — *lēstēs* (G3027):** a violent bandit, not a sneak thief (cf. 10:1, 8).\n\n**Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):**\n1. **The prisoner is in charge** (vv4, 8, 11).\n2. **“I am” knocks armed men down** (v6).\n3. **He is taken so they can go** (vv8–9).\n4. **The cup came from the Father** (v11).\n5. **“I am He” against “I am not”** (vv5–8, 17, 25).\n6. **Watch where you warm yourself** (v18; Henry).\n7. **The fire returns** — *anthrakia*, 18:18 and 21:9.\n8. **A night trial in the dark** (vv19–24; Sproul).\n9. **Religious scruples, murderous hearts** (v28).\n10. **The robber went free** (v40).\n\n**Cross-references:** 2 Sam 15:23; Ps 1:1; 2:2; 27:2; Isa 43:10; 51:17; 53:5–7; Jer 25:15; Dan 7:14; Mic 5:1; Matt 26:52; Mark 14:65; 15:7; Luke 22:51, 61–62; John 6:39; 8:24, 58; 10:1, 8, 18; 11:50; 12:32–33; 13:19, 38; 14:6; 17:12; 21:9, 15–17; Acts 23:3; 1 Tim 6:13; Heb 12:2; 1 Pet 2:23; Rev 11:15.", "A": "**Promise to trust — “let these go their way” (v8).** Jesus stood between the soldiers and His men and said, take Me, let them go. That is what He did for me at the cross. Some of the men I sit with have been arrested, booked, sentenced. They know what it is to be the one taken. In the garden Jesus chose to be the one taken so that we could walk out free. I am one of “these.”\n\n**Command to obey — “Put the sword into the sheath” (v11).** Peter’s sword was loyalty without trust — swinging at the problem in front of him instead of trusting the Father’s plan. My swords are my temper, my tongue, my fists, my plans to get even. This week I will put one of them away: when I want to strike back, I will stop, say “the cup the Father has given me,” and trust Him with the outcome.\n\n**Sin to confess — warming myself at the wrong fire (vv18, 25).** Peter didn’t plan to deny Jesus. He just got cold and stood where the crowd was. I confess the places I go to get warm that aren’t safe — the old crew, the bar stool, the screen at midnight, the group chat that pulls me away from Christ. I name one this week and walk away from it.\n\n**Hope to hold — the second charcoal fire (21:9).** If you have denied Him — with your mouth or your life — this chapter is not the end of Peter’s story. Jesus built another fire on a beach and asked him three times, “Do you love Me?” He doesn’t throw away men who fail. He restores them and gives them work to do.\n\n**Example to follow — the good confession before Pilate (1 Tim 6:13).** Jesus told the truth when it cost Him everything, without cursing or threatening (1 Pet 2:23). I want to be a man who tells the truth when it costs me — with my parole officer, my wife, my boss, my group.\n\n**Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):**\n1. Jesus walked toward the torches knowing everything that was coming (v4). What am I avoiding this week that I need to walk toward, trusting the Father? (18:4; Heb 12:2) *Knowing all the things that were coming upon Him, He went forth.*\n2. Peter grabbed a sword when Jesus wanted him to trust. Where am I fighting in my own strength — with my temper, my mouth, my hands — instead of trusting God’s plan? (18:10–11; Matt 26:52) *“Put the sword into the sheath.” Zeal without warrant fights against Christ.*\n3. Jesus was arrested so His men could go free (vv8–9). How does it change me to see myself as one of “these” who walked away free? (18:8–9; Isa 53:5–6) *The Shepherd is seized; the sheep walk free.*\n4. Peter’s denial started with standing by the wrong fire with the wrong crowd. What “fire” am I warming myself by that puts me in danger? (18:18, 25; Ps 1:1) *Henry: ill warming ourselves where we may burn.*\n5. Peter failed three times and was restored at another charcoal fire. What failure do I need to bring back to Jesus instead of hiding? (18:27; 21:9, 15–17) *The same rare word, anthrakia: where he fell, he was restored.*\n6. Pilate asked “What is truth?” and walked away. When truth gets close and personal, how do I walk away — and what would listening to His voice look like? (18:37–38; John 14:6) *“Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”*\n\n**Worship.** The I AM let Himself be tied up with rope. The One who could have dropped a whole cohort with a word took a slap without striking back. The King whose kingdom will never pass away stood before a Roman governor and told him the truth. And a robber named Barabbas walked out free — the first man to go free because Jesus took his place.\n\n**Prayer.** Lord Jesus, You walked out to meet the torches for me. Thank You that You were taken so I could go free. Take the sword out of my hand and teach me to trust the Father’s cup. Keep me from warming myself at the wrong fire, and when I fail You, call me back to Your fire again. Make me a man of the truth who hears Your voice. You are my King, and Your kingdom is coming. Amen."}, "43:19": {"O": "**Setting.** Friday of Passover week, Jerusalem. John 18 ended with Pilate declaring “I find no guilt in Him” and the crowd choosing Barabbas. Chapter 19 runs from the Praetorium in the early morning, to the judgment seat at the Pavement “about the sixth hour” (v14), out of the city to Golgotha, and to a new tomb in a nearby garden before the Sabbath began at sunset (vv31, 42). John was there — at the cross (vv26, 35).\n\n**Structure:**\n- vv1–7 — **behold the Man:** scourged, crowned with thorns, robed in purple, slapped and mocked as “King of the Jews.” Pilate brings Him out: “I find no guilt in Him … Behold, the Man!” The chief priests cry “Crucify, crucify!” and reveal the real charge: “He made Himself out to be the Son of God” (v7).\n- vv8–16 — **behold your King:** Pilate, more afraid, asks “Where are You from?” Jesus is silent, then answers: “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above” (v11). “If you release this Man, you are no friend of Caesar” (v12). At Gabbatha: “Behold, your King!” — “We have no king but Caesar.” He hands Him over (v16).\n- vv17–27 — **the King on the cross:** bearing His own cross to Golgotha, crucified between two men; the title in Hebrew, Latin and Greek — “What I have written I have written”; the soldiers divide the garments and cast lots for the seamless tunic (Ps 22:18); the women at the cross; “Woman, behold, your son! … Behold, your mother!”\n- vv28–30 — **finished:** knowing all was accomplished, “I am thirsty”; sour wine on hyssop; “It is finished!”; He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.\n- vv31–37 — **pierced:** the legs of the two broken, His not, for He was already dead; the spear, blood and water; the eyewitness’s testimony “so that you also may believe”; two Scriptures fulfilled (Exod 12:46 / Ps 34:20; Zech 12:10).\n- vv38–42 — **buried:** Joseph of Arimathea, a secret disciple, asks for the body; Nicodemus brings about a hundred pounds of myrrh and aloes; linen wrappings and spices; a new tomb in a garden, nearby, because of the day of preparation.\n\n**Repeated words, with counts:**\n- “Jesus” ×19 — vv1, 5, 9 (×2), 11, 13, 17, 18, 20, 23, 25, 26, 28, 30, 33, 38 (×2), 40, 42.\n- “Pilate” ×15 — vv1, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 13, 15, 19, 21, 22, 31, 38 (×2).\n- “crucify / crucified” ×12 — vv6 (×3), 10, 15 (×2), 16, 18, 20, 23, 32, 41.\n- “Jews” ×11 — vv3, 7, 12, 14, 20, 21 (×3), 31, 38, 40 (plus “JEWS” in the title, v19).\n- “King / king” ×7 — vv3, 12, 14, 15 (×2), 21 (×2) (plus “KING” in the title, v19).\n- “write / wrote / written” ×6 — vv19 (×2), 20, 21, 22 (×2).\n- “mother” ×5 — vv25 (×2), 26 (×2), 27.\n- “Scripture” ×4 — vv24, 28, 36, 37; “to fulfill” ×3 — vv24, 28, 36; “accomplished / finished” (*tetelestai*) ×2 — vv28, 30.\n- “Behold” ×4 — vv4, 5, 14, 27 (plus “behold” v26).\n- “cross” ×4 — vv17, 19, 25, 31.\n- “authority” ×3 — vv10 (×2), 11; “Caesar” ×3 — vv12 (×2), 15.\n- “preparation” ×3 — vv14, 31, 42; “Sabbath” ×2 — v31.\n- “legs” ×3 — vv31, 32, 33; “Hebrew” ×3 — vv13, 17, 20; “sour wine” ×3 — vv29 (×2), 30.\n- “body” ×3 — vv38 (×2), 40; “garden” ×2 — v41; “tomb” ×2 — vv41, 42.\n- “guilt” ×2 — vv4, 6; “testified / testimony” ×2 — v35.\n\n**Contrasts:** a purple robe and a crown of thorns ⟷ the real King (vv2–5). Pilate’s claimed authority ⟷ authority “from above” (vv10–11). “Behold, your King!” ⟷ “We have no king but Caesar” (vv14–15). The priests’ “He said, ‘I am King’” ⟷ Pilate’s “What I have written I have written” (vv21–22). The soldiers dividing His clothes ⟷ the women standing by His cross (vv23–25). The legs of the two broken ⟷ not a bone of His (vv32–36). Disciples hidden “for fear of the Jews” ⟷ Joseph and Nicodemus coming into the open (vv38–39). A place of execution ⟷ a garden (v41).\n\n**Shape of the chapter:** two courtroom scenes (1–7, 8–16), three scenes at the cross (17–27), one word (28–30), one wound (31–37), one burial (38–42). It begins with a whip and ends with spices; it begins in a palace and ends in a garden; and in the middle a single word, *tetelestai*, turns the whole story.\n\n**Chapter theme (my words):** The world put Jesus on trial and condemned the only innocent Man who ever lived, yet every move it made was under authority from above and fulfilled the Scripture. On the cross the King finished the work of redemption and gave up His own spirit; the soldier’s spear proved He was dead, and two secret disciples laid Him in a new tomb.", "I": "**Who is really on trial?** Pilate sits on the judgment seat, but John shows a frightened man. Three times he says “I find no guilt in Him” (18:38; 19:4, 6), and still he scourges Him and hands Him over. Guzik: “It appeared that Jesus was on trial before Pilate, but in an even greater sense Pilate was on trial before Jesus.” The fear that finally decides it is not fear of God but fear of Caesar (v12) — Morris, quoted by Guzik: “Humanly speaking, the mention of Caesar sealed Jesus’ fate.”\n\n**“Behold, the Man!” (v5).** Pilate meant pity, maybe contempt — Tasker’s paraphrase, quoted by Guzik: “Here he is – the poor fellow.” John lets the words mean more. Sproul, in his commentary *John*: the crowd should have said, “Yes, here is man as God intended him to be, as God designed him to be, man with no fault in Him.” The true Man stands in a mock robe, and the crowd answers, “Crucify!”\n\n**The real charge (v7).** Not sedition but blasphemy: “He made Himself out to be the Son of God.” The leaders had understood His claim all along (5:18; 10:33). Guzik and Henry both note that this charge made Pilate *more* afraid (v8) — a pagan who suspected he was dealing with something more than a man.\n\n**Authority from above and the greater sin (v11).** Pilate’s power is real but lent. Sproul (from the opening of a broadcast of this sermon) says it was through the providence of God that Pilate was ordained to play his part in this drama, and that Jesus knew it. Guzik: “In reality, God held the power.” And sin has degrees: the one who delivered Jesus — Caiaphas, with Judas behind him — has the greater sin; Pilate has less, but not none.\n\n**The sixth hour (v14) and Mark’s third hour (Mark 15:25).** Guzik lays out three explanations — different ways of reckoning the hours, approximate time markers, or an early copying slip — and does not force one. What John wants us to notice is the day: the Preparation for the Passover, when the lambs were being made ready.\n\n**“We have no king but Caesar” (v15).** The chief priests, of all people, disown the King of Israel. Maclaren, quoted by Guzik: “Driven by hate, they deliberately disown their Messianic hope, and repudiate their national glory.” Henry records it without softening. Spurgeon’s “Ecce Rex” answers from the other side: the thorn-crowned Man really is the King — “No thorn no throne.”\n\n**The title (vv19–22).** Pilate’s placard meant to mock the Jews; God made it a proclamation in the world’s three languages. Spurgeon: “Divine Providence always has its way!” Henry: it foretold “that Jesus Christ should be a Saviour to all nations, and not to the Jews only.”\n\n**Mary and John (vv25–27).** Jesus, dying, provides for His mother — honoring the fifth commandment to the end — and joins her to the beloved disciple. “Woman” is not cold (Clarke via Guzik: “It conveys no idea of disrespect”). Henry: “Those that truly love Christ, and are beloved of him, will be glad of an opportunity to do any service to him or his.” The Roman church has built a great deal on this verse about Mary; I read it as a son caring for his mother and creating the first family of the cross, which is what the text says.\n\n**“It is finished” (v30).** One word, *tetelestai*, perfect tense — the work completed and standing complete. It is not a gasp of defeat: “It is the cry of One who has completed a tremendous labor” (Spurgeon, via Guzik); “Jesus died with the cry of the Victor on His lips” (Morris). Sproul: “His mission had been fulfilled.” Spurgeon: “Why improve on what is finished? Why add to that which is complete?” Tenney’s “Paid in full” (via Guzik) is a fair picture of the result.\n\n**He gave up His spirit.** The Passion is full of hands passing Jesus along — Judas, the priests, Pilate all “hand Him over” (*paradidōmi*). In verse 30 He hands over His own spirit. He had said so: “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative” (10:18). Henry: “composing himself, as it were, to fall asleep.”\n\n**The blood and water (v34).** All four teachers take it first as proof of real death, witnessed by John (v35). Beyond that they read it as a sign: Henry, “blood for remission, water for regeneration”; Spurgeon, blood for sin’s guilt and water for its power. Those are applications, not something John explains; I hold them loosely and hold the fact firmly — He really died.\n\n**“They shall look on Him whom they pierced” (v37).** John quotes Zechariah 12:10, and he will quote it again in Revelation 1:7 of the Second Coming. Guzik (with Trench) keeps it open: the piercing is done, the mourning look is still ahead. Henry sees a first fulfillment in those of His killers who repented. My own reading is futurist: Zechariah 12 describes a day when God pours out the Spirit of grace on the house of David and Israel as a nation looks on the One they pierced and mourns — a promise to national Israel God has not withdrawn.\n\n**Word study (Greek):**\n- **scourged — *mastigoō* (G3146):** to whip with the Roman lash.\n- **Behold — *idou* (G3708) / the Man — *anthrōpos* (G444):** “Look — the human being!” (*Ecce homo*).\n- **authority — *exousia* (G1849):** Pilate’s boast (v10) and Jesus’ answer (v11).\n- **from above — *anōthen* (G509):** the word of 3:3 and 3:31; Pilate’s power is lent.\n- **greater — *meizōn* (G3173) / sin — *hamartia* (G266):** degrees of guilt.\n- **friend — *philos* (G5384):** “a friend of Caesar,” a political title Pilate could not afford to lose.\n- **Pavement — *lithostrōtos* (G3038) / Gabbatha (G1042):** the stone platform of the judgment seat; both only here.\n- **preparation — *paraskeuē* (G3904):** the day of preparing the Passover (vv14, 31, 42).\n- **Golgotha (G1115) / Skull — *kranion* (G2898).**\n- **inscription — *titlos* (G5102):** the placard; only vv19–20.\n- **tunic — *chitōn* (G5509) / seamless — *araphos* (G729):** woven in one piece; *araphos* only here.\n- **cast lots — *lanchanō* (G2975).**\n- **I am thirsty — *dipsaō* (G1372).**\n- **finished / accomplished — *teleō* (G5055):** *tetelestai*, perfect tense, vv28 and 30.\n- **bowed — *klinō* (G2827)**; **gave up — *paradidōmi* (G3860)**; **spirit — *pneuma* (G4151).**\n- **pierced — *nyssō* (G3572):** the spear-jab (v34); **pierced — *ekkenteō* (G1574):** pierced through (v37; Rev 1:7).\n- **bone — *osteon* (G3747) / broken — *syntribō* (G4937).**\n- **testimony — *martyria* (G3141)**; **true — *alēthinos* (G228).**\n- **secret — *kryptō* (G2928):** Joseph “hidden” for fear.\n- **garden — *kēpos* (G2779)**; **new — *kainos* (G2537)**; **tomb — *mnēmeion* (G3419).**\n\n**Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):**\n1. **Pilate is the one on trial** — the judge is afraid; the Prisoner is not (Guzik).\n2. **All authority is borrowed** — “from above” (v11).\n3. **Sin has degrees, and every degree is still sin** (v11).\n4. **The people chose Caesar** (v15) — every man makes the same choice in smaller words.\n5. **The thorns built the throne** — “No thorn no throne” (Spurgeon).\n6. **The title preached the gospel in three languages** (Henry: “a Saviour to all nations”).\n7. **Even from the cross, Jesus keeps the fifth commandment** (vv26–27).\n8. **“Finished” is a perfect tense** — done, and it stays done (vv28, 30).\n9. **He handed over His own spirit** — no one took His life (v30; 10:18).\n10. **The cross made secret disciples public** (vv38–39).\n\n**Cross-references:** Gen 3:18; 22:6–8; Exod 12:46; Num 9:12; Deut 21:22–23; Ps 22:1, 15, 18; 34:20; 69:21; Isa 50:6; 52:14; 53:5, 7, 9, 12; Zech 12:10–14; Matt 27:11–61; Mark 15:1–47; 15:25; Luke 23:1–56; John 1:29; 3:14; 5:18; 10:17–18; 12:32–33; 17:4; 18:28–40; Rom 13:1; 1 Cor 5:7; 15:3–4; Gal 3:13; Heb 10:12–14; 13:12–13; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 John 5:6–8; Rev 1:7.", "A": "**Promise to trust — “It is finished.”** I have sat with men who believe they still owe God — another year clean, another program finished, another apology made — before He will take them back. I have lived that way myself. *Tetelestai* is a perfect tense: done, and it stays done. Christ did not make a down payment on my debt; He paid it. My obedience now is the answer of a forgiven man, not the price of forgiveness. When I feel the old pull to add something to the cross, I will say it out loud: it is finished.\n\n**Sin to confess — the fear of man.** Pilate knew the truth and handed Jesus over anyway because “If you release this Man, you are no friend of Caesar.” I confess the times I have done the wrong thing to keep my standing — with the guys, with a boss, with my family, with my own image. The fear of man sealed the worst verdict in history. I want the fear of God to be bigger in me than the fear of Caesar.\n\n**Truth to live under — authority from above.** Many of the men I serve live under someone’s authority every day — an officer, a judge, a parole board, a sponsor, a boss. Jesus stood before the most powerful man in Judea and was not intimidated, because He knew where that power came from. That doesn’t make me disrespectful; it makes me unafraid. No one has authority over my life except what God gives — and He is my Father.\n\n**Example to follow — the Son who cared for His mother.** In the worst hour of His life, Jesus made sure His mother would be taken care of and put her in the hands of a man who loved Him. If He could think of her from the cross, I can make the phone call, pay the bill, make the visit I have been putting off. And like John, I can take someone “into my own household” — a brother who has nowhere to go this holiday.\n\n**Command to obey — come out of hiding.** Joseph and Nicodemus were secret disciples until the cross made them brave. Spurgeon: “Be a disciple by all means, but not secretly.” This week I will say plainly, to at least one person who doesn’t know, that I belong to Jesus.\n\n**Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):**\n1. Pilate knew Jesus was innocent and still handed Him over to protect himself. Where am I tempted to do the wrong thing to keep my standing with someone? (19:12–16; Prov 29:25) *“If you release this Man, you are no friend of Caesar” — the fear of man sealed the verdict.*\n2. Whose authority am I under right now — a judge, an officer, a boss, a parole board — and what changes if that authority is “given … from above”? (19:10–11; Rom 13:1) *Borrowed power answers to God; Jesus was not intimidated by it.*\n3. “We have no king but Caesar.” What “Caesar” have I been tempted to put on the throne instead of Christ? (19:14–15) *The leaders disowned their King to keep their place.*\n4. From the cross Jesus made John and Mary into family. Who has God given me to look after — or to be looked after by? (19:25–27) *“Behold, your son! … Behold, your mother!” — the first household of the cross.*\n5. If “It is finished” is true, what am I still trying to add to Christ’s work to feel right with God? (19:30; Heb 10:14) *A perfect tense: done, and it stays done. Nothing to add.*\n6. Joseph and Nicodemus had followed Jesus in secret. Is there a place where I am still a secret disciple — and what would coming into the open look like this week? (19:38–40; 12:42) *The cross that scattered the Twelve drew the hidden two into the light.*\n\n**Worship.** Behold the Man — the only one who ever was what God made man to be. Behold your King — crowned with thorns, enthroned on a cross, His title written in every language. Behold the Lamb — not a bone broken, His side pierced, His blood shed, His work finished. One day every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him. I want to look on Him now, and believe.\n\n**Prayer.** Lord Jesus, King of the Jews and King of my life — thank You that You were scourged for me, mocked for me, lifted up for me, and that You cried “It is finished” over all my sin. Forgive me for the times I have chosen Caesar over You and the fear of man over the fear of God. Take me out of hiding. Give me the heart of a son who cares for his own, and the courage of Joseph and Nicodemus. Let me rest today in Your finished work, and keep me and the men I serve looking on You until the day we see You face to face. Amen."}, "43:20": {"O": "**Setting.** Jerusalem, the first day of the week after the crucifixion — Sunday — from before dawn (v1) to evening (v19), then one week later (v26). Places: the garden tomb of 19:41, and a room with shut doors where the disciples hid “for fear of the Jews” (v19). John himself is “the other disciple whom Jesus loved” (v2).\n\n**Structure:**\n- vv1–10 — **the empty tomb:** Mary Magdalene comes while it is still dark and sees the stone taken away; she runs to Peter and John: “They have taken away the Lord.” The two run; John arrives first and looks in; Peter enters and sees the linen wrappings and the face-cloth rolled up by itself; John enters, “saw and believed” — though they did not yet understand the Scripture that He must rise (v9).\n- vv11–18 — **Mary:** weeping outside the tomb, she sees two angels where the body had lain; she turns, sees Jesus, takes Him for the gardener; He says, “Mary!” — “Rabboni!”; “Stop clinging to Me … go to My brethren”; she announces, “I have seen the Lord.”\n- vv19–23 — **the locked room:** evening, doors shut; Jesus stands in their midst — “Peace be with you”; He shows His hands and side; they rejoice; “as the Father has sent Me, I also send you”; He breathes on them — “Receive the Holy Spirit”; forgiving and retaining sins.\n- vv24–29 — **Thomas:** absent, he hears “We have seen the Lord!” and refuses: “Unless I see … I will not believe.” Eight days later Jesus comes, invites him to reach with finger and hand; “My Lord and my God!”; “Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”\n- vv30–31 — **the purpose:** many other signs not written; “these have been written so that you may believe … and that believing you may have life in His name.”\n\n**Repeated words, with counts:**\n- “Jesus” ×14 — vv2, 12, 14 (×2), 15, 16, 17, 19, 21, 24, 26, 29, 30, 31.\n- “see / sees / saw / seen” ×13 — vv1, 5, 6, 8, 12, 14, 18, 20, 25 (×2), 27, 29 (×2).\n- “disciple(s)” ×11 — vv2, 3, 4, 8, 10, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 30.\n- “tomb” ×9 — vv1 (×2), 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 11 (×2).\n- “believe / believed / believing” ×7 — vv8, 25, 27, 29 (×2), 31 (×2) (plus “unbelieving,” v27).\n- “laid / lying” ×7 — vv2, 5, 6, 7, 12, 13, 15.\n- “Lord” ×6 — vv2, 13, 18, 20, 25, 28.\n- “hand(s)” ×5 — vv20, 25 (×2), 27 (×2); “side” ×3 — vv20, 25, 27; “nails” ×2 — v25; “finger” ×2 — vv25, 27.\n- “weeping / weep / wept” ×4 — vv11 (×2), 13, 15.\n- “Father” ×4 — vv17 (×3), 21.\n- “first” ×4 — vv1, 4, 8, 19; “stood / standing” ×4 — vv11, 14, 19, 26.\n- “Peace be with you” ×3 — vv19, 21, 26; “ran / running” ×3 — vv2, 4 (×2); “sins” ×3 — v23.\n- “Woman” ×2 — vv13, 15; “doors” ×2 — vv19, 26; “send / sent” ×2 — v21.\n\n**Contrasts:** darkness (v1) ⟷ the risen Light. “They have taken away the Lord” (v2) ⟷ “I have seen the Lord” (v18). Lazarus bound (11:44) ⟷ the wrappings left behind (vv5–7). Weeping (vv11–15) ⟷ rejoicing (v20). The gardener (v15) ⟷ the risen Lord. Doors shut for fear (v19) ⟷ “Peace be with you.” “I will not believe” (v25) ⟷ “My Lord and my God!” (v28). Seeing and believing (v29a) ⟷ not seeing and yet believing (v29b).\n\n**Shape of the chapter:** four scenes, each ending with someone who has seen the Lord — John (v8), Mary (v18), the ten (v20), Thomas (v28) — and then a turn to the reader who has not seen (vv29–31). It moves from an empty tomb to a full confession, and from “they have taken away the Lord” to “My Lord and my God.”\n\n**Chapter theme (my words):** Jesus is risen. He shows Himself to the grieving, the afraid and the stubborn — by His word, His wounds and His breath — turns deserters into brothers and witnesses, and gives the Gospel’s purpose: that we who have not seen may believe He is the Christ, the Son of God, and have life in His name.", "I": "**What did John see that made him believe (vv5–8)?** Not yet the risen Lord, but the grave clothes: the linen lying there and the face-cloth “rolled up in a place by itself.” Barclay, quoted by Guzik: they “did not look as if they had been put off or taken off.” Thieves do not unwrap a body and fold the cloths. Henry adds that the disciples’ slowness — “as yet they knew not the scripture” — is itself an argument: these were not men primed to imagine a resurrection. Guzik: the fact of the resurrection is the start; Scripture gives its meaning.\n\n**John and the other Gospels.** Matthew, Mark and Luke mention several women and angels who speak first. John tells one woman’s story, though her “we do not know” (v2) shows she was not alone. Sproul, in Ligonier’s summary of his sermon, showed this from the text itself and worked through other seeming inconsistencies. Different eyewitnesses tell the same morning from where they stood.\n\n**Why didn’t Mary recognize Him (vv14–16)?** Tears, the half-light, the last thing she expected. Whatever the reason, she knew Him by His voice speaking her name. Guzik: “Jesus didn’t reveal Himself to Mary by telling her who He was, but by telling her who she was to Him.” It is John 10:3 come true — He “calls his own sheep by name.”\n\n**“Stop clinging to Me” (v17).** Not “never touch Me” — a week later He tells Thomas to touch (v27). Guzik: stop holding on, not a ban on touch. Sproul, cited from his commentary *John*: Jesus was telling Mary that He was not yet leaving to return to heaven. Spurgeon: “Embrace me not; there will be time in heaven for that” — there was a message to carry. Henry: “Public service ought to be preferred before private satisfaction.”\n\n**“My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.”** Jesus does not say “our Father” — His sonship is unique — but He shares it: what He is by nature, we become by grace. And He calls the deserters “My brethren.” Spurgeon: “They were his brethren still, though they had forsaken him.”\n\n**Peace and wounds (vv19–20).** Jesus walks into a room of men who had abandoned Him and says, “Peace be with you,” then shows His hands and side. The wounds prove identity — Henry: “Christ’s wounds were to speak on earth that it was he himself” — and they are the price of the peace He speaks.\n\n**What happened when He breathed on them (v22)?** *Emphysaō*, the verb of Genesis 2:7: a new creation. Guzik ties the breath to the creation account and quotes Dods: “His very own Spirit was imparted to them.” Some read this as a real first gift of the Spirit for their mission, with Pentecost the full outpouring; others as an acted promise fulfilled in Acts 2. I hold the first loosely, and hold firmly that Pentecost (Acts 2) is when the Spirit came to baptize the church.\n\n**Forgiving and retaining sins (v23).** Rome built the sacrament of penance on this verse. The grammar points the other way: “have been forgiven … have been retained” are perfect passives — the church announces what God has already done. The church’s authority is the gospel: tell the repentant believer, with Christ’s authority, that he is forgiven; tell the unrepentant the truth. Guzik takes the passage as a pattern for the church’s ongoing ministry.\n\n**Was Thomas a doubter or a refuser (vv24–25)?** Guzik: “Thomas didn’t doubt; he plainly and strongly refused to believe.” He had missed the meeting (Maclaren, via Guzik: he “went away to brood in a corner by himself”), and Henry warns, “Those know not what they lose who carelessly absent themselves.” Yet Henry is fair: “Thomas is not Judas.” Jesus quotes Thomas’s own terms back to him — and Thomas, says Spurgeon, probably never reached out his hand at all.\n\n**“My Lord and my God!” (v28).** Not an exclamation but a confession “said to Him.” Spurgeon: “a most plain and hearty confession of the true and proper Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ.” It closes the circle of 1:1 — “the Word was God.” Jesus accepts it; a mere man would have torn his clothes.\n\n**The last beatitude (v29) and the purpose (vv30–31).** “Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.” Sproul: “If you’re a Christian, you’re included in that benediction.” Henry: Christ calls such faith blessed because it shows more of God’s grace. Then John tells us why he wrote — Sproul calls John the “most theological” of the Gospels, and Henry says “it was written to bring men to believe.” The book exists so that we may believe and have life.\n\n**Word study (Greek):**\n- **sees — *blepō* (G991):** to look (vv1, 5).\n- **sees — *theōreō* (G2334):** to gaze, observe (v6).\n- **saw — *horaō / eidon* (G3708):** to see, perceive (vv8, 18, 20, 25, 29).\n- **stooping and looking — *parakyptō* (G3879):** to bend and peer in (v5).\n- **linen wrappings — *othonion* (G3608):** the strips of 19:40.\n- **face-cloth — *soudarion* (G4676):** as at Lazarus’s tomb (11:44).\n- **rolled up — *entylissō* (G1794):** folded, rolled together (v7).\n- **must — *dei* (G1163) / rise — *anistēmi* (G450):** divine necessity (v9).\n- **weeping — *klaiō* (G2799):** loud mourning (vv11–15).\n- **gardener — *kēpouros* (G2780).**\n- **Rabboni (G4462):** “my Teacher” (also Mark 10:51).\n- **cling / touch — *haptomai* (G680):** present imperative with *mē* — “stop clinging.”\n- **ascended — *anabainō* (G305)**; **brethren — *adelphos* (G80).**\n- **peace — *eirēnē* (G1515):** vv19, 21, 26.\n- **sent — *apostellō* (G649)**; **send — *pempō* (G3992).**\n- **breathed on — *emphysaō* (G1720):** only here in the NT; LXX Gen 2:7.\n- **receive — *lambanō* (G2983).**\n- **forgive — *aphiēmi* (G863)**; **retain — *krateō* (G2902):** perfect passives in v23.\n- **Didymus (G1324):** “Twin.”\n- **imprint — *typos* (G5179)**; **nails — *hēlos* (G2247).**\n- **unbelieving — *apistos* (G571)**; **believing — *pistos* (G4103).**\n- **Lord — *kyrios* (G2962)**; **God — *theos* (G2316).**\n- **blessed — *makarios* (G3107).**\n- **signs — *sēmeion* (G4592)**; **believe — *pisteuō* (G4100).**\n\n**Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):**\n1. **The first believer believed before he understood** (vv8–9).\n2. **The grave clothes are a witness** — no thief folds the cloths (v7).\n3. **The risen Lord is recognized by His voice** — “Mary!” (v16; 10:3).\n4. **The first witness was a woman** — not the way anyone would invent it.\n5. **Deserters became brothers** (v17) — Spurgeon: “his brethren still.”\n6. **He came through locked doors with peace, not blame** (vv19, 21, 26).\n7. **A new creation breath** — *emphysaō*, Genesis 2:7 (v22).\n8. **We announce forgiveness; God grants it** — perfect passives (v23).\n9. **Thomas refused — and was still welcomed** (“Thomas is not Judas,” Henry).\n10. **The last beatitude is for us** (v29; Sproul: “you’re included in that benediction”).\n\n**Cross-references:** Gen 2:7; Ps 16:10; 30:5; Isa 53:10–12; Ezek 37:9–10; Matt 28:1–10; Mark 16:1–8; 10:51; Luke 24:1–49; John 1:1, 18; 2:19–22; 10:3, 14–18; 11:25–26, 44; 14:19, 27; 15:15; 16:7, 16–22; 17:18; 21:24–25; Acts 1:3; 2:1–4, 27; 13:35; Rom 1:4; 10:9; 1 Cor 15:3–8, 20; Heb 2:11–12; 10:24–25; 1 Pet 1:3, 8; 1 John 1:1–3; 5:13.", "A": "**Promise to trust — He knows my name.** Mary was crying too hard to recognize Him, and Jesus didn’t argue with her; He said her name. I have men at the table who think God knows them only as a file number, a case, a disappointment. The risen Lord calls His own sheep by name. When I can’t see Him for the tears, I can still listen for His voice in His Word.\n\n**Command to obey — “I also send you.”** Jesus didn’t leave the disciples in the locked room. He gave them peace, showed them His wounds, breathed His Spirit on them and sent them out. Fear had locked them in; the mission sent them out. This week I will go to one man God puts on my heart — the one who just got out, the one who relapsed, the one who stopped coming — and tell him the good news that sins are forgiven in Jesus’ name.\n\n**Sin to confess — Thomas’s empty chair.** Thomas missed the meeting and then dug in. I know that pattern: when I am hurting or ashamed, I isolate, and when I isolate, my unbelief grows. I confess the Sundays and group nights I have skipped because I didn’t feel like being seen. “Those know not what they lose” (Henry). I will be in the room this week.\n\n**Truth to live in — brothers, not ex-cons.** “Go to My brethren.” Every one of them had run off when Jesus was arrested — and the first thing He calls them after the resurrection is “brothers.” I want the men I serve to hear that their worst night does not get the last word. In Christ we have His Father as our Father.\n\n**Example to follow — Thomas on his knees.** Thomas’s story doesn’t end with “I will not believe.” It ends with “My Lord and my God!” — the highest words anyone says about Jesus in the whole Gospel. If you are the hardest skeptic in the room, Jesus is not finished with you. And if you believe without seeing, you are in the beatitude: “Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”\n\n**Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):**\n1. Mary came “while it was still dark.” What darkness am I carrying to Jesus this week — and am I still coming? (20:1, 11; Ps 30:5) *Henry: “Love to Christ, if it be cordial, will be constant.”*\n2. Jesus called Mary by name before she recognized Him. When have I known that Jesus knew me personally — not just mankind in general? (20:15–16; 10:3) *He revealed Himself by telling her who she was to Him.*\n3. The disciples were behind locked doors “for fear.” What fear has me locked in right now, and what does Jesus say when He comes in? (20:19–21; 14:27) *Peace first, then His wounds, then a mission.*\n4. “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” Where is Jesus sending me this week — and to whom? (20:21; 17:18) *The mission flows from the Son’s mission and counts forever (Sproul).*\n5. Thomas missed the meeting and dug in. When have I pulled away from the brothers — and what did it cost me? (20:24–25; Heb 10:24–25) *Henry: those who absent themselves “know not what they lose.”*\n6. I have not seen Jesus with my eyes. What helps me believe — and how can I help a man who is where Thomas was? (20:29–31; 1 Pet 1:8) *“Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.” The book was written for exactly that.*\n\n**Worship.** The stone is gone, the cloths are folded, the tomb is empty. He called a weeping woman by name, walked through a locked door with peace, breathed His Spirit on cowards and made them brothers and apostles, and bent down to the hardest heart in the room. He is the Christ, the Son of God. He is my Lord and my God.\n\n**Prayer.** Risen Lord Jesus — thank You that the tomb is empty and that You know my name. Come through the locked doors of my fear and speak Your peace. Show me Your wounds when I doubt. Breathe Your Spirit on me and send me as the Father sent You. Forgive me for the times I have isolated like Thomas, and bring me back to the brothers. Bless the men I serve who have not seen and yet believe, and bring the ones still saying “I will not believe” to their knees with Thomas. My Lord and my God. Amen."}, "43:21": {"O": "**Setting.** “After these things” — after the resurrection appearances in Jerusalem (John 20) — seven disciples are back in Galilee at the Sea of Tiberias. Jesus had told them He would go ahead of them to Galilee (Mark 16:7). It is night, then daybreak, on the lake; then a charcoal fire on the beach; then a walk along the shore. This is Jesus’ third appearance to the disciples as a group in John (v14).\n\n**Structure:**\n- vv1–8 — **the empty net:** Peter says, “I am going fishing”; six go with him; that night they catch nothing. At daybreak a Stranger on the beach asks, “Children, you do not have any fish, do you?” — “Cast the net on the right-hand side of the boat.” The net is too full to haul. The beloved disciple: “It is the Lord.” Peter puts on his garment and throws himself into the sea; the others bring the boat about a hundred yards.\n- vv9–14 — **breakfast:** a charcoal fire already laid, fish on it, and bread. “Bring some of the fish which you have now caught.” Peter hauls the net ashore — 153 large fish, and the net not torn. “Come and have breakfast.” No one dares ask, “Who are You?” Jesus takes the bread and gives it to them, and the fish. The third manifestation.\n- vv15–17 — **restored:** three times, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” Three answers, “You know that I love You.” Three commands: “Tend My lambs … Shepherd My sheep … Tend My sheep.” Peter is grieved at the third.\n- vv18–23 — **follow:** “when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you” — the death by which he would glorify God. “Follow Me!” Peter turns, sees the beloved disciple, asks, “Lord, and what about this man?” — “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!” A false rumor corrected.\n- vv24–25 — **the witness:** this is the disciple who testifies and wrote; his testimony is true; the world could not contain the books.\n\n**Repeated words, with counts:**\n- “Jesus” ×16 — vv1, 4 (×2), 5, 7, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25.\n- “Peter” ×9 — vv2, 3, 7 (×2), 11, 15, 17, 20, 21; “Simon” ×8 — vv2, 3, 7, 11, 15 (×2), 16, 17; “Simon, son of John” ×3 — vv15, 16, 17.\n- “Lord” ×8 — vv7 (×2), 12, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21; “It is the Lord / it was the Lord” ×3 — vv7 (×2), 12.\n- “love / loved” ×9 — “love” ×7 in vv15 (×2), 16 (×2), 17 (×3); “loved” ×2 — vv7, 20 (“the disciple whom Jesus loved”). “Do you love Me?” ×4 — vv15, 16, 17 (×2).\n- “know / knew / knowing” ×7 — vv4, 12, 15, 16, 17 (×2), 24; “You know” ×4 — vv15, 16, 17 (×2).\n- “fish” ×7 — vv5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13; “net” ×4 — vv6, 8, 11 (×2); “boat” ×3 — vv3, 6, 8.\n- “disciples” ×6 — vv1, 2, 4, 8, 12, 14; “disciple” ×4 — vv7, 20, 23, 24.\n- “manifested” ×3 — vv1 (×2), 14; “third (time)” ×3 — vv14, 17 (×2).\n- “Tend / Shepherd” ×3 — vv15, 16, 17; “sheep” ×2, “lambs” ×1.\n- “follow / following” ×3 — vv19, 20, 22; “Follow Me!” ×2 — vv19, 22.\n- “remain until I come” ×2 — vv22, 23; “what is that to you?” ×2 — vv22, 23.\n- “wrote / written” ×3 — vv24, 25 (×2); “testifying / testimony” ×2 — v24.\n\n**Contrasts:** night and nothing (v3) ⟷ daybreak and a full net (vv4–6). They did not know it was Jesus (v4) ⟷ “It is the Lord” (v7). Peter by the officers’ charcoal fire (18:18) ⟷ Peter by Jesus’ charcoal fire (21:9). Three denials (18:17, 25, 27) ⟷ three confessions (vv15–17). Young Peter girding himself and going where he wished ⟷ old Peter girded by another and led where he did not wish (v18). “What about this man?” ⟷ “You follow Me!” (vv21–22). What was said ⟷ what was not said (v23). Many things written ⟷ more than the world could hold (vv24–25).\n\n**Shape of the chapter:** a night (1–3), a dawn (4–8), a meal (9–14), a conversation (15–17), a walk (18–23), a signature (24–25). It moves from the boat to the fire to the road, and from a group to one man — and ends with that man told to follow.\n\n**Chapter theme (my words):** The risen Lord comes to failed men on their own shore, feeds them with His own hands, and by a second fire turns Peter’s three denials into three confessions and a lifelong commission — then shuts down comparison with one command: “You follow Me!”", "I": "**Was Peter wrong to go fishing (v3)?** Our teachers lean different ways. Guzik lays out both views — a “compromised return to a former occupation,” or simply being wise and practical — and lets the heart decide: “Whether their motives were good or bad, that night they caught nothing.” Henry is gentle: “They knew not well what to do with themselves.” I won’t make Peter a backslider the text doesn’t call one; but I notice that the old skill, without Jesus, produced nothing.\n\n**Why didn’t they recognize Him (v4)?** John doesn’t say. It was dawn and about a hundred yards; Henry says they took Him “for some common person,” not expecting Him. Guzik: “We don’t know exactly why they did not know that it was Jesus.” As at the tomb and on the Emmaus road, recognition is given — here through a familiar miracle (Luke 5).\n\n**The 153 fish (v11).** Allegories abound (Augustine built one on seventeen). Guzik: “all we know for certain is that 153 represents the number of fish in the net,” and with Tenney he sees an eyewitness and a fisherman who counted. Spurgeon draws a picture from it — God knows the exact number of His own — and from the net that did not tear: “the invisible Church is one.” Henry stays practical: more than they needed, so they could sell them. I hold the number as a fact and Spurgeon’s picture as a picture.\n\n**Two charcoal fires.** John uses *anthrakia* only at 18:18 and 21:9. He doesn’t comment; he lets the word do it. Peter denied Jesus three times at one fire; Jesus asks him three questions at another. Henry: the third question “put him in mind of his threefold denial of Christ, and was plainly designed to do so.” Sproul’s article grants that reading but adds another possibility — emphasis by repetition, as in Isaiah 6:3. Both can be true: the repetition presses home both the wound and the charge.\n\n**“More than these” (v15).** Three options: more than these men love Me; more than you love these men; more than these things (the boat and nets). Sproul’s sermon weighed all three (per Ligonier’s summary). Guzik takes the first — Peter had boasted, “I will lay down my life for You” (13:37) — and Henry presses the third: “Those only love Christ indeed that love him better than all the delights of sense and all the profits of this world.” Peter’s answer claims no comparison at all — Spurgeon: “not as to the quantity but as to the quality of his love.”\n\n**agapaō and phileō — does the change matter?** Jesus asks twice with *agapaō*, Peter answers with *phileō*, and the third time Jesus uses *phileō*. Guzik reports that most commentators see a humbled, more reserved Peter. A Ligonier devotional answers that “the words are used interchangeably throughout John’s gospel,” and John does use both for the Father’s love of the Son (3:35; 5:20) and for the beloved disciple (20:2; 21:7). I teach it carefully: the text says Peter was grieved because Jesus asked “the third time,” not because He changed verbs.\n\n**Does this give Peter primacy over the church?** Henry says no: “Peter himself never claimed such a power, nor did the other disciples ever own it in him.” Peter’s own letter calls himself a “fellow elder” and Christ the “Chief Shepherd” (1 Pet 5:1, 4). The flock is always “My sheep.”\n\n**Peter’s death (vv18–19).** “Stretch out your hands” is widely read as crucifixion (Guzik; Henry: “some think”); that Peter was crucified upside down is later church tradition (Guzik via Clarke), not Scripture. John’s phrase “by what kind of death” is the same he used of Jesus (12:33; 18:32). Peter knew it was coming (2 Pet 1:14) — and followed anyway.\n\n**“Until I come” (vv22–23).** Jesus speaks of His return as real and personal (14:3). John carefully corrects the rumor: Jesus did not say John would not die, only “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?” Henry: “Let the words of Christ speak for themselves.” I believe He is coming again; I also take Spurgeon’s warning not to let prophecy-speculation replace following.\n\n**Who are the “we” of verse 24?** The beloved disciple wrote the Gospel; “we know that his testimony is true” sounds like the circle around him vouching for him. Henry: “they ventured both this life and the other upon it.” Guzik: “John gave solemn testimony to the truth of what he wrote.”\n\n**Word study (Greek):**\n- **manifested — *phaneroō* (G5319):** to make visible; vv1 (×2), 14 — and the word of the first sign (2:11).\n- **children — *paidia* (G3813):** “lads,” a diminutive; Jesus calls across the water.\n- **fish (to eat) — *prosphagion* (G4371):** anything eaten with bread; only here.\n- **charcoal fire — *anthrakia* (G439):** only John 18:18 and 21:9.\n- **fish (cooked) — *opsarion* (G3795):** the small fish of 6:9, 11.\n- **torn — *schizō* (G4977):** to split; in John only of the seamless tunic (19:24) and this net.\n- **love — *agapaō* (G25) / *phileō* (G5368):** Jesus’ word and Peter’s; in v17 Jesus uses Peter’s.\n- **know — *oida* (G1492) / *ginōskō* (G1097):** “You know all things; You know that I love You.”\n- **tend — *boskō* (G1006):** to feed, pasture (vv15, 17).\n- **shepherd — *poimainō* (G4165):** the whole care of a shepherd (v16; 1 Pet 5:2).\n- **lambs — *arnion* (G721); sheep — *probaton* (G4263):** always “My.”\n- **grieved — *lypeō* (G3076):** pained, hurt.\n- **gird — *zōnnymi* (G2224):** only here (×2) and Acts 12:8.\n- **follow — *akoloutheō* (G190):** present imperative — keep on following; v22 adds an emphatic “you.”\n- **remain — *menō* (G3306):** to abide, stay.\n- **testifying / testimony — *martyreō* (G3140) / *martyria* (G3141):** witness; the root of “martyr.”\n- **true — *alēthēs* (G227):** truthful, reliable.\n\n**Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):**\n1. **The Lord meets failure at the place of failure** — two charcoal fires (18:18; 21:9).\n2. **The question is designed to hurt so it can heal** — Henry: “plainly designed to do so.”\n3. **Breakfast before the hard conversation** — Spurgeon: “not with prayer, but with provender.”\n4. **Their catch added to the menu; it did not make it** (Guzik).\n5. **The sheep stay His** — “My lambs … My sheep.”\n6. **Restoration ends in work, not in a feeling** — tend, shepherd, tend, keep on.\n7. **Love, not performance, is the test** — Spurgeon: “love is the best evidence of piety.”\n8. **Peter would die his Master’s kind of death** (v19; 12:33; 2 Pet 1:14).\n9. **Comparison is the enemy of following** — “What is that to you? You follow Me!”\n10. **The Gospel ends with a signature and an admission** — true testimony, and more than the world could hold.\n\n**Cross-references:** Ps 23:1; Isa 6:3; Ezek 34:23; Matt 26:33–35; Mark 16:7; Luke 5:1–11; 24:16; John 1:39–44; 2:11; 6:1, 9–11; 10:1–16, 27; 12:26, 33; 13:23, 36–38; 14:3; 18:15–18, 25–27, 32; 19:24, 26, 35; 20:2, 19–31; Acts 12:8; 1 Pet 5:1–4; 2 Pet 1:14.", "A": "**Promise to trust — He comes to my shore.** I didn’t go looking for Jesus the night I hit bottom; He came looking for me. That’s John 21. The disciples were back in the boat doing what they knew, catching nothing, and Jesus showed up on the beach with breakfast already on the fire. Some of the men I sit with think they have to clean up and crawl back before God will have them. Not here. He comes to the shore of my failure and calls out, “Children.”\n\n**Sin to confess — my own charcoal fire.** Every man I know has one: the night he said “I am not,” the thing he did that he swore he’d never do. Peter warmed himself by a fire and denied his Lord three times. I confess mine to Jesus by name. And I notice Jesus doesn’t pretend it didn’t happen — He asks three times, and Peter is grieved. But the grief is the doorway, not the verdict. “Every remembrance of past sins, even pardoned sins, renews the sorrow of a true penitent” (Henry) — and then Jesus hands him work to do.\n\n**Command to obey — “Tend My lambs.”** Restoration isn’t a feeling I wait for; it’s a job I’m given. If I love Him, I feed His sheep. For me that means the men in my group, the new guy who can’t sit still, my own family at the table. This week I will name one “lamb” Jesus has put near me and do one concrete thing to feed him — a call, a meal, an hour in the Word together.\n\n**Example to follow — Peter in the water.** John saw first; Peter went first. He didn’t wait for the boat. When I realize it’s the Lord, I don’t want to be careful and slow about getting to Him.\n\n**Command to obey — “You follow Me!”** Peter’s first reflex after hearing about his own cross was to look at John: “Lord, and what about this man?” That’s me — comparing my road, my sentence, my recovery, my ministry to another man’s. Jesus says, “What is that to you?” My business is to keep following, and to keep my eyes off the other guy’s path. Until He comes.\n\n**Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):**\n1. Where have I gone back to “fishing” — the old life, the old way of coping — when I didn’t know what else to do? (21:3; Luke 5:5) *Henry: “They knew not well what to do with themselves.” Jesus met them right there.*\n2. What is my “charcoal fire” — the place or memory of my worst failure — and what would it mean to meet Jesus there? (21:9; 18:18) *The same word, two fires: the place of the fall becomes the place of restoring.*\n3. Jesus fed Peter before He questioned him. How have I experienced His kindness before His correction? (21:12–15) *Provender before prayer — the meal came first.*\n4. If Jesus asked me today, “Do you love Me more than these?” — what would “these” be for me? (21:15; 13:37) *Henry: love Him “better than all the delights of sense and all the profits of this world.”*\n5. Who are the “lambs” Jesus has put near me to feed, and what would tending them look like this week? (21:15–17; 1 Pet 5:2) *Love proved by work: “Do something to prove thy love.”*\n6. Whose life or calling am I comparing mine to, and what does “You follow Me!” say to that? (21:20–22) *Emphatic “you”: your road, your cross, your Master.*\n\n**Worship.** The risen Son of God, with the wounds still in His hands, kneels by a fire on a beach and cooks fish for the men who ran away. He serves the bread Himself. He knows all things — every denial — and still says, “Follow Me.” The Gospel that began with the Word who was God ends with that Word making breakfast. The world could not contain the books.\n\n**Prayer.** Lord Jesus, You know all things; You know that I love You — and You know how weak that love has been. Thank You for coming to my shore when I had nothing in the net. Meet me at my charcoal fire and heal what I did there. Give me Your lambs to feed and the love to feed them. Take my eyes off the other man’s road. Whatever death or life You have for me, let it glorify God, and keep me following You until You come. Amen."}}, "marks": [{"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 1, "phrase": "the Word was God", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 3, "phrase": "All things came into being through Him", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 3, "phrase": "All things were made by him", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 4, "phrase": "In Him was life", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 4, "phrase": "In him was life", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 5, "phrase": "the darkness did not comprehend it", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 5, "phrase": "the darkness comprehended it not", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 6, "phrase": "a man sent from God", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 11, "phrase": "those who were His own did not receive Him", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 11, "phrase": "his own received him not", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 12, "phrase": "the right to become children of God", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 12, "phrase": "power to become the sons of God", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 13, "phrase": "but of God", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 14, "phrase": "the Word became flesh", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 14, "phrase": "the Word was made flesh", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 14, "phrase": "dwelt among us", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 14, "phrase": "full of grace and truth", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 16, "phrase": "grace upon grace", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 16, "phrase": "grace for grace", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 17, "phrase": "the Law was given through Moses", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 17, "phrase": "the law was given by Moses", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 18, "phrase": "He has explained Him", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 18, "phrase": "he hath declared him", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 20, "phrase": "I am not the Christ", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 23, "phrase": "MAKE STRAIGHT THE WAY OF THE LORD", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 23, "phrase": "Make straight the way of the Lord", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 27, "phrase": "I am not worthy to untie", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 27, "phrase": "I am not worthy to unloose", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 29, "phrase": "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 29, "phrase": "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 32, "phrase": "the Spirit descending as a dove", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 32, "phrase": "the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 33, "phrase": "the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 33, "phrase": "he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 39, "phrase": "Come, and you will see", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 39, "phrase": "Come and see", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 41, "phrase": "We have found the Messiah", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 41, "phrase": "We have found the Messias", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 42, "phrase": "you shall be called Cephas", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 42, "phrase": "thou shalt be called Cephas", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 43, "phrase": "Follow Me", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 43, "phrase": "Follow me", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 46, "phrase": "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 46, "phrase": "Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 47, "phrase": "in whom there is no deceit", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 47, "phrase": "in whom is no guile", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 49, "phrase": "You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 49, "phrase": "thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 51, "phrase": "the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 51, "phrase": "the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 4, "phrase": "Light", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 7, "phrase": "testify", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 15, "phrase": "testified", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 19, "phrase": "testimony", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 7, "phrase": "witness", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 19, "phrase": "record", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 29, "phrase": "The next day", "color": "amber", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 1, "v": 43, "phrase": "The day following", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 2, "v": 1, "phrase": "On the third day", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 2, "v": 1, "phrase": "the third day", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 2, "v": 3, "phrase": "They have no wine", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 2, "v": 4, "phrase": "My hour has not yet come", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 2, "v": 4, "phrase": "mine hour is not yet come", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 2, "v": 5, "phrase": "Whatever He says to you, do it", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 2, "v": 5, "phrase": "Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 2, "v": 6, "phrase": "for the Jewish custom of purification", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 2, "v": 6, "phrase": "after the manner of the purifying of the Jews", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 2, "v": 7, "phrase": "Fill the waterpots with water", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 2, "v": 7, "phrase": "they filled them up to the brim", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 2, "v": 10, "phrase": "you have kept the good wine until now", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 2, "v": 10, "phrase": "thou hast kept the good wine until now", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 2, "v": 11, "phrase": "This beginning of His signs", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 2, "v": 11, "phrase": "This beginning of miracles", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 2, "v": 11, "phrase": "manifested His glory", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 2, "v": 11, "phrase": "manifested forth his glory", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 2, "v": 11, "phrase": "His disciples believed in Him", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 2, "v": 11, "phrase": "his disciples believed on him", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 2, "v": 14, "phrase": "the money changers seated at their tables", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 2, "v": 14, "phrase": "the changers of money sitting", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 2, "v": 15, "phrase": "He made a scourge of cords", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 2, "v": 15, "phrase": "he had made a scourge of small cords", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 2, "v": 16, "phrase": "stop making My Father’s house a place of business", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 2, "v": 16, "phrase": "make not my Father's house an house of merchandise", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 2, "v": 17, "phrase": "ZEAL FOR YOUR HOUSE WILL CONSUME ME", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 2, "v": 17, "phrase": "The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 2, "v": 18, "phrase": "What sign do You show us", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 2, "v": 18, "phrase": "What sign shewest thou unto us", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 2, "v": 19, "phrase": "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 2, "v": 21, "phrase": "the temple of His body", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 2, "v": 21, "phrase": "the temple of his body", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 2, "v": 22, "phrase": "they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 2, "v": 22, "phrase": "they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 2, "v": 24, "phrase": "was not entrusting Himself to them", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 2, "v": 24, "phrase": "did not commit himself unto them", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 2, "v": 25, "phrase": "He Himself knew what was in man", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 2, "v": 25, "phrase": "he knew what was in man", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 2, "v": 3, "phrase": "wine", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 2, "v": 14, "phrase": "temple", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 2, "v": 11, "phrase": "believed", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 2, "v": 11, "phrase": "signs", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 2, "v": 18, "phrase": "sign", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 2, "phrase": "came to Jesus by night", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 3, "phrase": "unless one is born again", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 3, "phrase": "Except a man be born again", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 5, "phrase": "born of water and the Spirit", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 5, "phrase": "born of water and of the Spirit", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 6, "phrase": "That which is born of the flesh is flesh", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 7, "phrase": "You must be born again", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 7, "phrase": "Ye must be born again", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 8, "phrase": "The wind blows where it wishes", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 8, "phrase": "The wind bloweth where it listeth", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 10, "phrase": "the teacher of Israel", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 10, "phrase": "a master of Israel", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 13, "phrase": "He who descended from heaven", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 13, "phrase": "he that came down from heaven", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 14, "phrase": "even so must the Son of Man be lifted up", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 14, "phrase": "even so must the Son of man be lifted up", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 16, "phrase": "God so loved the world", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 16, "phrase": "He gave His only begotten Son", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 16, "phrase": "he gave his only begotten Son", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 16, "phrase": "shall not perish, but have eternal life", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 16, "phrase": "should not perish, but have everlasting life", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 17, "phrase": "that the world might be saved through Him", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 17, "phrase": "that the world through him might be saved", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 18, "phrase": "has been judged already", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 18, "phrase": "is condemned already", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 19, "phrase": "men loved the darkness rather than the Light", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 19, "phrase": "men loved darkness rather than light", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 21, "phrase": "he who practices the truth comes to the Light", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 21, "phrase": "he that doeth truth cometh to the light", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 23, "phrase": "Aenon near Salim", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 23, "phrase": "AEnon near to Salim", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 27, "phrase": "A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 27, "phrase": "A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 29, "phrase": "the friend of the bridegroom", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 30, "phrase": "He must increase, but I must decrease", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 34, "phrase": "He gives the Spirit without measure", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 34, "phrase": "God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 35, "phrase": "The Father loves the Son", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 35, "phrase": "The Father loveth the Son", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 36, "phrase": "He who believes in the Son has eternal life", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 36, "phrase": "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 36, "phrase": "the wrath of God abides on him", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 36, "phrase": "the wrath of God abideth on him", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 3, "phrase": "born", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 12, "phrase": "believe", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 15, "phrase": "believes", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 18, "phrase": "believed", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 15, "phrase": "believeth", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 19, "phrase": "Light", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 11, "phrase": "testimony", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 32, "phrase": "testifies", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 3, "v": 32, "phrase": "testifieth", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 4, "phrase": "He had to pass through Samaria", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 4, "phrase": "he must needs go through Samaria", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 6, "phrase": "being wearied from His journey", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 6, "phrase": "being wearied with his journey", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 6, "phrase": "about the sixth hour", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 9, "phrase": "Jews have no dealings with Samaritans", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 9, "phrase": "the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 10, "phrase": "If you knew the gift of God", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 10, "phrase": "If thou knewest the gift of God", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 14, "phrase": "shall never thirst", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 14, "phrase": "a well of water springing up to eternal life", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 14, "phrase": "a well of water springing up into everlasting life", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 16, "phrase": "Go, call your husband", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 16, "phrase": "Go, call thy husband", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 18, "phrase": "you have had five husbands", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 18, "phrase": "thou hast had five husbands", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 22, "phrase": "salvation is from the Jews", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 22, "phrase": "salvation is of the Jews", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 23, "phrase": "the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 23, "phrase": "the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 23, "phrase": "the Father seeks to be His worshipers", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 23, "phrase": "the Father seeketh such to worship him", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 24, "phrase": "God is spirit", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 24, "phrase": "God is a Spirit", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 26, "phrase": "I who speak to you am He", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 26, "phrase": "I that speak unto thee am he", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 28, "phrase": "left her waterpot", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 29, "phrase": "Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 29, "phrase": "Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 34, "phrase": "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 34, "phrase": "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 35, "phrase": "lift up your eyes and look on the fields", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 35, "phrase": "Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 35, "phrase": "white for harvest", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 35, "phrase": "white already to harvest", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 42, "phrase": "the Savior of the world", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 42, "phrase": "the Saviour of the world", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 44, "phrase": "a prophet has no honor in his own country", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 44, "phrase": "a prophet hath no honour in his own country", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 48, "phrase": "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 48, "phrase": "Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 50, "phrase": "Go; your son lives", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 50, "phrase": "Go thy way; thy son liveth", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 52, "phrase": "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 53, "phrase": "he himself believed and his whole household", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 53, "phrase": "himself believed, and his whole house", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 54, "phrase": "a second sign", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 54, "phrase": "the second miracle", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 10, "phrase": "living water", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 20, "phrase": "worship", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 20, "phrase": "worshiped", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 23, "phrase": "worshipers", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 20, "phrase": "worshipped", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 23, "phrase": "worshippers", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 21, "phrase": "believe", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 4, "v": 39, "phrase": "believed", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 5, "phrase": "ill for thirty-eight years", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 5, "phrase": "an infirmity thirty and eight years", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 6, "phrase": "Do you wish to get well?", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 6, "phrase": "Wilt thou be made whole?", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 8, "phrase": "Get up, pick up your pallet and walk", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 8, "phrase": "Rise, take up thy bed, and walk", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 9, "phrase": "Immediately the man became well", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 9, "phrase": "immediately the man was made whole", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 9, "phrase": "Now it was the Sabbath on that day", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 9, "phrase": "on the same day was the sabbath", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 10, "phrase": "it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 10, "phrase": "it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 14, "phrase": "do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 14, "phrase": "sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 17, "phrase": "My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 17, "phrase": "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 18, "phrase": "making Himself equal with God", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 18, "phrase": "making himself equal with God", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 20, "phrase": "the Father loves the Son", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 20, "phrase": "the Father loveth the Son", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 21, "phrase": "the Son also gives life to whom He wishes", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 21, "phrase": "the Son quickeneth whom he will", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 22, "phrase": "He has given all judgment to the Son", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 22, "phrase": "hath committed all judgment unto the Son", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 23, "phrase": "He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 23, "phrase": "He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 24, "phrase": "has eternal life", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 24, "phrase": "hath everlasting life", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 24, "phrase": "has passed out of death into life", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 24, "phrase": "is passed from death unto life", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 25, "phrase": "an hour is coming and now is", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 25, "phrase": "The hour is coming, and now is", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 28, "phrase": "all who are in the tombs will hear His voice", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 28, "phrase": "all that are in the graves shall hear his voice", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 29, "phrase": "a resurrection of life", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 29, "phrase": "the resurrection of life", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 29, "phrase": "a resurrection of judgment", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 29, "phrase": "the resurrection of damnation", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 30, "phrase": "I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 30, "phrase": "I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 35, "phrase": "the lamp that was burning and was shining", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 35, "phrase": "a burning and a shining light", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 39, "phrase": "it is these that testify about Me", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 39, "phrase": "they are they which testify of me", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 40, "phrase": "you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 40, "phrase": "ye will not come to me, that ye might have life", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 44, "phrase": "you receive glory from one another", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 44, "phrase": "receive honour one of another", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 46, "phrase": "he wrote about Me", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 46, "phrase": "he wrote of me", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 26, "phrase": "life in Himself", "color": "gold", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 26, "phrase": "life in himself", "color": "gold", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 9, "phrase": "Sabbath", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 9, "phrase": "sabbath", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 31, "phrase": "testimony", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 32, "phrase": "testifies", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 5, "v": 31, "phrase": "witness", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 6, "phrase": "to test him", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 6, "phrase": "to prove him", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 9, "phrase": "five barley loaves and two fish", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 9, "phrase": "five barley loaves, and two small fishes", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 11, "phrase": "having given thanks", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 11, "phrase": "when he had given thanks", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 12, "phrase": "so that nothing will be lost", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 12, "phrase": "that nothing be lost", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 13, "phrase": "filled twelve baskets", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 15, "phrase": "take Him by force to make Him king", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 15, "phrase": "take him by force, to make him a king", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 20, "phrase": "It is I; do not be afraid", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 20, "phrase": "It is I; be not afraid", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 26, "phrase": "because you ate of the loaves and were filled", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 26, "phrase": "because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 27, "phrase": "Do not work for the food which perishes", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 27, "phrase": "Labour not for the meat which perisheth", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 29, "phrase": "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 29, "phrase": "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 32, "phrase": "the true bread out of heaven", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 32, "phrase": "the true bread from heaven", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 35, "phrase": "I am the bread of life", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 35, "phrase": "will not hunger", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 35, "phrase": "shall never hunger", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 35, "phrase": "will never thirst", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 35, "phrase": "shall never thirst", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 37, "phrase": "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 37, "phrase": "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 37, "phrase": "I will certainly not cast out", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 37, "phrase": "I will in no wise cast out", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 39, "phrase": "I lose nothing", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 39, "phrase": "I should lose nothing", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 44, "phrase": "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 44, "phrase": "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 51, "phrase": "I am the living bread", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 51, "phrase": "for the life of the world is My flesh", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 51, "phrase": "which I will give for the life of the world", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 53, "phrase": "you have no life in yourselves", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 53, "phrase": "ye have no life in you", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 56, "phrase": "abides in Me, and I in him", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 56, "phrase": "dwelleth in me, and I in him", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 60, "phrase": "This is a difficult statement", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 60, "phrase": "This is an hard saying", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 63, "phrase": "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 63, "phrase": "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 66, "phrase": "withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 66, "phrase": "went back, and walked no more with him", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 68, "phrase": "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 68, "phrase": "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 69, "phrase": "the Holy One of God", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 69, "phrase": "that Christ, the Son of the living God", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 70, "phrase": "one of you is a devil", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 5, "phrase": "bread", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 39, "phrase": "last day", "color": "amber", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 41, "phrase": "grumbling", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 43, "phrase": "grumble", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 61, "phrase": "grumbled", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 41, "phrase": "murmured", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 6, "v": 43, "phrase": "Murmur", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 1, "phrase": "the Jews were seeking to kill Him", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 1, "phrase": "the Jews sought to kill him", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 2, "phrase": "the Feast of Booths", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 2, "phrase": "feast of tabernacles", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 5, "phrase": "not even His brothers were believing in Him", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 5, "phrase": "neither did his brethren believe in him", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 6, "phrase": "My time is not yet here", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 6, "phrase": "My time is not yet come", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 7, "phrase": "it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 7, "phrase": "me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 16, "phrase": "My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 16, "phrase": "My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 17, "phrase": "If anyone is willing to do His will", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 17, "phrase": "If any man will do his will", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 24, "phrase": "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 24, "phrase": "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 28, "phrase": "He who sent Me is true", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 28, "phrase": "he that sent me is true", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 30, "phrase": "because His hour had not yet come", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 30, "phrase": "because his hour was not yet come", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 31, "phrase": "many of the crowd believed in Him", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 31, "phrase": "many of the people believed on him", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 34, "phrase": "where I am, you cannot come", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 34, "phrase": "where I am, thither ye cannot come", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 37, "phrase": "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 37, "phrase": "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 37, "phrase": "the last day, the great day of the feast", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 37, "phrase": "the last day, that great day of the feast", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 38, "phrase": "rivers of living water", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 39, "phrase": "this He spoke of the Spirit", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 39, "phrase": "this spake he of the Spirit", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 42, "phrase": "from Bethlehem, the village where David was", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 42, "phrase": "out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 43, "phrase": "a division occurred in the crowd because of Him", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 43, "phrase": "there was a division among the people because of him", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 46, "phrase": "Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 46, "phrase": "Never man spake like this man", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 49, "phrase": "this crowd which does not know the Law is accursed", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 49, "phrase": "this people who knoweth not the law are cursed", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 51, "phrase": "Our Law does not judge a man unless it first hears from him", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 51, "phrase": "Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 16, "phrase": "sent", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 26, "phrase": "Christ", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 7, "v": 25, "phrase": "kill", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 3, "phrase": "a woman caught in adultery", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 3, "phrase": "a woman taken in adultery", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 5, "phrase": "in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 5, "phrase": "Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 7, "phrase": "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 7, "phrase": "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 9, "phrase": "they began to go out one by one", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 9, "phrase": "went out one by one", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 11, "phrase": "I do not condemn you, either", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 11, "phrase": "Neither do I condemn thee", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 11, "phrase": "From now on sin no more", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 11, "phrase": "go, and sin no more", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 12, "phrase": "I am the Light of the world", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 12, "phrase": "I am the light of the world", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 12, "phrase": "will have the Light of life", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 12, "phrase": "shall have the light of life", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 17, "phrase": "the testimony of two men is true", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 20, "phrase": "because His hour had not yet come", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 20, "phrase": "for his hour was not yet come", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 21, "phrase": "will die in your sin", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 21, "phrase": "shall die in your sins", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 24, "phrase": "unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 24, "phrase": "if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 28, "phrase": "When you lift up the Son of Man", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 28, "phrase": "When ye have lifted up the Son of man", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 29, "phrase": "I always do the things that are pleasing to Him", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 29, "phrase": "I do always those things that please him", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 31, "phrase": "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 31, "phrase": "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 32, "phrase": "the truth will make you free", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 32, "phrase": "the truth shall make you free", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 34, "phrase": "everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 34, "phrase": "Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 36, "phrase": "if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 36, "phrase": "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 44, "phrase": "You are of your father the devil", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 44, "phrase": "Ye are of your father the devil", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 44, "phrase": "he is a liar and the father of lies", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 44, "phrase": "he is a liar, and the father of it", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 47, "phrase": "He who is of God hears the words of God", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 47, "phrase": "He that is of God heareth God's words", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 51, "phrase": "if anyone keeps My word he will never see death", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 51, "phrase": "If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 56, "phrase": "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 56, "phrase": "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 58, "phrase": "before Abraham was born, I am", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 58, "phrase": "Before Abraham was, I am", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 59, "phrase": "they picked up stones to throw at Him", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 59, "phrase": "took they up stones to cast at him", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 16, "phrase": "Father", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 32, "phrase": "truth", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 8, "v": 33, "phrase": "Abraham", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 2, "phrase": "who sinned, this man or his parents", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 2, "phrase": "who did sin, this man, or his parents", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 3, "phrase": "so that the works of God might be displayed in him", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 3, "phrase": "that the works of God should be made manifest in him", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 4, "phrase": "night is coming when no one can work", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 4, "phrase": "the night cometh, when no man can work", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 5, "phrase": "I am the Light of the world", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 5, "phrase": "I am the light of the world", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 6, "phrase": "made clay of the spittle", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 7, "phrase": "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 7, "phrase": "came back seeing", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 7, "phrase": "came seeing", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 9, "phrase": "I am the one", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 9, "phrase": "I am he", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 14, "phrase": "Now it was a Sabbath", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 14, "phrase": "it was the sabbath day", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 16, "phrase": "This man is not from God", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 16, "phrase": "This man is not of God", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 16, "phrase": "there was a division among them", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 17, "phrase": "He is a prophet", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 22, "phrase": "they were afraid of the Jews", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 22, "phrase": "they feared the Jews", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 22, "phrase": "put out of the synagogue", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 25, "phrase": "one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 25, "phrase": "one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 28, "phrase": "They reviled him", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 28, "phrase": "they reviled him", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 32, "phrase": "Since the beginning of time it has never been heard", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 32, "phrase": "Since the world began was it not heard", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 33, "phrase": "If this man were not from God, He could do nothing", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 33, "phrase": "If this man were not of God, he could do nothing", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 34, "phrase": "So they put him out", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 34, "phrase": "they cast him out", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 35, "phrase": "finding him", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 35, "phrase": "when he had found him", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 35, "phrase": "Do you believe in the Son of Man?", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 35, "phrase": "Dost thou believe on the Son of God?", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 38, "phrase": "Lord, I believe", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 38, "phrase": "he worshiped Him", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 38, "phrase": "he worshipped him", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 39, "phrase": "For judgment I came into this world", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 39, "phrase": "For judgment I am come into this world", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 41, "phrase": "your sin remains", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 41, "phrase": "your sin remaineth", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 1, "phrase": "blind", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 9, "v": 6, "phrase": "eyes", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 1, "phrase": "climbs up some other way", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 1, "phrase": "climbeth up some other way", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 1, "phrase": "a thief and a robber", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 3, "phrase": "he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 3, "phrase": "he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 4, "phrase": "they know his voice", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 7, "phrase": "I am the door of the sheep", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 9, "phrase": "if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 9, "phrase": "by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 10, "phrase": "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 10, "phrase": "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 10, "phrase": "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 10, "phrase": "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 11, "phrase": "the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 11, "phrase": "the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 12, "phrase": "the wolf snatches them and scatters them", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 12, "phrase": "the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 14, "phrase": "I know My own and My own know Me", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 14, "phrase": "know my sheep, and am known of mine", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 16, "phrase": "I have other sheep, which are not of this fold", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 16, "phrase": "other sheep I have, which are not of this fold", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 16, "phrase": "one flock with one shepherd", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 16, "phrase": "one fold, and one shepherd", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 18, "phrase": "I lay it down on My own initiative", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 18, "phrase": "I lay it down of myself", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 18, "phrase": "I have authority to take it up again", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 18, "phrase": "I have power to take it again", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 22, "phrase": "the Feast of the Dedication", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 22, "phrase": "the feast of the dedication", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 23, "phrase": "it was winter", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 22, "phrase": "it was winter", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 26, "phrase": "you do not believe because you are not of My sheep", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 26, "phrase": "ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 28, "phrase": "I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 28, "phrase": "I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 28, "phrase": "no one will snatch them out of My hand", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 28, "phrase": "neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 29, "phrase": "no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 29, "phrase": "no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 30, "phrase": "I and the Father are one", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 30, "phrase": "I and my Father are one", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 31, "phrase": "picked up stones again to stone Him", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 31, "phrase": "took up stones again to stone him", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 33, "phrase": "make Yourself out to be God", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 33, "phrase": "makest thyself God", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 35, "phrase": "the Scripture cannot be broken", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 35, "phrase": "the scripture cannot be broken", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 38, "phrase": "the Father is in Me, and I in the Father", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 38, "phrase": "the Father is in me, and I in him", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 42, "phrase": "Many believed in Him there", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 42, "phrase": "many believed on him there", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 1, "phrase": "sheep", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 10, "v": 3, "phrase": "voice", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 3, "phrase": "he whom You love is sick", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 3, "phrase": "he whom thou lovest is sick", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 4, "phrase": "This sickness is not to end in death", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 4, "phrase": "This sickness is not unto death", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 4, "phrase": "for the glory of God", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 5, "phrase": "Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 5, "phrase": "Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 6, "phrase": "He then stayed two days longer", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 6, "phrase": "he abode two days still", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 9, "phrase": "Are there not twelve hours in the day?", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 11, "phrase": "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 11, "phrase": "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 16, "phrase": "Let us also go, so that we may die with Him", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 16, "phrase": "Let us also go, that we may die with him", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 25, "phrase": "I am the resurrection and the life", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 25, "phrase": "I am the resurrection, and the life", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 25, "phrase": "he who believes in Me will live even if he dies", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 25, "phrase": "he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 26, "phrase": "will never die", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 26, "phrase": "shall never die", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 27, "phrase": "You are the Christ, the Son of God", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 27, "phrase": "thou art the Christ, the Son of God", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 35, "phrase": "Jesus wept", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 39, "phrase": "Remove the stone", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 39, "phrase": "Take ye away the stone", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 40, "phrase": "if you believe, you will see the glory of God", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 40, "phrase": "if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 41, "phrase": "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 41, "phrase": "Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 43, "phrase": "Lazarus, come forth", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 44, "phrase": "Unbind him, and let him go", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 44, "phrase": "Loose him, and let him go", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 46, "phrase": "went to the Pharisees", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 46, "phrase": "went their ways to the Pharisees", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 48, "phrase": "the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 48, "phrase": "the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 50, "phrase": "it is expedient for you that one man die for the people", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 50, "phrase": "it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 51, "phrase": "he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 51, "phrase": "he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 52, "phrase": "gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 52, "phrase": "gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 53, "phrase": "they planned together to kill Him", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 53, "phrase": "they took counsel together for to put him to death", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 54, "phrase": "a city called Ephraim", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 55, "phrase": "the Passover of the Jews was near", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 55, "phrase": "the Jews' passover was nigh at hand", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 17, "phrase": "four days", "color": "amber", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 21, "phrase": "if You had been here", "color": "amber", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 21, "phrase": "if thou hadst been here", "color": "amber", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 33, "phrase": "deeply moved", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 33, "phrase": "groaned", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 15, "phrase": "believe", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 27, "phrase": "believed", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 25, "phrase": "believes", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 11, "v": 25, "phrase": "believeth", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 1, "phrase": "six days before the Passover", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 1, "phrase": "six days before the passover", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 3, "phrase": "a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 3, "phrase": "a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 3, "phrase": "the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 3, "phrase": "the house was filled with the odour of the ointment", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 6, "phrase": "he was a thief", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 7, "phrase": "keep it for the day of My burial", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 7, "phrase": "against the day of my burying hath she kept this", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 8, "phrase": "you do not always have Me", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 8, "phrase": "me ye have not always", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 10, "phrase": "planned to put Lazarus to death also", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 10, "phrase": "consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 13, "phrase": "BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 13, "phrase": "Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 13, "phrase": "the King of Israel", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 15, "phrase": "BEHOLD, YOUR KING IS COMING", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 15, "phrase": "behold, thy King cometh", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 16, "phrase": "when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 16, "phrase": "when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 19, "phrase": "the world has gone after Him", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 19, "phrase": "the world is gone after him", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 21, "phrase": "Sir, we wish to see Jesus", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 21, "phrase": "Sir, we would see Jesus", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 23, "phrase": "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 23, "phrase": "The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 24, "phrase": "unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 24, "phrase": "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 24, "phrase": "it bears much fruit", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 24, "phrase": "it bringeth forth much fruit", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 25, "phrase": "he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 25, "phrase": "he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 26, "phrase": "he must follow Me", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 26, "phrase": "let him follow me", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 26, "phrase": "the Father will honor him", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 26, "phrase": "him will my Father honour", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 27, "phrase": "for this purpose I came to this hour", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 27, "phrase": "for this cause came I unto this hour", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 28, "phrase": "Father, glorify Your name", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 28, "phrase": "Father, glorify thy name", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 31, "phrase": "the ruler of this world will be cast out", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 31, "phrase": "the prince of this world be cast out", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 32, "phrase": "will draw all men to Myself", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 32, "phrase": "will draw all men unto me", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 35, "phrase": "Walk while you have the Light", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 35, "phrase": "Walk while ye have the light", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 36, "phrase": "believe in the Light", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 36, "phrase": "believe in the light", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 37, "phrase": "they were not believing in Him", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 37, "phrase": "they believed not on him", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 40, "phrase": "HE HAS BLINDED THEIR EYES AND HE HARDENED THEIR HEART", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 40, "phrase": "He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 41, "phrase": "he saw His glory", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 41, "phrase": "he saw his glory", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 43, "phrase": "they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 43, "phrase": "they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 46, "phrase": "I have come as Light into the world", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 46, "phrase": "I am come a light into the world", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 47, "phrase": "I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 47, "phrase": "I came not to judge the world, but to save the world", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 48, "phrase": "the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 48, "phrase": "the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 50, "phrase": "His commandment is eternal life", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 50, "phrase": "his commandment is life everlasting", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 35, "phrase": "Light", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 35, "phrase": "darkness", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 12, "v": 23, "phrase": "hour", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 1, "phrase": "His hour had come", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 1, "phrase": "his hour was come", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 1, "phrase": "He loved them to the end", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 1, "phrase": "he loved them unto the end", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 2, "phrase": "the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 2, "phrase": "the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 3, "phrase": "the Father had given all things into His hands", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 3, "phrase": "the Father had given all things into his hands", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 4, "phrase": "taking a towel, He girded Himself", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 4, "phrase": "took a towel, and girded himself", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 7, "phrase": "you will understand hereafter", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 7, "phrase": "thou shalt know hereafter", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 8, "phrase": "If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 8, "phrase": "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 10, "phrase": "is completely clean", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 10, "phrase": "is clean every whit", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 14, "phrase": "you also ought to wash one another’s feet", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 14, "phrase": "ye also ought to wash one another's feet", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 15, "phrase": "I gave you an example", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 15, "phrase": "I have given you an example", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 17, "phrase": "you are blessed if you do them", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 17, "phrase": "happy are ye if ye do them", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 18, "phrase": "HAS LIFTED UP HIS HEEL AGAINST ME", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 18, "phrase": "hath lifted up his heel against me", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 19, "phrase": "you may believe that I am He", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 19, "phrase": "ye may believe that I am he", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 21, "phrase": "He became troubled in spirit", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 21, "phrase": "he was troubled in spirit", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 21, "phrase": "one of you will betray Me", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 21, "phrase": "one of you shall betray me", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 27, "phrase": "Satan then entered into him", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 27, "phrase": "Satan entered into him", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 30, "phrase": "and it was night", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 31, "phrase": "Now is the Son of Man glorified", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 31, "phrase": "Now is the Son of man glorified", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 34, "phrase": "A new commandment I give to you", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 34, "phrase": "A new commandment I give unto you", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 34, "phrase": "as I have loved you", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 35, "phrase": "By this all men will know that you are My disciples", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 35, "phrase": "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 37, "phrase": "I will lay down my life for You", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 37, "phrase": "I will lay down my life for thy sake", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 38, "phrase": "a rooster will not crow until you deny Me three times", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 38, "phrase": "The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 5, "phrase": "feet", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 5, "phrase": "wash", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 12, "phrase": "washed", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 14, "phrase": "one another", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 31, "phrase": "glorified", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 13, "v": 32, "phrase": "glorify", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 1, "phrase": "Do not let your heart be troubled", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 1, "phrase": "Let not your heart be troubled", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 1, "phrase": "believe in God, believe also in Me", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 1, "phrase": "believe in God, believe also in me", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 2, "phrase": "In My Father’s house are many dwelling places", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 2, "phrase": "In my Father's house are many mansions", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 2, "phrase": "I go to prepare a place for you", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 3, "phrase": "I will come again and receive you to Myself", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 3, "phrase": "I will come again, and receive you unto myself", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 6, "phrase": "I am the way, and the truth, and the life", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 6, "phrase": "I am the way, the truth, and the life", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 6, "phrase": "no one comes to the Father but through Me", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 6, "phrase": "no man cometh unto the Father, but by me", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 9, "phrase": "He who has seen Me has seen the Father", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 9, "phrase": "he that hath seen me hath seen the Father", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 10, "phrase": "I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 10, "phrase": "I am in the Father, and the Father in me", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 12, "phrase": "greater works than these he will do", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 12, "phrase": "greater works than these shall he do", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 13, "phrase": "Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 13, "phrase": "whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 15, "phrase": "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 15, "phrase": "If ye love me, keep my commandments", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 16, "phrase": "He will give you another Helper", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 16, "phrase": "he shall give you another Comforter", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 18, "phrase": "I will not leave you as orphans", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 18, "phrase": "I will not leave you comfortless", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 19, "phrase": "because I live, you will live also", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 19, "phrase": "because I live, ye shall live also", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 23, "phrase": "We will come to him and make Our abode with him", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 23, "phrase": "we will come unto him, and make our abode with him", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 26, "phrase": "He will teach you all things", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 26, "phrase": "he shall teach you all things", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 27, "phrase": "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 27, "phrase": "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 27, "phrase": "not as the world gives", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 27, "phrase": "not as the world giveth", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 27, "phrase": "Do not let your heart be troubled", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 27, "phrase": "Let not your heart be troubled", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 28, "phrase": "the Father is greater than I", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 30, "phrase": "the ruler of the world is coming", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 30, "phrase": "the prince of this world cometh", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 30, "phrase": "he has nothing in Me", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 30, "phrase": "hath nothing in me", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 31, "phrase": "Get up, let us go from here", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 31, "phrase": "Arise, let us go hence", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 2, "phrase": "Father", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 15, "phrase": "love", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 14, "v": 21, "phrase": "loves", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 1, "phrase": "I am the true vine", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 1, "phrase": "My Father is the vinedresser", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 1, "phrase": "my Father is the husbandman", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 2, "phrase": "He takes away", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 2, "phrase": "he taketh away", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 2, "phrase": "He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 2, "phrase": "he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 3, "phrase": "You are already clean because of the word", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 3, "phrase": "Now ye are clean through the word", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 4, "phrase": "Abide in Me, and I in you", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 4, "phrase": "Abide in me, and I in you", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 5, "phrase": "apart from Me you can do nothing", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 5, "phrase": "without me ye can do nothing", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 6, "phrase": "cast them into the fire", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 7, "phrase": "ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 7, "phrase": "ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 8, "phrase": "My Father is glorified by this", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 8, "phrase": "Herein is my Father glorified", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 9, "phrase": "Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 9, "phrase": "As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 10, "phrase": "If you keep My commandments", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 10, "phrase": "If ye keep my commandments", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 11, "phrase": "that your joy may be made full", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 11, "phrase": "that your joy might be full", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 12, "phrase": "love one another, just as I have loved you", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 12, "phrase": "love one another, as I have loved you", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 13, "phrase": "lay down his life for his friends", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 15, "phrase": "I have called you friends", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 16, "phrase": "You did not choose Me but I chose you", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 16, "phrase": "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 16, "phrase": "your fruit would remain", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 16, "phrase": "your fruit should remain", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 19, "phrase": "I chose you out of the world", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 19, "phrase": "I have chosen you out of the world", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 20, "phrase": "A slave is not greater than his master", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 20, "phrase": "The servant is not greater than his lord", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 22, "phrase": "they have no excuse for their sin", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 22, "phrase": "they have no cloke for their sin", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 25, "phrase": "THEY HATED ME WITHOUT A CAUSE", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 25, "phrase": "They hated me without a cause", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 26, "phrase": "the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 26, "phrase": "the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 27, "phrase": "you will testify also", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 27, "phrase": "ye also shall bear witness", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 4, "phrase": "abide", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 5, "phrase": "abides", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 5, "phrase": "abideth", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 15, "v": 18, "phrase": "world", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 1, "phrase": "so that you may be kept from stumbling", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 1, "phrase": "that ye should not be offended", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 2, "phrase": "outcasts from the synagogue", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 2, "phrase": "put you out of the synagogues", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 2, "phrase": "think that he is offering service to God", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 2, "phrase": "think that he doeth God service", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 6, "phrase": "sorrow has filled your heart", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 6, "phrase": "sorrow hath filled your heart", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 7, "phrase": "it is to your advantage that I go away", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 7, "phrase": "It is expedient for you that I go away", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 8, "phrase": "convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 8, "phrase": "reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 11, "phrase": "the ruler of this world has been judged", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 11, "phrase": "the prince of this world is judged", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 13, "phrase": "He will guide you into all the truth", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 13, "phrase": "he will guide you into all truth", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 13, "phrase": "He will disclose to you what is to come", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 13, "phrase": "he will shew you things to come", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 14, "phrase": "He will glorify Me", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 14, "phrase": "He shall glorify me", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 20, "phrase": "your grief will be turned into joy", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 20, "phrase": "your sorrow shall be turned into joy", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 21, "phrase": "Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 21, "phrase": "A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 22, "phrase": "no one will take your joy away from you", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 22, "phrase": "your joy no man taketh from you", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 24, "phrase": "ask and you will receive", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 24, "phrase": "ask, and ye shall receive", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 27, "phrase": "the Father Himself loves you", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 27, "phrase": "the Father himself loveth you", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 28, "phrase": "I came forth from the Father", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 32, "phrase": "for you to be scattered", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 32, "phrase": "that ye shall be scattered", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 32, "phrase": "I am not alone, because the Father is with Me", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 32, "phrase": "I am not alone, because the Father is with me", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 33, "phrase": "in Me you may have peace", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 33, "phrase": "in me ye might have peace", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 33, "phrase": "In the world you have tribulation", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 33, "phrase": "In the world ye shall have tribulation", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 33, "phrase": "take courage", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 33, "phrase": "be of good cheer", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 33, "phrase": "I have overcome the world", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 16, "phrase": "little while", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 1, "phrase": "These things I have spoken", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 1, "phrase": "These things have I spoken", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 16, "v": 2, "phrase": "hour", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 1, "phrase": "the hour has come", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 1, "phrase": "the hour is come", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 1, "phrase": "glorify Your Son", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 1, "phrase": "glorify thy Son", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 2, "phrase": "He may give eternal life", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 2, "phrase": "he should give eternal life", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 3, "phrase": "This is eternal life", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 3, "phrase": "this is life eternal", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 3, "phrase": "the only true God", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 4, "phrase": "having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 4, "phrase": "I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 5, "phrase": "the glory which I had with You before the world was", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 5, "phrase": "the glory which I had with thee before the world was", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 6, "phrase": "I have manifested Your name", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 6, "phrase": "I have manifested thy name", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 9, "phrase": "I do not ask on behalf of the world", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 9, "phrase": "I pray not for the world", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 11, "phrase": "Holy Father, keep them in Your name", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 11, "phrase": "Holy Father, keep through thine own name", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 12, "phrase": "the son of perdition", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 13, "phrase": "My joy made full", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 13, "phrase": "my joy fulfilled", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 14, "phrase": "the world has hated them", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 14, "phrase": "the world hath hated them", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 15, "phrase": "keep them from the evil one", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 15, "phrase": "keep them from the evil", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 17, "phrase": "Sanctify them in the truth", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 17, "phrase": "Sanctify them through thy truth", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 17, "phrase": "Your word is truth", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 17, "phrase": "thy word is truth", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 18, "phrase": "I also have sent them into the world", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 18, "phrase": "even so have I also sent them into the world", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 19, "phrase": "For their sakes I sanctify Myself", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 19, "phrase": "for their sakes I sanctify myself", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 21, "phrase": "that they may all be one", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 21, "phrase": "That they all may be one", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 21, "phrase": "so that the world may believe that You sent Me", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 21, "phrase": "that the world may believe that thou hast sent me", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 23, "phrase": "perfected in unity", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 23, "phrase": "made perfect in one", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 24, "phrase": "be with Me where I am", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 24, "phrase": "be with me where I am", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 24, "phrase": "before the foundation of the world", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 25, "phrase": "O righteous Father", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 26, "phrase": "the love with which You loved Me may be in them", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 26, "phrase": "the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 5, "phrase": "world", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 3, "phrase": "sent", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 1, "phrase": "glorify", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 17, "v": 4, "phrase": "glorified", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 1, "phrase": "over the ravine of the Kidron", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 1, "phrase": "over the brook Cedron", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 2, "phrase": "who was betraying Him", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 2, "phrase": "which betrayed him", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 3, "phrase": "with lanterns and torches and weapons", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 4, "phrase": "knowing all the things that were coming upon Him", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 4, "phrase": "knowing all things that should come upon him", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 6, "phrase": "they drew back and fell to the ground", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 6, "phrase": "they went backward, and fell to the ground", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 8, "phrase": "let these go their way", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 9, "phrase": "Of those whom You have given Me I lost not one", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 9, "phrase": "Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 10, "phrase": "cut off his right ear", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 11, "phrase": "Put the sword into the sheath", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 11, "phrase": "Put up thy sword into the sheath", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 11, "phrase": "the cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 11, "phrase": "the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 14, "phrase": "it was expedient for one man to die on behalf of the people", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 14, "phrase": "it was expedient that one man should die for the people", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 18, "phrase": "a charcoal fire", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 18, "phrase": "a fire of coals", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 20, "phrase": "I have spoken openly to the world", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 20, "phrase": "I spake openly to the world", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 22, "phrase": "struck Jesus", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 27, "phrase": "immediately a rooster crowed", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 27, "phrase": "immediately the cock crew", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 28, "phrase": "so that they would not be defiled", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 28, "phrase": "lest they should be defiled", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 28, "phrase": "it was early", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 32, "phrase": "signifying by what kind of death He was about to die", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 32, "phrase": "signifying what death he should die", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 36, "phrase": "My kingdom is not of this world", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 37, "phrase": "to testify to the truth", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 37, "phrase": "that I should bear witness unto the truth", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 37, "phrase": "Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 37, "phrase": "Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 38, "phrase": "What is truth?", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 38, "phrase": "I find no guilt in Him", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 38, "phrase": "I find in him no fault at all", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 40, "phrase": "Not this Man, but Barabbas", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 40, "phrase": "Not this man, but Barabbas", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 40, "phrase": "Barabbas was a robber", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 5, "phrase": "I am He", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 17, "phrase": "I am not", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 18, "v": 33, "phrase": "king", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 1, "phrase": "scourged Him", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 1, "phrase": "scourged him", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 2, "phrase": "a crown of thorns", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 4, "phrase": "I find no guilt in Him", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 4, "phrase": "I find no fault in him", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 5, "phrase": "Behold, the Man!", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 5, "phrase": "Behold the man!", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 7, "phrase": "He made Himself out to be the Son of God", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 7, "phrase": "he made himself the Son of God", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 11, "phrase": "unless it had been given you from above", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 11, "phrase": "except it were given thee from above", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 11, "phrase": "has the greater sin", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 11, "phrase": "hath the greater sin", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 12, "phrase": "you are no friend of Caesar", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 12, "phrase": "thou art not Caesar's friend", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 13, "phrase": "Gabbatha", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 14, "phrase": "about the sixth hour", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 14, "phrase": "Behold, your King!", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 14, "phrase": "Behold your King!", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 15, "phrase": "We have no king but Caesar", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 17, "phrase": "bearing His own cross", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 17, "phrase": "he bearing his cross", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 17, "phrase": "Golgotha", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 19, "phrase": "JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 19, "phrase": "JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 22, "phrase": "What I have written I have written", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 26, "phrase": "Woman, behold, your son!", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 26, "phrase": "Woman, behold thy son!", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 27, "phrase": "Behold, your mother!", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 27, "phrase": "Behold thy mother!", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 28, "phrase": "all things had already been accomplished", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 28, "phrase": "all things were now accomplished", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 28, "phrase": "I am thirsty", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 28, "phrase": "I thirst", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 30, "phrase": "It is finished!", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 30, "phrase": "It is finished", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 30, "phrase": "gave up His spirit", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 30, "phrase": "gave up the ghost", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 33, "phrase": "they did not break His legs", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 33, "phrase": "they brake not his legs", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 34, "phrase": "pierced His side with a spear", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 34, "phrase": "pierced his side", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 34, "phrase": "blood and water", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 35, "phrase": "so that you also may believe", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 35, "phrase": "that ye might believe", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 36, "phrase": "NOT A BONE OF HIM SHALL BE BROKEN", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 36, "phrase": "A bone of him shall not be broken", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 37, "phrase": "THEY SHALL LOOK ON HIM WHOM THEY PIERCED", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 37, "phrase": "They shall look on him whom they pierced", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 38, "phrase": "a secret one for fear of the Jews", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 38, "phrase": "secretly for fear of the Jews", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 41, "phrase": "a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 41, "phrase": "a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 3, "phrase": "King", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 19, "v": 24, "phrase": "Scripture", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 1, "phrase": "while it was still dark", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 1, "phrase": "when it was yet dark", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 1, "phrase": "the stone already taken away from the tomb", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 1, "phrase": "the stone taken away from the sepulchre", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 2, "phrase": "They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 2, "phrase": "They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 7, "phrase": "rolled up in a place by itself", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 7, "phrase": "wrapped together in a place by itself", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 8, "phrase": "he saw and believed", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 8, "phrase": "he saw, and believed", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 9, "phrase": "He must rise again from the dead", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 9, "phrase": "he must rise again from the dead", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 15, "phrase": "Whom are you seeking?", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 15, "phrase": "whom seekest thou?", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 16, "phrase": "Mary!", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 16, "phrase": "Mary.", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 16, "phrase": "Rabboni!", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 16, "phrase": "Rabboni", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 17, "phrase": "Stop clinging to Me", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 17, "phrase": "Touch me not", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 17, "phrase": "I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 17, "phrase": "I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 18, "phrase": "I have seen the Lord", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 18, "phrase": "she had seen the Lord", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 19, "phrase": "the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 19, "phrase": "the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 20, "phrase": "He showed them both His hands and His side", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 20, "phrase": "he shewed unto them his hands and his side", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 20, "phrase": "The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 20, "phrase": "Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 21, "phrase": "as the Father has sent Me, I also send you", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 21, "phrase": "as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 22, "phrase": "He breathed on them", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 22, "phrase": "he breathed on them", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 22, "phrase": "Receive the Holy Spirit", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 22, "phrase": "Receive ye the Holy Ghost", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 23, "phrase": "If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 23, "phrase": "Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 25, "phrase": "I will not believe", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 27, "phrase": "do not be unbelieving, but believing", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 27, "phrase": "be not faithless, but believing", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 28, "phrase": "My Lord and my God!", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 28, "phrase": "My Lord and my God", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 29, "phrase": "Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 29, "phrase": "blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 31, "phrase": "these have been written so that you may believe", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 31, "phrase": "these are written, that ye might believe", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 31, "phrase": "believing you may have life in His name", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 31, "phrase": "believing ye might have life through his name", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 1, "phrase": "tomb", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 1, "phrase": "sepulchre", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 19, "phrase": "Peace be with you", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 20, "v": 19, "phrase": "Peace be unto you", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 3, "phrase": "that night they caught nothing", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 4, "phrase": "the day was now breaking", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 4, "phrase": "the morning was now come", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 4, "phrase": "the disciples did not know that it was Jesus", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 4, "phrase": "the disciples knew not that it was Jesus", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 5, "phrase": "Children", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 6, "phrase": "Cast the net on the right-hand side of the boat", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 6, "phrase": "Cast the net on the right side of the ship", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 7, "phrase": "It is the Lord", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 7, "phrase": "threw himself into the sea", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 7, "phrase": "did cast himself into the sea", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 9, "phrase": "a charcoal fire already laid", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 9, "phrase": "a fire of coals", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 11, "phrase": "a hundred and fifty-three", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 11, "phrase": "an hundred and fifty and three", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 11, "phrase": "the net was not torn", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 11, "phrase": "yet was not the net broken", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 12, "phrase": "Come and have breakfast", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 12, "phrase": "Come and dine", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 13, "phrase": "took the bread and gave it to them", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 13, "phrase": "taketh bread, and giveth them", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 15, "phrase": "more than these", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 15, "phrase": "Tend My lambs", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 15, "phrase": "Feed my lambs", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 16, "phrase": "Shepherd My sheep", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 16, "phrase": "Feed my sheep", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 17, "phrase": "Peter was grieved", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 17, "phrase": "Lord, You know all things", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 17, "phrase": "Lord, thou knowest all things", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 17, "phrase": "Tend My sheep", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 17, "phrase": "Feed my sheep", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 18, "phrase": "someone else will gird you", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 18, "phrase": "another shall gird thee", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 19, "phrase": "by what kind of death he would glorify God", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 19, "phrase": "by what death he should glorify God", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 19, "phrase": "Follow Me!", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 19, "phrase": "Follow me", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 22, "phrase": "until I come", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 22, "phrase": "till I come", "color": "violet", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 22, "phrase": "what is that to you?", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 22, "phrase": "what is that to thee?", "color": "rose", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 22, "phrase": "You follow Me!", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 22, "phrase": "follow thou me", "color": "green", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 24, "phrase": "his testimony is true", "color": "gold", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 25, "phrase": "the world itself would not contain the books", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 25, "phrase": "the world itself could not contain the books", "color": "amber", "style": "hl"}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 1, "phrase": "manifested", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 1, "phrase": "shewed", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 15, "phrase": "Simon, son of John", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 15, "phrase": "Simon, son of Jonas", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 15, "phrase": "love", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}, {"b": 43, "c": 21, "v": 15, "phrase": "lovest", "color": "sky", "style": "hl", "all": true}], "legend": {"gold": "God — His character & actions", "green": "Command / instruction", "sky": "Key repeated word", "rose": "Sin / warning", "violet": "Promise / blessing", "amber": "Time / place / contrast"}, "method": "inductive"} ```