Come and See

 

 

 

 

In the area of faith and the place of believing or not, judging is the place of interpretation as to Who God is and what God does. Judgment is a place of weighing a testimony.  There are rules and then there are behaviors, circumstances and probable cause.  What throws people is when the impossible happens, the undefined and the unregulated.

Here often is the place of believing or not believing.

 Believing the testimony through the eyes of grace and love OR,

doubting because it doesn’t match the set of rules real or imagined; the set that keeps one comfortable and in a sense of controlled state.

This is where that kind of decision making  plays out in a clear way in the Bible.  I am using the NIV Bible in the Bible passages of this study portion.

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

  In John 9, Jesus heals a blind man.  People begin asking about the man born blind.  They asked Jesus if he was blind because he sinned or because his parents sinned?  Jesus said, “ Neither.”  The people had a set of rules that they believed that if a person had a problem it was due to sin and that sin could be carried on to the children.  Jesus said he was born blind, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” John 9:3  

They had not seen it this way.  They were judging differently. 

When  Jesus healed him, he made mud and placed it on the blind man’s eyes and told him to wash in the Pool of Siloam, which means “Sent.”  Some of the power of the Scriptures are for our revelations later.  The name of the Pool of Siloam is for us to see an even greater glory.   John 20:21 Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."  Jesus was the One sent and healing and He was sending the blind man to be a testimony of that work of God displayed in Him. 

Following seeing for themselves the man now able to see, they were divided by their judgment or view. They were either going to have receptivity to the impossible or they were going to doubt.

John 9:8-9  His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” 9Some claimed that he was. Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”  But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”

Jesus was behaving as LORD and some would see and some wouldn’t.  Seeing in this sense, is believing.

Here we go further seeing the division between those that held tight to their set of rules or those that were open to receive outside of them.

13 b They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. 14Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. 15Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.”

16Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”

But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided.

 Their division was between rules or miracles; the rules being their interpretation of the Law or seeing Grace.

Then they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.”

The man replied, “He is a prophet.”

18 They still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents. 19 “Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?”

20 “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. 21 But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. 23 That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

Notice that it says they had already decided.  They had made their judgment and had their set of rules within their own mind as to how God behaved and their own view of the Messiah instead of receiving what they were seeing.

24 A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”

25 He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”

26 Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”

27 He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”

28 Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! 29 We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”

30 The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. 32 Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”

34 To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.

The chapter goes into discussing Spiritual Blindness and Spiritual Sight in the way of seeing Jesus Spiritually. 

35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

36“Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”

37Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”  (As the once blind man says he wants to know who the Son of Man is so that he can believe in him he shows that he is receptive to all that he is.  Jesus responds by saying that he has seen him.  He had responded in favor testifying to others that Jesus was of God and had healed him.  Jesus goes further saying the one he believed in is the one speaking with him.)

38Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.

39Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.” 

The gospel of John is said to be the most chronologically correct.  A hint to that is by the way John writes as he states, “Then…”  

Jesus is continuing to reveal Himself and the struggle in the Jews continues to be evident between their own perceived viewpoints of how God behaves verses how He is revealing Himself in Christ.  Notice their struggle and tight hold of what they expect should be instead of being open to what God is showing Himself to be in this part of John 10.

Then came the Festival of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, 23and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon’s Colonnade. 24The Jews who were there gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”

25Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me,

31Again his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him, 32but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?”

33“We are not stoning you for any good work,” they replied, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”

The ones in the synagogue were often resistant or afraid and when he returned to the Jordan many came to him and believed.  Outdoors, by a flowing river they came and believed in open freedom.

There is a culture of these contrasts going on today in our own churches.  Recently there was a large conference in Southern California opposing the works of the LORD in ways of His Spirit and gifts and miracles today.  They cling to their rules and have difficulty seeing or believing God outside of their own boxed in viewpoint.  They are blind to the fullness of Him. 

Simultaneously, a group of people were honoring a man’s memory that had led the Jesus Movement that started in the 1970’s.  They celebrated on piers and on the water while floating on surf boards, saying scriptures, not meeting any particular guide line but just were.  They were open to all God is and loved one another through grace.  Some were believers and some weren’t, but they loved each other.  There in that place in the celebration, the Word’s of God being said out loud in unison atop surfboards and wave after gentle wave, rainbows formed around them.  In that kind of faith, that kind of love, amidst the waters came a visible sign of God among them in the rainbows.  Click on this link for a full article of the events written by David Housholder.

While the others, still believing in the LORD, compartmentalized Him, they miss out on the fullness of Him.  The joy of His being in ways we can’t imagine, but He wants to show us.  If only all that believed in Him had vision to see Him in His fullness and truth and not within our own judgment of Him, but in the evidence of His glory and grace.   Jesus longs for this from us. 

Jesus moved on from where he was to reveal Himself in an even greater way in John 11.  He was about to raise Lazerus from the dead.  He was told Lazarus was sick and He knew he had died.  He waited two more days before going to them. John 11:4 When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”

Jews had come to comfort Mary and Martha in their time of mourning.  Martha had run out to meet Jesus and she said that if He had been there sooner, He could have saved him.  She had faith knowing how he could heal.  But, physical death was final in her mind.  She had a limitation there.

Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

24Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

27“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

28After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” 29When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.

32When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

33When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34“Where have you laid him?” he asked.

Think about this part.  He knows that He is going to raise Lazarus from the dead.  He knows that He is able to defeat death, but he sees their view of limitations on Him and the sorrows of death.  He has wanted them to see Him as LORD.  He is deeply moved by their grief and in spirit, troubled.  He knows what He has been trying to reveal to them about Himself for them to see, then the heart wrenching words of His desire for them is said to Him…

“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.

35 Jesus wept.

36Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”  (Look at how they perceived this. Instead of seeing all that had happened before of Him wanting them to see, they unperceiving say to Him to see.  But, what they do notice is love.)

37But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”  ( And again, look what happened to Jesus after they said this, bringing up the portion of opening the blind man’s eyes.  It’s like rubbing a wound in his heart. His response… 38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39“Take away the stone,” he said.

“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”

40Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”

41So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”

43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”

The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.

Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

45Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. 46But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.

“What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs. 48If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.”  (Fear of losing control)

49Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, ““You know nothing at all! 50You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”

51He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, 52and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. 53So from that day on they plotted to take his life.

54Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of Judea. Instead he withdrew to a region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.  (This is another part that strikes me.  Ephraim means fruitful.  Judea was no longer a place that was bearing fruit.)

55When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. 56They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple courts they asked one another, “What do you think? Isn’t he coming to the festival at all?” 57But the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who found out where Jesus was should report it so that they might arrest him.

Those that are open to a greater fullness of Who God is in their lives bear much fruit.  He shows Himself because He is not limited in the minds of peoples’ expectations, order or rules.  They live in His love and grace and the fullness of Him moves through their lives.

 A sign of people that live like that have joy.  They have joy in all circumstances because they don’t limit God’s work in good and in bad times.  He uses it for His glory like the man born blind and even the death of Lazarus. 

Hard times happen and there are times for mourning, but how much greater are the times when one praises, trusts and believes in what is impossible for man is possible for God.  They live in grace, love, peace, hope, thankfulness and joy.  They ride the waves with words of faith and rejoice in their Savior.

Have you arrested Jesus and detained Him from greater acts of seeing Him by your own judgment or view of Him?  Does your doubt in His truth give you a verdict that keeps you from knowing the freedom that He has for you?  Pray for Him to open your eyes, to touch the blindness or blinders that may be on you and ask Him to help you see and help you trust that even though there may be circumstances that are difficult or you have had to endure, He has a greater glory to reveal to you. 

 

I recently taught on this message in greater length. There is also a parallel to seeing in the Psalms of Ascent.  If you ever have need for me to teach or share with your church or women’s group, please contact me at loriwilley18@gmail.com

 

 



 

 

 





A Different Guy

 

 

 

“Pay attention to the weird,” a friend had said.  Out of the 12 disciples, John was a bit different in the way he referred to himself.  “John, the one whom Jesus loved,” he wrote, is sprinkled in the gospel of John.  No other gospels say this about him, nor do other disciples like Matthew, Luke or Mark refer to themselves as, “the one whom Jesus loved.”

 Weird.

Teachers I have sat under recently through DVD or television have trended to make fun of John and his sense of ego in his own gospel.  I’m seeing it differently.  I’m paying attention to the weird and seeing John.

John used more symbolism throughout his gospel  as Jesus being God than the others.  It opens in John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.”  John is seeing much more.  He’s revealing more spirituality and bigger picture things.  

What is it about him?

John receives.

John doesn’t appear to hesitate or work on coming up with his own stuff.  He receives. 

He received Jesus’ love.  He believed it.  He walked in it and he claimed it for himself. 
“John, the one whom Jesus loved.”

John also wrote that others were those whom He loved.  John 11:5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

John recognized and received Jesus' love and saw that He had it for others.  If you do online searches on Bible verses about love you will find that the larger majority are in Psalms (David was a man after God’s own heart) the book of John and the three small books 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd John.

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God and everyone that loves is born of God and knows God.  He that doesn’t love, doesn’t know God, for God is love.” 1 John 4:7-8.

And in the Aramaic translation, John 3:16 For God loved the world in this way: so much that he would give up his Son, The Only One, so that everyone who trusts in him shall not be lost, but he shall have eternal life.

This is the difference.  John was one of the inner circle guys because he confidently followed closely knowing he was loved.   At the time of eating the last meal together it says that Jesus said one would betray him.  John 13:23-25 reads that the one whom Jesus loved was close to Him and Peter asked that one to ask Jesus who it was.  John did so as he leaned back into Jesus’ bosom and asked Him who it was.  Jesus answered him.

Looking at this, here is John so close and comfortable knowing the love Jesus has for him and leaning right into his “bosom” or chest.  He presses into his chest, leaning and asks.  He is relaxed, near, intimate and confident that Jesus will answer him.  John is receiving and believing and living in the position of love and nearness of Jesus.  In that, he is also answered.  Peter, in his own uncertainty, asks John to ask Him. 

John is also the disciple that receives the great revelations of Revelation.  He receives.  He is open and believing.  He believes in such a level of spiritual awareness and openness to all God is that he sees huge things. 

He was at the transfiguration.  This was when Jesus’ human body took on a heavenly body and He conversed with Moses and Elijah.

He was at the crucifixion and there, he received more.  John 19:26-27 When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, "Woman, behold, your son!" 27Then He said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" From that hour the disciple took her into his own household.

From that moment, he received her.  He didn’t say, “O no Lord, I’m not worthy of your Mom” or “I need to check and make sure it’s okay with the rest of the family.” 

He received her as his mother.  And Jesus knew he would.  Also notice his proximity.  Again, John is near.

He was at the ascension.  This was when Jesus was taken into a cloud and went into heaven.

Being receptive is everything. 

It is the beginning place of incredible blessing. 

It is the vision through eyes of grace and the fuller view of His glory. 

Many teachers teach the portion that Jesus spoke about having child-like faith.  That the Kingdom of heaven belong to such as these.  Children are strongly faith filled. They trust, they don’t come with agendas to confirm their own views, and they are open.

 I see them as receivers.

They are dependent on others to provide for them and care for them and they readily receive.  They started life that way and have yet to acquire anything significant on their own.  They have to receive.  Have you ever seen a child reject a gift?  Have you seen an adult?  I have seen adults say, “Oh, no you shouldn’t have done that” or “No, I couldn’t possibly take this.”

 We play unworthy.  Children don’t.

A little boy named Samuel was serving Eli.  Young Samuel received the words of God as God called to him he responded, “Speak to me LORD, for your servant is listening.”  1 Samuel 3:10  He received.

My husband traded his car in for a different one that was a convertible.  He gave the convertible to me and took over driving the older car I was driving.  I could hardly handle that kind of generous gift!  I couldn’t even initially drive it and had to have my husband drive it for the first 20 minutes because I was crying and feeling like it was more than I should have, that I wasn’t worthy of it.  It took me a month to fully receive it and enjoy it and accept it as a blessing.

 Now it is nearing November and I can’t have the top down anymore because it is too cold.  We live in Minnesota.  I wasted a month of warm summer days not feeling the fullness of joy, even with the top down, of this incredible gift by instead feeling like it was more than I deserved.  Now that I got over myself, and I realize how much he loves me and it is his expression of love,  I enjoy it and I see how much of a blessing it and he really are.

 I receive that love.

Those that receive from God and His love see a bigger picture.  They see more spiritually and they speak it more freely because they are not encumbered by doubt, unworthiness or have worked to acquire their own view.  To those that receive, it just is and they got it and they trust it and they enjoy it.

That was John.  He received Jesus’ love and he trusted it. 

Think of what your life could be like if you said your name and after it, “the one whom Jesus loves.”

Because, you are.

Receive.

In the receiving we are told to give, too.  As John received the revelation, he wrote it out so others would have it. He didn’t keep it for himself.  As God does things in your life, tell that story to others.  It encourages them or sets their eyes on His glory. 

Matthew 10:8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.

John was also the only apostle that did not die in martyrdom and lived a long life, believed to have died of natural causes.  Hmm, weird.

 

 





Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled

The topic of "Believing" is vast! It is a topic I am teaching soon. A tie-in  to believing is the verse about the first and greatest commandment in Matthew 22:37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  What keeps us from that?  The culprit tends to be the mind.

I can love someone with all my heart, but at times, the trust isn't fully there.  The lack of trust is in my mind.  My young son can tell me a story and at times I find myself saying, "Is that the way it really happened?"

Throughout the scripture, God is persuading belief.  He is making things happen, miraculous things happen in the least expected people and places.  It's encountering the living God!  Following big displays of His God-ness, He often has people do big things.  Things they wouldn't have otherwise already done if they hadn't been moved to believe Him.  Even Mary, who swiftly believed and was considered blessed for it, was visited and told by an angel what she would do.  That's big persuasion.

There are still the stragglers.  Saul was given the Kingship by God. He was also given God's Spirit upon him.  It says in 1 Samuel 10:6-8 that the Spirit came upon him in great power and that God changed his heart.  Following this, he was told what he was supposed to do. 

Saul failed miserably in a variety of ways.  Not seeing himself as God saw him, not believing what God told him, pride, asking others their thoughts instead of asking God His and flat out disobeying.

Even though Saul had the Spirit of God upon him, he did not walk in it.  His heart was changed, but his mind was not.  He didn't fully believe, trust or yield.  Walking in the Spirit will guide us well.  When we ignore it and walk in our own ways it will often lead us right into a corner.

The words came strong today during additional preparation time for this study, "Betray not your heart."  So often our minds can betray our hearts.  Living in the place of the LORD's heart and Spirit, there is peace. David, who was later made king by God, was said to be a man after God's own heart.  I also felt the words, "Peace leads, guides and instructs.  Fear, stress and worry are enemies to My ways."

When a word is pressed upon me that stands out, I usually look it up or do a little more research on it. I looked up the word "betray" in the Merriam-Webster dictionary.  It is defined, "Be disloyal to (one's country, organization, or ideology) by acting in the interests of an enemy."  Betray not your heart.

Joyce Meyer wrote an entire book called, "The Battlefield of the Mind."  Negativity binds us from embracing the positive.  Many people find peace in meditating.  It is the clearing of the mind of negative thoughts and stress.  Meditation isn't just an Eastern culture idea.  David says in Psalm 119:15 I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. David knew the power of God and reminded himself over and over again Who God is and who he himself was in God.  One of the times is in Psalm 118.  It brought his mental state into one of joy and strength.

Believing is an action verb and it does take our effort to turn our thoughts to Him.  As the scripture says in John 14:1 Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.