Chanukah in John Pt.7. The Fifth Light

The first four lights of John's hidden Chanukiah started with the beginning of Jesus' ministry. The second four lights belong to the closing part of His ministry on earth. This fifth light is lit on the day before His circumcision. Jesus was born at the beginning of Tabernacles, so it follows that He was circumcised on the eighth day according to the Law.

Psalms 113 - 118 inc. were sung after the Water-drawing ceremony. They comprise the Great Hallel. There was a great desire for the latter rains (Autumn rains) and for the Messiah. Furthermore at Tabernacles the Temple was brilliantly illuminated as a sign of God's light to the Israel and the Gentiles.

According to Edersheim's book, "The Temple", the Talmud states that the water drawing ceremony signifies the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the Messiah, He is the Light of the World and He will baptise with the Holy Spirit. He could hardly keep silent as these prayers were being offered.

John 7:37-52

English Standard Version Anglicised (ESVUK)

Rivers of Living Water

³⁷ On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. ³⁸ Whoever believes in me, as^[a] the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” ³⁹ Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Division Among the People

⁴⁰ When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.” ⁴¹ Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee? ⁴² Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” ⁴³ So there was a division among the people over him. ⁴⁴ Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
⁴⁵ The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” ⁴⁶ The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!” ⁴⁷ The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? ⁴⁸ Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? ⁴⁹ But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” ⁵⁰ Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, ⁵¹ “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” ⁵² They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”

Footnotes:

1. John 7:38 Or let him come to me, and let him who believes in me drink. As

The confession,  "This is the Christ" is almost swamped in the dispute, but nonetheless, some believed. The Enemy loves to try and swamp witness with dispute.

Copyright G. I. Goodson 2013

Jesus' claim, "I, I am  the Light of the World", will lead us to our next light, but more of that tomorrow.

Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
Part Six


 

The power of Ten - and a bit of catching up.

The catching up bit.

To all my occasional readers and some regulars, my apologies. Life has been very busy as I have taken on new responsibilities in the Deanery as well as my responsibilities at Church. In addition, we have begun to seek a new home as our current house is not configured for hospitality.

In the middle of all this, I seek to maintain a Bible Study group, a prayer triplet, a preaching ministry of sorts and support, as well as chivvy the Vicar. ( Chivvy - Br. Eng. - for 'nag, be a pain in the neck, encourage, goad etc.')

The power of Ten.

I recently preached two sermons based on the Nicene and Apostles' Creeds. Essentially, the 'I believe in God' bit. I'll post the PowerPoints below.

Whilst preparing the second one, I was struck by a link across the Bible of ten pronouncements, by God, on one particular topic. Since then I have done work on Romans for my Bible Study Group and, as Paul builds much of his argument on Genesis and God's promise to Abraham, I was obliged to revisit the work I had done for the group on Genesis.

To summarise:

There are 10 commands to create the universe in Genesis 1. These are all introduced by the phrase, "And God said". Check this in a good translation of the Bible and not a paraphrase. The NIV does not qualify as it is designed for reading aloud and smooths out essential, but awkward grammatical structures.

There are 10 promises to Abraham to establish the covenant of Grace. I'll list them below.

There are 10 commands that form the basis of the Torah and create the nation of Israel and the covenant of Law.

There are 10 promises of the Holy Spirit, given by Jesus that form the Church.

Each of these Tens are part of the command structure of what has been brought into being. They are, to use computer jargon, the Built In Operating System or BIOS.

The commands can be, and were, broken. The promises are built on God and cannot be broken.

Spiritual Israel/The Church comprises all those who believe through faith in the Jewish Messiah, Jesus, being both Jew and Gentile. They are saved by Grace and this cannot fail.

Physical Israel is based on the Torah and will be saved, by Grace, but the law kills. Which is not to say that the current  restoration is anything but a work of God. It is a sign of the times.

Unbelieving Gentiles are stuck with Adam's broken universe ( see PowerPoints below) and the modifications made for Noah.

Genesis 1 vss, 3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26, 28, and 29.

All God's promises to Abraham

1. Genesis 12:1-3. The promise involves a blessing and a curse for "all the families of the earth".

2. Genesis 12:7.  The first promise of the Land of Canaan

3. Genesis 13:14-17. God's promise emphasises the physical reality of the land and the number of descendants Abram will have. Dust

4. Genesis 15:1. The Lord is Abram’s shield and reward.

5. Genesis 15:5-6.  Descendants.  Abram's belief was counted for righteousness (v6). Stars

6. Genesis 15:12-16. The "deep sleep" and "dread and great darkness" that overcame Abram were because of the Presence of God and to protect Abram.

7. Genesis 15:18-21.  Promises confirmed by sacrifices became a covenant relating to the Land.

  

8. Genesis 17:1-8. Abram’s name was changed (v5) to “Abraham” (father of many nations). His personal possession of the land will be everlasting (v8). Circumcision becomes a sign of the covenant with Abraham’s direct line.

9. Genesis 18:17 – 19 God’s conversation in Abraham’s presence before the Judgement of Sodom and Gomorrah.

10. Genesis 22:15-18. The promise was confirmed with an oath. The seed in v17 is singular.

The Ten commandments 

Really? 

The 10 Commandments List, Short Form

1. You shall have no other gods before Me.
2. You shall not make idols.
3. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
5. Honor your father and your mother.
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. You shall not covet.

The promises of the Holy Spirit. 

Christ’s Promises of the Holy Spirit’s coming

Luke 11:13. The Father gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him

John 4:10-14 The promise of Living Water to the Samaritan Woman.

John 7:37 – 39 The promise of Living Water at the Temple

John 14:16-17 The Counsellor and Spirit of Truth

John 14:25-26 The Paraclete and Teacher

John 15:26-27 The Counsellor, Spirit of Truth and witness

John 16:7-11The Advocate who convinces

John16:13 – 15 Spirit of Truth and our Guide

John 20:22-23 Authority to forgive

Luke 24:49 Acts 1:8 Power from on high, power to witness.

 

How the wise men knew the gospel - and how to be wise in God's eyes.

This is a PowerPoint of a sermon I recently preached. Unfortunately, due to the disturbances caused by an alcoholic homeless man whom our church is endeavouring to help (he is banned from attending any other church and with good reason), I was unable to record a soundtrack.

In it I will tell you how the wise men knew the gospel, whether they turned up for the resurrection , what the Star actually was and how to be wise in God's eyes.

 

How the wise men knew the gospel.pptx

I hope you find it interesting and informative. I am pleased to report that it was well received on the day.

You can find out a bit more about  my thesis here at 'When was Jesus born...?'

May God bless you as you study it.