Jesus offers life

John 8:51    “I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he or she will never see death.”

   Death is horrible.

   Have you ever been with someone when he or she died?  I was the sole person with my grandma when she died.  That is a full and emotional story for me.  But we all know that once a person dies, you will never see him or her again in this world.  However, Jesus here makes a historic claim.  Jesus claims that if anyone keeps His word, he or she will never see death.

   The people Jesus addressed were not listening to Him, rather they were in the mode of refuting Him.  So rather than pondering His statement, they immediately rejected His statement, assuming that He was talking about physical death.

   Yet Jesus was talking about spiritual death.

   Earlier in the book of John, there is the record of Jesus talking with a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well.  Within that conversation, Jesus gave a great revelation: “God is spirit” (John 4:24).  This one fact clarifies numerous questions about God.  For example, why are scientists unable to view God even though they have invented incredibly powerful telescopes?  The reason is that the nature of God is superior to this world of matter, a world in which we people have limitations.  God is spirit.  God is infinite.

   And, since human beings were made in the image of God, which is revealed early on in the book of Genesis, we have a spirit as the core of our being.

   Thus when Jesus said: “…if anyone keeps my word, he or she will never see death,” He was talking about spiritual death, more specifically, death of a person’s soul.  You could also phrase it as death of a person’s spirit.

   We all physically die.  The oldest person I have ever met was a woman named “Faith” who was 102.  But she physically died a year later.  Who is the oldest person you have met?

   The incredible revelation by Jesus here is that eternal life is available!

   Now the more I read what Jesus taught, the more I realize that keeping the word of Jesus sounds impossible.  ‘Do not lust?’  ‘Do not be angry with your brother?’  Fact is, the dreamy truth of eternal life all starts with Jesus.

   Jesus died on a cross for the forgiveness of sins of anyone.  Jesus took our punishment of spiritual death on the cross.  If you believe in Jesus, you will be forgiven, and you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.  The result is that you will be enabled to keep the “word” of Jesus and obey His teachings.  We are all human, and we people make plenty of mistakes.  Yet submitting to the Holy Spirit will result in continued improvement in your heart.  You will be able to live a life of holiness.

   Tragically, this world will continue to be full of physical death until God carries out Judgment Day.  Yet if you believe in Jesus, you will have eternal life!!!  Even today, you have the invitation to believe in Jesus!!!

Hunter Irvine

Scripture Love Blog

I am the light of the world

John 8:12-13   When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

   The Pharisees challenged him, “Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid” (NIV).

   There is a distinct line between being relentless in pursuing goodness and being ruthless in going against the will of God.

   Jesus was relentless in His mission to preach and teach.  After the huge confrontation with the “teachers of the law” and the Pharisees after they seized a woman who had committed adultery, Jesus continued on with His mission.

   And what He proclaimed here was likewise radical.  Jesus declared He is the light of the world.  Jesus called for people to follow Him.

   I discussed in my piece at the beginning of the month of how the Pharisees ignored a prophecy from Isaiah chapter 9:1-2.  How incredible that in this passage Jesus made a statement which identifies Himself as the fulfillment of that prophecy.  Jesus is revealing what those Pharisees were ignorant of, or more likely, what those Pharisees where ignoring.

   But those Pharisees were ruthless in their mission to stop Jesus from preaching and teaching.  Rather than becoming humble after what Jesus taught when they seized that woman to trap Him, those Pharisees continued to work hard to stop Him.

   Rather than discussing the claim by Jesus, the Pharisees changed the subject and challenged Him as being a sole witness for Himself.  Their evil mode continued.

   The encouraging message: Jesus not only claimed to be the light of the world, Jesus showed it.  The light had dawned since the Messiah had arrived.  And Jesus was determined to let His light shine so the darkness of the Pharisees would be exposed.  Standing His ground in the face of the opposition of the Pharisees, Jesus ended up giving a pinnacle revelation.  I encourage you to read the rest of this chapter when you have a desire to do so.

   Looking back to when I was a young Christian, the aggressive opposition of the Pharisees sometimes distracted me from the messages which Jesus conveyed.  It is worth the work to avoid the distraction of the Pharisees.  Fruit comes from carefully listening to the messages of Jesus.

   So let us hear again what Jesus stated here: “…Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).

   Do you follow Jesus?  If you do not, wild enough, this declaration and invitation by Jesus about 2000 years ago still stands today.  Jesus, who was resurrected and who ascended into heaven, is still inviting you to follow Him.

   Jesus Christ died on a cross for the forgiveness of sins of anyone.  He was the atoning sacrifice for the consequence of sins, which is spiritual death in h-ll.  Then Jesus was resurrected.

   If you believe in Jesus as your Savior and Lord, you will have eternal life.  And as Jesus proclaimed, you will never walk in darkness, praise be to God since darkness always stifles love.  Rather you will have the light of life, who is Jesus, the loving Savior of the world.

Hunter Irvine

Scripture Love Blog

The radical Messiah

John 8: 1-11

(Please read this passage in a translation which is your preference.)

   Jesus did three epic actions within the course of this historic event: Jesus furthered the Law, Jesus waived conviction, and Jesus instructed the woman to live a new life.

   In line with their sinister mission, in the wake of the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles, the Pharisees seized a woman who was having sex outside of marriage.  They did this solely to trap Jesus.

   Ironic that the “teachers of the law” joined in with the Pharisees for this confrontation, because their statement about what Moses commanded is oversimplified, thus not completely accurate.  Now the sin of adultery is as clear as can be, since it was one of the “Ten Commandments,” which were commandments given to Moses by God.  But the punishment of death by stoning for certain sexual sins had complex parameters.

   The bottom line regarding this vindictive plan was that the plan surely seemed to be a trap which would be successful one way or the other.  If Jesus said ‘no,’ do not stone her, then the Pharisees could get away with announcing across the land that Jesus permitted adultery, and that He went against the Mosaic Law, whether that was accurate or not.  Thus they could counter any claims that He is the Christ.

   And if Jesus said ‘yes,’ then the Pharisees could say that Jesus was a brutal and violent judge.  The reason: We can presume that stoning punishments for sexual sins under the Mosaic Law had been scratched by Israelite leaders many centuries before.  They sure were not enforced by King Solomon nearly a thousand years earlier.  This punishment probably was only carried out for a short time in Israelite history, possibly for brief periods during the time of the Israelite judges.  If Jesus would have said to stone the woman, He would have been hated.

   Instead, Jesus, being God the Son, did what only He could do.  Jesus furthered the Mosaic Law by commanding that only a person who is sinless should carry out a stoning punishment.  He had furthered the Law in His ‘Sermon on the Mount,’ and He did it again here.

   Thus not a single person threw a rock, because there was not a single person without sin, other than Jesus.

   That is why Jesus was left all alone with the accused.

   Secondly, Jesus did not convict her.

   The ultimate mission of Jesus was to die on a cross for the forgiveness of sins of all people.  In the near future, Jesus would also fulfill the Law, being the atoning sacrifice on the cross for the sins of the world.  On this occasion, however long before those pinnacle six hours, Jesus was foreshadowing his merciful atoning work by not convicting the woman.

   Yet there was one more crucial declaration.  Always remember the final statement by Jesus: “Go now and leave your life of sin” (John 8:11 NIV).

   Sin hurts people.  Jesus does not want anyone getting hurt.

   Jesus clearly taught adultery is a sin.  Jesus instructed the woman to cease committing adultery.

   In this day and age, sexual immorality is rampant, and many people are getting hurt.

   We Christians need to continue to adhere to and proclaim the teachings of Jesus.

   We need to acknowledge that sex outside of marriage is wrong and hurtful.

   In the wake of graduating from Virginia Tech many years ago, I was a proud graduate, and I had a successful three years as a Resident Advisor to my credit.  But sadly, I struggled with a private sin of lust, which only brought loneliness.  Turning to Jesus ended up being the path to living by love instead.  Turning to Christ less than a year after graduating resulted in a changed life where I have lived with peace and joy for all these remaining years.

   We need to tell people that forgiveness is offered from Jesus and can be received by anyone.

   We need to be tactful yet bold in saying the will of Jesus for His children is to flee from a life of sin and to rely on the Holy Spirit to live a life of holiness.

   Living in holiness results in goodness!

   Jesus is for real!

Hunter Irvine

Scripture Love Blog

Pharisees refused to listen

John 7:45-52 Finally, the temple guards went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”

   “No one ever spoke the way this man does,” the guards declared.

   “You mean he has deceived you also?” the Pharisees retorted.  “Has any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him?  No!  But this mob that knows nothing of the law - there is a curse on them.”

   Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, “Does our law condemn anyone without first hearing him to find out what he is doing?”

   They replied, “Are you from Galilee too?  Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee” (NIV).

   The temple guards listened to Jesus.  But the leaders of the Pharisees did not listen to the temple guards, rather they insulted the guards.

   Then those leaders made a generalization saying that none of the Pharisees had believed in Jesus.  Yet did Nicodemus believe in Jesus?  Whether he did or not at this juncture, he gave a rational response about their rejection of Jesus.  But the leaders of the Pharisees did not listen to Nicodemus either.  Instead they insulted him also.

   Wild enough, this emotional string of insults exposes an evil mode of those involved in the insulting.  I preface that mode to say there is a minuscule chance those leaders could have been unaware of what was written in Isaiah 9.  Yet it is more likely they were ignoring and distorting Isaiah 9.  What evil for those leaders to be ignoring and distorting Scripture.

   Tragic.

Here is the Scripture they were ignoring:

Isaiah 9:1-2   Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress.  In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan - The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned (NIV).

   Indeed, the prophet Isaiah foretold of a great light which would come out of Galilee.  This prophecy must have seemed bizarre at the time, because Galilee was part of the kingdom of Israel.  Yet after the fall of the northern kingdom, Israel became flooded with Gentiles.  Isaiah was correct.

   Isaiah gave a prophecy of much hope in telling of a great light.  That great light was the Messiah!

   Yet the Pharisees diverted that truth or ignored that truth.

   Tragedy continues two thousand years later as people ignore, distort, or even reject the revelations of Scripture.

   Yet even in our time, many adhere to the revelations of Scripture!  For example, verses or messages from Isaiah 9 are sung and stated often in Christian worship services all over the world during the Christmas season.

   Though he was not born in Nazareth, it was the hometown of Jesus.  Thus out of Galilee, at about age thirty, came the Messiah!

Hunter Irvine

Scripture Love Blog