|
Words of Christ in red
The Word (God) becomes flesh (a man)
In beginning[ness] [before all time] was the Word (Christ), and the Word was [in fellowship/face-to-face]
with God [the Father], and the Word was [as to his essence] God [absolute deity]. He was [continually existing]
in the beginning [co-eternally] [in fellowship/face-to-face] with God [the Father]. All things were made and came
into existence through Him; and without Him not even one thing was made that has come into being. In Him was life
[and the power to bestow life], and the life was the Light of men. . . .
And the Word (Christ) became flesh [a man], and lived [tabernacled/dwelt] among us; and we [actually] saw His glory,
glory as belongs to the [One and] only begotten Son of [from] the Father, [the Son who is [uniquely-begotten],
the only One of His kind, who is] full of grace and truth. (From The Amplified Bible, Wuest's Expanded Translation and Rev. Jim Craig's Comprehensive Translation) John 1:1-14 menu
To the lost sheep of Israel
These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them:
"Do not go in the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans;
but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
"And as you go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Mat. 10:5-15 menu
Humanly impossible, but not with God (Approximately 30 A.D.)
..."How hard it will be for those who have riches to enter the kingdom
of God!"
And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, "Children,
how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, "Then who can be saved?"
Jesus looked at them and said, "With men it is impossible, but not
with God; for all things are possible with God."
Peter began to say to him, "Lo, we have left everything and followed you."
Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house
or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive
a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions,
and in the age to come eternal life." Mark 10:23-30 menu
Life after death: Two men
"There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine
linen and fared sumptuously every day.
But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with
the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was
buried.
And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
"Then he cried and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his
finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.'
But Abraham said, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil
things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented.
And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who
want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.'
"Then he said, 'I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father's house,
for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also
come to this place of torment.' Abraham said to him, 'They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.'
And he said, 'No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.'
But he said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise
from the dead.'" Luke 16:19-31 menu
The value of your soul
When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, "Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will
save it.
For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also
will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." Mark 8:34-38 menu
What resurrected men (and women) are like
Then some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying:
"Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife, and he dies without children, his
brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. And the first
took a wife, and died without children. And the second took her as wife, and he died childless. Then the third
took her, and in like manner the seven also; and they left no children, and died. Last of all the woman died also.
Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife does she become? For all seven had her as wife."
Jesus answered and said to them, "The sons of this age marry and
are given in marriage. But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead,
neither marry nor are given in marriage; nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons
of God, being sons of the resurrection.
But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord "the God
of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' For He is not the God of the dead but of the living..." Luke 20:34-38 menu
Only as a child
He called a child to Himself and set him before them, and said,
"Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children,
you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
"Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 18:1-3 menu
He is seeking strays
"The Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.
What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine
and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying?
And if he should find it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices more over
that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray." Matthew 18:11-13 menu
Jesus and sinners
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him.
And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them."
So he told them this parable:
"What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of
them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it?
And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for
I have found my sheep which was lost.'
Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous
persons who need no repentance." Luke 15:1-7 menu
When the Kingdom will come
Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said,
"The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed;
nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or, 'There it is!' For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst."
And He said to the disciples, "The days will come when you will
long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.
"They will say to you, "Look there! Look here!' Do not go away, and do not run after them.
"For just like the lightning, when it flashes out of one part of the sky, shines to the other part of the
sky, so will the Son of Man be in His day." (See Matthew 24 for Jesus' in depth discussion of this.) Luke 17:20-24 menu
The gathering
"Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then
all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power
and great glory.
And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four
winds, from one end of heaven to the other." Matthew 24:30,31 menu
You must be born again
There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for
no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."
Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly I say to you, unless
one is born again from above, he cannot [is not able to] see the kingdom of God."
Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's
womb and be born [can he]?"
Jesus answered, "Truly, truly I say to you, unless one receive birth
out of water and of spirit, he cannot [is not able to] enter the kingdom of God.
That which receives birth from the flesh is flesh, and that which receives birth from the Spirit is spirit.
Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born from above.'
The Spirit breaths where it wills, and you hear the voice of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where
it goes. So is everyone who has been born of the Spirit." [A partly literal translation] John 3:1-8 menu
God so loved the world...
"No one has gone up into heaven except he who having come down out
of heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven.
And even as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that everyone believing
into Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
"For God so [in this manner] loved the world that He gave his only-begotten
son, that everyone believing into him should not perish but have everlasting life.
For God did not send His Son into the world that he might judge the world, but that the world might be saved through
him.
The one believing into him is not judged; but the one not believing has already been judged;
for he has not believed into the name of the only-begotten Son of God."
[From Jay Green's Literal Translation of the Bible, except the
phrase "in this manner" which is implied in the Greek] John 3:13-18 menu
Drink Living Water
...He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. But He needed to go through Samaria.
So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about
the sixth hour.
A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give
Me a drink."
For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan
woman?" For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and
who it is who says to you, "Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living
water."
The woman said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the
well is deep. Where then do You get that living water?
Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and
his livestock?"
Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will
thirst again. But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst, but the water that I shall
give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." John 4:3-14 menu
The Giver of Living Water
The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw."
Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here."
The woman answered and said, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You
have well said, "I have no husband,' for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not
your husband; in that you spoke truly."
The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.
Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship."
Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you
will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.
You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.
But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the
Father is seeking such to worship Him.
God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ). "When He comes, He
will tell us all things."
Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He." John 4:15-26 menu
The Son's authority to give life
"For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even
so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.
For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son,
so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the
Father who sent Him.
Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not
come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God,
and those who hear will live.
For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself;
and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man.
Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice,
and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds
to a resurrection of judgment." John 5:21-29 menu
The Scriptures, Moses, and Jesus
"You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have
eternal life; and it is these that bear witness of Me;
And you are unwilling to come to Me, that you may have life.
· · ·
For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote [of] Me. But if you do not believe his writings,
how will you believe My words?" John 5:39-40 menu
The work that leads to eternal life
"Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which
endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man shall give to you, for on Him the Father; even God, has set His seal."
They therefore said to Him, "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?"
Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that
you believe in Him whom He has sent." John 6:27-29 menu
The bread of life
Therefore they said to Him, "What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work
will You do? Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"
Then Jesus said to them, "Truly,
truly I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven.
For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." Then
they said to Him, "Lord, evermore give us this bread." And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall
never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.
All that the Father gives me will come to me; and him who comes to me I will not cast out.
For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me;
and this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me,
but raise it up at the last day.
For this is the will of my Father, that every one who sees the Son and believes in him should
have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day." John
6:30-40 menu
You must feed on Jesus
"...Most truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son
of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.
Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.
He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.
As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.
This is the bread which came down from heaven--not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this
bread will live forever."
These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum. John 6:53-59 menu
The Spirit gives life
Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this said, " This is a difficult statement; who can listen
to it?''
But Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to them, "Does
this cause you to stumble?
"What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before?
"It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit
and are life.
"But there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who
did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him.
And He was saying, "For this reason I have said to you, that no
one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father."
As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.
So Jesus said to the twelve, "You do not want to go away also, do
you?"
Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life."
John 6:60-69 menu
He gives it to His sheep
At that time the Feast of Dedication [Hanukkah] took place at Jerusalem;
it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the portico of Solomon.
The Jews then gathered around Him, and were saying to Him, "How long will You keep us in suspense? If You
are the Christ [Messiah], tell us plainly.''
Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe; the works
that I do in My Father's name, these testify of Me.
"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me;
and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of
my hand.
My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand.
I and the Father are one."
John 10:22-30 menu
The Resurrection and the Life
..."I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though
he die, yet shall he live,
and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?"
John
11:25-26 menu
Jesus and the death and resurrection
of Lazarus
Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.
It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus
was sick.
Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, "Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick."
When Jesus heard that, He said, "This sickness is not unto death,
but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it."
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. Then after this He said
to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again."
...
So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days.
Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away.
And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to
comfort them concerning their brother.
Now Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house.
Now Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.
But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You."
Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."
Martha said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes
in Me, though he may die, he shall live.
And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?"
She said to Him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world."
And when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, "The Teacher
has come and is calling for you."
As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to Him.
Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met Him. Then the Jews who were with
her in the house, and comforting her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying,
"She is going to the tomb to weep there."
Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, "Lord, if You
had been here, my brother would not have died."
Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was
troubled.
And He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to Him, "Lord, come and see."
Jesus wept.
Then the Jews said, "See how He loved him!"
And some of them said, "Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from
dying?"
Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.
Jesus said, "Take away the stone."
Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, "Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been
dead four days."
Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you would believe
you would see the glory of God?"
Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said,
"Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.
And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe
that You sent Me."
Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus,
come forth!"
And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus
said to them, "Loose him, and let him go." John 11 menu
"In My Father's house are many
dwelling places"
"Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also
in Me.
"In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare
a place for you.
"If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there
you may be also.
"And you know the way where I am going.''
Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?''Jesus said to him,
"I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the
Father but through Me." John 14:1-6 menu
This is eternal life...
..."Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may
glorify you, since you have given him power over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.
And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." John 17:1-3 menu
"A new heaven and a new earth...he will
wipe away every tear...death shall be no more" (The following was written by John,
approximately 90 A.D)
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea
was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned
for her husband; and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling of God is with men.
He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe away every
tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more,
for the former things have passed away." And he who sat upon the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." Also he said, "Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true."
And he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the
beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the fountain of the water of life without payment. He who
[overcomes] shall have this heritage, and I will be his God and he shall be my son. But as for the cowardly, the
faithless, the polluted, as for murderers, fornicators, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their part shall be
in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur, which is the second death."
And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no
need of sun or moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light
shall the nations walk; and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory into it, and its gates shall never be
shut by day--and there shall be no night there; they shall bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations.
But nothing unclean shall enter it, nor any one who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are
written in the Lamb's book of life. Revelation
21:1-8;22-27 menu
A River of Life
And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the
Lamb.
In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each
tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall
serve Him.
They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads.
The one who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still." Revelation 22 menu
"I am Coming Quickly"
"And behold, I am coming quickly [or suddenly], and My reward is
with Me, to give to every one according to his work.
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last."
Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through
the gates into the city.
But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices
a lie.
"I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in
the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star."
And the Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" And let him who
thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.
He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming quickly."
Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! Revelation 22 menu
|