Psalm 45 Publications

I. The Purpose of John’s Gospel

When one begins to read the gospel of John, after he has read Matthew, Mark, and Luke, he quickly realizes that this gospel is, in several ways, different from the other three. The first three are called the “synoptic” gospels (from a Greek term which indicates a “looking together”), because they have basically the same point of view. They all talk about many of the same events and time periods in Jesus’ life. But most of the miracles and discourses that John includes are not found in the other three. The synoptics emphasize Christ’s Galileean ministry, but John talks mostly of his time in Jerusalem. The synoptics emphasize Christ’s parables, his teaching on the Kingdom of Heaven, and his eschatological (end-times) discourses. John emphasizes his teaching on who he is, and the related sign-gifts which demonstrate his claims about his own person. So the question must arise, “Why is John so different from the other three gospels?”. “What specific purpose did he have in mind that the first three had not already accomplished?” Continue Reading

I. The Brazen Altar

When God called out Abraham from his native land, it was to give him a special, covenantal relationship with himself, which he summed up like this: “I [Yahweh] will…be a God to you, and to your seed after you” (Genesis 17:7). Four hundred and thirty years later, when God brought up Israel from the Land of Egypt, it was to fulfill that covenant promise he made to Abraham – and, to signify the nature of his relationship to his people, he gave detailed instructions to build a tabernacle (later replaced by the temple), which would symbolize the very presence of God among Israel (Exodus 25-31; 35-40). This tabernacle signified in many beautiful ways how a sinner might have fellowship with a holy God; but it was never actually sufficient to bring men to God. Something as amazing as that demanded the actual accomplishment of what the tabernacle and its furniture and rituals only symbolized. As we looked at John 1:14 last week, we recognized that Jesus came “to tabernacle” among us. He was the one who took all of the rich, tabernacle symbolism, and made it a reality (see Hebrews chapters six through ten for an extended treatment of this concept). Continue Reading

I. The Laver

After the children of Israel celebrated the first Passover, in which they applied the blood of the innocent sacrificial lamb to their homes so that the angel of death, having seen that substitutionary blood, passed over them without exacting the required death; they then went immediately out to the Red Sea, and, having passed through its waters, they were separated from all their enemies. Paul later tells us that, in this event, they were “baptized unto Moses” (1 Corinthians 10:1-4). And it was only after this application of the blood and passing through the water that they were able to eat the manna which continually sustained them in the wilderness. Continue Reading

I. The Promised Kingdom

Before we really understand the importance of the Kingdom that Jesus announced to the Jews, we must be aware of some Old Testament prophecies. Although it is common to think of the Bible as a diverse and loosely connected compilation of sacred writings (which does have an element of truth); in reality, the scriptures tell one unified story from Genesis to Revelation – and that story is all about a promised King, and his everlasting Kingdom. Continue Reading

I. The Nobleman’s Son (John 4:43-54)

After Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman, he returned to Galilee, where he had performed his first recorded miracle. In this account, it seems as if John is bringing a unified and tightly inter-woven section to a close; the direct allusion to Cana and the turning of water to wine, in verse forty-six, suggests that the first miracle in Cana, together with this second one, were meant to stand as bookends to a literary unit with a common theme. And, just as John brought out the insufficiency of a faith which looks just to the sign-miracles themselves, without embracing the person of Christ, at the end of the wedding account (John 2:23-25); so here, he is going to make the same point, but even more forcibly. Of course, this is in accordance with John’s purpose –– to establish the truth about the person of Jesus, through the miracles that he did, so that people might have faith in him, and so pass into eternal life (John 20:31). But it is vital to note (as John will insist upon over and over again in his gospel) that for one to have eternal life, he must believe, not in the miracles themselves; but because of the miracles, come to believe in Christ, as the Messiah and the true Son of God. But the sad truth is, for the Jewish people at large, faith in signs did not progress to a living faith in the Son of God. Continue Reading

I.The Table of the Bread of the Presence

When one first entered the Tabernacle proper, after having passed through the courtyard, he would immediately notice the table of the bread of the presence on his left (Exodus 25:23-30). This table, especially in light of the name that God had given to it, would immediately call to mind the same principle displayed in the observance of Israel’s joyful feasts; that, in consequence of the blood sacrifice which God had been pleased with, his people would be invited to enjoy fellowship with God, in the manner of a great and joyous feast. Hence, it was not just bread, for feasting – but the bread of the very presence of God, for feasting in blessed fellowship with him. Continue Reading

I. The Feast of Tabernacles

It is by no means a mere coincidence that the events of this week’s lesson, and Christ’s subsequent teachings, took place during the Feast of Tabernacles. For, as we have already noted with respect to the tabernacle furniture, so we will find that Christ likewise fulfilled all the symbolism of the great religious feasts of the Jews. But before we can understand how Jesus was the fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles, we need to go back and read about why and how it began. Continue Reading

I.The Golden Lampstand

We have already noted that, when one entered the tabernacle, he would immediately see the table of the bread of the presence on his right. If he turned and looked to his left, he would see the golden candlestick, which would have been the only source of light in the tabernacle (Exodus 25:31-37). This imagery, as well as that of the table, is perfectly fulfilled in Christ. In our last lesson, as he was teaching at the Feast of Tabernacles, he made the monumental claim, “I am the light of the world”; and in this lesson, he will illustrate that claim in the next of his sign-miracles – the healing of the man born blind. But before we look at this miracle, let’s think about the significance of the golden candlestick, particularly the way in which John applies it to Jesus. Continue Reading

I.Lazarus Dies (John 11:1-16)

Throughout the gospel of John, Jesus’ sign-miracles have been growing ever more extraordinary, and his related teachings have become ever more explicit. Finally, in this last sign, we see the climax of Jesus’ sign-revelation, and the last miracle that John would record before Christ’s own death on the cross. Previously, we have seen everything necessary for life – eternal life – and we have seen it in Christ alone. He alone can give the water which springs up into everlasting life. He alone can give the true bread – his own body – which sustains eternal life. He alone can give the light which is the life of men – that is, he alone can produce the faith which leads to forgiveness and life in fellowship with the Father. And now, finally and climactically, we see him giving life itself; and so teaching that he alone is “the resurrection and the life” (vs. 25). But just as Jesus’ signs and teachings increase, so does the opposition of the Pharisees. And so we find that, at the end of the chapter, they are earnestly seeking to find where he is living, so that they can arrest him and put him to death. Continue Reading

I. Introduction

As we mentioned in the first lesson, the gospel of John may be divided into two major sections, the first of which emphasizes Jesus’ sign-miracles and connected discourses; and the second of which emphasizes the true meaning and manifold effects of Jesus’ death and resurrection. In this lesson, we will look at chapter twelve, which is the final chapter in the first major section. It makes sense, then, that in this chapter many loose ends are tied up (in a manner of speaking), and many themes that we have noticed time and again, in the previous twelve chapters, are brought up once more, and developed as fully as they ever will be. In a way, this is both a summary and climax of the great theological truths which John has been intent on teaching throughout the first half of his gospel. Continue Reading

I. Introduction

Throughout the first twelve chapters of John, we have noticed a definite pattern: Jesus performs a miracle, and then gives a discourse that brings out the spiritual significance of that miracle. In the second portion of John’s gospel (chapters thirteen through twenty-one), the same basic pattern occurs, but in reverse, and on a larger scale. Here, the first segment (chapters thirteen through seventeen) brings out the significance of the greatest act of all that Jesus performed – his substitutionary death on the cross, together with the corresponding resurrection and giving of the Holy Spirit. And the following chapters (eighteen through twenty-one) relate those events in detail. And so, as we look more closely at the text for this week and the next week, we must keep in mind exactly what they are teaching us about the events which would follow, Jesus’ crucifixion, resurrection, and final acts before his ascension. Continue Reading

I. Introduction

In the previous chapter (thirteen), John related the last major event that took place between Jesus and his disciples before he went to the cross. In the following three chapters, John will relate the last major discourse that Jesus gave to his disciples before he went to the cross. These three chapters are probably the clearest and fullest record of Jesus’ own teaching about his death and the things which should follow that we have anywhere in the scriptures – although, we should probably include chapter thirteen, verses thirty-one through thirty-eight, as part of the same discourse. There, as we observed last week, Jesus began to instruct his disciples by telling them that his impending death would ultimately be for his glory, and the glory of the Father; and furthermore, that the one great application of this work, in the life of his followers, would be a self-sacrificing love which imitated Jesus’ own love. At that point, it is becoming clear that he is speaking as one who is about to leave – and so Peter interrupts to ask him where he is going. Of course, in the discussion which ensues, Jesus predicts Peter’s imminent denial. Now, Jesus has told his disciples that he is going where they cannot follow, and he has told Peter that he would deny him; these are such heavy and sorrowful truths, that he breaks off, and begins to give them words of comfort, words which explain the purpose of these difficult tidings. Eventually, he will pick up again with his themes of true discipleship, and so on; but for now, at the beginning of chapter fourteen, his message is one of explanation and comfort. Continue Reading

I. The Altar of Incense

During the course of our journey through the gospel of John, we have also taken a journey through the tabernacle, and we have seen how all of its imagery is fulfilled in Jesus. He is the Lamb of God, offered upon the brazen altar at the entrance to the courtyard. He is the laver by which the priests were cleansed, and in him is the water of everlasting life. He is the table of the bread of the presence, nourishing those who eat of him with the true life of fellowship with God. He is the candlestick, the tabernacle’s only source of light. And now, just before he offers himself up for our sins, we see that he is likewise the fulfillment of the symbolism in the altar of incense. Continue Reading

I. The Day of Atonement and the Climax of History

So far, in our journey through the tabernacle, there is only one place we have not been; and that one place is so holy that only the High Priest could enter it, and only once a year, bringing sacrificial blood for his own sins and the sins of the people. This is the Holy of Holies, a room behind the veil which separated it from the Holy Place, in which was the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat, covered with solid gold. This is where God’s glory and presence specifically dwelt, in the days before the Temple, and, as the furniture in the room suggests, it was only because of divine mercy that the Holy God could even dwell among his people; and furthermore, it was only because of the divine covenant that he had made with them. Continue Reading

I. Introduction

When Jesus said on the cross, “It is finished,” he was making a definite assertion that no price remained to be paid for our redemption; he had suffered God’s full wrath against our sins, and he had satisfied the law’s fullest demands for justice. However, this did not mean that the story of redemption was complete: for even though Jesus had made satisfaction for sin, the final seal of the efficacy of that satisfaction and of his eternal victory over death and the grave (sin’s bitter effects), was yet to come, three days later. The resurrection of Christ is the necessary conclusion to his sacrificial death. If his death really did overcome sin and its results; if it really did deal the death blow to the Serpent who had waged war against mankind by tempting them to sin; then it was impossible that death should hold him (see Acts 2:22-28). Jesus won the victory on the cross; but the victory that he won was displayed three days later in his resurrection from the dead. In his death, he won for all of his children an eternal, resurrection life. To borrow the title of John Owen’s outstanding work, we have certainly encountered “the death of death in the death of Christ”. Continue Reading