Participants:
Series Code: IIWSS
Program Code: IIWSS024040S
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00:00 [uplifting music]
00:12 [uplifting music] 00:14 >>Eric Flickinger: Welcome to "Sabbath School," 00:16 brought to you by It Is Written. 00:18 We're glad that you are joining us today. 00:20 Today we are beginning a brand new journey, 00:23 a 13-week study in the book of John, 00:27 13 lessons where we're going to delve into the various themes 00:31 in the book of John and learn a whole lot 00:34 about Jesus along the way. 00:35 We're glad that you could join us. 00:37 Let's begin with prayer. 00:40 Father, we wanna thank You for being with us today 00:42 as we open the book of John and learn more about Jesus 00:46 and more about You. 00:48 We ask that You will bless our time together, 00:50 give us wisdom and insight, 00:52 and help us to find practical ways 00:54 that we can invite the gospel into our lives 00:57 and introduce others to the gospel as well. 01:00 We thank You, in Jesus' name, [both] amen. 01:04 So we're glad that you are joining us, 01:05 and we are also glad to have one of the co-authors 01:08 of this quarter's study with us. 01:10 His name is Dr. Thomas Shepherd. 01:12 He is the senior research professor 01:15 of New Testament at the Theological Seminary, 01:18 Andrews University. Tom, welcome back. 01:21 You were our guest not too long ago in the book of Mark, 01:24 and here you are helping us understand 01:25 the book of John as well. We're glad to have you again. 01:28 >>Thomas Shepherd: Thank you, yeah. 01:29 >>Eric: Share with us a little bit about how 01:31 this particular quarter's lesson came into being. 01:36 Where did it come from? What was your role in it? 01:40 Bring us up to where we are, 01:41 opening this book in our hands right now. 01:43 >>Tom: Yeah, so actually, the main author of this series 01:46 of lessons on "Themes in John" is my friend Edward Zinke. 01:50 And he put together these lessons. 01:52 And then I was also asked to be a co-author with him on that. 01:57 And so we worked together on putting it-- 02:00 putting together these themes. 02:03 We're going to look at the book of John, 02:04 not step by step going through the book, 02:06 but rather taking various kind of thematic look 02:10 at the places in John. 02:12 So we'll actually come into John by looking at 02:17 some of the same chapters more than once. 02:20 And so, people shouldn't be surprised that, 02:21 "Oh, we saw that before." 02:23 Oh, yeah, but now we'll maybe come 02:24 from a little different angle. >>Eric: Fantastic. 02:27 We are looking forward to joining you on this journey. 02:30 As we're about to dive into lesson number 1, 02:33 "Signs That Point the Way," 02:34 give us a little introduction to the book of John. 02:38 How do we understand the book of John as a whole? 02:41 Where does it come from? Where does it lead us? 02:43 Lead us into that. 02:44 >>Tom: John was written by the apostle John. 02:47 He was the longest lived of the 12 disciples of Jesus. 02:50 And he probably wrote the Gospel of John 02:52 towards the end of the first century. 02:54 And he gives, at the end of the book, 02:57 he tells why he wrote this book 03:00 and what its purpose is. 03:02 It's found in John 20, verses 30 and 31. 03:06 And it says, "Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence 03:08 "of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 03:12 "but these are written so that you may believe 03:15 "that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, 03:17 "and that by believing you may have life 03:19 in His name." 03:21 So the purpose of this book is to increase our faith 03:25 and to strengthen us in being disciples 03:27 and to call people to become disciples of Jesus. 03:30 Now, the Gospel of John is very well written-- 03:34 all the gospels are-- but it's very well written 03:37 in terms of drawing people to faith. 03:41 It's one of the reasons why people say, 03:43 "Oh, if you want to understand Jesus, 03:47 study the book of John." 03:48 And the book of John has at least five different ways 03:53 that it draws people towards faith. 03:56 The first is, interestingly, that throughout the book, 04:00 we're gonna find that there are numerous people 04:02 who misunderstand what Jesus is saying. 04:05 For instance, in chapter 2, He'll say--He's standing 04:10 in the temple at Jerusalem, and He'll say, 04:11 "Destroy this temple, 04:13 and in three days I will raise it up." 04:15 And the religious leaders are, like, 04:17 "Pfft, it took 46 years to build this temple. 04:20 You're going to raise it up in three days?" 04:21 So they misunderstand what He's saying. 04:24 Then, going along with that, not uncommonly, is asides 04:29 by the narrator to the reader. 04:31 And right at that very place he says, 04:34 [whispering] "He was talking about the temple of His body, 04:37 "and His disciples understood that 04:39 after He was raised from the dead." 04:41 [normal voice] Now, nobody that was in the temple that day 04:43 heard that voice. But the reader gets to hear this, 04:46 and so the reader is placed in a position above the people 04:50 in the book who don't understand. You understand, 04:52 so that, of course, draws you to the side of the narrator 04:55 who's telling you this story. 04:58 Third, there are symbols in the book. 05:02 There's these famous statements of Jesus: 05:05 "I am the bread of life." 05:07 "I am the way, the truth, and the life." 05:09 "I am the resurrection and the life." 05:11 "I'm the good shepherd." Things like that. 05:13 So there's symbolism within the book. 05:16 There's also some very thick irony 05:18 in the book where people say one thing 05:21 and they don't get it-- that really what's going on, 05:24 it's, like, a different level. And the reader sees it, 05:27 and the people in the story don't. 05:29 And then finally, very interestingly, 05:33 there are these intimate scenes 05:35 with just Jesus and one other person. 05:38 And so like, you're, as the reader, 05:41 on the front row seat, watching, you know, what's going on: 05:45 Jesus and Nicodemus, Jesus and the woman at the well, 05:49 Jesus and the paralytic at the pool of Bethesda, 05:53 Jesus and Peter, Jesus and Pilate, 05:55 Jesus and Nathanael. I mean, it just goes on and on. 05:58 There's a whole series of these intimate scenes. 06:02 And that also, you know, just gives you this intimate feel 06:05 of this book and draws you in, draws you to faith. 06:09 So it's really a wonderful book. 06:11 >>Eric: We are about to be drawn into that book, and like I said, 06:15 we've got 13 lessons that we're going to unpack this. 06:19 But lesson number one is about "Signs That Point the Way." 06:22 John talks a fair bit about signs. 06:24 What does he mean when he talks about signs? 06:26 >>Tom: Okay, so the book of John can be divided 06:29 into two parts. When we studied Mark, it was two parts 06:32 it could be broken into. 06:33 And John is not uncommon, not--is like that too. 06:37 The first 12 chapters are often called "the book of signs." 06:41 And we're going to see that there's a number of signs 06:43 that are--Jesus gives. 06:46 The second half of the book is called "the book of glory," 06:49 pointing towards the cross as Jesus' hour of glory. 06:52 So we have kind of these two sides. 06:54 So when we come to signs, we'll have statements, 06:58 we're going to look at some of these today, 07:00 where they'll have a-- Jesus will do something, 07:03 and it'll say, "This was the first sign that He did 07:06 and showed His glory to His disciples." 07:08 Now, the background for this idea of signs 07:13 can be found in the Old Testament. 07:14 So if we turn to the book of Exodus, chapter 4-- 07:19 so I'm gonna put my marker in John 07:21 so we come back to John. 07:23 But Exodus, chapter 4, we want to read verses 1 through 9. 07:29 This is God talking to Moses and how He's going to send him 07:34 to Egypt to bring the people out, 07:37 the people of Israel out. 07:38 So why don't you read that for us. 07:41 >>Eric: "Then Moses answered and said, 07:43 "'But suppose they will not believe me 07:44 "'or listen to my voice; suppose they say, 07:47 "'"The Lord has not appeared to you."' 07:49 "So the Lord said to him, 'What is that in your hand?' 07:52 "He said, 'A rod.' And He said, 'Cast it on the ground.' 07:55 "So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; 07:57 "and Moses fled from it. Then the Lord said to Moses, 08:00 "'Reach out your hand and take it by the tail' 08:03 "(and he reached out his hand and caught it, 08:04 "and it became a rod in his hand), 08:06 "'that they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, 08:10 "'the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, 08:11 "and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.' 08:14 "Furthermore the Lord said to him, 08:16 "'Now put your hand in your bosom.' 08:17 "And he put his hand in his bosom, 08:19 "and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, 08:21 "like snow. And He said, 'Put your hand in your bosom again.' 08:25 "So he put his hand in his bosom again, 08:26 "and drew it out of his bosom, 08:28 "and behold, it was restored like his other flesh. 08:32 "'Then it will be, if they do not believe you, 08:34 "'nor heed the message of the first sign, 08:36 "'that they may believe the message of the latter sign. 08:39 "'And it shall be, if they do not believe 08:40 "'even these two signs, or listen to your voice, 08:43 "'that you shall take water from the river 08:45 "'and pour it on the dry land. 08:47 "'The water which you take from the river 08:48 will become blood on the dry land.'" 08:50 >>Tom: All right, so we notice that here 08:52 there's reference to these signs, 08:54 that they're miracles that Moses would do 08:58 to demonstrate the truth of God's word, 09:02 that you could trust that Moses was a representative of God. 09:06 So these signs, then, are these events, 09:09 these miraculous events, 09:11 that demonstrate the truth of God's word. 09:13 So that's some of the background 09:15 of what we see in the book of John 09:17 when it comes to the word "signs." 09:19 They're signs of Jesus' power, signs that Jesus is the Messiah, 09:24 that you can trust Him. 09:25 >>Eric: So let's jump to the first sign, 09:27 and we find that in John, chapter 2. 09:29 What was His first sign, and what was its significance? 09:31 >>Tom: All right, so this is a great story. 09:34 It's John 2, verses 1 to 12. It's a short story, 09:37 but it's about a wedding feast, all right? 09:40 So we want to read some of this, John 2, verses 1 through 5. 09:46 >>Eric: "On the third day there was a wedding 09:48 "in Cana of Galilee, 09:49 "and the mother of Jesus was there. 09:51 "Now both Jesus and His disciples 09:53 "were invited to the wedding. 09:55 "And when they ran out of wine, 09:56 "the mother of Jesus said to Him, 09:58 "'They have no wine.' 09:59 "Jesus said to her, 'Woman, what does your concern 10:02 "have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.' 10:05 "His mother said to the servants, 10:07 'Whatever He says to you, do it.'" 10:09 >>Tom: [laughing] Okay, well, this is interesting. 10:12 Jesus goes to a wedding feast, and they run out of wine. 10:16 We'll talk about that in a minute. 10:18 So when they run out of wine, His mother says to Him, 10:22 "They have no wine." 10:24 Well, you know, I mean, if they said that to you and me, 10:27 "They've run out of grape juice," 10:29 or "They've run out of chips," you know, you would say, 10:32 "Oh, that's too bad." [laughs] 10:34 But John has this sort of understated way of things. 10:39 His mother is implying that Jesus can do something about it, 10:42 you know? "They have no wine." 10:45 And His response to us sounds like kind of cheeky, you know, 10:49 kind of like, "Woman, what does that have to do with me? 10:53 My hour has not yet come." 10:54 Well, so, first of all, "woman" was a respectful way 10:57 to address His mother. 11:00 But His statement, "What does this have to do with me?" 11:04 does have a little bit of a ring to it that, 11:06 you know, "This is not my concern." 11:09 He says then, "My hour has not yet come." 11:12 Now, we're going to see as we study through this book 11:14 that Jesus' hour is the cross, okay? 11:18 And so, what in the world does the cross have to do 11:23 with this wedding in Cana? You know, you wonder. 11:27 Well, let's read a little bit more, 11:28 verses 6 down through verse 11. 11:33 >>Eric: "Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, 11:36 "according to the manner of purification of the Jews, 11:39 "containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. 11:42 "Jesus said to them, 'Fill the waterpots with water.' 11:44 "And they filled them up to the brim. 11:46 "And He said to them, 'Draw some out now, 11:48 "and take it to the master of the feast.' 11:50 "And they took it. 11:52 "When the master of the feast had tasted the water 11:54 "that was made wine, 11:55 "and did not know where it came from 11:57 "(but the [servers] who had drawn the water knew), 11:59 "the master of the feast called the bridegroom. 12:01 "And he said to him, 12:03 "'Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, 12:05 "'and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. 12:09 "You have kept the good wine until now!' 12:11 "This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, 12:15 "and manifested His glory; 12:16 and His disciples believed in Him." 12:18 >>Tom: Right, so notice here, first of all, 12:20 the connection between glory and the sign, all right, 12:23 that they have. 12:24 We'll have to take probably a little time 12:26 into the second part of this lesson 12:29 to unpack this just a little bit more. 12:33 But one of the things we notice here is that Jesus 12:37 actually does something. 12:38 You know, He says, "My hour is not yet come," 12:41 and then He goes ahead and does something 12:43 in honor of His mother. 12:44 >>Eric: So we're gonna dig into this first miracle 12:47 of Jesus, this first sign, if you will, in just a moment. 12:51 But the book of John is a fascinating book. 12:53 It's a very deep book. It's a very significant book. 12:57 And we only have a short amount of--a short bit of time 13:02 that we can delve into it in this study that we're doing. 13:05 If somebody wants to dig more deeply into it, 13:08 what can they do? 13:09 >>Tom: They can get the companion book 13:11 that goes along with it. 13:12 That companion book will go into extra details 13:15 that are found in the lesson or in the teacher's quarterly, 13:18 and it helps the interested Sabbath school member 13:21 and the teacher to have extra information 13:25 to have a better understanding of what we're studying. 13:27 >>Eric: Thank you, Tom. 13:29 And if you want to pick up that book, 13:30 it's very easy to do. 13:32 You can just go to itiswritten.shop. 13:35 Again, that's itiswritten.shop. 13:38 Pick up that book and you will be able to 13:39 contribute more deeply to your Sabbath school class. 13:43 There's additional insights that you just won't get 13:45 from this program or the quarterly. 13:48 So make sure you pick that up again at itiswritten.shop. 13:50 We're going to come back in just a moment 13:52 as we continue digging into the wedding feast 13:55 in Cana of Galilee. We'll be right back. 13:58 [uplifting music] 14:03 >>John Bradshaw: You know that at It Is Written, 14:05 we are serious about the study of the Word of God, 14:08 and we encourage you to be serious 14:10 about God's Word also. 14:12 Well, I want to share with you another way 14:14 that you can dig deeper into the Word of God. 14:17 And here it is: itiswritten.study. 14:22 Go online to itiswritten.study and you can access 14:26 the It Is Written Bible Study Guides, 14:29 25 in-depth Bible studies that will walk you through the Bible. 14:34 It's going to be good for you, and it's the sort of thing 14:37 that you will want to tell somebody else about 14:40 so that they can dig deeper into the Word of God 14:43 and come to know the things of the Bible intimately. 14:47 As you get into the It Is Written 14:48 online Bible study guides, 14:50 you'll understand the prophecies of the Bible, 14:52 the plan of salvation, and more. 14:55 So don't forget: itiswritten.study, 14:58 itiswritten.study. 15:02 [uplifting music] 15:06 >>Eric: Welcome back to "Sabbath School," 15:08 brought to you by It Is Written. 15:10 We are taking a journey now through the book of John, 15:12 looking at some of the signs that Jesus performs. 15:16 Tom, we're in chapter 2 of the book of John, 15:18 looking at the wedding feast in Cana. 15:20 And Jesus turns water into wine. 15:24 Now, what about this wine? 15:26 Is this what we would refer to as alcoholic wine today, 15:30 or is it something else? 15:32 >>Tom: Okay, so, the Greek word for "wine" is "oinos," 15:35 and that was a common term for wine 15:37 but could also refer to grape juice. 15:40 Now, the question is, which is it [laughs] 15:43 here at this wedding feast? 15:46 Now, there are six jars that--stone jars-- 15:51 these were used for purification. 15:52 They were stone because if it was a stone jar, 15:55 you didn't have-- if it got defiled, 15:57 you didn't have to break it. 15:58 If it was something else, like a clay jar, you had to break it. 16:02 So the stone jars were more precious to them. 16:05 So they held 20 to 30 gallons each. 16:09 So 6 times 30 is 180 gallons. 16:14 So if He made alcoholic wine, that's a lot of wine. [laughs] 16:18 So is that what He made? 16:22 And the answer to that question that I give is, 16:24 no, that's not what He made. 16:25 And you say--somebody says, "Well, how do you know that?" 16:27 All right, so what we do is we go down to verse 9 and 10, 16:33 the master of the feast-- now, this is really interesting. 16:36 So, the servants filled the jars with water at Jesus' command. 16:41 Then He says, "Draw it out and take it 16:43 to the master of the feast." 16:45 So they do so. 16:46 "[And] when the master of the feast tasted the water 16:50 "[that's] now become wine, 16:53 "and did not know where it came from 16:56 (though the servants who had drawn the water knew)"-- 17:02 now, when did it turn into wine? 17:06 It seems--they poured it in. It was still water. 17:09 They drew it out. It was still water. 17:12 They come and pour it in his cup, and it's wine. [laughs] 17:16 I can imagine the servant looking--he's looking at it 17:20 pouring it out, [laughing] and it becomes wine. 17:22 Now, the interesting is what the master of the feast does. 17:27 "[So] the master of the feast called the bridegroom 17:29 and [he] said to him"-- now watch what he says-- 17:31 "'Everyone serves the good wine first, 17:35 "'and when people have drunk freely, 17:39 "'then the poor wine. 17:41 But you have kept the good wine until now.'" 17:43 Now, why would they serve the good wine first 17:47 and then the poor wine? 17:49 Well, when people drink alcohol, 17:52 after a while, doesn't matter so much [laughing] what it is 17:57 when they're drunk. You know, it's, "Hey, this is great." 18:01 So the point here is he's not drunk. 18:07 He's not drunk, see? 18:09 "Everyone serves the good wine first 18:10 "and when the people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. 18:13 But you have kept the good wine till now." 18:14 He could still tell the difference, all right? 18:17 We also turn back to the book of Proverbs, 18:20 chapter 20, Proverbs, chapter 20. 18:23 There are numerous passages in the Proverbs, 18:26 which is the book of wisdom, that talk about wine. 18:30 Read for us Proverbs 20, verse 1. 18:33 >>Eric: "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler, 18:36 and whoever is led astray by it is not wise." 18:39 >>Tom: Yeah, now, "strong drink" in the ancient world 18:42 would be beer. [laughs] 18:45 They didn't have anything stronger than wine. 18:46 The alcohol content of wine is 12% to 14% by volume. 18:54 And actually, in the ancient world 18:55 they would often water that down with water, 18:59 three or four parts of water, 19:01 to make it actually the same amount of alcohol 19:04 as you would have in beer. 19:05 But of course, you could still get drunk. 19:08 If you turn over to Proverbs, chapter 23, 19:14 you have the description of a person 19:17 who's an alcoholic, actually. 19:19 And it's in verses 29 and to the end of the chapter. 19:22 It says, "Who has woe? Who has sorrow? 19:25 "Who has strife? Who has complaining? 19:28 "Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? 19:31 "Those who tarry long over wine; those who go to try mixed wine. 19:35 "Do not look at wine when it is red, 19:37 "when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly. 19:40 "In the end it bites like a serpent 19:41 "and stings like an adder. 19:43 "Your eyes will see strange things, 19:45 "and your heart utter perverse things. 19:47 "You will be like one who lies down 19:49 "in the midst of the sea, 19:50 "like one who lies [in] the top of a mast. 19:52 "'They struck me,' you will say, 'but I was not hurt; 19:55 "'they beat me, but I did not feel it. 19:57 When shall I awake? I must have another drink.'" 20:01 Alcohol causes tremendous trouble 20:04 in our world. In the United States alone, it's something 20:06 like 80,000 to 100,000 people each year die from alcohol. 20:11 I'm a member of the Rotary Club 20:14 at Dowagiac, Michigan, 20:17 and we have a prosecutor and a judge 20:19 as part of our group. The prosecutor recently said that 20:22 80% of the cases that come before them 20:25 are drug- and alcohol-related, 80% of the cases. 20:29 Just think, if we could rid our country of the problems 20:33 of alcohol and the problems of illicit drugs, 20:37 it would decrease crime so much; it would be a great blessing. 20:40 So did Jesus make alcoholic wine? 20:41 No, He made grape juice for the people. 20:45 And this was one of the-- this was His first sign. 20:47 Now, what does it have to do with this idea when He says, 20:51 "My hour has not yet come"? 20:53 Well, when you study the other gospels, 20:56 you find that there's the Lord's Supper, 21:00 where there's the cup. 21:01 Remember, it's never called wine, 21:03 it's always called the cup or the fruit of the vine, 21:06 so it's non-alcoholic. 21:08 The cup and the bread, right? 21:11 In the Gospel of John, interestingly enough, 21:13 there's no reference to the Lord's Supper, to the Eucharist. 21:17 Now, He has a meal, a last meal with His disciples, 21:19 but He never breaks the bread and says, 21:20 "This is my body," takes the cup and says, "This is my blood." 21:24 And so people say, "Oh, there's no Lord's Supper 21:26 in the book of John." 21:28 Well, yes and no. 21:30 There's the feeding of 5,000 we'll come to later, 21:33 but there's also this story of Jesus with His mother. 21:38 The first of His signs is making this wine, making the cup. 21:42 It's like the Lord's Supper, and it ties into His death, see? 21:46 So, John's sort of a little more subtle, 21:49 but there's still this imagery of the Lord's Supper present. 21:54 >>Eric: Thank you for leading us through that first sign. 21:56 Let's take a look at the next sign. 21:58 What do we see over in John, chapter 4? 22:01 There's the story of the royal official 22:04 who asked Him to heal his son. 22:05 >>Tom: That's a great story. 22:07 Turn to John, chapter 4, and we'll read verses 46 to 54. 22:10 It's not a real long passage. 22:12 >>Eric: "So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee 22:14 "where He had made the water wine. 22:17 "And there was a certain nobleman 22:18 "whose son was sick at Capernaum. 22:20 "When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea 22:23 "into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down 22:26 "and heal his son, 22:27 "for he was at the point of death. 22:29 "Then Jesus said to him, 22:31 "'Unless you people see signs and wonders, 22:34 "you will by no means believe.' 22:36 "The nobleman said to Him, 22:37 "'Sir, come down before my child dies!' 22:40 "Jesus said to him, 'Go your way; your son lives.' 22:43 "So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, 22:46 "and he went his way. 22:48 "And as he was now going down, 22:49 "his servants met him and told him, saying, 22:51 "'Your son lives!' 22:53 "Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. 22:55 "And they said to him, 'Yesterday at the seventh hour 22:58 "the fever left him.' 22:59 "So the father knew that it was at the same hour 23:01 "in which Jesus said to him, 'Your son lives.' 23:04 "And he himself believed, and his whole household. 23:07 "This again is the second sign Jesus did 23:09 when He had come out of Judea into Galilee." 23:12 >>Tom: Now, remember that signs show, 23:15 they demonstrate the truth of God's word. 23:17 They show the power of God. 23:18 Here's Jesus with the ability to heal a boy at a distance. 23:24 He's up in Cana, and down in Capernaum 23:28 is where the boy is sick. 23:30 The father has come up to Cana. 23:32 That's the--Cana is up in the mountains, up in the hills. 23:37 And of course, Capernaum is down by the Sea of Galilee. 23:40 It's a bit of a hike, some distance. 23:43 Not something that--you could probably make it in one, 23:45 you know, one day if he wanted to, whoosh, rush back. 23:48 But when he believes Jesus, it changes his behavior. 23:52 He doesn't rush home. 23:54 And the servants come and meet him, 23:57 and they say, "Your son lives." 24:00 You know, it's almost the same kind of words that-- 24:06 "His servants met him and told him that his son was recovering. 24:09 'Your son lives,'" and it's the same thing. 24:11 Jesus said, "Go, your son will live." 24:13 And so the man inquires very carefully, 24:16 "When did that happen?" 24:17 "Yesterday at 1:00 in the afternoon." 24:19 That's exactly when Jesus had spoken. 24:21 So now he becomes a believer in Jesus, you see? 24:23 So these signs demonstrate Jesus' power; 24:26 they demonstrate who He is as the Son of God. 24:30 We're gonna see as these progress 24:32 that the signs become greater and greater 24:34 until we reach really great signs. 24:37 >>Eric: And we've got another big one coming up 24:39 here in chapter 5 about the story of the angel 24:42 coming down and stirring the water 24:44 in the Pool of Bethesda. Help us understand that one. 24:46 >>Tom: Yeah, let's read this real quick, 24:48 and we may have to come back to this another time. 24:51 Let's read verses 1 through-- 24:55 let's see, let's go down 1 through 9. 24:59 >>Eric: "After this there was a feast of the Jews, 25:01 "and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 25:03 "Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, 25:06 "which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, 25:08 "having five porches. 25:10 "[And] in these lay a great multitude 25:12 "of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, 25:14 "waiting for the moving of the water. 25:16 "For an angel went down at a certain time 25:18 "into the pool and stirred up the water; 25:20 "then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, 25:23 "was made well of whatever disease he had. 25:26 "Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity 25:28 "thirty-eight years. 25:30 "When Jesus saw him lying there, 25:32 "and knew that he already had been in that condition 25:34 "a long time, He said to him, 'Do you want to be made well?' 25:38 "The sick man answered Him, 25:39 "'Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool 25:42 "'when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, 25:45 "another steps down before me.' 25:47 "Jesus said to him, 'Rise, take up your bed and walk.' 25:50 "And immediately the man was made well, 25:52 "took up his bed, and walked. 25:54 And that day was the Sabbath." 25:55 >>Tom: Okay, so this is 25:57 another one of Jesus' miracles. 25:59 We don't have much time to talk about it here, 26:02 but the interesting thing is verse 4 26:05 that talks about the angel stirring the water. 26:06 It seems like a very strange thing for God to do, you know, 26:09 stirring the water, and the first one to get in 26:11 is the one who gets healed. The man even references that. 26:15 Actually, our earliest manuscripts 26:17 don't have those words, 26:19 that there was an angel that stirred it up. 26:21 But this was probably a belief of people, you know, 26:24 that the angel came and stirred it up. 26:26 But Jesus heals this man by saying, you know-- 26:30 well, first He asks him, "Do you want to get well?" 26:32 which is really interesting. But then He tells him, 26:35 "Get up and take your bed and walk." 26:37 And once the man is healed, he gets up, he walks, 26:40 and then John tells us it was a Sabbath. 26:44 Now, that will come back again, 26:46 and we'll probably have more time another time 26:48 to look into this in more detail, 26:50 but we're looking at the signs that point the way 26:53 that Jesus is the Messiah, 26:55 and all of these miracles point us in that direction. 26:59 >>Eric: Thank you, Tom. 27:00 And thank you for joining us today. 27:02 This, of course, is lesson number 1 of 13 27:05 that we are looking at, 27:07 going through the great themes in the book of John. 27:10 We have just scratched the surface, 27:12 looked at a few of the signs 27:14 that help us to understand exactly 27:16 who Jesus is, the power and strength that He has. 27:20 And we're going to see how He can give you and me 27:22 power and strength to live in this world as well. 27:25 We're glad that you've joined us today. 27:28 Make sure that you join us again next week 27:30 as we continue delving into the great themes 27:33 in the book of John. 27:34 Week by week, new lessons, new insights. 27:38 We look forward to seeing you again next week, 27:39 again here on "Sabbath School," 27:41 brought to you by It Is Written. 27:43 [uplifting music] 28:21 [uplifting music] 28:26 [Captions provided by Aberdeen Captioning www.abercap.com] |
Revised 2024-09-18