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Series Code: IIWSS
Program Code: IIWSS024046S
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00:12 ♪♪♪ 00:14 >>Eric Flickinger: Welcome to "Sabbath School," 00:16 brought to you by It Is Written. 00:18 We're glad you're joining us today. 00:20 We're taking a journey through the book of John 00:22 and looking at some of the great themes 00:24 that run throughout this amazing book. 00:27 This week we're looking at lesson number 7, 00:29 "Blessed Are Those Who Believe." 00:31 Let's begin with prayer. 00:33 Father, we ask that You'll bless 00:34 our time together today as we look once again 00:37 at the great themes in the book of John. 00:40 We ask that you'll guide and direct our study 00:41 and help us to learn more about Jesus 00:44 and His love for us as we study. 00:46 We thank You, in Jesus' name, 00:47 [both] amen. 00:48 We're grateful to have guiding us through this study 00:50 Dr. Tom Shepherd. He's the senior research professor 00:54 of New Testament 00:55 at the Theological Seminary, Andrews University. 00:57 Tom, thanks for joining us again. 00:59 >>Dr. Thomas Shepherd: Good to be here. 01:00 >>Eric: So this week we're going to spend a little bit of time 01:02 in a few different chapters. 01:04 Lesson number 7 is "Blessed Are Those Who Believe." 01:07 I want to jump to John, chapter 8, 01:09 and the latter part of John, chapter 8, 01:12 there's some interesting things that are going on here. 01:15 Walk us through what's happening in the latter part of John 8. 01:17 >>Tom: So, at the-- towards the end of John 8, 01:20 Jesus is having a discussion with the Jewish people, 01:24 and it doesn't seem to be going too well, actually. 01:27 If we read--if we start in verse 48, it says, 01:30 "The Jews answered Him, 'Are we not right in saying 01:33 that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?'" 01:35 Well, you know, [laughing] it's-- 01:37 you're probably not going to listen 01:39 to this guy too much if that's what you think. 01:41 And Jesus answered in verse 49, "I do not have a demon, 01:46 "but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. 01:49 "Yet I do not seek my own glory; 01:51 "there is One who seeks it, and He is the judge. 01:54 "Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, 01:58 he will never see death." 01:59 All right, so, all the time we see what's going on 02:02 is that Jesus is relating Himself to His Father. 02:05 You know, again and again, He refers to the Father, 02:08 "the One who sent me," and He says that, 02:12 "if you keep my words, you'll never die." 02:15 Now, that doesn't mean-- 02:17 what He's talking about when He says "you'll never die" 02:19 is you'll never have eternal death; 02:21 you'll have eternal life, as it says in John 3:16. 02:25 The book of Revelation 02:27 tells us that there's two deaths. 02:29 There's this first death, and then there's that 02:31 what's called the second death. 02:33 The second death is the one that you-- 02:35 well, we'd like to avoid all death, 02:36 but the second one is the one that you really want to avoid. 02:39 So what Jesus is describing here is the second death. 02:43 Now, let's read a little bit and see what happens. 02:46 Read verses 52 through 53. 02:51 >>Eric: "Then the Jews said to Him, 02:52 "'Now we know that You have a demon! 02:54 "'Abraham is dead, and the prophets; 02:56 "'and You say, "If anyone keeps my word 02:58 "'he shall never taste death." 03:00 "'Are You greater than our father Abraham, 03:02 "'who is dead? And the prophets are dead. 03:05 Who do You make Yourself out to be?'" 03:07 >>Tom: Yeah, so you can see that this is a real confrontation. 03:11 These people are arguing with Him, 03:14 and so it's kind of this tit-for-tat, 03:16 back-and-forth kind of a statement. 03:18 And they say, "Now we know that You have-- 03:21 now we know You've got a demon." 03:24 Well, this doesn't look good. 03:26 [chucking] They're not gonna-- they're not going to believe 03:28 in Him if they think He has a demon. 03:30 And they said, "Abraham died, as did the prophets, 03:34 "yet You say, "'If anyone keeps my word 03:35 he will never taste death.'" 03:38 Now, verse 53 is a question: 03:41 "Are You greater than our father Abraham, who died?" 03:45 In Greek, there are two different ways 03:47 to ask a question, 03:49 and it depends on the usage of a-- 03:53 the negative word, "ou" or "me." 03:56 This is when you ask a negative question. 03:58 So, if you use the word "ou"-- 04:01 both of them mean "no" or "not"-- 04:04 if you use "ou," you expect a positive answer. 04:07 If you use "mi," you expect a negative answer. 04:10 So, they use the word "mi" here, and so, we could translate it, 04:15 "You're not greater than our father, Abraham, 04:17 who died, are You?" 04:19 Well...actually He is. [laughs] 04:23 When we remember the woman at the well, you know, 04:25 and she talks about, 04:27 "You aren't greater than our father Jacob, are You?" 04:30 Well, actually, He is [laughs] greater than that, all right? 04:34 So, again, we don't expect good things 04:37 to come out of this discussion, 04:38 but Jesus is going to continue to give them testimony. 04:41 So let's read the rest of the chapter, 04:43 verses 54 through 59. 04:46 >>Eric: "Jesus [said], 'If I honor myself, 04:47 "'my honor is nothing. It is my Father who honors me, 04:51 "'of whom you say... He is your God. 04:53 "'Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him. 04:56 "'And if I say, 'I do not know Him,' 04:58 "'I shall be a liar like you; 05:00 "'but I do know Him and keep His word. 05:02 "'Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, 05:05 "and he saw it and was glad.' Then the Jews said to Him, 05:09 "'You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?' 05:13 "Jesus said to them, 05:14 "'Most assuredly, I say to you, 05:16 "before Abraham was, I Am.' 05:19 "Then they took up stones to throw at Him; 05:22 "but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, 05:24 going through the midst of them, and so passed by." 05:27 >>Tom: Well, we knew that this wasn't looking good. [laughs] 05:32 Our fears are confirmed 05:34 as they pick up stones to kill Him. 05:38 They want to kill Him. Now, what's going on here? 05:41 Well, Jesus again links Himself to His Father, 05:44 and you don't have to read this very many times, 05:48 verses 54 and 55 and 56, 05:52 to see that Jesus is claiming that God is His Father. 05:57 He says, "It is my Father who glorifies me, 06:00 of whom you say He is our God." 06:04 Well, there He is. 06:06 He says, "I'm the Son of God," you know? 06:08 I mean, these--that's basically what He's saying. 06:10 And then He refers to Abraham, 06:12 'cause Abraham came into this conversation, 06:15 and of course, 06:17 Abraham was the father of the Jews, 06:19 and they still look back to him as the, you know, 06:23 great father, and if you get Abraham on your side, 06:26 you're doing good. 06:27 And Jesus says, 06:29 "Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. 06:34 He saw it and was glad." 06:36 Now, somebody said, "How is that possible?" 06:39 Well, Jesus is suggesting that Abraham had some vision 06:43 where he saw the future, and he saw Jesus and His day. 06:47 And of course, now this just gets the people 06:51 that are arguing with Him, just gets them going: 06:53 "You're not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?" 06:58 Now, that's not exactly what He said. 07:02 He said, "Your father Abraham rejoiced 07:03 "that he would see my day. 07:07 He saw it and was glad." 07:10 And so, they said, "And have you seen Abraham?" 07:14 Well, actually, He said that "Abraham saw me." 07:16 But He's going to respond, verse 58, 07:19 "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am." 07:24 Now, the Greek word here is-- Greek words are "ego eimi." 07:30 We know in the Old Testament that God says to Moses 07:34 in Exodus, chapter 3, when Moses says, 07:41 "Well, who shall I say sent me if they ask?" 07:43 And He says, "Tell them, 'I Am sent me.'" 07:48 And the word for "I Am" 07:52 is linked up with the verb "to be," 07:57 which is "haya" in Hebrew. 08:01 And the Greek translation of that, 08:05 called the Septuagint in the Old Testament, 08:07 is a little different than this "ego eimi" 08:09 that we have here at the end of chapter 8. 08:13 I don't know that that's a real problem. 08:15 It's "on" is the Greek translation. 08:18 It's the present participle of the verb "to be." 08:22 But still, it seems quite clear here 08:26 that what Jesus is doing is claiming that kind of title, 08:29 that "I Am Who I Am." 08:31 He's claiming to be Yahweh, and that's, I think, 08:34 the way they took it because they take up stones 08:36 to throw at Him because of His claim to divinity. 08:41 Now, it's just after this story, in chapter 9, 08:44 that He heals the man born blind. 08:47 And as He passes by and He says, 08:49 "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." 08:53 And He takes the mud. 08:55 He spits mixed mud and puts it on his eyes. 08:57 That's creative. 08:59 That's just like the "I Am" would do, you see. 09:01 So, you keep reading the story and you get, you know, 09:03 the flavor of this story. 09:05 So, this is Jesus testifying about how God-- 09:10 how God works in His life and is His Father. 09:14 He says--our lesson is titled "Blessed Are Those Who Believe." 09:18 Obviously, the people here don't believe. 09:21 So, now we want to turn to somebody 09:22 who does believe in John, chapter 12, 09:25 and we're going to read 09:27 the first seven verses of John, chapter 12: 09:32 "Six days before the Passover, 09:34 Jesus therefore came to Bethany"-- 09:36 this is just before He's going to be put to death, actually-- 09:40 "where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 09:44 "So they gave a dinner for Him there. 09:46 "Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those 09:49 "reclining with Him at table. 09:52 "Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment 09:56 "made from pure nard, 09:58 "and anointed the feet of Jesus 09:59 "and wiped His feet with her hair. 10:02 "The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 10:06 "But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples 10:09 "(he who was about to betray Him), said, 10:11 "'Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii 10:14 "and given to the poor?' 10:16 "He said this, not because he cared about the poor, 10:18 "but because he was a thief, 10:20 "and having charge of the moneybag 10:22 "he used to help himself to what was put into it. 10:25 "Jesus said, 'Leave her alone, 10:27 "'so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. 10:30 "'For the poor you always have with you, 10:33 but you do not always have me.'" 10:36 All right, so, why did Mary do this? 10:40 We're not told. 10:42 However, it's obvious that she really cares about Jesus 10:47 and believes in Him, and to give such an expensive gift means 10:55 that you highly prize the person you give the gift for. 10:59 I like the phrase in verse 3: 11:01 "The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume." 11:04 [chuckles] Let me ask you a question, listeners: 11:10 Is your life filled with fragrance of the perfume? 11:15 Do the actions that you do in your life, 11:17 do they bring that kind of scents that people smell it 11:20 and say, [inhales deeply] 11:22 "Oh, that smells just like beautiful perfume"? 11:24 That's really what we should have. 11:26 Our life actions should be that which bless other people 11:28 and lift them up, and that's what Mary was like 11:31 in comparison to Judas, who, you know, 11:34 is going to betray Him, who is a thief. 11:36 And Jesus comes to the defense of Mary, 11:39 just as He does in the other Gospels. 11:43 >>Eric: And so, there's a big contrast 11:45 between the way that she comes to Jesus 11:47 and the way that Judas does. 11:49 >>Tom: Yeah. >>Eric: Very, very fascinating. 11:51 >>Tom: One, a believer, the other, not a believer. 11:54 >>Eric: And ultimately, that's going to separate 11:56 all of humanity at the very end of times. 11:58 These are lessons for us. 12:00 We have a companion book to this quarter's 12:02 "Sabbath School" lesson. 12:03 Share with us a little bit about that book. 12:05 >>Tom: The companion book is a book that is produced, 12:08 published by Pacific Press, 12:10 and it gives you extra information 12:12 about the stories that we're studying, 12:15 the themes that we're studying in the Gospel of John, 12:17 fills you in with more information 12:19 and goes beyond the lesson, 12:21 goes beyond the teacher's quarterly, 12:23 and it can be very valuable to teachers. 12:25 It can be very valuable to members of the class. 12:27 Just get a copy, try it out some semester 12:30 and give it a try and see what you think. 12:32 But it can be very helpful. >>Eric: Very helpful indeed. 12:36 If you'd like to pick one up, just go to itiswritten.shop. 12:39 Again, that is itiswritten.shop. 12:42 Look for the companion book to this quarter's 12:43 "Sabbath School" lesson. 12:45 It is, of course, on the "Themes in the Gospel of John." 12:48 Pick that up, read through it, 12:50 study it along with your "Sabbath School" lesson, 12:53 along with perhaps the teacher's guide, 12:55 if you wanna pick one of those up, 12:56 and most especially along with your Bible, 12:58 and you're going to get so much out of this quarter's lesson. 13:02 We're going to come back in just a moment as we continue 13:04 looking at "Blessed Are Those Who Believe." 13:06 This is lesson number 7 in our 13-lesson journey 13:10 through the book of John. 13:12 We'll be right back here on "Sabbath School," 13:14 brought to you by It Is Written. 13:15 ♪♪♪ 13:20 >>John Bradshaw: It's everywhere, 13:22 adorning churches, adorning people. 13:25 There's a season every year commemorating the cross. 13:29 But beyond eggs and rabbits, there's a power, 13:32 the power of a sacrifice, the power of the love of God. 13:36 Be sure you see "At the Cross" and learn about the single event 13:41 that changed the course of history, 13:44 the event that can change your life forever. 13:47 Predicted by prophets and foretold by Jesus Himself, 13:51 what happened at the cross was a demonstration 13:54 of God's love like no other. 13:56 Humanity's fall into sin in the Garden of Eden 13:59 brought upon Adam and Eve 14:01 and their descendants inescapable consequences, 14:04 but into that turmoil stepped Jesus, 14:06 promising the planet a way of escape. 14:10 Don't miss "At the Cross," 14:12 brought to you by It Is Written TV. 14:20 ♪♪♪ 14:25 >>Eric: Welcome back to "Sabbath School," 14:27 brought to you by It Is Written. 14:29 We're looking at lesson number 7 14:30 as we study through the great themes 14:32 in the book of John, "Blessed Are Those Who Believe." 14:35 Tom, let's jump over to book of John, chapter 20. 14:39 In John, chapter 20, 14:41 there's another story of belief and unbelief. 14:44 Walk us through the story. 14:45 >>Tom: Okay, so this is a great story. 14:48 We'll begin in John, chapter 20, verse 19. 14:51 Now, this is the story of the resurrection of Jesus 14:56 and His disciples meeting Him after His resurrection. 15:00 You can imagine how shocking it would be 15:04 to meet somebody risen from the dead. 15:08 That would--well, some people would say, 15:10 "Knock your boots off." You know, 15:11 that's really an amazing experience. 15:14 So, we look at John, chapter 20. 15:16 We start in verse 19: "On the evening of that day, 15:19 the first day of the week"-- all right, so this is 15:21 the Sunday of Jesus' resurrection-- 15:23 "the doors being locked where the disciples were 15:26 "for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them 15:29 and said to them, 'Peace be with you.'" 15:32 I want to pause here for just a moment, 15:35 because some of our Sunday-keeping friends will say, 15:38 "Well, there you have it. They were meeting together. 15:41 "It was a church service on Sunday, and that's, you know, 15:46 "the day of the Resurrection. 15:47 "That's why we keep the Resurrection day 15:50 as our day of worship." 15:52 Well, take a look at the text again, verse 19: 15:54 "On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, 15:57 "the doors being locked where the disciples were 15:59 for fear of the Jews." 16:01 Now, usually, when you have a church service, 16:03 you don't lock the doors, [chuckles] 16:06 unless you're in some place 16:09 where it's very dangerous to be a Christian. 16:12 Maybe you would these days and do something like that. 16:15 But here, they're locking the doors for fear of the Jews. 16:19 The disciples are not rejoicing 16:22 that Jesus is risen from the dead. 16:24 They're scared for their lives 16:25 that they're going to be arrested, 16:27 and so, they're not worshiping. 16:30 They're cowering in fear. 16:32 Jesus comes and says, "Peace be with you." 16:35 Verse 20: "When He had said this, 16:37 He showed them His hands and His side," all right? 16:43 Now, His hands were--would show where the nail prints had been. 16:47 Remember we said before, the nails would go in-- 16:50 at the base of the palm was where 16:53 they typically would nail a person for crucifixion 16:56 because the palm could not hold the weight of the-- 16:59 of the body, but down here, you could put a nail. 17:04 So He showed them His palms, 17:07 and He also showed them His side 17:09 because He'd been stabbed in the side, 17:11 maybe on this side over here, 17:13 going and hitting the heart. All right, 17:15 so, he says--He showed them His hands and His side-- 17:20 "Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord." 17:21 So now they recognize Him, you know. It's obvious. 17:25 "Jesus said to them..., 'Peace be with you. 17:28 As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.'" 17:30 There's the great mission, right? 17:33 "And when He had said this, 17:34 "He breathed on them and said to them, 17:36 "'Receive the Holy Spirit. 17:38 "'If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; 17:41 if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.'" 17:44 Now, some people get the idea here that, 17:46 oh, so the disciples have-- so we Christians, or, you know, 17:51 maybe the leaders, have the authority to forgive sins. 17:55 No, when we forgive sins, 17:58 we're merely affirming what God has done in heaven. 18:02 When we say, no, that they're not forgiven, 18:05 we're merely echoing 18:06 what God has already expressed in heaven. 18:10 Now, one of the disciples wasn't there. 18:14 His name is my namesake, Thomas, 18:16 and we want to read his story. 18:19 So let's read verses 24 through--24 and 25. 18:23 >>Eric: "Now Thomas, called the Twin, 18:25 "one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 18:28 "The other disciple therefore said to him, 18:31 "'We have seen the Lord.' So he said to them, 18:33 "'Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, 18:37 "'and put my finger into the print of the nails, 18:40 and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.'" 18:44 >>Tom: Yeah, my Bible says, "I will never believe," m'kay? 18:48 So, here's this one disciple who wasn't-- 18:50 Now, the question you might ask is, why wasn't he there? 18:57 Why did he absent himself? 18:59 Well, maybe he was discouraged. 19:00 They were all discouraged when Jesus died. 19:04 And some people are just not people-people. 19:09 They'd rather be alone. 19:11 Maybe he was sulking, maybe he was angry with Him, 19:14 but we don't know for sure what it was, 19:16 why he wasn't there, but he wasn't there. 19:18 And so, the other disciples-- 19:21 now, remember, these are the guys 19:22 he's been traveling with for 3 and 1/2 years with Jesus, 19:27 and they said, "We have seen the Lord." 19:31 Now, what would be the typical, you know, 19:34 believer's reaction to such a statement? 19:38 What would you say? 19:41 >>Eric: I'd question it. 19:42 >>Tom: Yeah, I mean, you know, when you say, 19:45 "We've seen the Lord." 19:47 Well, I mean, if you're-- 19:48 if you're really missing Jesus, you would-- 19:51 you might question it, but you might say, 19:54 "Well, that's wonderful. 19:55 That's wonderful, you've seen the Lord." 19:58 But his response is like what you said. 20:01 He questions it. He says, "Unless I see in His hands 20:05 "the mark of the nails, 20:08 and place my finger in the mark of the nails"-- 20:11 I've got to touch it--"and place my hand into His side, 20:16 I will never believe." 20:18 Boy, this guy is really something. 20:21 Now, let's find what happens out, verses 26 to 29. 20:27 >>Eric: "And after eight days His disciples were again inside, 20:30 "and Thomas with them. 20:31 "Jesus came, the doors being shut, 20:34 "and stood in the midst, and said, 'Peace to you!' 20:37 "Then He said to Thomas, 'Reach your finger here, 20:39 "'and look at my hands; and reach your hand here, 20:42 "'and put it into my side. 20:44 "Do not be unbelieving, but believing.' 20:46 "And Thomas answered and said to Him, 20:48 "'My Lord and my God!' 20:50 "Jesus said to him, 'Thomas, because you have seen me, 20:54 "'you have believed. 20:55 "'Blessed are those who have not seen 20:57 and yet have believed.'" 21:00 >>Tom: Yes, and it's interesting, you know, 21:04 what Jesus says to him. 21:06 It says here, "Put your finger in--put your finger here." 21:09 Actually, the Greek text, he says, 21:14 "Bring your finger here and behold my hands. 21:20 "And bring your hand and cast it into my side. 21:24 And do not be disbelieving, but believing." [chuckles] 21:29 He's like, "Bring your finger here. 21:31 "You said you wouldn't believe 21:33 "unless you brought it and you touched. 21:35 "Put your finger in it. 21:37 "Bring the finger over here and put it in." 21:38 I like that: "Bring your finger." 21:41 Bring--and you come along with it, you know. 21:44 "Put your finger here." 21:47 In the Gospel of-- in the book of 1 John, 21:51 we have interesting words that kind of parallel this. 21:56 In 1 John, chapter 1, 22:00 the way that 1 John begins is very interesting. 22:04 It says, "That which was from the beginning, 22:08 "which we have heard, 22:10 "which we have seen with our eyes, 22:13 "which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, 22:18 "concerning the word of life-- the life was made manifest, 22:22 "and we have seen it, 22:23 "and testify to [you] and proclaim to you 22:25 "the eternal life, which was with the Father 22:28 "and was made [manifested]...-- 22:29 "that which we have seen and heard 22:32 "we proclaim also to you, 22:34 "so that you too may have fellowship with us; 22:36 "and indeed our fellowship is with the Father 22:38 "and with His Son Jesus Christ. 22:40 "And we are writing these things 22:42 so that [your] joy may be complete." 22:46 It's the same kind of concept, you see, 22:49 that you could have this, "we saw it, we heard it, 22:53 we touched it," you know. It's so personal. 22:58 It's so experiential, you know, that they went through. 23:03 And that's what Jesus says to Thomas. 23:06 So, did Thomas actually put his finger there? 23:11 The text doesn't say. 23:13 He just says, "My Lord and my God," you know? 23:18 So, then we have these words of Jesus, 23:21 which says, "Have you believed because you have seen me? 23:27 Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." 23:34 Now, why did Jesus say that, you know? 23:38 Well, He said it because, you know, 23:40 if everybody was like Thomas, 23:43 there would be no believers today. 23:46 We have to trust the witness and the testimony 23:51 and the evidence of the eyewitnesses, 23:54 the early witnesses. 23:56 Otherwise we wouldn't believe. 23:58 But the eyewitness testimony is reliable. 24:04 It is respectable. 24:07 It is valuable, something that we can look at and say, 24:12 "Yes, we can, you know, we can take what they said." 24:16 He said, "Blessed are those who have not seen 24:18 and yet have believed." 24:20 Now, this really leads us to his next statement, 24:24 the last two verses of chapter 20. Why don't you read those? 24:28 >>Eric: "And truly Jesus did many other signs 24:31 "in the presence of His disciples, 24:32 "which are not written in this book; 24:34 "but these are written that you may believe 24:37 "that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, 24:40 "and that believing you may have life 24:42 [through] His name." 24:43 >>Tom: Okay, so the whole, 24:46 you know, the big theme of life, 24:48 eternal life, of having eternal life 24:50 in the Gospel of John, 24:52 and he puts that together with this big theme 24:55 in the Gospel of John of believing on Jesus. 24:59 He's just used the example of Thomas, 25:01 who refused to believe, unless he could touch it and, 25:05 you know, see it for himself, "Doubting Thomas," 25:09 and Jesus gives him the proof that he needs. 25:13 He says, "Bring your finger here. 25:15 "Put it here. "Put your hand in my side. 25:17 Come on." [chuckles] 25:19 "And stop--do not disbelieve, but believe." 25:22 So, He says, "Blessed are those 25:25 who have not seen and yet believed." 25:28 And so the whole book of John is the answer, 25:32 you can say, to Thomas's doubt, to Thomas's question. 25:36 And our narrator has given us these stories. 25:40 Like we said, there's these five different ways 25:42 that he goes about this. 25:43 You know, he uses symbolism, and he uses metaphors-- 25:48 well, symbolism and irony, and he has misunderstanding, 25:54 and the narrator recites, 25:56 and then these personal interviews. 25:57 Here's the personal interview with Thomas. 26:00 And these all draw us to the viewpoint of the narrator, 26:04 and that's exactly what he wants. 26:06 "Jesus did many other signs," and these-- 26:09 "which are not written in this book: 26:10 "but these are written, 26:12 "so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, 26:15 "the Son of God; 26:16 and that by believing you may have life in His name." 26:18 I hope that every listener will take seriously 26:22 what Jesus has said here and will take the testimony 26:25 of the early witnesses, the eyewitnesses, 26:27 the people who saw Him, who walked with Him, 26:29 who talked with Him, 26:31 who felt and knew these experiences, 26:33 saw Him risen from the dead, 26:35 and will believe on Him as their Savior and Lord. 26:39 >>Eric: We trust that that is what's happening in your life. 26:42 And we trust that that is what's happening in the lives of people 26:45 that you interact with day by day. 26:47 Because ultimately, 26:49 the Bible is a good book, unless it changes your life. 26:53 If it changes your life, 26:54 you've truly found the meaning of what the Bible is all about, 26:57 not just a collection of stories, 27:00 but a picture of who Jesus is 27:02 and the plan that He wants to have for your life 27:04 and for the lives of others around the globe. 27:06 He's coming back soon, and when He does, 27:08 He's going to be separating 27:10 the believing from the unbelieving. 27:12 And today we've taken a look at "Blessed Are Those Who Believe." 27:15 The rewards for belief are incredible, 27:19 something that we want to enjoy 27:21 so that we can see Jesus face to face. 27:24 We're glad you've joined us this week, 27:25 and we invite you to join us again next week 27:28 as we continue our journey through the book of John. 27:32 We're going to be looking at the next lesson of 13, 27:35 lesson 8 of 13. We'll be back again next week 27:38 here on "Sabbath School," brought to you by It Is Written. 27:40 ♪♪♪ 28:23 ♪♪♪ 28:26 [Captions provided by Aberdeen Captioning www.abercap.com] |
Revised 2024-11-05