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Free Daily Bible notes by Rev Stephen Thompson

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John 9:24-34: Simple courage.

John 9:24-34: Simple courage.

24 A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”25 He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”26 Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”27 He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”28 Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! 29 We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”30 The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. 32 Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind.33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”34 To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out. NIV

The blind man’s parents passed the ball to him. Once he found it at his feet, he did not lack ideas for what to do with it. He showed considerable pluck, and took the clerics on – even toying with them it seems (27). They had no good arguments against his healing or against his words, so they did what people often do in such circumstances. They picked up mud and threw it. I pray that faced with hostile people, I will not hide, but stand up for Jesus, and offer my testimony. They may wipe their secularised boots all over it, but let them hear it.

Within this passage you can read the famous statement of (25): ”One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” This is the story of every Christian. Through the telling of this story we too are gradually being brought to see Jesus, who is ”the light” (5; see also 1:4,5). He is opening our blind eyes.

PRAYER: Lord, I know I can all too easily play the coward. So please give me the courage I will always need to stand up for you.

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John 9:13-23: The cost of discipleship.

John 9:13-23: The cost of discipleship.

13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. 14 Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. 15 Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.”16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided.17 Then they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.”The man replied, “He is a prophet.”18 They still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents. 19 “Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?”20 “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. 21 But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders,who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. 23 That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.” NIV

Religious people can become so concerned about the meticulous observance of their self – made rules that they don’t care about people. Instead of rejoicing over a remarkable healing of a man with congenital blindness, the Pharisees pursed their lips, shook their heads, and got very angry with Jesus for doing this miracle on the Sabbath. With Jesus, there was a pattern of such happenings (see e.g. Chapter 5).He would not allow His compassion to be tied up by their rules. Jesus knew that at the heart of the Sabbath there lies God’s heart for saving people. He was clear in His thinking that it was a day for doing good to others. But religion stinks!

The healed man’s parents make a fascinating case study. They were not as supportive of their son as you might expect them to be. To be excommunicated from the synagogue would mean not only loss of status within the Jewish community but loss of many other privileges. They were probably fearful for their livelihoods, and even their lives. There is a cost involved in discipleship. Jesus urged people to count that cost before embarking on a course to follow Him. This pair took out their ready reckoners and decided it just wasn’t worth it. They couldn’t afford it. They were hardly lovingly supportive of their son. They pushed him to the front where he could take the flak and not them. Christianity costs!

Revelation is often progressive. It takes time. By the end of the chapter, this wonderfully healed man will come to a fuller understanding of who Christ is (35-38). But even here he is on his way (17b). It’s a beginning. His spiritual eyes are gradually opened.Let’s be patient. Give people time. Above all, give God time. ”When surrounded by fear and anger, the only way through is to glimpse whatever we can see of Jesus, and to follow him out of the dark and into the light.” Tom Wright: ‘John for everyone’, p.139. Jesus enlightens!

PRAYER: Lord God, I pray that no threat or fear will ever make me disloyal to you.

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John 9:1-12: A walking display case.

John 9:1-12: A walking display case.

“As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”6 After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. 7 “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.8 His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some claimed that he was.Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”10 “How then were your eyes opened?” they asked.11 He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”12 “Where is this man?” they asked him.“I don’t know,” he said.” NIV

The purpose of a believer’s life is to be a ‘display cabinet’ for the work of God (3; cf. Matthew 5:14-16, 1 Peter 2:12, Psalm 18:28a).The work of God is transformative (8,9). Under the touch of Jesus Christ, some people change so much that they are barely recognisable as the same person. This is to His glory.

Like Jesus, we only have a brief life span in which to illuminate the world with heavenly light; to reflect the glory of Jesus – like the moon lit up with the rays of the sun (4, 5). We don’t have equal amounts of ‘sand’ in the egg timers of our lives, but this sand is running through. It is right to want to make your days and hours and minutes count. ”Only one life. ‘Twill soon be passed. And only what’s done for Jesus will last.”

Jesus’ work is creative. There is no evidence of a canned or pre-packaged approach with Him (6, 7 and 11). Jesus healed many people of a variety of conditions, but He didn’t have one way only of working. He did what He saw the Father doing. He kept in step with Him. That resulted in an enormous creativity of approach. Be prepared! Jesus may work in ways that take you totally by surprise.

It’s interesting that Jesus told the blind man to go and wash in the ”Pool of Siloam” (7) – a word which means ”Sent”. One of the themes in John’s gospel concerns the fact that Jesus was sent into the world by the Father, and the cure for spiritual blindness lies in His God-given mission.

PRAYER: Thank you Lord that you want to make my life a display case for your glory. May it be.

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John 8:48-59: An Audience of one.

John 8:48-59: An Audience of one.

“48 The Jews answered him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?”49 “I am not possessed by a demon,” said Jesus, “but I honor my Father and you dishonor me. 50 I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge.51 Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death.”52 At this they exclaimed, “Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that whoever obeys your word will never taste death. 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?”54 Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. 55 Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and obey his word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.”57 “You are not yet fifty years old,” they said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!”58 “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” 59 At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.”

This story contains one of the most remarkable statements Jesus ever made (58). He took to Himself the most sacred name of God: ”I am”. His opponents knew exactly what He was claiming (59) and wanted to mete out the punishment appropriate to a blasphemer. I read a book once which spoke about the ”ego-centricity” of Christ’s claims. He spoke often about Himself, and called people to Himself – said they could find their true satisfaction in Him; that their eternal destiny depended on their response to Him. Yet it is obvious that He was a humble Man. How do these two things fit together? The truth is that if Jesus is God there is no problem at all in Him speaking this way. It would be quite natural.

In this passage we again see how Jesus conducted Himself in a hostile world, and He models qualities and characteristics that should be true of us.

At its core, Jesus’ life was about honouring the Father (49b, 50 and 54). We each need to settle this issue of glory. For who’s glory are we living? Some time ago, I heard a commentary on an Olympic race. I think it came from London 2012. As the athlete crossed the line for gold a huge cheer went up. It really was loud and wildly enthusiastic. But I noticed that after a moment or two it subsided. I thought, ”It’s like that in life isn’t it? Whatever praise/honour may come your way, it doesn’t last very long. And what people think about you isn’t really important. The only verdict on your life that counts is God’s. He’s your ”judge” (50). Human applause lasts for but a moment, but God’s judgment is eternal.” Ultimately, it is wisest to live for ”an audience of one.”

Sometimes, living to honour God will mean contradicting (48/49a) what a lying world says (55). You will find that you are on a collision course with it. (This is not always the case of course. There will be times when you let it be said and just submit your case to God. You don’t attempt to refute it at all.There is ”a time to be silent and a time to speak” Ecclesiastes 3:7b. We each must seek to be led by the Spirit in our responses.)

Honouring God, though, will always involve ‘keeping’ His Word (51, 52 and 55); keeping Christ’s Word. This means not only knowing it, but also doing it.

It was with reference to Jesus’ claim in (51) that ”the Jews” brought up the matter of Abraham (52, 53). They wondered, was He saying that He was greater than Abraham, who died? That He was greater than the prophets, who died? Clearly He was, and He is worthy, not just of our admiration and respect, but also of our worship.

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John 8:42-47: ‘Liar, liar.’

John 8:42-47: ‘Liar, liar.’

42 Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. 43 Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. 44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!46 Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me?47 Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.’ NIV

David Pawson said that on one occasion he was invited to speak to a group of clergymen, and he was introduced as ”a preacher who STILL believes in the devil.”

Are you surprised that the world is full of hatred, violence, killing, murder and mayhem?

Are you shocked that the world is filled with lies?

We find it hard to trust the press. It’s not that everything we read is false, but we know that everyone has an angle. As we stand at the batting crease of life, so much information is bowled at us with a hair-raising amount of spin. We are pulled all over the place trying to deal with it. We are mesmerised by it.

We also find it difficult to believe the politicians. This widespread cynicism is sad, and somewhat misleading, because there are, I’m sure, many good and honest people in public office. But we believe we have been lied to by our leaders again and again. We are convinced that General Election campaigns are full of hype and false promises just to gain the most votes.

So do you find it strange, then, that a good number of people in the world ”still” believe in the devil, who, Jesus said, ”was a murderer from the beginning.” Also, it is the case that he does not hold ”to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (44).

Now I believe many Christians have been successfully lied to by Satan. They’ve been sold a pup. He has fathered families of lying offspring in hearts and minds. He has sown his seeds of falsehood in many a Christian field, and they have grown up into ugly choking weeds.

I know this passage deals primarily with the children of the devil (44): unconverted people who could not understand Jesus (43), or love Him (42); who could not hear Him (47) and who did not believe Him (46). They, in fact, wanted to kill Him (44). They had been duped by the many lies of their ”father”.

But today I particularly have in my heart fellow believers who are living well below the level of their privileges; who are not enjoying all that ‘abundant’ life means, because they have swallowed at least some of Satan’s lies. I pray that they may come to know the truth which sets free, then ”hold” (31) to that teaching for the rest of their days.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, by the power of your Spirit, please break these dark Satanic chains entangling and crushing so many hearts. Shine your light so brightly and your truth will set free.

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John 8:31-41: No room…

John 8:31-41: No room…

31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’33 They answered him, ‘We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?’34 Jesus replied, ‘Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it for ever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill me, because you have no room for my word. 38 I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you are doing what you have heard from your father.]’39 ‘Abraham is our father,’ they answered.‘If you were Abraham’s children,’ said Jesus, ‘then you would do what Abraham did. 40 As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. 41 You are doing the works of your own father.’‘We are not illegitimate children,’ they protested. ‘The only Father we have is God himself.’ NIV

”…you have no room for my word” (37b).

When Jesus, the ‘Logos’ – the living ‘Word’ – was born in Bethlehem, there was no room for Him in the inn. Later on in life, as the Word spoke His word, He found there was still no room for it in many a heart.

How about you? Have you got room for His word today? Room for all the space it will require? Room for every aspect of that word? Making room for the word of Christ will almost certainly mean that some other things have to go. In with the new and out with the old! 

Do you make room in your life daily for this word – not just to read it but also to apply it?

Somebody said something like this, ”We belong to a church that will permit us to not obey Christ’s word; but it will not allow us to say that’s what we’re doing.” We (for whatever the reasons) tolerate a lot of bad behaviour in church life without challenging or rebuking it.

There are people in churches today who profess strong religious affiliation (33, 39a, 41b), but who have little room, if any, for the word. The sermon must be no more than five minutes, and they certainly want the preacher to cook up something bland. They don’t want any red hot ‘vinderloo’ strength sermons. They may not be so extreme as to wantto kill the clergyman, but they will definitely oppose him, snap at his heels and run him out of town if at all possible. Many an evangelical preacher has suffered at the hands of unconverted congregants. When people are set against the gospel, and don’t want to know the Biblical Christ, they show their true colours. They reveal their spiritual parentage. They show just how much they resemble their ‘dad’.

Making room for Christ’s word will entail perseverance (31), ‘holding’ to that word through all kinds of circumstantial ‘weather’. Holding doesn’t mean merely having a theological standpoint. It involves practising your beliefs day by day. The truth believed and lived out through a lifetime will produce a life of genuine freedom. We are called to the obedience of sonship, in which we obey our Father because we love Him. It’s not because we have to but because we want to. In Dan White junior’s excellent book, ‘Subterranean’, he talks in one chapter about how the current education system extracts people from life situations where the knowledge they are learning should be worked out. It separates them from life in the ‘real world’. It takes them into the academy and away from the ‘coal face’. He says that the way people learn in the world has also affected teaching in the church. But ”What matters…what is dynamite is what is truly practiced” (p.36).

Making room for Christ’s word will result in purity (34; see also Psalm 119:9, 11). There is power in Christ’s word to set you free from sin. But do you want this liberation? Or have you got quite used to your life being enemy occupied territory? Have you accommodated yourself to the presence of invaders in your life who really ought not to be there?

Warren Wiersbe makes the point that Satan imposes slavery that seems like freedom (2 Peter 2:19) – and I will add that we can quite enjoy it.

”The swallow would not thank you to be freed to live on carrion, but only to mount again into the sunny air. Jesus frees us by the truth. The slavegirl will no longer serve in the house of her cruel oppressor, when she learns that the act of emancipation has passed and has no longer any claim upon her.” F.B. Meyer: ‘Devotional Commentary’, p.466.

PRAYER: Lord, by your grace, I open my life to your word today. Let it shape all I am and do.

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John 8:31-32: True freedom.

John 8:31-32: True freedom.

31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’ NIV

Someone said, ”The truth will set you free, but first it will make you mad!!” Not everything Jesus teaches is palatable. Some of it will clash with your will; aspects of it will run contrary to your fond ambitions. But ironically, coming under the authority of Jesus will bring a person into true freedom. This is not liberty as the world understands it. You are not free to do as you wish; but you are freed to do what God wants. That is freedom ”indeed” (36). It’s a paradox, but in slavery to the LORD Jesus you will find perfect liberation.

There is an important vein of teaching running through the New Testament that says, ‘Genuine disciples persevere to the end.’ It’s not the starting that is so important as the finishing. We are called to ”hold” to Jesus’ teaching. There is an enemy of God (and therefore your foe also) who wants to rip this truth from your grasp. But if you endure the onslaughts and keep on clinging to this true word, you will find that through the years your knowledge will increase, and so will your freedom. It’s the freedom to be holy; to become increasingly like Jesus. Only a true disciple can know how desirable this is.

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John 8:21-30: Lost people matter to God.

John 8:21-30: Lost people matter to God.

“21 Once more Jesus said to them, ‘I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.’22 This made the Jews ask, ‘Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, “Where I go, you cannot come”?’23 But he continued, ‘You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.’25 ‘Who are you?’ they asked.‘Just what I have been telling you from the beginning,’ Jesus replied. 26 ‘I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is trustworthy, and what I have heard from him I tell the world.’27 They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. 28 So Jesus said, ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. 29 The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.’ 30 Even as he spoke, many believed in him.” NIV

As we have seen, especially in chapters 7 and 8, Jesus was surrounded by an atmosphere of intimidation, abuse and danger. It swirled around Him like smoke. Murder was in the air. There were people who wanted Him dead. It’s true to say that this was not the whole story. There were others who were fascinated by Jesus and open to hear from Him. But the people were divided. They were not on the same wavelength as the Lord:

”You’re tied to the mundane; I’m in touch with what is beyond your horizons. You live in terms of what you see and touch. I’m living on other terms.” The Message.

Yet Jesus did not allow His enemies to silence Him. He was in a scary environment, but He pulled no punches. Three times in this short section He speaks about the possibility of dying ”in your sin” (or ”sins”: verses 21, 24). One commentator made the point that to die with your sins unforgiven; unatoned for, is the greatest tragedy in the Bible. We must never be afraid to preach the unadulterated gospel. It will produce results (30).

There is a danger in contemporary evangelicalism that many Christians may be losing touch with the reality that lost people really are lost; that those who die rejecting Christ will stay lost for eternity. To use old fashioned terms, we need a ‘burden’ for ‘souls’ that will populate our prayer meetings and stir us to faithful witness, even as we feel the walls of secularism slowly moving in to crush our testimony.

The call of Jesus is to ”believe” in Him (24). This is the only way to escape such a terrible fate.

Twice in this passage Jesus uses the expression “I am” (24, 28). The translation adds the explanatory words: ”that I am the one I claim to be”, but in the original language I understand Jesus just says ”I am”. His courage was immense, for His Jewish detractors would certainly want Him done away with for such an ‘outrageous’ claim. We must not lose sight of the fact that Jesus repeatedly claimed to be God, and if we trust in Him it has to be faith in this Bible Jesus – this divine Jesus – and not another of our own making.

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John 8: 12-20: ”Lighten our darkness”.

John 8: 12-20: ”Lighten our darkness”.

“12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’13 The Pharisees challenged him, ‘Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid.’14 Jesus answered, ‘Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going. 15 You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. 16 But if I do judge, my decisions are true, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. 17 In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true. 18 I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.’19 Then they asked him, ‘Where is your father?’‘You do not know me or my Father,’ Jesus replied. ‘If you knew me, you would know my Father also.’ 20 He spoke these words while teaching in the temple courts near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come.” NIV

In John’s gospel you find a number of repeated themes. There are key words and phrases which come up again and again. Three of them are found in this short section:

  1. ”Light” (12). This is another of the ”I Am” sayings in the fourth gospel. They are undoubtedly claims to divinity.

    There are at least two ways in which we may think of God/Christ being ”light”:

  • Light is about clear sight: He brings illumination into our lives. He reveals spiritual truth to our hearts. He gives understanding. He also sheds light on our way. He shows us what to do/where to go. He guides our feet in His paths. At times He may only give enough light for the next step. But that is enough. And when you take it you’ll probably be able to see a further step;
  • Light is about a clean conscience: He brings holiness into our lives (1 John 1:5ff). As we walk in the light of Biblical truth we find that we are on the sunlit road of godliness. To walk in the light means to live in openness before the Lord and fellow believers, confessing our sins and experiencing the cleansing of the blood of Christ.
  1. ”Testimony”/”witness” (13, 14, 17, 18): There is a legal air to this. Jesus is verified/affirmed as God’s Son. He is who He says He is. Of course, as God, Jesus knew precisely who He was and where He was going (14,15). He could capably testify to Himself, but the Pharisees would not accept this (13). However, because the Father also testified to Him, there was the required twofold witness (17,18).
  1. ”Hour” (20). It was not yet ”time” for Jesus to die. When He did die it was obvious that God was in control, not wicked men.This was not a tragic waste of a young life, but a purposeful death. It could not happen outside of God’s timescale.

This section of the fourth gospel opens with the words: ”When Jesus spoke again to the people…” (12). Note the little, but so important, word ”again”. Here is an insight into Jesus’ perseverance. We read in (7:43) that ”the people were divided because of Jesus”. Yes, there were those who were open to Him and interested in Him; in fact fascinated by Him. But others were aggressive and abusive and some wanted to kill Him. Yet Jesus would not be silenced. Like a rubber ball He came bouncing back!! When Manchester United won their first European Champions League title under Sir Alex Ferguson (then just plain Alex), they had to slowly but surely claw their way back into a game that they were losing at half time. In the closing minutes they equalised through Teddy Sheringham, then ‘super sub’ Ole Gunnar Solskjaer came on and won it for them with virtually the last kick of the match. In his post match interview Sir Alex, as I recall, said something like this: ”I’m so proud of my team. They never gave in; they just kept going. The famous nineteenth century preacher C.H. Spurgeon said, ”By perseverance the snail made it to the ark.”

In Junior school, we regularly said this prayer at the end of the day. It seems appropriate to quote it here: ”Lighten our darkness, we beseech thee O Lord, and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night.”

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