John 7.1 - Death (LIFE!) Wish

"After these things Jesus was walking in Galilee, for He was unwilling to walk in Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill Him."  John 7.1 (NASB)

In one fell swoop, the crowd that wanted to crown Jesus king has cancelled Him.  The 1000s are down to a dozen.  One of His chosen 12 disciples is going to betray Him (of course He knows this in advance).  And [1] the Jews are looking to kill Him.  How’s He feeling?

Jesus will be “walking around” in Galilee, specifically NOT going to [Judea] (for ~6 months - till Feast of Booths in v2).  And what do you think He’s doing in Galilee?  Is He simply avoiding Judea, or is He maybe focusing on Galilee?   There is no mention of any signs, no miracles.  In fact, there are only two miracles mentioned in the entire rest of John’s book - and not until after Jesus is crucified.  Zero for the next couple of chapters (altho beware the argument from silence).  So, what’s He doing?  Moping around?  Twiddling His thumbs?  Playing video?  Going on a walkabout?  Trying to survive/throwing in towel?

Let’s review WHY Jesus came to begin with: [4:34 Jesus *said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.  5:30  “I can do nothing on My own initiative…because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 5:36 “The testimony which I have is greater than the testimony of John; for the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish — the very works that I do — testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me. 6:38 “I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 39 “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.  6:48 “I am the bread of life. 51 “I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”].  Jesus came to give life to the world.  This is His spiritual diet, it sustains Him, even when life is hard.  2 recurring themes here: Him Who sent Me, and what He wants.  (Life is both empty and meaningless apart from these…)

Him Who sent Me...  Him Who sent Me...  The Father has sent Me...  Him Who sent Me...  Him Who sent Me...  Jesus has this crystal clear sense of purpose.  He knows beyond a shadow of a doubt why He is here on earth, why He came, why God put Him here.  He was sent.  This word is pempo (32x in John, 3x more than any other book).  Pempo is not as much about the act of going out or who is doing the sending as much as it is about the coming.  [The arrival].  The advent.  It’s not where you were - it’s where you’ve arrived.  Jesus is saying I’ve arrived, I am here, AND it’s not by accident.  I am not from here, but I have come here for a season, for a reason.  Purpose. 

[Why are you & I here?]  Three Levels of Purpose:

1) I am.  I simply exist.  I occupy space and consume/burn calories, produce CO₂, and do my best to keep this going for as long as possible.  <narcissism><me-ism><religion of/devotion to self>

(Incidentally, this is also the natural landing place of darwinism.  Survival of the fittest.  If that’s all we are, just a highly evolved animal, just trying to out-survive our fellow creatures, then in the end it does become all about me.  I am.  Literally, I take the place of God - but as a [base animal] (degrading).  And for me it doesn’t matter what I do, as long as I survive.  Arbitrary.  Accident.  I take the place of God (there IS no god), but to no end.  Meaningless [Eccl. 3:19 For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same. As one dies so dies the other; indeed, they all have the same breath and there is no advantage for man over beast, for all is vanity.][Eccl. 12:13-14  The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.].  But, self taking the place of God… Remember what the serpent said to Eve?  You will be like God…) This is the <religion of self>...

2) I am here.  Here, in this place, there are things for me to do AND people with/for whom to do them.  i.e. There is a reason that I am in this place.  <altruism?><others-ism?><devotion to not-just-me>

3) I am sent.  God made me and gifted me and has put me here in this season for a reason.  I have work to do for Him (what He wants).  This could be <theism><devotion to God>.  But it's not just belief in God… It's availability.  It's accountability.  Which the world tries hard to avoid...

“He who has a good why can endure any what.“ Jews have rejected Jesus.  People want to kill Him.  But He is able to keep going, cuz He knows why He’s here, why He came.  I am sent.  BY the Father - again, knowing WHO is doing the sending takes it to another level.

So, have you figured it out yet?  What is your purpose?  What is your big why?  Why are you (and I) here?  [20:21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”]  Yes He’s speaking to the apostles, but are you and I any less sent?  [17:15-20 “I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word.]  Is any one of us any less sent?  Absolutely not.  If you are following Jesus (and even if you aren’t yet), you are not here by coincidence.  Your life is not a random accident.  You’re not here in [Longview] by accident.  We have been sent - by Jesus Himself.  Sent to be God•sends by THE God•Send Himself.  Sent here for a season, for a reason.  We don’t just send others.  We all go, maybe to the ends of the earth, certainly wherever He leads/sends, but wherever we are, wherever we find ourselves, we are sent.  We are sent to our co-workers.  Sent to our classmates.  Sent to our neighbors.  Sent to strangers.  WITH God’s Word.  Cuz every single one of these needs this Word.  A word of encouragement.  A word of truth.  Faith comes by hearing what?

But in other words, safe to say that while Jesus is walking around Galilee, He’s not simply occupying space and producing CO₂.  Not just tryin to make a livin.  He is surely producing something far greater, something that will last forever.  A life wish.  Not just survival.  Life as it was meant to be.  And wherever He goes, He is speaking the words of eternal life [6.63,68 “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life…Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. 5:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.]

Let’s not gloss over that poignant phrase at the end of verse 1: the Judeans were seeking to kill Him!  So He stays in Galilee.  He gives his brothers (and us) the reason why in v6: My [kairos] is not yet here.  The divine appointed season/moment of opportunity for Me to lay down My life is has not yet come in.  Altho let’s make no mistake - it IS coming.  But Jesus will not die prematurely.  There are no real premature deaths in God's divine purposes.

But we consider this passage, and this word, on the occasion of the release of a movie called “The Mission”.  National Geographic is documenting the death of [John Chau], an American missionary who was shot to death with arrows as he tried to bring the Good News to one of the world’s most isolated peoples [NSentinelese].  He was 26.  Did John Chau have a “death wish”?  [Did he waste his life - as the world declares - or was it worth it?]  Did [Jesus] have a “death wish”?  [6.51 - My flesh for the life of world]  For us, following in the footsteps of the God•Send, wherever He leads, begins with a death life wish: Not a premature death wish, but rather a divine missional life wish.  [Lk 9.23, Mk 8.35]. [Read John Chau's last letter below...]

Why?  Why embrace this death life wish?  Because Jesus is worth it.  He is worth it all.  Laying it all down.  All in for Jesus.  And Jesus thought that you and I were worth it.  He thought the NSentinelese were worth it.  And if our short life - which is already a vapor, a blade of grass here today gone tomorrow - if it gets shortened somehow (in earthly terms) while you or I am making much of Jesus, then it will have been more than worth it.  Jesus is worth it all. [Is 6.8]

Referenced verses

Luke 9:23   And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me."

Mark 8:35 “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it."

Is 6.8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

And for the record:

“Human life is created by God and is good. Since we are uniquely created in the image of God and formed by God, we hold to the sanctity of all human life.””God gives life and breath to everyone, calling us to value equally the dignity of every individual life in its entirety, which compels us to love and have compassion for all the peoples of the world.””We affirm the value of every person from the womb to the end of earthly life, without exception.  Therefore the gift of life should be cherished and not taken prematurely.”

FINAL WORDS John Chau's prophetic last letter to his f

"YOU guys might think I'm crazy in all this but I think it's worth it to declare Jesus to these people.

Please do not be angry at them or at God if I get killed.

Rather please live your lives in obedience to whatever He has called you to and I'll see you again when you pass through the veil.

This is not a pointless thing - the eternal lives of this tribe are at hand and I can't wait to see them around the throne of God worshiping in their own language as Revelations 7:9-10 states.

I love you all and I pray none of you love anything in this world more than Jesus Christ.”

Soli Deo Gloria.

John Chau

11/16/2018"

And a follow-up article from a source I've misplaced:

In 1839, a missions party reached Erromango, an island in the Vanuatu chain. European traders had sailed through the South Pacific, but little contact had been made with these tribes. John Williams and James Harris knew that for “every tribe, tongue, and people” to believe and worship Jesus, they’d have to hear the Gospel. Which meant someone would have to go tell them.[1]

They made contact, and were speared the moment they reached this unreached shore. And then they were eaten. The tribe of Erromango was made of cannibals.

So the missions endeavor in the South Pacific dried up pretty quickly. But a young Scotsman, John G. Paton, heard the terrible news and was marked by this conviction: “Christ thus baptised those islands with the blood of the martyrs, thereby announcing to the whole Christian world that He claimed them as His own.”[2]

He later left his ministry post in Glasgow and set sail for Erromango, convinced the resurrection was enough to preserve him despite whatever the decision might cost him. Paton spent decades preaching the Gospel and making disciples amongst the tribes who’d killed his predecessors. It was difficult work. Grueling. Costly. Glorious.

This past week, reports came in from Indian authorities[3] that a young American man, just a few years out from his graduation from Oral Roberts University, had made contact with the “world’s most isolated tribe” on North Sentinel Island off the coast of India. A different island, a different tribe, but Williams’, Harris’, and Paton’s same ambition: preach the Gospel. The Sentinelese people are numbered in the dozens and have never, in known history, genuinely interfaced with the rest of the world. Their territory is guarded by the Indian government, who prohibits anyone from breaching the Sentinelese borders.

John Allen Chau went anyway, escorted by fishermen he’d bribed to transport him under the cover of night, burdened to bring these unreached and unengaged people a witness of “this Gospel of the Kingdom.”[4] Once the Sentinelese saw him, his body quickly bore their arrows. The fishermen reported seeing him dragged and buried the following morning. (They’re now in custody and being charged with his murder. Chau’s family has asked for their release.)[5]

It has been some time since the international community has been faced with the martyrdom of missionaries—perhaps, to this degree, since five men were speared down in Ecuador under similar circumstances.[6] It’s the first time we’ve had a conversation about martyrdom to this degree with things like Twitter involved, which is an interesting betrayal of our inner minds and men; Chau’s death is much like Mary’s inheritance broken in a moment and spilled out to anoint Jesus: “[Everyone in the room—including the apostolic leadership of the early Christian community—] was indignant, saying, ‘Why this waste?!’”[7]

“Let her alone,” He said.[8]

John Allen Chau, you went to “Erromango” and died before you could utter a word, before you could do the hard yards of learning the language, translating the text, or the honor of baptizing and discipling young believers. But you bore witness to the worth and preeminence of Jesus, the primacy of proclaiming His name, and the prioritization of the 7,000+ people groups who’ve never heard the Gospel. You went where even I had never heard of to check a people I didn’t know existed off the lists of “unreached” and “unengaged.”[9]

John, I pray for your family this holiday season (I’m so encouraged by their witness and response as well), and I pray for the young men and women who hear the news and are provoked instead of proud, invigorated instead of insulting. I can’t wait to meet you. Truly you were “one of whom the world is not worthy.”[10]

Keep an eye out for some Patons.

Maranatha.

John 6.41-69 - "Real Life" (The Work of God Pt 4?)

(aka the life we really live vs the life we’re MEANT to live)

Jesus has told a crowd of hungry Jews, that HE is the Bread of Life.  I AM, He said.  I came down out of heaven, and I will raise up out of death all who come to Me.  All who believe in Jesus will live forever with Him in heaven.  This is the Good News.  However, there’s an expiration date to this offer, only good until THE Last Day (or our own personal last day, whichever comes first).  

However - Jesus’ offer of eternal life is NOT good news to everyone.  Some people don’t want to follow Jesus:  [we actually can see 3 groups of people in this crowd now: "the Jews" (non-followers), disciples (near-followers), and the 12 (genuine followers).]

[41 Therefore the Jews were grumbling about Him, because He said, “I am the bread that came down out of heaven.” 42 They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, ‘I have come down out of heaven’?”]  Grumbling.  Gonguzo.  In the Greek it’s an onomatopoeia.  Like murmur.  Grumble. [try it: say, gonguzo]  And isn’t this what consumers do?  When we don’t get what we want, when we want it, when we don’t like what’s being offered, we grumble, don't we [as in, 1star reviews].  These folks here - like so many - don’t like what Jesus is selling.  They don’t like what He’s saying.  He’s from “Nazareth” - He lacks credibility to begin with, and He appears to be contradicting Himself.  Plus He "appears" to lack proof [altho, He will provide all the proof anyone should require when He rises from the dead][61-62].  Is it hometown prophet syndrome?  Familiarity can breed disrespect.  Wait - we know his parents.  He’s just a local.  What does He even know?  He’s certainly not from heaven.  He’s from Nazareth.  He’s just a carpenter.  [actually He’s so much more… MTaC - great book!]

But really, they don’t like His terms.  Trust in Me (NOT yourself).  Surrender to Me, to what I want (NOT what you want).  We want life on our terms, but Jesus doesn’t reign on our terms.  Even with faith, we want to believe on our terms.  We want to retain control.  And real life?  We think we’re in control.  And Jesus now speaks to that:

[43-46 Jesus said, “Do not bicker among yourselves over Me. You are not in charge here. The Father who sent Me is in charge. He draws people to Me—that’s the only way you’ll ever come. Only then do I do My work, putting people together, setting them on their feet, ready for the End. This is what the prophets meant when they wrote, ‘And then they will all be personally taught by God.’ • Anyone who has spent any time at all listening to the Father, really listening and therefore learning, comes to Me to be taught personally—to see it with his own eyes, hear it with his own ears, from Me, since I have it first hand from the Father. No one has seen the Father except the One who has His Being alongside the Father—and you can see Me” (John 6:43–46, The Message).]  The Father draws people.  Hearing from the Father.  You are not in charge here.  Eternal life does not come to you on your terms.  It is a gift from the Father, and it only comes thru Me.  But whoever comes to Me, I WILL RAISE HIM UP!  Guaranteed.

And Jesus now drops His next double truly :[47-51 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”]  [Spiritual] truth: the one believing (in Jesus) has eternal life.  AND He repeats His first I AM statement: I am the Bread of life. Whoever eats this bread, ie believes in Me, will live forever.  The manna bread your fathers ate in the wilderness - they died.  It didn’t give them REAL life.  But I do.  Thus the ultimate paradox of Christianity: the bread which I give for the LIFE of the world is My flesh.  In other words, My death.  Life out of death.  Eternal life for mortal/dying beings thru the real physical dying of the undying God.  WHOEVER eats THIS bread (believes), he will live forever.  [Physical] impossibility.  Eternal reality.  Real life.

Now they’re arguing [52].  “Eat his flesh? How?”  Some of what Jesus says IS hard to understand.  How CAN I be born a second time?  How DO we eat something that we can’t even touch?  How DO we believe/trust something/someone we can’t see? How’s this possible?  It makes no sense.  It doesn’t fit with how we see the physical world.  They’re still totally focused on the physical.  Yes, we are hungry - but how is it even possible for this man to give us his flesh to eat?

To which Jesus busts out another truly truly [53-58].  You really need to know this.  I’ve been trying to explain that this “eating” is a spiritual thing, it’s a metaphor for belief.  Just as we take physical food into our physical bodies, you need to take Me into your heart.  So yes, you need to eat My flesh and drink My blood.  But this is not about your mouth, or your empty belly.  This is about your empty heart, about a spiritual relationship.  This is real life.  You know Me, live in/thru Me, and I live in you, as you trust in Me.  And you will really live.  Forever.

By now the disciples - those who are sort-of following Him (at least physically) - are grumbling [60-61].  This word is hard.  In fact they’re stumbling over what He’s saying, trying to understand these truths.  It’s tripping them up.  They’re tripping over what He’s saying.  And more than that, they’re at a tipping point, trying to decide whether or not they are gonna keep following Him.  For now at least, many of them go away [66].  They go “away to the back”.  Why?  This doesn’t make any sense (Jesus doesn’t always make sense).  They’re not getting anything out of it any longer.  They never did trust, and actually, Jesus knew they wouldn’t from the beginning [64].  

Attending meetings, appearing to physically follow Jesus, repeating words, doesn’t mean that someone believes.  Why were they following Jesus?  Cuz He filled their bellies.  They got something out of it.  But now they’re grumbling/stumbling over what He is saying. His words. [63] Hard to understand? I use physical terms but these represent spiritual truths, and these truths are the way to LIFE.  I am the Bread of life, come down out of heaven, and you need to eat My flesh.  You don’t think I’m from heaven?  Wait and see… But the truth/power in what He’s saying is that real life, eternal life, is not found in a loaf of bread, it’s not found in any earthly thing, it’s not found in any earthly person.  The flesh profits nothing.  Not in [eternity].  Fully bellies are all well and good in this life, but this life is all about getting ready for the next one.  All of this, all the good and the bad and the ugly - it’s all about getting you and me (and our neighbor) ready for eternity.  Real life, eternal life is found in Jesus and HIS Word.  [*Deut 8.3]

We find this contrast, this battle: the Spirit vs the flesh.  Things of the Spirit, the realm of eternal life vs the physical, what we can touch, and see.  The temporal.  Some of us are willing to follow Jesus up to a point.  We’ll give up a Sunday morning.  We’ll give up a few minutes.  But when His words call me to something hard for my flesh, then we go to the back.  We back off.  It doesn’t make sense, it’s inconvenient, it feels uncertain, unsafe, it’s not who I am.  Many of these “disciples” give up when they’re asked to give something up.

[67-69]  Jesus now comes to the twelve, the ones He chose, and invites them to choose.  Peter seizes on the words.  Cuz much of the following to this point has been because of the signs.  They saw the signs He did in Jerusalem.  In Judea.  In Samaria.  On the mountain.  But Peter says, it’s Your words.  You have words of eternal life.  Real life.  When God begins drawing you, when you sense Him nudging you towards more of this life in the Spirit, that is the time to realize, there is no one better.  There is nowhere better.  And He has the words of eternal life.  This is eternal life.  This is real life, the life you and I were designed for, the life we were always meant to live.  This brief temporary life is all about getting ready for eternity.  And Jesus is the Way.  He is the Life.  [1.4] [*Heb 3.12 - a warning...] 

*Referenced verses

Deut. 8:3 “He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you ¹understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD.”

Heb 3.12 Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

Other verses

Mark 8:34   And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. 35 “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36 “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?

Mark 10:28  Peter began to say to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You.” 29 Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, 30 ¹but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life.

James 1:12  Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.

Heb. 13:6  we confidently say, “THE LORD IS MY HELPER, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID. WHAT WILL MAN DO TO ME?”

Is. 40:21  Do you not know? Have you not heard?  Has it not been declared to you from the beginning?  Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 22  It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. 23  He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless. 24  Scarcely have they been planted, scarcely have they been sown, scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth, but He merely blows on them, and they wither, and the storm carries them away like stubble.  

John 6.37-40 - "What Does God Want?" (The Work of God Pt 3)

We’re in Capernaum.  Across the lake, Jesus just [fed a huge crowd] with one boy’s lunch.  Amazing miracle!  Then His disciples crossed to Capernaum by boat [while Jesus walked!].  Amazing miracle!  Now the crowd has found Him, looking for more [free lunch], asking how can we work the works of God?  I.e. What’s in it for me?  Jesus says, you’re hungry? I am the Bread of life!  You think you're ready to do God's work?  The work of God is, believe in Me.  Now they insist that before they believe IN Him, to fully follow Him, they need to see some [physical] sign, and [35-36] Jesus is telling them, it’s right in front of you.  I AM the sign.  You want this bread to fill your belly every day - I AM the Bread.  I AM.  But they are not.  Not willing.  In spite of all the signs, they do not want to trust IN Him.  So Jesus puts this stubborn unbelief and the work of God into context:

[37-40 “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.  For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.  This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I will lose nothing, but will raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”]  [10 wills.]  6 promises: All given will come. All coming will not be cast out.  All given will not be lost.  All given will be raised up.  All believing will have eternal life.  All believing will be raised up.  And [4 wants / thelō’s]: not My want but the want of Him Who sent Me.  And His want: to lose no one but rather raise them up.  And for everyone believing to have eternal life.

[5 wants]: What DOES God want? (We’ve talked about this) Here we see the surrendered heart of Jesus.  I have not come to do what I want.  This is NOT about Me.  I am here to do what the Father wants.  This heart is what carries Jesus all the way to [The Cross].  Life laid down.  Death to self.  And Death, literally.  Look at Him, in the Garden, on the hardest night of His life, the climax of why He even came to earth, face-to-face with that cruel cross, He’s saying the same thing: [Mt. 26:39 He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I want, but as You want.”].  THIS - all this - is not about what I want.  Life - and death - is not about what we want.  It’s about, how can we live into whatEVER God wants.  [One want]: His want.  Jesus says, This is the reason I came to earth.  THIS is the reason He put us on this earth.  Real life, at its fullest.  Learning to live into what He wants.  Losing our life - for His sake, for the sake of the Gospel [*Mk 8/10].  Are we willing to pray that this morning?  Not what I want, but what You want, Lord.

It helps to remember Who’s doing the asking.  Who is asking us to lay down our life/want? [38]  [The One Who sent Me], Jesus says.  The Father.  Almighty God.  We’re not sent in the same way as Jesus per se, but aren’t we even more beholden to God the Father?  He made us.  Each one of us.  He made the heavens, engineered the entire universe, designed it and created it out of nothing.  And took even greater care designing and creating each of us.  [Psa. 139:14  I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well.]  He’s asking.  His want.

Note, Jesus is laying this down long before crunch time.  This is towards the middle of His ministry.  Everything is going acc to plan.  Not in a “crisis” situation yet, and here He is, affirming why He’s here.  It helps to get our priorities straight BEFORE the crisis comes.  Picking up the cross now.  Daily.  Settle the big question first, so that when the storm comes, we don’t get knocked off course.  [Christ is in me! *2Cor 5.14-17]

Jesus adds [40] God has one want: for everyone believing to have eternal life.  To lose not one.  This ties to the one promise: everyone believing will be raised up.  Guaranteed.  Multiple magnificent promises actually: Jesus says that all who are given, every one of them will come to Jesus.  They will never be lost or cast out, but will be raised up on the last day.  But, only those who are “given”. Who is given? Let’s remember the context - there’s a whole crowd of people who are decidedly NOT not believing.  So, NOT coming to Jesus (not yet).  How are we to understand this?

[1Pet. 1:1-5 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those…who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.]  Acc to Peter, who does the choosing?  God FOREKNOWS who will come to Jesus, and He chooses them.  And what is our part in the whole process, according to Peter? [faith/trust]  And thus we find Jesus saying, believe in Me.  Come to Me, have faith/trust in Me [35].  You do not yet trust in Me [36].  [40] Everyone who beholds the Son and trusts in Him, WILL have eternal life.  Believe/trust: that’s our part.  To come...

Come.  It’s the very first command Jesus gives in John (1.39) - come and you will see.  Those first potential disciples needed to choose, and so do we.  [35] Come, believe/trust, and you will never hunger, or thirst, and you will NEVER be cast out.  I think, somehow, it’s both.  God chooses us in a way that somehow we still need to choose to come to Jesus and believe in Him.  He draws us [44], but somehow does so in a way where we must decide to come.  To trust.

[37] Note that on this side of choosing, Jesus never asks us to figure out if we’re one of the ones the Father has “given to Him.”  Figure out IF we’ve been chosen.  What does He ask us to do?  Believe/Trust.  Come to Him.  Follow Him.  Somehow it’s both - we fin that once we get to following Him, that we can see His hand in how He worked all the threads of our life together to draw us to Him.  Somehow it's both...

[40] Jesus brings up another vital truth here - The Last Day.  Jesus uses this phrase 5x in ALL the Gospels, 4x right here in this chapter.  The Last Day.  The Eschaton [eschatos/eschatology].  Hundreds of thousands of days throughout the course of recorded history.  Each day beginning exactly like the one before, the sun rising in the east.  Like clockwork.  More like sands thru an [hourglass].  And every last one of these days is leading toward this one LAST DAY, when the sun will rise one last time on this world as we have known it, and Christ will [come a 2nd time, this time as King]. The dead WILL rise - a day of resurrection.  The books will be opened, the records of everything we’ve ever done or said or thought - AND whether or not we trusted in Jesus.  All those who have not trusted in Jesus will be raised to be judged.  A day of judgment.  And all those who have trusted in Jesus in this life - who have trusted in His payment for our sin penalty on the cross - will be raised to eternal life.  I will raise him/her up, Jesus says.  4x in this section - He repeats it.  Everyone who beholds the Son, and believes, I will raise them up.  This is what My Father wants, and I am going to do it.  

[Rise up.  Get up.]  It’s a common word in the Greek, and it’s not hard to do.  Unless you’re sick.  And it’s really hard to do when you’re [dead].  But that is precisely what GOD wants to do - raise you up.  The work of God.  This is the 10 wills, the 6 promises and the 4 thelō’s here.  This is exactly what the Father wants to do, what He WILL do on The Last Day. What He sent the Son to do - to get us ready for The Last Day.  The work of God for us?  Believe in the God•send.  This is why Jesus came - to make this happen.  This is good news!  Altho not for everyone (next time...)

“Remove grace, and you have nothing whereby to be saved. Remove free will and you have nothing that could be saved.” Anselm of Canterbury

*Referenced verses

Mark 8:34   And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. 35 “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36 “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?

Mark 10:28  Peter began to say to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You.” 29 Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, 30 but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life. 

2Cor. 5:14 For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; 15 and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. 17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

Is. 40:21  Do you not know? Have you not heard?  Has it not been declared to you from the beginning?  Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 22  It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. 23  He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless.  24  Scarcely have they been planted, scarcely have they been sown, scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth, but He merely blows on them, and they wither, and the storm carries them away like stubble.