Last week we spent a few moments to look at why Jesus is the answer to our common need of salvation. Today I want us to spend sometime looking at how we can come to access the life fully. But first let us recall the verses of the last exposition, particularly John 1:10 & 17: Jesus was in the world and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. Jesus came to His own and His own did not know Him. Then, let us ask the question: “If Jesus came to give eternal life and this is the life people were searching for, why did they not know Him or receive Him?” Surely, it sounds like it doesn’t make sense, or does it? But you can rest assured that it does make sense. This is what we want to look at today; specifically we will study to see if there any rule we must observe in order to access the life of Christ.
Drawing from a sample of several scriptures (for example, John 7: 12, 20 & 31; 6: 68-69; & 8:52), we are able to see that indeed many did not know Jesus as the Christ, while others knew Him. The unbelieving responded to Him in many disrespecting ways. For instance, they complained about Him that He deceived people, and they believed and accused Him that He had a demon and was a sinner (Ch. 7:12 & 20; 8:52). On the other hand, those who believed in Him believed in different degrees; some of these were still afraid of the Jews so they did not profess their faith openly, while others like Peter and the other apostles believed He was certainly the Christ and even left all they had for His sake (Ch.6:68 & 69; 7:31). But this left me wondering and consequently I was searching and meditating why was this the case; I mean if all including the unbelieving were looking forward to the Messiah (crosscheck John 7:40-43), why is it that some knew Him when He came and others did not know Him? How could it be, is the Bible not contradicting itself? Well, thank God because I found the answer in several scriptures in the same book John which I will try to highlight and connect so that in the end you and I will be able to conclude on our subject matter this week.
You see in Ch.6: 63-64, The Lord said it is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh profits nothing; the words He spoke were life and spirit. And He said ‘Yet there are some among you who do not believe.’ This he said because He knew from the beginning those who would not believe in Him and would betray Him. As if not enough, in Ch.8: 42-43, He went on to confront the unbelieving saying if God was their Father, as they had been claiming, then they would receive and love Him because He proceeded from the Father for the very purpose that He would make Him (the Father) known. He further told them the reason they could not understand His doctrine was because they were unable to listen to His word. What does that mean? Well, before we answer this question lets also consider Ch.6:65. The Lord said in this verse that no one would come to Him in faith unless the Father drew him to Him. Now, lets us define those who qualify for the Father to draw them to Christ.
Well Ch.7:16-17 defines these people for us: Jesus answered them and said “My doctrine is not mine, but His who sent me. If anyone seeks to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is of God or whether I speak on my own authority.” So we see that anyone can qualify. But among the ‘anyones’, those who actually qualify in practice are those ones who seek to do God’s will. It is these who shall know the Christ. The Father will draw these to Him because, according to Jn.1:18, ‘no one has seen God at any time but the only begotten who is in the bosom of the Father has manifested Him to us.’ So to know God we need Jesus, and to know Jesus we need to believe His doctrine is from God Himself. You see friend, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Him. This is the way God chose. This is also the distinguishing line to the question laid before us at the beginning; those who seek to do the will of God will have Him reveal Christ Jesus to them, while those who do not seek to do His will shall not know Him or have life in them.
So we see that for us to draw from Christ’s life we must first humble ourselves and seek to do His will and God will open our eyes to what we need and what we should do. This is the guiding rule to accessing the life of Christ!
To be continued...
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