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Who Has Believed Our Report?
If Jesus really was the Jewish messiah, then why did his own people end up rejecting him? Well, as we have seen throughout the Gospel of John, though Jesus was ultimately rejected by the Judaean authorities (Jn. 1:11), many Jews in his day did end up believing in him (Jn. 7:31, 8:30, 10:42, etc.). But, as we’ll see on this program, the fact that the messiah would end up being despised and rejected was actually something that the prophet Isaiah described centuries in advance.
26 If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
27 “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”29 The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”30 Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. 31 Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”33 He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.34 So the crowd answered him, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?”35 So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.36 While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” (John 12:26-36)
Show Quote:
“We’re sort of at a transition point in John’s Gospel where up to this point, Jesus has been on trial constantly, and everyone’s debating who is this guy, and some understand him, and some don’t. There’s a lot of confusion about it and at this point now, Jesus prays, and when the Father speaks, he sort of vindicates the word of Christ. “I’m on his side, so now, if you disagree with Jesus, you disagree with me.” As Jesus will say later on, “If you have the Father, you have me. If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father. If you disagree with me, you disagree with the Father.”” – Bob Hiller
Term to Learn:
“Work of the Holy Spirit in Sanctification”
The Holy Spirit has not only a personality of his own, but also a distinctive method of working; and therefore we should distinguish between the work of Christ in meriting salvation and the work of the Holy Spirit in applying it. Christ met the demands of divine justice and merited all the blessings of salvation. But it is through the agency of the Holy Spirit that Christ’s work is put in possession of those for whom he laid down his life.
The Holy Spirit originates, maintains, develops, and guides the new life. He overcomes and destroys the power of sin, renews man in the image of God, enables him to render spiritual obedience to God, to be the salt of the earth, and the light of the world. Though this work stands out as the work of the Holy Spirit, it cannot be separated from the work of Christ (John 16:13,14). The Holy Spirit’s work is rooted in Christ’s work. (Adapted from Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, p. 426)
(This podcast is by White Horse Inn. Discovered by Christian Podcast Central and our community — copyright is owned by the publisher, not Christian Podcast Central, and audio is streamed directly from their servers.)