d101 quick review: John chapter 7

Background: Jesus feeds five thousand men (probably 10-25 thousand people total), walks on water, and speaks to the Jewish crowds who scorn Him for healing on the Sabbath. Jesus claims to be the "bread of life" (John 6:48).

Chapter 7

• Jesus goes to the Feast of the Tabernacle secretly, avoiding public eye. He chills there and hears the people speaking about Him. Obviously He's become the talk of the town. Midway through, He gets up and teaches.

• Many in the crowd come to believe in Him (v.31).

• Jewish leaders send guards to arrest Jesus.

• The crowds debate theology - they say Jesus can't be the Messiah, since He is from Galilee, and the Messiah was prophesied to be born in Bethlehem. They don't realize that Jesus was from Galilee, but was born in Bethlehem, so He actually is qualified to be the Messiah.

• On the last day of the feast, Jesus "cries out," offering to satisfy anyone that's thirsty (v.37)

We'll see what happens when the guards come to arrest Jesus in a couple weeks at Discipleship 101.

Image and likeness of God

Genesis 1:26 says we were made in the image and likeness of God. What does this mean?

This is what sets us apart from the animal world. Having his image and likeness doesn't mean Adam's body looked like God, but his body did reflect God in that it had perfect health and wasn't prone to death. When Adam sinned, that "likeness" was distorted, and we got the altered version. We are made in the image of God in 3 particular categories: mentally, morally, and socially.

Mentally: We can reason and choose. We're able to rationally think and make free choices. Unfortunately, Adam made the free choice to sin.

Morally: We were made innocent, in perfection, without sin, just like God. When Adam and Eve sinned, it perverted this. We still have the "leftovers" of this likeness though. It's called our conscience. It's why we feel guilty.

Socially: We communicate, talk, laugh, eat together, and fellowship. It's why we make friends, hug people, pray for people, and call friends. It reflects how God is in perfect fellowship and communion with Jesus and the Holy Spirit (the Trinity).

James 3:9 tells us we're still in God's likeness today, but we also clearly show the effects of sin. It's why we catch a cold (physically), get confused (mentally), sin (morally), or isolate ourselves (socially). Since sin entered the world and messed up our perfect image and likeness of God, we can't look at everything about ourselves and assume God is that way (For example, our choice to sin does not alter God's character or mean that God sins or makes mistakes). But, we can look at our existence and certain things about us and marvel at how God has given us characteristics that show us about Him.

Death of the apostles

The Bible only records one of the apostles' deaths (James), and the rest are based on historical church tradition. Think about how these guys willingly died for their belief in Jesus. Nobody is going to die for something if they know it's a lie. The apostles witnessed the resurrection of Jesus, and the fact they died the way they did is evidence of that.

- James: In Acts 12:2, King Herod had James put to death with the sword. Most say he got beheaded.

- Peter: Crucified upside-down on an X-shaped cross in Rome. He said he wasn't worthy to be crucified the same way as Jesus.

- Matthew was killed by a sword in Ethiopia.

- John was boiled in a tub of oil in Rome, but miraculously survived it. He was sent to an island called Patmos, and later was freed and returned to modern-day Turkey. He died of old age (the only disciple to die peacefully).

- James (Jesus' brother, not actually an apostle) refused to deny Jesus and was thrown from the top of a temple over 100 feet down, and survived the fall. They found out he was still alive and beat him to death with clubs.

- Bartholomew was beat to death with a whip.

- Andrew was crucified on an X-shaped cross in Greece, and was still preaching to the people that were crucifying him up until his death.

- Thomas was stabbed by a spear in India.

- Matthias was stoned and then had his head cut off (he replaced Judas as a disciple).

- Paul was beheaded by Nero in the year 67 in Rome.

The other apostles' deaths don't have reliable historical support.

7 reasons to believe Jesus is God

1. John 10:30 - If you don't think Jesus' statement here is a claim to be God, check out the Jews' reaction to this statement in John 10:33. They say they're stoning Him because He claims to be God. Notice that Jesus never corrects them.

2. John 8:58 - Jesus again claims to be God, and again the Jews try to stone Him.

3. John 1:1 says the Word was God, and John 1:14 says the Word became flesh.

4. Acts 20:28 says God bought the church with His own blood. That blood, of course, belonging to Jesus.

5. John 20:28 - Thomas addresses Jesus as Lord and God, and Jesus doesn't correct him. Jesus receives worship plenty of times in Scripture, and never scolded anyone for it. If Jesus wasn't God, He would've told people not to worship Him or call Him God, similar to when the angel in Revelation 19:10 received worship and told the people to worship God, not the angel.

6. Titus 2:13 and 2 Peter 1:1 both straight up say Jesus is God and Savior.

7. Jesus had to be God to pay the infinite penalty of sin on the cross. This is the biggest reason. If He wasn't God, his death wouldn't be sufficient to pay for the entire world's sins. Only an infinite God could pay such an infinite debt.

What age will we be in heaven?

The Bible doesn't explicitly give us the answer to this question. If a man dies at 95, he won't enter heaven as a 95 year old man because the effects of aging and time bringing us closer to death are all from sin, something that heaven is free of. In the same way, an aborted baby won't enter heaven as an 8 pound cutie crying "goo goo gah gah." We'll be made perfect, flawless and Christ-like without any trace of sin or its effects on us.

Some people say the age is around 30. Others say 33, since that's about the age Jesus was when He died. Personally, I don't really think age will be a concept in heaven like it is here. No sin means no aging toward death and full comprehension of God, so if we had to translate it into an apparent age for our minds to grasp, it'd probably be between 20-40. I think everybody will be in what athletes call their "prime," meaning their ideal age, which would vary from person to person.

1 John 2:26

5 points on demons

1. When Satan fell from heaven, he took one-third of the angels with him (Revelation 12:4)

2. They're pesky, pretend to be good, and can appear in physical forms (2nd Corinthians 11:14-15)

3. Demons are described as evil spirits (Matthew 10:1)

4. Demons decieve us and attack us (2nd Corinthians 4:4, 2nd Corinthians 12:7)

5. Demons fight against holy angels (Revelation 12:4-9)

Watch your back.

Prosperity Gospel

There is something dangerous going around that's becoming popular, and it's called the prosperity gospel. This belief system teaches that Christians will be blessed with health and wealth if they are in favor with God. You may have heard of a preacher named Joel Osteen. He is a main advocate of this theology, and he preaches to over 7 million viewers weekly through his media on and offline (source). He's crazy popular, but unfortunately, not crazy biblical.

The Bible nowhere promises believers prosperity by terms of this world, or health and wealth. In fact, Paul warns Timothy against this very thing in 1 Timothy 6:5. He says godliness is not a means of gain. Prosperity gospel teaches that the favors you demand of God are to be stated positively and confidently, and that those words have creative power. See, God's ability to bless us doesn't hang on our faith. Who do we think we are making demands of God? I'm not saying it's wrong to pray for a prosperous life, but it becomes dangerous when your faith is dependent on that. If you're wealthy, healthy and living a good life with a strong faith, what happens when bumps in the road come along, or all that is stripped away? Where is God then? Your faith vanishes.

Getting sick, sin, and failing are all the result of a lack of faith according to this belief. This place is fallen, which means our lives are going to include suffering. This life and suffering go together. Jesus was homeless for periods of time, poor, betrayed, abused, mocked, and beaten up. So according to this gospel, if we have enough faith in Jesus, we won't be like Him?

The emphasis of this gospel on gaining money and possessions in this life is not biblical. Check out Matthew 6:19. Jesus is saying, why would you store up all this expensive stuff here on earth where it can just be taken from you, rust away, or be eaten up? It's pointless.

If you've heard of this issue, please post your thoughts.