In context, Jesus had healed a man on the Sabbath, but certain Jews accused Jesus of breaking the Sabbath. They also disapproved of him for calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. So, Jesus defended himself to them, letting them know even further that he was the Son of God, and that he was/is God, and that he had the power of life and death, and the power to raise the dead, and to give life, and the power to forgive people their sins and to grant them eternal life with God.
And then he said to them:
John 5:39-44 ESV
“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. I do not receive glory from people. But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?”
Now I am not going to go into all this history, but I am being led of the Lord to relate this to our world and to the church and to the Christian culture of our present day, specifically where I live in America. But you can apply it however it applies to wherever you live. And some of this may not have exact parallels, but the overall lesson still applies, but as is fitting to what is going on in our day and time, which may be somewhat different from what was happening in their situation in their day and time.
Now, when Jesus stated that these people searched the Scriptures, it is true that these were people who were students of the Scriptures, yet obviously not in the power of God, not really listening to God’s voice to hear what God wanted to teach them, or else they would have seen that Jesus was the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Scriptures regarding the Christ, who is the Messiah who was to come. And they would have welcomed him as the Christ and as their Lord and Messiah. But they opposed him, instead.
So, what is our situation today? From what I have observed and read and witnessed and heard, not too many people today are diligently and passionately searching the Scriptures. Many are relying on short devotionals and quick videos and social media memes and preacher’s sermons and movies and some TV drama series and cartoons and song lyrics, etc. to tell them what the Scriptures teach instead of taking the time to read the Scriptures in their context and to search the Scriptures for truth.
But whether they are like the Jewish leaders and rulers and influencers of Jesus’ day who were diligent students of the Scriptures, yet absent of the direction of God in their learning, or if they are those who are seeking their truth in so many different avenues, including in Scriptures taught outside their context which are being altered and twisted to say what the Scriptures do not teach in context, the result is still the same. For they are relying on human flesh to tell them what is truth instead of listening to God.
And so they are not seeing what Jesus wants them to see. And they are not seeing him for who he really is. And they are not receiving the Jesus of the Bible, in many cases, but they are receiving another Jesus similar to biblical Jesus but altered in character in order to make him more acceptable to human flesh and to the ungodly of this world. And they are accepting a different gospel which has also been altered to appease human flesh and in order to not offend the world, because they want to draw in the world.
And so they literally refuse the truth of the Scriptures, and they refuse the Jesus of the Scriptures, and they refuse the gospel of Christ as taught by Christ and by his NT apostles, which are recorded for us in the Scriptures. For they are listening to and believing humans over God, and the teachings of humans over the teachings of the Scriptures. And if someone comes to them teaching the truth, they refuse that person, too. For they like to hear those who say only what makes them feel good, so they receive them.
And Jesus said to those who were opposing him that they refused to come to him that they may have life. And this is true today of many who profess that they have come to faith in Jesus Christ, because the faith they profess is not biblical faith. For true biblical faith is authored and perfected by Jesus Christ, and it is gifted to us by God, and it is persuaded of God. And it is not of our own doing, not of the will of man nor of the will of the flesh, but of the will of God in conformity to his commands under the New Covenant.
[Hebrews 12:1-2; Ephesians 2:8-10; John 6:44; John 1:12-13]
For Jesus said that if anyone would come after him, he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin) and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to our old lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if for the sake of Jesus we deny self, die daily to sin and to self, and we follow him in obedience to his commands, then we have eternal life. And he said that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one DOING the will of God the Father in heaven.
[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
When I Go Home
By G. M. Eldridge
“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes…” Revelation 21:4
In the moment He appears
And the light from heaven shines,
I’ll forget ev’ry fear,
Ev’ry pain I’ll leave behind.
Then I’ll see Him as He is
And I’ll know Him as I’m known.
Ev’ry tear wiped away when I go home.
Ever present is the tho’t
That a moment waits for me
When unworthy as I am,
His glory I will see.
I will empty all my praise
Before my Father’s throne.
Ev’ry tear wiped away when I go home.
If the trial I endure,
And your presence I can’t find,
Be near me, Lord, I pray,
Bring back unto my mind
That your promises are firm
And I’m never on my own.
Ev’ry tear wiped away when I go home.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z98Zvr1CyXg
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