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Sunday March 26, 2023 The Gospel of John Week 12– John 3:1-21 Pt 2 “What Great Love, What Great Tension”

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Sunday – March 26, 2023

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Word On Worship – Sunday – March 26, 2023

John 3:16-18
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

They say that familiarity breeds contempt, but it also can breed boredom. That means that when we come to a verse like John 3:16, which is likely the most familiar verse in the Bible, we are in danger of thinking, “Yes, thanks for reminding me of how lovable I am.” But, “God so loved the world” was just plain shocking! John wants us to understand that God’s love goes beyond the Jews to Gentiles from “every tribe and tongue and people and nation” (Rev. 5:9). And, His love extends even to those who are His committed enemies (Matt. 5:43-45; Rom. 5:6-8, 10).

The Bible speaks of the love of God in many distinguishable ways.  There is the peculiar love of the Father for the Son, and of the Son for the Father (John 3:35; 5:20; 14:31). There is God’s providential love over all that He has made (Gen. 1; Matt. 6). Also, there is God’s particular, effective, selecting love toward His elect (Deut. 7:7-8; Eph. 1:4-5). And there is God’s conditional love toward His own people, based on their obedience (John 14:21; Jude 21; Ps. 103:9-11, 13, 17-18). Should you take any one of these aspects of God’s love and try to force all the other biblical references into that one mold, you sacrifice sound exegesis of those texts and your understanding of God’s love.

A balanced view of God’s great love should rightly affirm that Christ died for all, in the sense that Christ’s death was sufficient for all and that Scripture portrays God as inviting and desiring the salvation of all, out of His great love. But this also requires us also to confess that Christ Jesus, in the intent of God, died effectively for the elect alone, in line with the way the Bible speaks of God’s special selecting love for the elect. This is the tension we find in the complexity and beauty of God’s love.

In practical terms, this means that we can tell unbelievers that God loves them so much that He sent His only Son to die for their sins, if they will repent and believe in Christ. At the same time we should warn them that if they do not believe in Christ, they are still under God’s righteous judgment (John 3:18, 36), which will be finalized for all eternity if they die in unbelief. And, since we know that none are able to repent and believe in Christ unless God grants it (John 6:44, 65; Acts 11:18), we should be praying as we proclaim the gospel that He would be merciful in opening their blind eyes and imparting new life to them so that they can repent and believe.

Sunday March 19, 2023 The Gospel of John Week 11– John 3:1-21 Pt 1 “Why Religion Can’t Save”

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Sunday – March 19, 2023

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Word On Worship – Sunday – March 19, 2023

John 3:3
Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.

One of the greatest lies that Satan has foisted on the human race is that religion can save you. By “religion,” I mean adherence to the beliefs and practices of a religion in the hope that your performance will gain you right standing with God. Whether it is Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, or even Christianity, there have always been millions who mistakenly thought that obedience to their religion would earn them eternal life.

The four Gospels make it clear that the most difficult people to reach with the gospel are not the notoriously wicked, but rather the outwardly religious. There are numerous accounts of corrupt tax collectors and immoral people coming to salvation. They knew that they were sinners and that they could not save themselves. But it was the religious crowd that opposed Jesus and eventually crucified Him. They were blind to their own sins of pride and self-righteousness. Their religion served not to save them, but to condemn them.

But Jesus Christ did not come to promote religion. He did not flatter those who were religious by saying that He was glad to see their religious activities and that He, too, was a religious person. When the religious leaders complained that Jesus socialized with sinners, He replied (Luke 5:31-32), “It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” The important thing with the Lord is what is in our hearts. He sees and judges “the thoughts and intentions of our hearts” (Heb. 4:12-13).

I must ask you friends, “Are you a Christian, or are you just religious?” If you take the words of our Lord seriously, there is a great difference between those who are religious and those who are reborn from above. Nicodemus was as lost as the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4). Hell will be populated by many people who are “religious,” who have trusted in their religion to save them, rather than trusting in Christ alone.. He came down from heaven, and He was lifted up on a cross to bear the penalty of your sins and mine. He was raised from the dead and exalted to the right hand of God. He offers to us His righteousness and His life. If you trust in Him, rather than in yourself, you will be reborn from above, and this way you can be assured that you will see the kingdom of God.

Sunday March 12, 2023 The Gospel of John Week 10– John 2:23 to 25 “Second Class Faith”

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Sunday – March 12, 2023

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Word On Worship – Sunday – March 12, 2023

John 2:23-24
Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing. But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men…

In our text we read about a situation where many believed in Jesus, but Jesus didn’t believe in them. The word translated “entrusting” is the same Greek verb as “believed” (2:23). We could rightly translate it, “Many believed in Jesus, but Jesus didn’t believe in them.”  We have to remember John’s purpose for writing his gospel was (20:31), “so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.” So, why would Jesus refuse to entrust Himself to those who believed in Him?

The disciples may have been initially enthused over the response of the people and then puzzled by Jesus’ seemingly aloof response to them: “If He’s the Messiah, why doesn’t He welcome all of these people who are believing in His name?” The reason was that He could see their hearts. He knew that their faith was based on seeing the miracles that He performed, but they weren’t repenting of their sins and trusting in Him as their Savior from sin.

They really didn’t understand the truth about who Jesus is and what He came to do. Like Nicodemus, they probably thought, “We’re good Jews. We’re God’s chosen people.” They didn’t understand that they were sinners who needed a Savior. These people were impressed with Jesus. They had seen Him cleanse the temple and thought, “He must be a great prophet!” They had seen Him do miracles and thought, “He must be a great man of God!” But they didn’t understand that Jesus came to impart the new birth or that they even needed the new birth.

Because Jesus fully knows the hearts of all men, He does not entrust Himself to those whose faith is second class. There is a tension here, which we cannot overlook or deny. On the one hand, we have nothing to commend us to God. He does not choose to save us because of what we are, what we have done, or for what we can do for His kingdom. He chooses the weak and the foolish things to confound the wise. On the other hand, God does look on the heart. He rejected Saul and He chose David, not because of his stature or his good looks, but because of his heart. The issue here is not God’s choice of men for salvation, but His choice of men for intimate fellowship and ministry with Him. May He find us faithful, so that we find Him entrusting Himself to us, intimately communing with us, teaching and guiding us, so that we may proclaim His mercy and grace to a lost and dying world.

Sunday March 5, 2023 The Gospel of John Week 9– John 2:12-22 “Jesus Cleans House”

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Sunday – March 5, 2023

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Word On Worship – Sunday – March 5, 2023

John 2:15-16
And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; and to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.”

All of us have owned something we consider very special, something we would not wish to be “defiled” by misuse. Whatever this precious object may be, it could not be as precious to us as the “temple” was to our Lord. John considered this incident one of the more significant actions of our Lord at the outset of His public ministry. Our task is to learn why this is true, and what the temple cleansing has to do with men and women living centuries later.

John does not focus on the way in which these merchandisers go about their business, but rather on where they are conducting their business—in the temple courts. The Gospel of Mark’s Gospel takes up this theme as well, pointing out that “where” these businessmen are doing business interferes with an essential purpose of the temple. The temple was to be a “house of prayer for all nations” (Mark 11:17). The outer courts of the temple are the only places where Gentiles could worship, they were not allowed to pass beyond a certain point (Acts 21:27-30). Can you imagine trying to pray in the midst of a virtual stockyard, with all the noises of the animals and the bickering businessmen? Think of what it would be like to have to watch where you walked, lest you step in something undesirable?

What Jesus sees going on in the temple courts troubles Him a great deal! The place of prayer has become a place of profit-taking.  It appears that Gentile worship is functionally prohibited, and I doubt this troubled many of the Jews, who were not excited about including the Gentiles in their worship in the first place. It sounds more like the trading floor of a stock exchange than the outer courts of the temple of God. It smells more like a barnyard than the place where one would seek God’s presence. Jesus enters the outer court of the temple, fashioning a whip from materials at hand and proceeds to drive the vendors all out of the temple area.

Many like to think of Jesus as a “God of love,” who never criticizes, never judges, never condemns, whose calling is to affirm everyone and to make them happy. I must remind you the way our Lord chose to publicly reveal Himself to the world was not by the turning of water into wine, or by raising the dead or healing the sick; Jesus revealed Himself to Israel as her Messiah by His cleansing of the temple. I would remind you that while John the Baptist foretold the coming of one who was the “Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world,” he likewise urged men and women to repent, because the Messiah was coming to judge the world. The Jesus of the Bible, the “real Jesus,” is the One who is merciful and gracious to those who trust and obey and the One who will judge those who resist and reject Him.

Sunday February 26, 2023 The Gospel of John Week 8– John 2:1-11 “The First Sign”

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Sunday – February 26, 2023

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Word On Worship – Sunday – February 26, 2023

John 2:11
This, the first of His miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed His glory, and His disciples put their faith in Him.

The Miracle at Canna is an interesting event in that there is no mention of who bride or groom were or their families. There is no mention of how the wedding party or the guests responded to the miracle, if they even knew about it. Jesus didn’t call all the guests around and like a magician have someone confirm that it was only water in the pots. Then, “Abracadabra,” He had them taste it again. Everyone marveled, “Wow! How’d He do that?” In fact, so far as John reports, Jesus didn’t even touch the waterpots or pray. The focus is not on the spectacular part of the miracle, but on Christ and His glory. Those who had eyes to see knew what He did and believed in Him.

John calls this miracle a “sign” pointing to something beyond itself, namely, to Jesus and what He came to do. It was an actual historical event—if you had been there, you could have tasted the new wine after the miracle. But the miracle is like a parable, in that you have to think about the meaning behind it. With some of the other miracles that John reports, the significance is more obvious. In chapter 6, Jesus feeds the 5,000 and then proclaims (6:35), “I am the bread of life.” In 8:12 He claims, “I am the light of the world,” and then in chapter 9 He opens the eyes of a man born blind. In 11:25, He asserts, “I am the resurrection and the life,” and then He raises Lazarus from the dead.

But here there is no explanation to tell us the significance or deeper meaning of the miracle. We see empty waterpots that were used for the Jewish custom of purification filled with the new wine that Jesus gives. And, we have John’s statement that this sign manifested Jesus’ glory with the result that His disciples believed in Him. Remember John’s purpose for writing these “signs” in John 20:30-31. The result of this miracle is that His disciples believed in Him. They had already believed, but for John faith isn’t a “one-time and you’re done” sort of thing. You believe in Christ at the moment of salvation, but you go on believing more and more as you see more of who He is.

Some here may be like these waterpots: empty or only partially full with the water of religion, but you’re lacking the joy of knowing Jesus as your Savior from sin and judgment. The solution is to believe in Him as your Savior and Lord. Others of us may have believed in Christ as Savior, but we’re not experiencing the abundant joy of the salvation He has given to us. We need to see more of His glory so that we believe in Him again and again. Jesus wants to change the water of dead religion into the joyous, abundant wine of His kingdom rule.

Sunday February 19, 2023 The Gospel of John Week 7– John 1:35-51 “What Makes a Disciple of Jesus?”

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Sunday – February 19, 2023

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Word On Worship – Sunday – February 19, 2023

John 1:40-42
One of the two who heard John speak and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He found first his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which translated means Christ). He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John; you shall be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).

When our Lord came to the earth, He came in human flesh. He came to live among men, and in particular to associate Himself closely with a few men. The Marines would like us to say, “He associated Himself with ‘A few good men.’” Although there were a few men, they were not what we would call good men. They were not all top caliber men, the kind of men who would succeed at anything to they set their hand. Neither Andrew nor Philip seems to be a great “catch,” from what we see of them in the Book of John. Maybe they were “out of their depth.” Simon is destined to become “the rock,” but this is not due to any qualities that lie dormant and untapped within him. While Peter becomes a “rock,” it is largely in spite of what is in him. It is the result of what God does in and through him.

This text and others that speak of the “calling” of the twelve should challenge our belief that Jesus chose these men to be His disciples because of what they could and would do for His kingdom. If Jesus chose the twelve because of what they would do for the kingdom, why is it that we see so little of most of the twelve in the Book of Acts? Why do men like Stephen and Philip play such a prominent role in the expansion of the church? God’s choice of the twelve was His sovereign choice, as He has always chosen those to enter into fellowship with Himself. Do not feel as though you were “out of your depth” when you attempt to carry out the commands of Christ. Our Lord chose the “weak things” of this world to be His disciples, so that it would be very clear that He is the source of their later success.

Jesus is never surprised about those whom He chooses to save and to follow Him. He knew what He was getting in Simon (Peter), because He knew what Simon was, and because He knew what He was going to accomplish in and through Simon. He knew what was in Philip and Nathanael, James and John. He knows what is in us when He saves us. He also knows what He will do in and through us, by His grace and power. God is never surprised, because He knows all. He knows our character and our weaknesses and strengths. Most of all, He knows what He has purposed to achieve in us, and He will achieve it: “For I am sure of this very thing, that the one who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6).

Sunday February 12, 2023 The Gospel of John Week 6– John 1:29-34 “Just Who Is Jesus”

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Sunday – February 12, 2023

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Word On Worship – Sunday – February 12, 2023

John 1:32-33
John testified saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. “I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’

John’s Gospel alone explains the significance of our Lord’s baptism to John the Baptist. All the time John has been preaching, telling the Israelites that the Messiah is coming, the Baptist has not known the identity of Messiah for certain. As mentioned, John may have had his suspicions, but he does not have absolute proof. That proof comes at the baptism of Jesus. One day, John the Baptist is proclaiming to the people of Israel that Messiah is among them—but not yet identified. The next day, John is pointing to Jesus, testifying that He is the Messiah—the One of whom he has been speaking, and declaring, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

John is marked by humility, but this does not prevent him from preaching with boldness. John’s message is not watered down to please his audience. He speaks against sin, whether it be that of tax-gatherers or soldiers or even Herod himself. He clearly identifies sin, condemns it, and calls for repentance. This boldness is not a contradiction to his humility, but a manifestation of it. He is inferior and subordinate to his Lord, the Messiah. He would do no less than proclaim that message with boldness and clarity. There are those today, as there have always been, who water down the gospel, and leave out the hard words which define and condemn sin, and which call for repentance. Those who do so think they are doing the gospel a favor by making the message more appealing. In fact, they are emasculating it.

What made the dramatic difference in the Baptist’s preaching from one day to the next? It is what John the Baptist saw and heard at the baptism of our Lord. When, under protest, John baptizes Jesus, he sees the Spirit descend upon Him and remain upon Him. He hears the voice of the Father from heaven, declaring Jesus to be His beloved Son, in whom He is well pleased. He now knows for certain who the Messiah is, and from this point on, He refers to Jesus as God’s Messiah, the Son of God.

John is an example of a man of faith, the kind of person every Christian should be. Faith believes in what God has promised, rather than in what we now see. Faith lives in the present, in light of the future God has told us is certain. Faith is willing to suffer now in order to enter into God’s glory for all eternity. John spends a good deal of his time in public ministry speaking about a person whose identity he does not know for certain. He speaks a great deal about a Person who is going to come, who is even then present, but not identified, trusting that God will reveal Him. This is faith. And this is the very same kind of faith each of us is called to exercise.

Sunday February 5, 2023 The Gospel of John Week 5 – John 1:19-28 “Pointing the Way to Jesus”

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Word On Worship – Sunday – February 5, 2023

John 1:19-20
This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”

Can you imagine Abraham leaving his family and homeland and setting out for an undisclosed place far away from home? Or think of how Moses felt leaving his father-in-law’s flocks in the wilderness and going to Egypt to confront Pharaoh and demand that he let God’s people go. Think of what it would have been like for the Israelite priests to step into the Red Sea, trusting God to somehow make a path through the sea to the other side.

Now place yourself in the sandals and camel hair suit of John the Baptist. God commands you to go out and to begin calling the nation Israel to repentance, announcing that the Messiah is soon to be revealed. You are not even certain at the time just who the Messiah is—or how He is to be revealed. You are to preach in the wilderness, so that all who want to hear you must come out of the city and into the wilderness. You have never even performed so much as one miracle. Can you imagine faithfully preaching a message of repentance in preparation for Messiah, as John the Baptist did, without even knowing the name of the one about whom you were preaching?

By nearly any standard, one would have to admit that John is “unique.” He dressed strangely, wearing a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt. His diet consisted of locusts and wild honey (Mark 1:6). He kept the Nazarite vow, refraining from wine and strong drink (Luke 1:15; 7:33-34). Filled with the Holy Spirit from the womb (Luke 1:15, 40-41), he was a man of prayer, who taught his disciples to pray (Luke 5:33; 11:1).

John the Baptist is to Jesus in this Gospel what Barnabas is to Paul in the Book of Acts. Both these men have their time of prominence and visibility. Both prepare the way for the one who comes after them, who surpasses them. Perhaps it is best to say that John is most like his Master, the Lord Jesus, who is the model for all who would serve others in humility. In a day when individualism, competition and success are the guiding principles for life, for work, and even for Christian ministry, we would do well to reflect on the spirit of humility so evident in the life of John the Baptist.

Sunday January 29, 2023 The Gospel of John Week 4 – John 1:14-18 “Now in Flesh Appearing”

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Sunday – January 29, 2023

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Word On Worship – Sunday – January 29, 2023

John 1:14
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

This verse is the climax of all that John has been leading up to in his prologue. Up to this point, we have been told that “the Word” is a person who is eternal, who is in fact a member of the Godhead. He was there at creation; indeed, He was the Creator. He is distinct from, yet intimately in fellowship with, God the Father. He is the source of light and life. He is the One to whom John the Baptist bore witness, foretelling His appearance. He is the One whom His own people rejected, but those who receive Him become children of God. Those who do become God’s children do so not out of human volition or effort; they are divinely “conceived.”

Until now, the One John has been introducing to us has been identified only as “the Word.” This “Word” is also the “Light” which shines upon men. Illumination can occur from a great distance, as the light of the sun shines on us from afar. But John is now about to tell us an astounding fact: the “Word” became flesh and lived among men. Here is something absolutely unique to human history. In the pagan religions, the “gods” have come down to the earth in some form, but never was there an incarnation like that of our Lord.

It’s safe to say that every major cult and heresy has deviated from the biblical revelation of who Jesus Christ really is. They have erred either with regard to His deity or His humanity or the relationship between His two natures. It is as damning to believe in the wrong Jesus as to believe in no Jesus.   John could have said, “The Word became man,” or, “The Word took on a human body.” But the word “flesh” jars you with its bluntness. In one short, shattering expression John unveils the great idea at the heart of Christianity that the very Word of God took flesh for man’s salvation.

The supreme mystery with which the gospel confronts us does not lie in the Easter message of resurrection, but in the Christmas message of incarnation. The staggering Christian claim is that Jesus of Nazareth was God made man—that the second person of the Godhead took humanity without loss of deity, so that Jesus of Nazareth was as truly and fully divine as He was human. God became man; the divine Son became a Jew; the Almighty appeared on earth as a helpless human baby, unable to do more than wriggle and make noises, needing to be fed and changed and taught to talk like any other child. And there was no illusion or deception in this: the babyhood of the Son of God was a reality. The more you think about it, the more staggering it gets. Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as is this truth of the incarnation.

Sunday January 22, 2023 The Gospel of John Week 3 – John 1:6-13 “Witness to the Light”

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Sunday – January 22, 2023

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Word On Worship – Sunday – January 22, 2023

John 1:6-8
There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.

The Apostle John turns our attention to John the Baptist. John the Baptist was a very prominent and respected individual. Many came to him to hear him preach, even though his message was a call to repentance. They were content to follow John, and even open to the possibility that he was the Messiah: “While the people were filled with anticipation, and they all pondered in their hearts whether perhaps John could be the Christ” (Luke 3:15). The amazing thing about John the Baptist is that he never performed a miracle or a sign; he only preached and baptized.

John the Apostle was the second disciple of John the Baptist who left him to follow Jesus (John 1:35-42), so it is little wonder that the writer of this Gospel has something to say about John the Baptist. It is interesting that the Apostle John does not refer to the Baptist as “John the Baptist,” but simply as “John.” The emphasis is not on John as a “baptizer,” but on John as a “witness.” John came as a witness to the “light,” that all men might put their trust in Him. John the Baptist was not the light, but only a witness to the light.

John the Baptist’s task was to bear witness to the “light.” His mission was the same as his disciple, John the Apostle: to focus his ministry on the One, so that men might come to believe in Him for salvation. The “light” to which John had been bearing witness had not dawned as yet, nor had Jesus yet been identified as that “light.” John could only speak of the “light” as One who was coming, One who was yet to be revealed. When John tells us that Jesus is the “light,” he is telling us that our Lord is the fulfillment of Israel’s hopes, realized in Messiah, who was symbolized and characterized by light in the Old Testament. Jesus is the “true light,” that is, the final consummation of that “light” foreshadowed in the Old Testament.

This One John has been introducing is Jesus Christ. He is the One of whom John the Baptist bore witness. He is the One who is greater than all. He is greater than John the Baptist; He existed before him. He is greater than the law. He is “full of grace and truth” (verse 14). The law was a revelation of God, written in stone. The Lord Jesus Christ is the revelation of God, manifest in human flesh, who tabernacled among men. He is the full and final revelation of God.