Grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. John 1:15-17

This next section of Scripture strikes me odd; odd because the Apostle Paul was the man who taught us about grace, and yet here is a witness to John the Baptist saying, “grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.”

Paul would have been the most unlikely character to teach us grace as he seemed to have no comprehension of what grace was, and, was willing to have those who showed an acceptance of this man Jesus put to death. So where did Paul learn of grace, a theme by-the-way that is integrated all throughout the Law and the Prophets? From Jesus himself, a process that began on the road to Damascus.

Now, here we are, in a sense, listening to the words of the Apostle John, as he defines John the Baptist. A man, for whom we are given no record of where he came to understand this grace he testified to. But we do have a piece of evidence that evades most people, and that is that John the Baptist, was filled with the baptism of the Holy Spirit while still in his mother's womb. For the skeptics, I give you scripture to back up my statement.

Luke 1:15 NASB "For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother's womb.

Speaking religiously, how would John the Baptist know what to do with such a gift and how would he have the restraint to control the outlandish outbursts often associated with those who are filled with the Holy Spirit? Why do we have presumptions that the Holy Spirit must be constrained? Do you actually believe that God is incapable of controlling those who are His?

Between John the Baptist and Jesus, what then was the common factor? If you said the baptism of the Holy Spirit, you would have been right. John himself witnessed the event.

Luke 3:21-22 NASB Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus was also baptized, and while He was praying, heaven was opened, 22) and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, "You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased."

Continuing on our trek through the Gospel of John we have come to John 1:15-17.

John 1:15-17 NASB John *testified about Him and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.'" 16) For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. 17) For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.

As always, I find myself looking for clarity. The Easy to Read version meets that need.

John 1:15 ERV John told people about him. He said loudly, "This is the one I was talking about when I said, 'The one who is coming after me is greater than I am, because he was living before I was even born.'"

Every nationality and language have it's own peculiar catch phrases meant to give emphasis to a point being made. One I have heard lately sounds not so dissimilar to this: “This is the one I was talking about!” The phrase is usually associated with some vigorous hand waving and body language.

I feel like I have previously covered this ground when I ask, what did John the Baptist say about Jesus to the crowds that gathered around him? Since the word testify (the Greek word martureō) means to bear witness, testify, and attest to, you might think that John's accounts would be those drawn from personal experience. But here we have a problem because we have a passage of scripture that could imply one of two things:

• That John the Baptist did not know him. When you consider that this was a time with no cell phones, no Facebook, and no rapid transportation. You would have been deemed wealthy to have a ridable animal. Therefore maintaining communication between relatives meant you had to walk thirty miles to visit. Since most good Jews would make it to Jerusalem once, a year it most likely meant you got together with family.

John 1:31 NASB "I did not recognize Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water."

• Or, the Greek is merely conveying that John did not perceive all that Jesus would become. Recognize is the Greek word oida; to have seen or perceived, hence to know: - to appreciate, or be aware.

One of the arguments moving toward John's imperception would be the tremendous grief Jesus felt when John was beheaded.

Matthew 14:13 NASB Now when Jesus heard about John, He withdrew from there in a boat to a secluded place by Himself; and when the people heard of this, they followed Him on foot from the cities.

We do not see Jesus acting this way with anyone else but Lazarus.

'He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.'

Consider that statement for a moment. It conveys someone yet to come, and I can understand that on several levels. But what of this aspect, "He existed before me."

John seemed to know that Jesus ministry was about to bloom, but he had no precise definition of what that would look like. Having pointed out John's statement "I did not perceive him," tells us that John was not aware of God's plan for Jesus. Since we know that Herod brought the Chief Priests before him, to explain the star in the east and why these Magi and their entourage were coming to Jerusalem, those same religious leaders defined, from the Torah and Tenach, that the Messiah would come out of the City of David, among other things.

Keep in mind the relative scarcity of written materials and how each "book" was an original scroll held at the synagogue as though they were museum pieces. Each would have been very precious and valuable. So, regular attendees at Synagogue would only have the spoken word, read to them, and then expounded upon by those particular teachers who profoundly argued interpretation. Teaching would have been entirely verbal, and surprisingly, every Jewish boy would have been expected to memorize those same scriptures.

"He existed before me."

Does this imply that John understood that Jesus took not only a role in creation but was personally invested in the lives of the Jewish father's throughout the history of the chosen people? A concept deeply embedded in John's thinking, as well as that of his Jewish audience.

How many different ways can you attempt to wrap your mind around this idea that someone had already been or been here, and yet, coming once again? This scenario is what many see as the basis for science fiction. The major difference, though, this is for real. Apologetics uses scripture, logic, and science to prove that what we believe is real. For me, I had to look at the things Jesus said, and then did, for my proof. In all honesty, I do this frequently. So then, He who was before me, will, not only come after me but again for all to see.

“For of His fullness we have all received,”

What does the NASB mean by fullness? Fullness comes from the Greek word plērōma and means repletion or completion, fullness, a filling up.

Alright, you lost me with the word repletion. Repletion is "The state of being completely filled; or superabundant fullness. In medicine, it conveys the fullness of blood, as in you having all you needed for the time being.

If I only look at my life, there are far too many times I would not or could not say that I was close to being completely filled. I would also have to ask, filled with what? If the answer is the Holy Spirit, then I am not sure I am filled enough because I do not act like “prophets” such as Kim Clement, or demonstrate the gift of healing like Benny Hinn.

Maybe that is not what he is talking about when he says, “For of His fullness we have all received,” perhaps this is referring to His life and the changes that happen within when we accept Jesus Christ as our own. The problem here is that we are looking for something associated with a feeling, and not finding that feeling we think we have not been “saved.”

Having grown up in church, I think I found my fullness, long before I learned the fine art of sinning. Isn't that a crazy way of looking at things. Since the idea behind “sin” is missing the mark (an old English term for missing the bulls-eye while target shooting), treating sin as a fine art would certainly imply that I practiced missing. If I spent my life without Christ and therefore no inner peace, then finding my fullness in Him would feel dramatically different than if I grew up under the umbrella of safety and was accustomed to many of the feelings associated with a life in the Spirit. Without all the dramatic feelings makes me wonder sometimes. This lack of feeling is precisely why I said, I remind myself of what Jesus Christ did for me, who I am, and what my hope is in – a future with the Father, in peace and safety.

What is the bottom line for me on this aspect?

Because Jesus Christ was obedient, all that was necessary for my peace and yes, I am going to say it, eternal security with Him, was accomplished. In my spiritual walk, there is nothing more for me to do, unless I have these moments when I feel that I have lost my way. I have not, but my head doesn't seem to know it at those moments; however, my spirit does and recognizes His voice as he gently calls me back to Him.

What was the Apostle Paul's example to us?

He cried out for the Lord to remove some tortuous aspect from his life. The Spirits response was, My grace is sufficient for you. I do not see this as a negative, but a reminder that Jesus life in Him, was the fullness and Paul had received it already. Wow, we really are well equipped if we would accept it. You will find this story in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

“and grace upon grace. 17) For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.”

So God just keeps pouring out His love upon us; hence, grace upon grace and all of this is realized through Jesus Christ. Maybe this is why Jesus said, no one comes to the Father, but through me. This fullness and sufficient grace are only found in Him.

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To those that live by the letter of the law, that means nothing! John 1:14

Is was not that long ago that my fiancee's mom died. Fortunately, she had a living trust put in place, and with only two siblings it was to be a clean 50/50 split. Being the novice that I am, I assumed that everything would go just peachy; it did not, and the brother quickly demanded the sale of the house so that he could get his half. I don't know what motivated him; I can speculate but that rarely produces any positive outcome on my part, so I stay out of that realm as much as possible. I just know that with my fiancee as the “executor,” she had little power. The position primarily it forced her and me to work fast. We had to work quickly for two reasons:

1. There are time frames you must work within. The time frames are liberal enough, but anything with stress added can have you pulling your hair out.
2. We live in California, and California seems to have gone crazy as far as housing costs go. Rentals can easily cost you two thousand dollars a month. Housing, on the other hand, is averaging $460,000 for the smallest of homes. We were lucky as the assessment used for trust purposes came in low and we got to split that amount, minus expenses. That creates another problem because you are not going to buy much of anything out right anymore.

Am I just whining again? No, there is a point to this.

Even though there was a “living trust” there were problems with interpretation, and, there was an addendum, a handwritten note from grandma expressing desires that were not included in the trust. Now, to those that wish to live by the letter of the law, that means nothing, and the result was that we had to live by the legal and binding document.

Hopefully, you are beginning to catch on to the theme at hand – God's written word and the importance of that Word.

Typically I use the New American Standard Bible translation when I am quoting verses. Is it the best? Well, it is a far sight better than some. However, wisdom tells me to do my homework when I am doing Bible study, and one of the ways I can do that is to compare translations.

John 1:14 NASB “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.”

Let's take little bites at a time.

• “the Word became flesh.”
  What kind of assumptions can I make from this?
  • That Jesus was the Word.
  • That Jesus was not flesh in the beginning.
  • And that there was no way of distinguishing much difference between God, the Word, and Spirit. Each of them, no matter what their form, was present at the beginning of creation.
  • This act of becoming flesh was not simply some genetic blob that evolved into man, the Word, an entity separate and yet in every way an aspect of God, became a man.
  Most of you know this story line.

Did Christ, in his grand entrance into the world, merely step into it as a full grown man? The answer is, NO. He came as a newborn child. How and why would that present a problem?

How and why would that present a problem?

If you have grandchildren, then you know that some can be a blessing, while others can make you want to pull your hair out. Jesus had the potential for being one of the two options; however, God bypassed the broken nature of man by injected his sperm into the woman, eliminating Jesus being born with a sin nature.

What does that mean?

It means that sin was not the driving force behind everything He did. A marked contrast to the struggles we humans always deal with. 

(Get a grip! Just because you are not an alcoholic does not mean you don't have SIN issues. In other words, you miss the mark, just as I do. Perhaps yours, like the Apostle Paul and I, is anger. Maybe you are unfortunate enough to struggle with codependency issues – those are large enough to debilitate you.)

So the bottom line here is that we all have issues that push us just hard enough to miss the bulls-eye. If you are foolish enough to try to tell me that you don't have any problems, then chalk your maladjustment up to pride.

You, being knowledgeable in the scriptures, know that the Bible tells us that Jesus never sinned. Since we also know that sinning is merely missing the mark - an easy issue when target shooting, then we can say that Jesus never missed the mark.

To be honest, I struggle with this story when I read it because Jesus intentionally made a whip of cords so that he could drive the money changers and vendors out of the Gentile court of the temple. How do I justify what looks like anger and its associated level of violence, especially when I struggle with such things?

Still, He never sinned. If He had, he could not have been the spotless lamb sacrificed on the cross, at the hands of the high priest that day.

Okay, let's settle some arguments because they will come.

• Who spoke with Abram, telling him that he would be the father of many nations?
  The answer is the pre-incarnate Jesus. I realize that is a religious word, but all it means is the embodiment of Jesus before his birth. Egad, how does that happen? In this case two ways:

1. Probably because the dream/vision that Abram had was so vivid that it had no distinction from reality. No one seems to pay attention to that aspect, and if you get involved with most any church, and they talk about this moment in time, they will relate it as though Jesus/God actually did this. I know that is what I thought.
2. Another possibility is that God works in dimensions of space and time that are outside of our comprehension. Mind you that statement is not such a stretch, as Albert Einstein also theorized that these dimensions exist. A Jewish Rabbi and thinker from the fifteenth century, named Maimonides came up with these same concepts using the Law and the Prophets (The Torah and the Talmud.) Therefore it is feasible that God operates within the realm of reality as He invades your dreams.
   Another example: Many within the Muslim world, having never opened a Bible, are having dreams in which Jesus shows up and speaks to them. Since they have nothing which might give them a preconceived idea of what Jesus looks like, how is it that they know who He is?

So we have multiple incursions by Jesus, before His birth through Mary, into the world. Many of these are designated as the angel of the Lord, and Jacob is a good example of that. (You can read about Jacob and this incident in Genesis 28.)

• “and dwelt among us”

The Complete Jewish Bible translated this verse as:

(CJB) The Word became a human being and lived with us, and we saw his Sh'khinah, the Sh'khinah of the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth.

The thing I want to focus on is the phrase, “and dwelt among us.”

The words seem simple enough, but consider that we have people who live next door to us, and yet, we never know them. To comprehend that God lived with us in an intimate way, one that touchable, just seems incomprehensible, doesn't it?

Was Jesus life some secret that proves to the world that He is merely some fairy tale and therefore unknowable? NO, everybody knew he was here. Why could they not say, I did not know He was here? Because of the message he spoke and the things he did. What Jesus said and did got spread throughout the villages and remote places to the point that people came from everywhere to hear Him and get whatever they could from Him. True, many came just because of what they could get from Him. Others, especially the Pharisees, came to fight and eventually to kill Him – or so they thought, while an ever increasing number chose to be disciples alongside the original 12.

To say He dwelt among us could imply someone aloof and unreachable, and that is why translations such as the Complete Jewish Bible, or Darby's translation which says he, dwelt among us. Give us the idea that He was here because God had an intent or plan.

That plan included the demonstration of who He was. If that is the case, what did God demonstrate about Himself? (To comprehend a question like this requires your submission to the idea that Jesus was God.)

If you, like the Jews, are not convinced, what would it take to convince you, which is one of the main reasons John wrote this gospel? 

Jesus himself said, “if you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” That should have been enough, but he also told the critics that he only did what He saw the Father do. How would any of that have taken place without being before the Father in glory? That is why apologists, like Lee Stroebel, make bold statements like Jesus was either a bold faced liar or He was the Son of God, as He said because no man would have given himself willingly to such torture and death for such a lie.

You can begin by turning your life over to Him.

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What scripture calls us to testify about. John 1:7-13

In my previous post, I introduced you to John the Baptist.

John 1:6 NASB There came a man sent from God, whose name was John.

In exploring the ramifications of who John was and was not, I opened the possibility that we too are the called designated witnesses sent by God. As we progress, forward we have to sort between the religious definition and what scripture calls us to testify of.

I grew up in church, but there was a time when my father decided that we needed to chase the charismatic movement around the valley and that removed us from the church I grew up in. I want to say that I do not regret that for a moment, but, it took me away from the kids I had grown up with. Our return to that same church was, at best, strained. I tried to fit in. There were new people, and most of us had transitioned to college. Many of my old friends were gone, and I never saw them again. Out of this, there were mandatory treks into the nearby neighborhoods to “win the lost.” I often wondered who decided they were lost. We were met on several occasions with less than enthusiastic responses, two of them were outright hostile. I think much of that hostility was a reaction to the "canned" responses we used and the fact the church had effectively done a hostile takeover of homes where senior citizens lived with nowhere else to go. These exercises convinced me, beyond all doubt, that evangelism is not my calling.

I get the general idea, we are called to spread the good news, then what is it that we are to spread. Certainly, it is not the religious tripe often forced down our throats. Without defining it as yet, I did and do what I am comfortable with, I “preach” what I am studying in the Word and what I believe. Most of these things have been learned because of tough times that have driven me to the Word of God and a desire to find His nature and character. To be honest, I struggle with the possibility that I am supposed to act just like someone like Pastor Greg Laurie, but as much as I try, I fail horrendously. Successes, if I can call them that, have come from me being me and the moments when I have listened to the Holy Spirit, saying things that seemed at the time to be totally random.

That being said, let's dive into John 1:7-13.

John 1:7-13 NASB He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. 8) He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light. 9) There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. 10) He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11) He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. 12) But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13) who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

• “He came as a witness, to testify about the Light,”
  Because, as we saw, God sent him. But, to what was John, a witness?
  Three of the gospels record that John the Baptist saw the Spirit descending upon Him.
  • Matthew 3:16 After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him,
  • Mark 1:10 Immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him;
  • John 1:32 John testified saying, "I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him.

    However, John himself told us,

    "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 1:33 NASB
    So, John puts several things together:
   

• God spoke to Him (we are out of the loop on what that looked like.)
  And
• Told him that he (John) would see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Jesus.

That is typical of how God has spoken and confirmed his message to me, He speaks to your heart and then shows you.

Now, if I were hoping that you would tell people about me, this would be significant. Why? Because I had showed myself to be trustworthy and you had experienced my nature and character. If there something that was of the utmost importance, it would be the last two things.

The Apostle John knew John the Baptist too well. We have every reason to believe that the disciple John had first been a disciple of John the Baptist. If I, as John did, were to tell a story about the beginnings of creation, what would be the foremost thing I want to convey?

• That God was trustworthy
• that He speaks and then follows through.
• Therefore his nature and character are valid and genuine.
• Finally, that He is the Messiah that we have been looking for, and His actions have proved that to be the case.

• " so that all might believe through him.”

God told and showed John the Baptist these things for the purpose of giving witness to Jesus.

• The first evidence John renders is the substantiation of who Jesus was – the Messiah.
  With the testimony of John The Baptist, this was verified in two ways, just as scripture prescribes; this evidence is precisely what the religious Jews are looking for. They could care less about flashy clothes and neon lights, much like some television personalities, but what they are looking for is solid repeatable patterns. This sane description of prophecy is what John the Baptist testified of, and, how the Apostle John opens his gospel.

Now wait a minute.

I have spoken as though this message was directed exclusively to a limited audience, a Jewish one, and that was true for an extended period. Spend any time in the Word, and you will realize that by the time the Holy Spirit had John write this open letter to (Jewish) believers, God, had moved on Paul to take this same message (with a different spin on it,) to the Gentiles.

We are not moving another step forward until we dispense with an aspect of our biased Western mentality. We, here in America, are not the Gentiles (we seem to say that with some perverse pride as though we are now the exclusive recipients of God's mercy.) We are merely a subset of the nations, and, as you might recall from your Bible reading, that the nations were always one of the prime entities that brought Israel to its knees; that and the idea that they could manage this thing called life without God. So the term Gentile was meant to convey anyone outside Judaism (observance of the Mosaic Law,) and therefore a non-believer, a person without hope for a future. Move a few years forward, and the definition has changed slightly and is now pointing to those who have no relationship with Jesus Christ. No, I will not hold to a tight definition here, for I cannot see the heart. It is evident to me, that God, having things under a manner of control, that I do not understand, brings people to him, then allows them to meander for undefined periods of time, only to continue to draw them close to Him. I can't explain this as anything other than love, and that is who He is.

Can we agree that John the Baptist did not directly bring the gospel to the world? However, the overall impact of what he heard, saw with his own two eyes and shared was felt by the world, even if that was not his personal intent. I think it is safe to safe to assume that this statement, “that all might believe through him,” was God's plan all along. An honest look at scripture affirms that the disciples spoke to none but their own, there were exceptions, such as Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch, or Paul's decision to finally take the message to the Gentiles, instead of the brutal savages Paul would find in the synagogues.

• “He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.”
  John the Baptist was not the Light, but as I just discussed, he was sent to testify about the Light. Imagine the day Jesus asked him to baptize him. God, asked a man to baptize him.
• 9) “There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. 10) He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11) He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.”
  This section is decisively speaking about Jesus the Messiah, but perhaps a brief look at a translation other than the NASB will make it clearer.
  John 1:9 GNB This was the real light---the light that comes into the world and shines on all people.
  What's the problem with that? The answer lies in verses 10, 11.
  • He was in the world,
  • “and the world was made through Him,
  • “..the world did not know Him.
  Worse yet, “He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.” You might expect that those who had the promise, given by prophetic word, through dreams and visions, and held to the heart by oral tradition, would have recognized the Messiah. If that seems like a stretch, then consider when Jesus was born. Magi, from another country, possibly trained under the tutelage of Daniel, came because they had seen His star. Herod questioned the chief priests who admitted to a knowledge of Jesus birth. This ignorance of who Jesus was demonstrates an intentional ignorance.
  What's your excuse?

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God sent a man. John 1:6

One of the problems we have is our Westernization of scripture. The attitudes and misconceptions associated with westernization builds in misunderstanding makes translating difficult and opens the door to arguments from outsiders and those who choose to let others tell them what they should believe the Bible is saying instead of finding out for themselves. I suppose God knew that would happen. When you consider how people say that the Bible is full of errors, it makes sense when you examine the fallacies built into our non-Jewish understanding. One of those fallacies is often revealed as pastors try to explain the Revelation, also written by John, by telling you that John wrote the Revelation in code so that the Romans would not understand and therefore not be able to prevent this letter from making to any of the churches John intended. Another pathetic aspect of writing in code would be to confine comprehension to a select few, and that would make Jesus statement found in the Revelation about a special blessing pointless.

All that being said, keep in mind that John wrote this gospel primarily to a developing Jewish Christian community, (I explain my reasons for saying this in my first post on John's gospel and will not go into it, in depth, once again.)

With that in mind, why would John feel the need to point out that God sent Yochanan/John?

Consider this, the general feeling among the people seems to convey that John the Baptist was a prophet. That might imply the general idea that he was a man from God. If that was the case, then how did the people feel about the Pharisees?

Although Herod wanted to put him to death, he feared the crowd, because they regarded John (the Baptist) as a prophet. Matthew 14:5

So John's statement then is:

John 1:6 CJB There was a man sent from God whose name was Yochanan.

I give you the Complete Jewish Bible because to the Jewish community they would have recognized Yochanan. I chose the translation called God's Word because it comes across as direct and to the point, ending with the reason why.

John 1:6 GW God sent a man named John to be his messenger.

The NASB reads like this: John 1:6 NASB “There came a man sent from God, whose name was John.” The phrase makes me think of a voice over in an old movie like The Pale Rider with Clint Eastwood.

Came - Greek word ginomai / ghin'-om-ahee. A prolonged and middle form of a primary verb; to cause to be.

When I think about a human being and the idea of being caused to be, I think about birth. We should all know that God did some intervening when it came to Jesus being born, but not so with John the Baptist. The only major interaction we see is in Luke 1.

Luke 1:13-15 NASB But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John. 14) "You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. 15) "For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother's womb.

While being filled with the Holy Spirit is an incredible thing, there was nothing, as you can see, comparable to the birth of Jesus.

There was a point I wanted to make as I started pondering this one, seemingly simple, passage, and that would be this: You too were sent by God.

I believe that if you had an honest heart toward God, then you, as I do, would want to back up your statement with a substantive witness. Typically, what an excellent expositor would do is use, or at least know that there is a minimum of two scriptural witnesses. Based upon the word “sent,” I am only finding one strong one.

John 20:21 NASB So Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you."

This statement was made to the disciples, and at this point, there were well over 120 by conservative estimates, gathered in the upper room. While they may have been there to honor the command of Jesus, there was an overwhelming fear considering what had been happening, ending with the death of Jesus.

John 20:19-20 NASB So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and *said to them, "Peace be with you." 20) And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

We find a comparable description in Luke 24.

So, if you can see yourselves as His disciples, and, accept that you too have the same command as the disciples, then it is not difficult to see yourselves as being sent by God.

If that still causes you grief then imagine yourselves living in a medieval kingdom where you are brought before the King. Standing there before a public audience, you are addressed in a regal manner and knighted, you are given a mandate as an emissary for the kingdom to convey the good will and nature of the king toward all those who wish to enjoy the benefits of the king's grace. We, in the religious world, call this evangelizing or spreading the gospel/good news of the kingdom.

The good news is that as you find the joy and relief within this life of Christ, which is merely an aspect of His kingdom, then it seems only natural that you would want to tell others about it. An example of something along this line comes out of me finally joining the gym. The gym, in conjunction with Weight Watchers, has knocked 30 pounds off my 300-pound frame. Obviously, this makes me jubilant, and I have told people about what I am doing. My enthusiasm cannot be a controlling or manipulating factor, as people have to see the changes in me, and my enthusiasm. Hopefully, they too would want what I found.

I have mentioned in previous posts that I have struggled with depression. Fortunately for me, it is not debilitating. Depression, unfortunately, will cause you to crawl into a corner alone to make the world go away. I found out that does not happen, and at some point, you have to toughen up and walk through the difficulty. For me, this difficulty was what I called the dark times, and it impacted my skewed image of God. To be honest, I thank God for that because I intentionally buried myself in God's word so that I could find out who this Jesus/God was and His nature was like. Some would have you believe that He is merely evil and hates you, and that is not the case at all. If it was, why then would God have sacrificed his son for people he cared nothing about. In fact, the opposite is true, you are loved with an everlasting love, and, He longs that everyone would found this out about Him and come to Him. I would hope that you find, as the time for grace is running short. If you should find this after the church is gone, there is still hope, and power in Him. Just turn to Him, giving your life to Him and accepting His. His name is Jesus.