BibleSF

BSF Lesson 3 in the Gospel of John

John 2, The Wedding at Cana, Water to Wine and the Temple Cleansing at Passover

Why does John bother to tell us about Jesus’s visit to a wedding? Is it because Jesus liked celebrations or that this particular wedding had a particularly spectacular miracle that Jesus did? Probably not. I’m not sure if you are aware of this but the truths about God’s love for us is often taught to us using the imagery of marriage, the bride and bridegroom.

Today we'll take a deep dive into Jesus's first miraculous sign at this wedding and its significance, his driving out the merchants at the Temple courts, and the confrontation he faced from the religious rulers who questioned his authority to make His claims.

Passage: John 1:19-51

Why did God choose to use a harbinger or herald of Jesus's arrival with John the Baptist? Couldn't Jesus just come to His people without a herald? Today, we'll take a look at this question and many others we often take for granted. To whet your thinking, remember that John is the last of the long line of important prophets of the Old Testament. Furthermore, he is the final and most important prophet to point directly to Jesus and describe to us what The Messiah will do. By doing so, John the Baptist makes it very clear that Jesus is the Messiah that makes sense of all that God had revealed throughout the Old Testament Scriptures especially in the Psalms and in Isaiah. This is what it means that God fulfills in Jesus all that is promised to humanity as prophecied by Moses and the Prophets. John is here to make it explicitly clear that Jesus is the One they have been waiting for. 

Gospel of John 1: 1-18, Lesson 1

As you may know, scholars believe that John’s Gospel was written last of the four Gospels. So John has probably read the other circulating Gospels and was well familiar with their accounts and didn't want to be redundant to what was already shared about Jesus. John's objective takes an entirely different approach: to add clarity and certainty to the identity of Yeshua as God's promised Messiah. New members of the church which started to include many non-Jews needed a careful explanation of Jesus as the Messiah the prophets all spoke of, including the greatest of the prophets, John the Baptist. John the Baptist, born in the lineage of priests, received Jesus the Lamb of God and baptized Him in foreshadowing the death and resurrection of His great Sacrifice. All who follow Jesus would be baptized in the Spirit as they followed Him (John 1:33). John the apostle tells us that Jesus is God. In order to ensure believers do not miss this essential point, John draws from the language of Genesis from before time and space, before all Creation relating to us Jesus as Creator from whom and for whom all things exists. This makes all the difference for believers. We will see how knowing the past in light of Jesus, properly gives us understanding of who we are in Christ in the present world, and informs us of who we will become in His Kingdom.

Gospel of John: Overview and Main Theme

Guest Presenter: Hollie Roberts, Executive Director of BSF

Hollie serves as BSF’s Executive Director. Before joining the BSF staff in 2018, she served as a Children’s Leader, Group Leader, and Teaching Leader. Hollie and her husband, Kevin, have served and participated in BSF together for most of their adult lives. Their children and now their grandchildren are growing up in the BSF children’s program. Hollie’s passion is to see the BSF fourfold approach to reading and studying God’s Word contribute to generations of men, women, and children who hear and obey God’s Word.

Lesson 00/Overview of John

BI: John’s Revelation of Jesus

Doctrine: The Bible

Aim: John reveals Jesus as the way to the truth and abundant life.

1- In Jesus’ Own Words

Principle: Jesus’ words reveal the way to abundant life.

2- Through Jesus’ Works

Principle: Jesus’ works validate Him as the way, the truth, and the life.

3- Through Witnesses’ Testimony

Principle: Believing Jesus is the Son of God will change your life.

Old Testament Minor Prophets (BSF Lesson 29)

Final Reflections:

This lesson is about reflecting on the comprehensive work of God through Israel and the Prophets He had sent them. People are "losing the plot" to the larger divine narrative for existence. Today, we'll see how losing the plot God has described in the Scriptures leads to existential uncertainty and loss. God has revealed Himself and made His purposes clearly known. Join us for the next half hour as we reflect on the power of God's Word in preparing His people for His Kingdom.

Habakkuk - Conversation with God

Sometimes it's challenging praying to God when things don't make sense. But those are the very times, we need God the most. Habakkuk is a prayer in Judah's most precarious moments before they are exiled. He asks questions we all often ask: God are you there? Do you see what's going on? Why are you taking so long to execute justice? In this lesson, we'll look at these questions and discuss ways we can renew our thinking rooted in faith and hope in a Sovereign God who says He does care more than we can ever know.

Habakkuk was an early contemporary of Jeremiah who wrote during the rapid decline in Judah after King Josiah died around 600 BC. His name is believed to mean to embrace but could also mean to wrestle, both meanings have significance to his wrestling and embracing God for comfort in his writings. 

Book of Lamentations: Poetic Expressions of Painful Loss

The book of Lamentations is another book you won't understand unless you understood the context of Israel's history at the time it was written. It is believed by most scholars that Lamentations was written by Jeremiah the "weeping" prophet who despite being persecuted and harangued for most of his prophetic ministry, bewailed the travails of Judah under the conquest of the ruthless Babylonian army around 586 BC. Lamentations derives its name from the Talmud which uses a word meaning dirge, elegy or wailings. The Hebrew title for the book uses the word Ekhah - meaning Alas, How? which is the first word to start three out of the five songs that make up the book. The lament is a call to Judah to consider how they got to this devastating judgment day.

Jeremiah part 2: Judgment, Restoration, and the New Covenant

Jeremiah Part 1: Ministry and Message

Jeremiah is the longest recorded prophetic book in the Old Testament. He is rightly nicknamed the “weeping prophet” not only because he suffered so much persecution, rejection, and animosity from the people he desperately tried to witness to, he also lived through some of the most tragic periods of national ruin, cultural decline, and conquest that led to the complete destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of Judeans into the Babylonian Empire. He wept over his spiritually callous and careless countrymen but continued to patiently  speak God’s Words of truth to his final days. In Jeremiah we see a picture of Christ, in His longsuffering obedience to God’s calling for his life - carrying forth a message that few people cared to hear.

Nahum and Zephaniah – God’s Purifying Judgment and Promised Restoration

Readings: Nahum and Zephaniah

History is a glossary of failed social and political experiments on  human stewardship and governance. The prophets Nahum and Zephaniah remind us that as much as the empires of man can be good, they’re woefully broken and corrupt at their core, doing much more damage to countless numbers of people than we rightly understand. This point is often easy to miss when most of us are enjoying the middle class life busy in our consumptive lifestyles. Nahum and Zephaniah are a reality check for their times and ours and point to God’s covenantal promises of His perfect Kingdom established under the Messiah’s rule established forever.