Kalen Heller // There is only One who can faithfully bring forth and establish justice to the nations—and it is not you or I. The Servant that Isaiah speaks of in chapter 42 is none other than Jesus Christ, the Chosen Son of God. Even now, He is establishing justice in the earth and is doing so in a way that is contrary to the way of mankind: quietly, faithfully, and effortlessly. Christ will not rest or become discouraged until His mission has been accomplished. With injustice’s days being numbered, Christians can trust in the excellencies of Him who led them out of darkness into His marvelous light and can faithfully proclaim that truth to an unjust world.

Caleb Drahosh \\ In these verses Jesus makes it clear that His mission was to save God's people and not condemn them. But those who refuse to believe are already condemned. When the fulfillment of God's plan of redemption is revealed in Jesus, people either run to the light or retreat into darkness.

Caleb Drahosh \\ John 3:16 is arguably the most well known Bible verse in all of Scripture. It comes right in the middle of Jesus' teaching to the Pharisee Nicodemus and––in this one simple verse––Jesus points out the danger of death that comes through sin. But there is hope: God sent into Jesus into the world out of love. And for what purpose was Jesus sent? To give life that would come through His payment for sin on the cross and to guarantee that life would last for eternity through His resurrection from the dead.

Caleb Drahosh \\ In John 3:9-15 Jesus declares to Nicodemus that He has the authority to speak about heavenly things, or the things of God. This authority is His because He is the only One to come down from heaven. Every other teacher—and every other person for that matter—who came before Him got their start on earth. Jesus has no origin and heaven is His home. Because He has this authority, He reveals to Nicodemus how God will redeem His people. Jesus—like the bronze serpent Moses lifted up in the wilderness—would be lifted up on a cross, paying the penalty for sin. All who look to Jesus will have eternal life.

Caleb Drahosh \\ In John 3:1-8, a man named Nicodemus comes to Jesus full of curiosity. Jesus explains to him what must occur in a person to see and enter into the kingdom of God––you must be born again, or born from above. Nicodemus doesn't understand, but Jesus explains only the Spirit can bring about spiritual life and further clarifies that children of God are "born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (1:13)"

Caleb Drahosh \\ Jesus made the world, came into the world, but the world did not know him. Those who saw Jesus perform signs believed in His name, but their belief was artificial because of the sin that resided within them. And—knowing all things about all people—Jesus did not entrust Himself to them. By offering Himself as a sacrifice for the sin of the world, Jesus would correct the problem that plagued all people and author a faith in them that would flourish for eternity.

Caleb Drahosh \\ In John 2:18-22, the Jews confront Jesus over His cleansing of the temple. They ask him for a sign. Jesus doesn't give one on demand; instead He tells them of His impending death and resurrection––but He doesn't do so explicitly. Christ crucified is preached by Jesus Himself and He chooses to not know anything else in the face of questioning. And when it's all said and done, the disciples remembered and believed Jesus' Words.

Caleb Drahosh \\ In John 2:13-17, Jesus shows up at the Temple at the Passover and discovers a scene of buying and selling and money-changing. The situation is serious and Jesus begins flipping tables, scattering coins, and driving people out. It's zeal for His Father's house that consumes Him; Jesus is jealous for the set apartness of God's dwelling place. This points us forward to Christ's sacrifice where He will establish and ensure the purity of the people of God, the Church. Through Jesus, God establishes and ensures the purity of His dwelling place.

Blaze Culliton \\ Fellowship with God and fellowship with one another is through Jesus Christ and the truth of who He is. In the first four verses of 1 John, there is an understanding of the truth that Jesus Christ is the Word of Life, Life made Manifest, and eternal and the giver of eternal life. May we seek true fellowship with God, with the apostles and the universal church, and with one another in the truth of who Christ is.

John Baumgartner \\ Peter begins this letter by blessing the God who worked so great a salvation for those who wait for Him. He blesses the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, because it is only through Jesus that we have come to know the true God. Out of His own good pleasure, God has chosen to love those who—because of our sins—are not lovely. But God now has made us lovely in His Son Jesus Christ. As a result, we bless God just as Peter does.