Podcast Introduction

Today we will read John 1-2.  I’ll have some comments after the reading, I’m calling today’s episode “In the Beginning.”

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Comments on John 1-2

John 1 is, in my opinion, the clearest declaration of the deity of Jesus there is. It begins as the book of Genesis does: "In the beginning..."

Genesis says, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." ESV

John says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made."

Further down, we read, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us..."

Could it be any clearer than that? These words thrill me every time I read them, and I've been a believer for over fifty years. This chapter never gets old.

In chapter two, we read of Jesus' first miracle, and of His driving out the money changers from the Temple. I'd like to talk about the latter for a few minutes. 

The Bible talks about two instances of Jesus doing this. Here, at the beginning of His ministry, and also during His final week. 

Why did Jesus have an issue with the money changers? 

According to Exodus 30:11-16, a temple tax of a half-shekel was required of Jews and visitors from other nations when they offered their sacrifices. And the tax had to be paid with temple coinage. So in order to pay the tax, all money had to be exchanged for temple money. Those who provided the service of exchanging foreign money into the temple money did so at highly inflated profits, thereby taking advantage of those who came to the temple to make sacrifices to God. 

In addition, there were some who sold sacrificial animals to people who didn't bring their own animals to sacrifice, again at inflated prices. Others were inspectors of animals, to see if they were of high enough quality to be sacrificed. They would often disapprove of animals, forcing the people to buy approved animals, for...you guessed it...inflated prices.

These were the people that Jesus drove from the Temple. They were people who extorted money from those who came to worship God. They were operating from a motive of greed. 

Please keep in mind that God established in Mosaic law that the priests were to be supported by the sacrifices that came into the temple. And Paul said in First Corinthians 9:14 that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel, meaning that they should be supported by the people who hear the gospel. I bring this up because over the years I've been criticized for asking for donations to help support Lifespring Media, and for selling my book Webb's Easy Bible Names Pronunciation Guide. And I can very confidently say that the donations I've received for Lifespring Media and the royalties for my book combined, would not even approach $1 an hour if I totaled up the time invested in producing more than 2700 podcast episodes, and in researching, writing the book and recording the audio of the nearly 7000 names in the book, that itself was about a two year endeavor. So if my goal was to extort an exorbitant profit, I have failed miserably. It is true, though, that there are those who have gotten wealthy from preaching the gospel, but I am certainly not one of them. And it's never been my goal. And I will rush to say thank you to those of you who have helped support Lifespring Media and who bought my book. But as Adam Curry has said many times and only half in jest, that being a podcaster is tantamount to taking a vow of poverty.

William Holman Hunt's Painting

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