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 AN EXPOSITION 
 
 BY . 
 CHARLES R. ERDMAN 
 
 Professor of Practical Theology 
 
 Princeton Theological Seminary 
 
 Princeton, New Jersey 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 THE WESTMINSTER PRESS 
 
 1917 
 
Copyright, 19 16 
 
 by 
 
 F. M. Braselmann 
 
 The Bible text printed in boldface is taken from the American 
 
 Standard Edition of the Revised Bible, copyright, 1901, by 
 
 Thomas Nelson & Sons, and is used by permission. 
 
TO 
 
 MY FATHER 
 
 W. J. E. 
 
 MY GUIDE AND INSPIRATION 
 
 IN THE 
 
 STUDY OF THE WORD 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 The guiding principle in these expository studies has 
 been to trace, through the successive scenes of the Gospel, 
 the definite purpose of its author, and to note the witness 
 he has borne to the divine Person of our Lord, to the de- 
 velopment of faith and unbelief, and especially to the life 
 in which faith issues. It is one of many approaches to 
 this inspired masterpiece, but it cannot fail to bring us 
 near to the heart of its message. Limitations of space have 
 made it necessary to exclude all illustrations and quota- 
 tions from related literature, and to depend, for sustained 
 interest, upon the fascination of the narrative, and the 
 supreme importance of the truths it presents. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 The Fourth Gospel is the most familiar and the best 
 loved book in the Bible. It is probably the most important 
 document in all the literature of the world. It has in- 
 duced more persons to follow Christ, it has inspired more 
 believers to loyal service, it has presented to scholars more 
 difficult problems, than any other book that could be 
 named. 
 
 The peculiar character of the book has been set forth by 
 the single adjective "sublime"; for sublimity is said to 
 result from the two factors of simplicity and profundity. 
 The sea is sublime, because of its unbroken expanse and its 
 measureless depths; and the cloudless sky is sublime be- 
 cause of its limitless vaults of blue. Such, too, is this little 
 book; its stories are so simple that even a child will love 
 them, but its statements are so profound that no philoso- 
 pher can fathom them. 
 
 The author, almost beyond question, was John, who 
 was among the first followers of Christ, belonged to the 
 inner circle of the apostles, stood at the cross, received to 
 his home the mother of our Lord, was the first to believe 
 his resurrection, and lingered last, looking for his Master's 
 return. He never names himself in the narrative, but 
 assumes the title of "the disciple whom Jesus loved," 
 suggesting how the love of Christ inspired and transfigured 
 him. Surely such a person was best prepared to write of 
 the nature and life of Christ. For centuries the symbol of 
 the Gospel has been the "eagle," the bird which is said 
 to soar highest and to gaze with unveiled eye upon the 
 dazzling brightness of the sun. 
 
 The purpose of the author is indicated in the opening 
 eighteen verses, commonly called the Prologue, and is 
 definitely stated in the closing sentences of the twentieth 
 chapter: "That ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, 
 the Son of God; and that believing ye may have life in 
 his name." He wishes therefore to prove that Jesus is the 
 
8 INTRODUCTION 
 
 "Messiah" who came in fulfillment of all the Old Testa- 
 ment types and prophecies; and further that he is a 'divine 
 Being and is in this unique sense "the Son of God." The 
 ultimate purpose, however, is to inspire in his readers 
 such faith in Christ as will result in that eternal life which 
 Christ alone can give. In order to effect his purpose, 
 John produces a number of witnesses, which have b^en 
 variously classified, and include the testimony of the 
 Father, of the Holy Spirit, of the Scriptures, of John the 
 Baptist, of the disciples, of various individuals, such as 
 Nicodemus, the woman of Samaria, Pilate, Caiaphas; 
 but above all, John depends upon the testimony of the 
 words and works of Jesus. If he was not "the Christ, the 
 Son of God," then his claims were those of a deceiver; 
 if he did not work miracles, he surely pretended to, and 
 was then an impostor. Of these miracles John makes a 
 careful selection of only seven or eight; and it is in 
 reference to these "signs" of divine power that John de- 
 clares, "these are written, that ye may believe." 
 
 The method of John in presenting his proof is not that 
 of a logical treatise or philosophical argument; he has 
 rather presented a drama. The life of Christ, which is 
 the substance of his Gospel, is written with the fascination 
 of a play; but as each actor steps upon the scene some new 
 testimony is borne to the fact that Jesus is the Christ, 
 the Son of God ; and as the testimony is produced, and as 
 Christ makes his claims and works his miracles, we see the 
 developing faith of his followers and the deepening hatred 
 of his enemies. 
 
 There are two great parts to the dramatic action. The 
 first closes with the twelfth chapter. The last great 
 miracle has been wrought; Lazarus has been raised from 
 the dead, and now the rulers conspire to put Jesus to death; 
 but Mary appears pouring out upon the feet of her Lord 
 her priceless gift of love, and the multitudes greet him with 
 hosannas, and even the Greeks are eager to see him. In 
 the second part of the book, Christ has withdrawn from 
 the world and is revealing himself to his disciples, first in 
 an act of humble service, then in words of comfort and 
 cheer, then in a prayer which none but the Son of God could 
 
INTRODUCTION 9 
 
 have uttered, and supremely in his triumph over pain and 
 suffering and death. When at last the doubting Thomas 
 stands before his risen Master, and cries out, "My Lord 
 and my God," the demonstration is complete; there is no 
 reason why all readers should not believe that Jesus is the 
 Christ, the Son of God. 
 
 Yet, the purpose of John is iiu.-nsely practical; he not 
 only wishes to inspire faith, but to show the life in which 
 faith will issue. This is the significance of the miracles 
 which he relates; they are indeed "signs" of divine power, 
 but they are also symbols of the life which Christ imparts. 
 The first was wrought in a home at a wedding feast, to 
 suggest the joy of the Christian life and the transforming 
 power of Christ. The second shows how Christ can deliver 
 from fear and anxiety, as he restores hope and peace to a 
 parent's heart. Then he heals a cripple, to indicate his 
 ability to give power to the helpless. He feeds the five 
 thousand to reveal himself as the real Food for the soul. 
 He stills the storm, and men learn what he can be to them 
 in all times of stress and places of peril. He opens the 
 eyes of one born blind and teaches us that he alone can 
 take away "the dimness of our souls." He raises Lazarus, 
 and we understand his claim to be "the resurrection, and 
 the life." He rises victorious over death and the grave, 
 and we no longer doubt that he is divine, but cry out ador- 
 ingly, "Our Lord and our God." 
 
 It only remained for John to write that charming Epi- 
 logue which forms the last chapter of his Gospel, where we 
 see that a divine Lord is also an unseen, present, guiding, 
 sustaining Lord; and where we find that faith will issue 
 in lives of service and love and patient suffering, as we 
 wait for our Lord to reappear in visible glory. 
 
THE OUTLINE 
 I 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Prologue. John 1 : 1-18 13 
 
 II 
 
 The Revelation to the World, and the Development of 
 
 Faith and Unbelief. Chs. 1 : 19 to 12 : 50. . . . 19 
 
 ^. The Preparation. Chs. 1 : 19 to 2 : 11 19 
 
 1. The Witness of the Forerunner. Ch. 1 : 
 19-34 19 
 
 2. The Witness of the First Followers. Ch. 
 
 1 : 35-51 22 
 
 3. The Witness of the First Miracle. Ch. 
 
 2 : 1-11 26 
 
 B. The Public Ministry. Chs. 2 : 12 to 12 : 50. . . 30 
 
 1. The Opening of the Ministry. Chs. 2 : 12 
 
 to 4 : 54 30 
 
 a. The Witness in Jerusalem. Chs. 2 : 
 
 12 to 3 : 21 30 
 
 fe. The Witness in Judea. Ch. 3:22-36. 39 
 
 c. The Witness in Samaria. Ch. 4 : 1-42 42 
 
 d. The Witness in Galilee. Ch. 4 : 43-54 48 
 
 2. The Fuller Manifestation. Chs. 5-11 52 
 
 a. The "Sign" on the Sabbath; and the 
 
 Beginning of the Conflict. Chs. 5-8 52 
 
 b. The Si.Kth "Sign"; and the Formal 
 
 Breach with the Religious Leaders. 
 Chs. 9, 10 83 
 
 c. The Supreme "Sign"; and the Con- 
 
 spiracy of the Rulers. Ch. 11 98 
 
 11 
 
12 THE OUTLINE 
 
 PAGE 
 
 3. The Close of the Ministry. Ch. 12 108 
 
 a. The Manifestations of Faith. Ch. 
 
 12 : 1-36 108 
 
 b. The Condemnation of Unbelief. Ch. 
 
 12 : 37-50 116 
 
 III 
 
 The Revelation to the Disciples, and the Culmination 
 
 of Faith and Unbelief. Chs. 13-20 119 
 
 A. The Private Teaching. Chs. 13-17 119 
 
 1. The Ministry of Love. Ch. 13 119 
 
 2. The Words of Cheer. Chs. 14-16 125 
 
 3. Jesus' Intercessory Prayer. Ch. 17:1-26 142 
 
 B. The Supreme Witness. Chs. 18-20 149 
 
 1. The Betrayal and Trial. Chs. 18 : 1 to 
 
 19 : 16 149 
 
 2. The Crucifixion. Ch. 19 : 17-42 159 
 
 3. The Resurrection. Ch. 20: 1-31 165 
 
 IV 
 
 The Epilogue. The Presence and the Svmbolic 
 
 "Sign." Ch. 21 '. 172 
 
John 1:1-5 THE PROLOGUE 13 
 
 I. The Prologue. John 1:1-18 
 
 How shall we regard Jesus Christ? Is he to be admired 
 as the best of men, or may he also be worshiped and trusted 
 as God; was he the greatest of prophets, or is he also the 
 Messiah, the predicted Saviour of the world? 
 
 Then, again, does it really matter how we regard him? 
 Is it true that our attitude toward him is a test of character, 
 and that belief in him affects life and determines destiny? 
 
 Then further, has there been given us sufficient evidence 
 on which to base our belief, and do we have such testi- 
 mony as to warrant our trust? 
 
 With these three great questions the Gospel of John 
 is continually concerned; and they find definite answers 
 in the first eighteen verses, which form a preface, or 
 introduction, and are commonly called the Prologue. 
 
 Here it is affirmed that Jesus Christ has ever existed 
 as God, as, indeed, the Creator by whom all things were 
 made. It is also stated that faith in him results in such a 
 moral transformation as can best be described as being 
 "born of God." It is further indicated that this faith is 
 based on the witness of men who were his intimate com- 
 panions, in the days of his flesh, and who spoke from per- 
 sonal experience. 
 
 Thus the Prologue presents all the essential ideas of the 
 Gospel, as it deals with the testimony to the Person of 
 Christ, the manifestation of faith and unbelief, and the 
 issue of faith in life. John 20 : 30, 31. 
 
 These verses have been variously analyzed. It may be 
 helpful to divide them into three short paragraphs, and to 
 notice that, while all embody the great ideas of the Gospel, 
 each emphasizes a particular truth which may be indicated 
 as follows: Verses 1-5, Christ the Revealer of God; 
 verses 6-13, the response of unbelief and faith; verses 
 14-18, the experience of believers. 
 
 In all three paragraphs the thought moves through the 
 same spheres, but it advances from the more remote to the 
 
14 THE PROLOGUE John 1:1-5 
 
 nearer in time, from the more general to the more specific, 
 from the abstract to the concrete and personal; but it is 
 always concerned with Christ, and it reaches its climax 
 in the statement of the last verse relative to his divine 
 Person and mission. 
 
 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with 
 God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the 
 beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him; 
 and without him was not anything made that hath been made. 
 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5 
 And the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness 
 apprehended it not. 
 
 Verses 1-5. It would be difficult to imagine a more pro- 
 found statement as to the Person of Christ. He is here 
 set forth in his relation to God and the world, and specifi- 
 cally as the self-revelation of God. The statements are 
 timeless and universal, and are not to be limited to the 
 activity of the preincarnate Christ. He has always been 
 revealing God, both in creation and in the moral conscious- 
 ness of men ; but men have always been slow to apprehend 
 him, or unwilling to accept him. 
 
 He is introduced as "the Word," a term which might 
 mean "the reason," either as it exists in the mind or is 
 outwardly expressed in speech. Both meanings are 
 true of Christ as "the Word" of God. He is one with the 
 very being and mind of God; he is also the expression of 
 the intelligence and will and power of God. His Person 
 is identified with God; his office is to reveal God. Thus 
 in the first two verses it is declared that he has existed from 
 "the beginning," that he was in a personal relation to 
 God, and that he was one in essence with God; so that in 
 a single sentence the eternity, personality, and deitj' of 
 Christ are all affirmed. 
 
 In the third and fourth verses he is described as reveal- 
 ing God, in the creation of the world, and in continuing to 
 be the Source of all life. For men, in whom life developed 
 in the form of rational and moral being, he is also "the 
 light," or the Source of all truth. 
 
 The fifth verse declares that while, in reason and con- 
 
John 1:6-13 THE PROLOGUE 15 
 
 science and in the Person of Christ, this divine Light of 
 truth has ever been shining, it has ever been obscured by 
 the moral and spiritual darkness of the world; men have 
 never been able to understand Christ nor have they been 
 willing to submit to him. Thus in its opening paragraph 
 the tragedy of this Gospel is introduced. Yet, while the 
 rejection of Christ Ts toHBe recorded, some are to accept 
 him and to find through him true life and light. This 
 manifestation of unbelief and faith form the substance of 
 the next section. 
 
 6 There came a man, sent from God, whose name was 
 John. 7 The same came for witness, that he might bear 
 witness of the light, that all might Ijelieve through him. 
 8 He was not the light, but came that he might bear witness 
 of the light. 9 There was the true light, even the light which 
 Ughteth every man, coming into the world. 10 He was in 
 the world, and the world was made through him, and the 
 world knew him not. 11 He came unto his own, and they 
 that were his own received him not. 12 But as many as 
 received him, to them gave he the right to become children 
 of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13 who were 
 bom, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will 
 of man, but of God. 
 
 Verses 6-13. As the writer here proceeds to state the 
 great historic failure of the world to receive Christ, he 
 first mentions the ministry of John the Baptist, whose 
 work seemed calculated to make such a failure impossible, 
 whose testimony made it appear more pitiful and perverse. 
 
 John is called "a man," and the preceding statements 
 as to the deity of Christ are at once emphasized by the 
 contrast; so, too, he was "sent from God," he was not God. 
 Nor yet was he "the light;" but he was a great "witness," 
 and by the emphatic statement of verses seven and eight 
 we are introduced to a feature of the Gospel which must 
 ever be kept in mind. This Gospel is a record of testi- 
 mony and shows that faith is belief founded upon evidence. 
 
 The testimony is to Christ, of whom it is stated, in 
 verse nine, that by his "coming into the world" he has 
 become "the true light" for every man who will receive 
 him. 
 
16 THE PROLOGUE John 1:14-15 
 
 The verse does not mean to identify Christ with the 
 universal conscience, nor to assert, however true it may be, 
 that there is moral light in every man. The phrase, 
 "coming into the world," refers to Christ, and not to 
 "every man." He is "the true light" for everyone who 
 accepts him; but the world, as a whole, has been too blind 
 or too wicked to welcome him, as is asserted in verse ten. 
 The next verse tells us that when he came to the place 
 and the people especially prepared for his coming, he was 
 not received. 
 
 In this reference to the relation of Christ to the Jewish 
 nation, "he came unto his own," there is another touch 
 characteristic of John. He is here intimating that Christ 
 was the Messiah of the Jews, and to establish this fact 
 was one of the great purposes of his Gospel. 
 
 "He came unto his own [things], and . . . his own [people] 
 received him not." However, there were those who were 
 ready to receive him. This Gospel is not only a tragedy 
 of unbelief, it is also a great drama of the unfolding of 
 faith; and the writer now suggests another characteristic 
 feature of his Gospel as he shows how faith issues in life. 
 This life is that of true "children of God." "As many as 
 received him, to them gave he the right [or privilege] to 
 become children of God." The term "children," used by 
 John, is distinct from the term "sons" which is more com- 
 monly used by Paul. Both terms apply to all Christians, 
 but the latter suggests position and legal rights secured by 
 adoption; the former indicates likeness, nature, life, result- 
 ing from birth. This "new birth" of believers is declared 
 to be "not of blood," i.e., by heredity or inheritance, 
 "nor of the will of the flesh," i.e., by natural instinct, ' 
 "nor of the will of man," i.e., by human volition, "but of 
 God;" i.e., by the direct, supernatural exercise of divine 
 power. Therefore, the life of a true Christian cannot be 
 explained on the grounds of heredity, or of environment, or 
 of personal resolution; it is imparted by the Spirit of God. 
 
 14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and 
 we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the 
 Father), full of grace and truth. 15 John beareth witness of 
 
John 1:16-18 THE PROLOGUE 17 
 
 him, and crieth, saying, This was he of whom I said, He that 
 Cometh after me is become before me: for he was before me. 
 
 16 For of his fulness we all received, and grace for grace. 
 
 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth 
 came through Jesus Christ. 18 No man hath seen God at 
 any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the 
 Father, he hath declared him. 
 
 Verses 14-18. John now states that the appearance of 
 "the Word," the shining of "the true light," the "coming 
 into the world," was by way of incarnation: "the Word be- 
 came flesh." The term "flesh" denotes human nature, 
 but not, as usually in the writings of Paul, sinful nature. 
 When "the Word became flesh" he did not cease to be 
 what he had been, but as an additional experience he as- 
 sumed human nature. He became the God-Man, at the 
 same time "perfect God and perfect man," an absolutely 
 unique being. As of old, God dwelt in a tabernacle in the 
 midst of Israel so, we read, he "dwelt [tabernacled] 
 among us," in the Person of Christ. "We beheld his glory, 
 glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace 
 and truth," i.e., his glory was a manifestation of the spirit- 
 ual splendor, of the divine love and holiness of God; but 
 he was "the only begotten," absolutely distinct from those 
 who are called the "children of God" by faith in him. In 
 the last clause of the Prologue the term "only begotten" 
 in again repeated, and here the true reading, according 
 to the best Greek text, seems to be "the only begotten God." 
 
 Such is the conception which the writer has of the 
 Person of Christ, and in this closing paragraph of his intro- 
 duction he suggests certain witnesses to this truth: first, 
 John the Baptist, and then John the evangelist speaking 
 in behalf of his fellow disciples and of all who have faith 
 in Christ. Vs. 15, 16. 
 
 Then, too, true to the supreme purpose of his Gospel, 
 he shows how faith issues in life. Believers have all their 
 spiritual needs supplied, and draw grace after grace from 
 the inexhaustible "fulness" of Christ. This fullness is 
 emphasized by contrast with the revelation granted through 
 Moses, who gave a law but no power to obey, who set 
 forth shadows the substance of which are found in Christ. 
 
18 THE PROLOGUE John 1:16-18 
 
 Thus the Prologue reaches its climax as for the first 
 time it mentions the historic title "Jesus Christ," and again 
 asserts his unique personality as "the only begotten from 
 the Father," the final declaration, revelation, interpieta- 
 tion of the unseen God. 
 
 Such then is the introduction which John gives to his 
 Gospel story. In these eighteen verses he presents the 
 sum of all his message. They compress into a single, 
 brief paragraph the essential truths which the following 
 chapters unfold. They declare that the eternal God was 
 manifested among men; they show how some received 
 while others rejected him; above all, they indicate the life 
 of light and love and abiding blessedness which issues 
 from faith in him whom John proves to be the divine 
 Christ, the Son of God. 
 
John 1:19-28 THE PREPARATION 19 
 
 II. The Revelation to the World, and the Develop- 
 ment OF Faith and Unbelief. Chs. 1 : 19 to 12 : 50 
 
 A. THE PREPARATION. Chs. 1: 19 to 2: 11 
 
 1. The Witness of the Forerunner. Ch. 1:19-34. 
 
 2. The Witness of the First Followers. Ch. 1:35-51. 
 
 3. The Witness of the First Miracle. Ch. 2: 1-U. 
 
 1. The Witness of the Foreriumer. Ch. 1 : 19-34 
 
 When John the Baptist steps upon the scene, the dra- 
 matic action of the Gospel begins; and yet his mission and 
 the two events which follow are really preparatory to the 
 public ministry of Christ. In each of the three, the great 
 ideas of the Gospel emerge, yet, by each of the three, one 
 of these ideas is emphasized. The ministry of John deals 
 with testimony; the securing of the first disciples illus- 
 trates the development of faith; and the miracle at Cana 
 affords a symbol of the life in which faith was to issue. 
 
 19 And this is the witness of John, when the Jews sent 
 unto him from Jerusalem priests and Levites to ask him, 
 Who art thou? 20 And he confessed, and denied not; and 
 he confessed, I am not the Christ. 21 And they asked him. 
 What then? Art thou EUjah? And he saith, I am not. 
 Art thou the prophet? And he answered, No. 22 They 
 said therefore unto him. Who art thou? that we may give an 
 answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? 
 
 23 He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wHdemess, 
 Make straight the way of the Lord, as said Isaiah the prophet. 
 
 24 And they had been sent from the Pharisees. 25 And 
 they asked him, and said unto him. Why then baptizest 
 thou, if thou art not the Christ, neither Elijah, neither the 
 prophet? 26 John answered them, saying, I baptize in 
 water: in the midst of you standeth one whom ye know not, 
 27 even he that cometh after me, the latchet of whose shoe 
 I am not worthy to unloose. 28 These things were done 
 in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing. 
 
20 REVELATION TO WORLD John 1: 19-28 
 
 Our Lord once declared: "Among them that are born 
 of women there hath not arisen a greater than John the 
 Baptist." He did not refer to the majesty of his char- 
 acter, but to the dignity of his mission. John was the 
 forerunner, the herald, of the Messiah. That such is the 
 viewpoint of this Gospel is intimated in the words by which 
 the ministry of the Baptist is introduced: "And this is the 
 witness of John." The writer is not concerned with the 
 dress, or personal habits, or eloquence, or moral grandeur, 
 of the great prophet but with his testimony to Christ. 
 This is given in two paragraphs. 
 
 In verses 19-28 is recorded the testimony that the 
 Messiah had come, unrecognized by his people; verses 
 29-34 give the witness to Jesus as being the Messiah. 
 
 The fame of John had filled the land; some persons 
 were even suggesting that the great preacher was the pre- 
 dicted Christ. The rulers could no longer disregard the 
 influence and power of the popular prophet. A deputa- 
 tion was sent to ask John whom he claimed to be. He at 
 once declared that he was not the Christ; that he was not 
 Elijah who was expected to return to earth as the herald 
 of the Messiah; he was not "the prophet" of whom Moses 
 had spoken, and who was popularly related to the Messiah. 
 
 To this negative testimony about himself John now adds 
 the positive statement that he has come to prepare the 
 way for the Messiah by his call to repentance. This he 
 expresses by a quotation from Isaiah: "The voice of one 
 crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the 
 Lord." John humbly calls himself a "voice," which is 
 expressing a word, or is to testify to "the Word;" but he is 
 claiming the dignity of fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah, 
 and authority as the appointed herald of the Messiah. 
 
 The delegation has another question to ask: If John 
 is not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor "the prophet," why does 
 he baptize? The reply is full of solemn significance: 
 He is baptizing because the Christ is already standing in 
 the midst of them. John is preparing men to receive him. 
 He is himself unworthy to act as the humblest servant of 
 this great Saviour to whom he is bearing witness. 
 
 We can hardly resist drawing the parallel for to-day. 
 
John 1:29-34 THE PREPARATION 21 
 
 Christ is still near, and unrecognized, and only his mes- 
 sengers and those who repent of sin will find him. 
 
 29 On the morrow he seeth Jesus coming unto him, and 
 saith, Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of 
 the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a 
 man who is become before me: for he was before me. 31 
 And I knew him not; but that he should be made manifest 
 to Israel, for this cause came I baptizing in water. 32 And 
 John bare witness, saying, I have beheld the Spirit descending 
 as a dove out of heaven; and it abode upon him. 33 And I 
 knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize in water, he 
 said imto me, Upon whomsoever thou shalt see the Spirit 
 descending, and abiding upon him, the same is he that bap- 
 tizeth in the Holy Spirit. 34 And I have seen, and have 
 borne witness that this is the Son of God. 
 
 The testimony so far recorded has been of significance 
 because of its official character. It was given to a com- 
 mission from the Jewish rulers; but, on the day following, 
 public witness of a still more startling character is given 
 by the Baptist. ^He points to Jesus and declares of him, 
 "Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the 
 world!" It is totally inadequate to interpret the phrase 
 "the Lamb of God" as denoting merely "the meekness and 
 innocence of Christ." As the sin bearer, the Lamb must 
 denote sacrifice, for there is no other way by which sin 
 can be taken away. The verse brings us at once to the 
 fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, where we see one sufifering 
 in the place of sinners; it transports us into the whole 
 realm of Old Testament symbolism, and cannot be under- 
 stood save in the light of offerings, and expiation, and 
 atonement. It points us forward to the cross, and to the 
 work of the Messiah who "bare our sins in his body upon 
 the tree." 
 
 John further indicates the sign by which he is himself 
 assured of the identity of the Messiah. It was he upon 
 whom he had seen "the Spirit descending, and abiding 
 upon him." John had previously known Jesus; but he 
 had not known him as the Christ until this divinely prom- 
 ised sign had been fulfilled. In view of this spiritual 
 
22 REVELATION TO WORLD John 1:35-42 
 
 anointing John gives his second great word of testimony: 
 "This is the Son of God." By this phrase he indicated 
 the unique, divine Personality of which mention had 
 been made by the evangelist in the Prologue. "He was 
 before me," says John; yet John was born first. The 
 Christ to whom he testifies had existed, therefore, before 
 his birth; he had been "in the beginning . . . with God"; 
 he "was God." 
 
 John further testifies that as "the Son of God," Jesus 
 has power to baptize "in the Holy Spirit." Here John 
 contrasts his own work with the work of Christ. John 
 could baptize with water, he could perform a mere out- 
 ward rite; but to true penitents, who trusted in him, Christ 
 would giv^e an inner, actual, supernatural, spiritual re- 
 newal. Water baptism by his herald was but a symbol of 
 the purifying and transforming power of Christ. 
 
 Such was the witness of John the Baptist. When his 
 ministry, as recorded here, is compared with the narrative 
 of the other Gospels, it is noticeable how this writer is 
 accomplishing his first specific aim, which is to prove "that 
 Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God." 
 
 Is it not true that the very essence of the testimony 
 which to-day should be borne to Christ concerns his 
 divine Person and his saving work? 
 
 2. The Witness of the First Followers. Ch. 1 : 35-51 
 
 35 Again on the morrow John was standing, and two of his 
 disciples; 36 and he looked upon Jesus as he walked, and 
 saith, Behold, the Lamb of God! 37 And the two disciples 
 heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. 38 And Jesus 
 turned, and beheld them following, and saith unto tiiem. 
 What seek ye? And they said unto him, Rabbi (which is to 
 say, being interpreted, Teacher), where abidest thou? 39 
 He saith unto them. Come, and ye shall see. They came 
 therefore and saw where he abode; and they abode with 
 him that day: it was about the tenth hour. 40 One of 
 the two that heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, 
 Simon Peter's brother. 41 He fiadeth first his own brother 
 Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messiah 
 (which is, being interpreted, Christ). 42 He brought him 
 unto Jesus. Jesus looked upon him, and said. Thou art 
 
John 1:43-51 THE PREPARATION 23 
 
 Simon the son of John: thou shalt be called Cephas (which 
 is by interpretation, Peter). 
 
 43 On the morrow he was minded to go forth into Galilee, 
 and he findeth Philip: and Jesus saith unto him, Follow me. 
 44 Now^fTlittp- was from Bethsaida, of the city of Andrew and 
 Peter. 45 Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith tmto him, 
 We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the 
 prophets, wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. 46 
 And Nathanael said unto him, Can any good thing come out 
 of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see. 47 
 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him. Be- 
 hold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! 48 Nathanael 
 saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered 
 and said unto him, Before Philip called thee, when thou wast 
 under the fig tree, I saw thee. 49 Nathanael answered him. 
 Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art King of Israel. 50 
 Jesus answered and said unto him. Because I said imto thee, 
 I saw thee underneath the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt 
 see greater things than these. 51 And he saith unto him. 
 Verily, verily, I say unto you. Ye shall see the heaven opened, 
 and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the 
 Son of man. 
 
 If the three great ideas of this Gospel are testimony, 
 faiih, andjife, and if the first is introduced by the witness 
 of John the Baptist, the second is surely emphasized in this 
 narrative of the call of the first disciples. Here we see 
 emerging the two other ideas also, but we are particularly 
 concerned with the birth of faith. We find it to be in its 
 essence the acceptance of testimony; and this paragraph 
 is linked to the preceding by the fact that it was the testi- 
 rnony of John the Baptist which secured for Christ his 
 first followers. Faith, howe\-er, becomes vital and active 
 when it has brought one into personal contact with Christ; 
 and this story shows how men who believe are ready to 
 bear testimony, and how faith issues in life. 
 
 In the narrative of the witness of John, no specific men- 
 tion was made of the result of his witness, yet we seemed 
 instinctively to feel the sullen, silent unbelief of the Jewish 
 rulers. That unbelief becomes a foil with which is con- 
 trasted the ready faith of honest, simple, inquiring 
 souls. 
 
 Those who were the first to become disciples of Christ 
 
24 REVELATION TO WORLD John 1:43-51 
 
 were Andrew and Peter, Philip and Nathanael, and prob- 
 ably James and the author of this Gospel, John. 
 
 Of the four distinctly named, it is interesting to note 
 how in each case faith is awakened by testimony of a 
 slightly different character. All were probably disciples 
 of John the Baptist, and, as already indicated, the story 
 of his witness is followed logically by this account of the 
 first believers. Yet it is of Andrew that we read that he 
 was one of the two disciples of John who heard him declare 
 Jesus to be "the Lamb of God," and who consequently 
 followed him. So, through the ages, the first form of 
 testimony which has been securing followers for Christ 
 is that of public speakers, in response to whose appeals 
 faith has been awakened in the hearts of hearers. The 
 prophetic office has never ceased. To-day men like John 
 the Baptist are needed, who with courage and consecration 
 can stand before the multitudes and declare of Christ: 
 "This is the Son of God . . . Behold, the Lamb of God!" 
 
 In striking contrast, Peter became a disciple when 
 testimony was brought to him by "his own brother." 
 This personal witness to relatives and kindred is the most 
 difficult form of all; it is also the most forcible and the 
 most fruitful. There is a present and abiding need of more 
 faithfulness as witnesses in the home circle and in the 
 secrecy of private life. 
 
 Philip became a disciple in response to a direct call 
 from Christ. In the narrative, this is the simplest and 
 briefest statement of all; the parallel in modern life is 
 more mysterious, but none the less real. There are count- 
 less Christians who have yielded themselves as followers of 
 Christ because of an appeal which has been made by his 
 Spirit directly to the heart. The mind of Philip had been 
 prepared by the things he had already heard of Jesus. So 
 these Christians have previously learned of the character 
 and claims of Christ; but the final appeal and the act of 
 decision have occurred at a time when they were alone 
 with the Lord. 
 
 In the case of Nathanael, inquiry was first awakened 
 by the word of a friend, who testified with deep conviction, 
 and who turned Nathanael in the direction of faith by his 
 
John 1:43-51 THE PREPARATION 25 
 
 memorable words, "Come and see." To turn resolutely 
 toward Christ with open mind, to find out for ourselves 
 what he is and claims to be, to enter the path of personal 
 experience: this is for most men the avenue of faith. 
 
 Nathanael was a man of absolute sincerity, and when 
 assured that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah, he 
 voices an honest difficulty; he does not cast a slur upon 
 the city where Jesus had been dwelling, as has commonly 
 been supposed; but he knows that Nazareth was not the 
 predicted birthplace of the Messiah, and he asks in sur- 
 prise whether so great a thing can possibly come from 
 Nazareth. His difficulty, however, does not cause inac- 
 tion: he comes to Christ, to see for himself. The word of 
 the Master at once shows Nathanael that a divine insight 
 has read the very thoughts of his heart, and he cries out in 
 adoration: "Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art 
 King of Israel." 
 
 Such are some of the ^•arious forms of testimony by 
 which faith is awakened in the heart. It is for us to be 
 fearless, honest, humble; to obey the call however it may 
 be voiced, and to follow on to ever deeper conviction of the 
 claims and powers df Christ. 
 
 It is equally interesting to note how these four men, so 
 variously called, all became witnesses for Christ. John 
 always brings actors upon the scene that they may bear 
 testimony. The words of these first followers are arranged 
 in a striking climax. First they call Christ "Rabbi," 
 i.e., Master, or Teacher, suggesting, at least, that they are 
 willing to be his disciples. Then they declare him to be 
 "the Messiah," and, further, that he has been set forth 
 both by the symbols of "the law" and the writings of "the 
 prophets." Lastly, Nathanael declares him to be "the 
 Son of God" as well as the Messiah, the "King of Israel." 
 
 The greatest of all the witnesses is Christ himself. 
 The testimony reaches its climax when he calls himself 
 "the Son of man." Too commonly it is regarded as a term 
 contrasted with "the Son of God," and signifying the mere 
 humanity of Christ. It does indeed signify the ideal, 
 true man, but it is the title which is taken from Daniel, 
 and indicates the Messiah who was oneway to appear in 
 
26 REVELATION TO WORLD John 2: 1-6 
 
 divine glory, to whom was to be given a universal and 
 eternal Kingdom. 
 
 The fact that those in whom faith is born themselves 
 become witnesses to Christ, suggests to us the third great 
 truth of this Gospel which emerges in this narrative. 
 Faith issues in life. This is what John always is showing. 
 This is what he wishes to secure. He has written that we 
 may believe, "that believing ye may have life." So as 
 Simon comes to Christ, M'eak, impulsive, fickle, passionate, 
 he is met with the promise: "Thou shalt be called Cephas," 
 a stone. If one really believes in Christ, the result will be 
 a complete transformation of character; instead of weak- 
 ness there will be strength, courage, endurance, true 
 manhood. 
 
 Nathanael confesses his faith and the response is given: 
 "Ye shall see the heaven opened, and the angels of God 
 ascending and descending upon the Son of man." 
 
 To the sincere seeker after truth there comes the promise 
 of enlarged spiritual vision. To one who believes there 
 comes the assurance that there will be found in Christ 
 the union of man and God, and through him the restored 
 communion between earth and heaven. Probably Na- 
 thanael had been thinking of Jacob's vision at Bethel, 
 and wondering how and when he should catch the vision 
 for which he longed, and by which his problems would be 
 solved. There comes to him the promise that all he 
 seeks can be had in Christ. It is the message echoed by 
 Browning, "I say the acknowledgment of God in Christ, 
 accepted by the reason, solves for thee all questions in the 
 world and out of it." 
 
 3. The Witness of the First Miracle. Ch. 2:1-11 
 
 1 And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of 
 Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: 2 and Jesus 
 also was bidden, and his disciples, to the marriage. 3 And 
 when the wine failed, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, 
 They have no wine. 4 And Jesus saith unto her. Woman, 
 what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come. 
 5 His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith 
 unto you, do it. 6 Now there were six waterpots of stone 
 
John 2: 7-11 THE PREPAFL^TION 27 
 
 set there after the Jews' manner of purifying, containing 
 two or three firkins apiece. 7 Jesus saith unto them, Fill 
 the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the 
 brim. 8 And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear 
 imto the ruler of the feast. And they bare it. 9 And when 
 the ruler of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and 
 knew not whence it was (but the servants that had drawn the 
 water knew), the ruler of the feast calleth the bridegroom, 
 10 and saith unto him, Every man setteth on first the good 
 wine; and when men have drunk freely, then that^which is 
 worse: thou hast kept the good wine imtil now. 11 This be- 
 ginning of his signs did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and mani- 
 fested his glory; and his disciples believed on him. 
 
 The ministry of John the Baptist, the call of the first 
 disciples, and the miracle at Cana, which together form 
 a section of the Gospel preparatory to the portrayal of 
 the public ministry of our Lord, are narrated as occupying 
 exactly a full week; what is more significant, they succes- 
 sively illustrate all the three dominant themes of the Gos- 
 pel, namely, testimmr\^_to_Qhri.?<^r thcdevelg prnent of faith, - 
 t he transformation of life . The last is, of course, the su- 
 preme message of this charming story; yet the other 
 thoughts emerge; -and the account of this first miracle, or 
 "sign," suggests how inseparable all these three truths are 
 from each of the miracles of our Lord. Each testifies to 
 his character, each awakes or confirms faith, each suggests 
 thf ; life which faitj i_secures. . 
 
 (1) That this miracle was witness to the Person of 
 Christ is stated in the eleventh verse: "This beginning 
 of his signs did Jesus . . . and manifested his glory." 
 Each miracle related by John was intended to prove that 
 Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God. Here, as our Lord 
 turns water into wine, he shows himself "Ruler of alL_ 
 nature ." It was an act of creation. It declared that in 
 mmGod was present. 
 
 No miracle of Christ, however, was wrought simply 
 as a prodigy, to appeal to the minds of spectators. There 
 was always present the motive oMove ajid^s^^mpatji^ 
 Christ was here relieving"^mbarrassnient, he was giving 
 joy, he was bestowing upon the bridegroom a gift of no 
 inconsiderable value. He was suggesting that his nature 
 
28 REVELATION TO WORLD John 2 : 1-11 
 
 was loving, sympathetic, divine; "his glory" was the glory 
 of the God who is love. He was the Son of God. 
 
 Even in the dialogue with his mother, which we find 
 difficult to explain fully, there is further testimony to his 
 Person. As he calls her "woman," there is indicated no 
 lack of respect or even of affection; the title was often 
 used in addressing persons of rank. Nor was there any- 
 thing of harshness in the words that follow: "What have 
 I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come"; yet there 
 is here the definite intimation that he was the Christ. 
 
 What Mary seemed to desire was that her Son should 
 take this occasion to manifest himself openly as the 
 ' Messiah, and she mentions the need of wine as her reason 
 for suggesting such a Messianic manifestation. He knows 
 that this is not the time nor the place; it must be at the 
 passover and in Jerusalem. His "hour" had "not yet 
 come." He fulfills the need of the guests, he grants the 
 request of his mother, while denying, and mildly, lovingly 
 rebuking the deeper, larger desire of her heart. Yet in 
 his denial he is admitting the truth that he is the Messiah, 
 ^nd that, as such, he will soon appear. 
 
 May we not add that the very symbolism of the marriage 
 feast, and the joy which Jesus brought to the wedding 
 hour, suggested the Messianic symbolism of the Old Testa- 
 ment, and the presence among men of him whom John 
 the Baptist called the Bridegroom. Thus in this "begin- 
 ning of . . . signs" the evangelist is producing testimony 
 to prove that Jesus is both "the Christ," and "the Son of 
 God." 
 
 (2) This testimony is further related, as are all the sub- 
 sequent "signs," to belief. We read that, as a result 
 of the miracle, "his disciples believed on him." They 
 had believed on him before; at least they had believed 
 him. By this miracle their faith was strengthened and 
 confirmed. They now trusted in him, their doubts were 
 removed, they committed themselves to him without 
 question or reserve. 
 
 This result should be noted in the case of all the recorded 
 miracles. They were not intended, and surely did not 
 result, in merely arousing interest or faith in the minds 
 
John 2: 1-11 THE PREPARATION 29 
 
 of the indifferent or the skeptical; they likewise made 
 their appeal to disciples, and developed and established 
 their belief. 
 
 The experience of those first believers is ours. First 
 there is an incipient faith based upon the testimony of 
 others; then there is the larger confidence due to personal 
 contact with Christ; and then there comes the more per- 
 fect faith resulting from personal experience and observa- 
 tion of the power and works of our Lord. 
 
 (3) The deepest meaning of the miracle relates, how- 
 ever, to the life of believers. All the "signs" wrought by 
 our Lord were symbolic of the experiences which would 
 result from faith in him; it is most significant, therefore, 
 that his first miracle, which was an index to his whole 
 ministry, was so related to the joy of a wedding feast. 
 It rebukes the foolish fear that religion robs life of its 
 happiness, or that loyalty to Christ is inconsistent with 
 exuberant spirits and innocent pleasure. It corrects the 
 false impression that sourness is a sign of sainthood, or 
 that gloom is a condition of godliness. It indicates the 
 transforming, ennobling, transfiguring power of Christ, 
 and shows how became that we "may have life, and may 
 have it abundantly." 
 
 It may be true, as certain ancient writers suggest, that 
 the miracle pictured the changing of Jewish forms and 
 ceremonies into the substance and realities of Christian 
 truth; but it is certain that, by his presence at the wed- 
 ding and his part in the feast, our Lord showed his ap- 
 proval of joy and gladness; he sanctified marriage and all 
 our social relationships; and above all he indicated how 
 human lives would be glorified by him, and the characters 
 and capacities of his followers be brought to their highest 
 development and their fullest possibilities. It is for us to 
 show the obedience of true faith; his work may be done 
 in divine silence; we are to heed the word spoken by Mary 
 to the servants: "Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it." 
 
30 REVELATION TO WORLD John 2: 12-22 
 
 B. THE PUBLIC MINISTRY. Chs. 2: 12 to 12:50 
 1. The Opening of the Ministry. Chs. 2: 12 to 4:54 
 
 a. The Wihiess in Jerusalem. Chs. 2 : 12 to 3 : 21 
 
 h. The Witness in Judea. Ch. 3 : 22-36 
 
 c. The Witness in Samaria. Ch. 4 : 1-42 
 
 d. The Witness in Galilee. Ch. 4 : 43-54 
 
 a. The WitJiess in Jerusalem. Chs. 2 : 12 to 3 : 21 
 
 (1) The Witness in the Temple. Ch. 2 : 12-22 
 
 12 After this he went down to Capernaum, he, and his 
 mother, and his brethren, and his disciples ; and there they 
 abode not many days. 
 
 13 And the passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus 
 went up to Jerusalem. 14 And he found in the temple those 
 that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of 
 money sitting: 15 and he made a scourge of cords, and cast 
 all out of the temple, both the sheep and the oxen; and he 
 poured out the changers' money, and overthrew their tables; 
 16 and to them that sold the doves he said. Take these 
 things hence; make not my Father's house a house of mer- 
 chandise. 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, 
 Zeal for thy house shall eat me up. 18 The Jews therefore 
 answered and said unto him. What sign showest thou unto 
 us, seeing that thou doest these things? 19 Jesus answered 
 and said unto them. Destroy this temple, and in three days 
 I will raise it up. 20 The Jews therefore said. Forty and six 
 years was this temple in building, and wilt thou raise it up in 
 three days? 21 But he spake of the temple of his body. 
 22 When therefore he was raised from the dead, his dis- 
 ciples remembered that he spake this ; and they believed the 
 scripture, and the word which Jesus had said. 
 
 There was but one place and time for our Lord to 
 inaugurate fittingly his public ministry; it must be at the 
 capital city, and in the Temple, the very center of life and 
 worship; it must be at the passover feast, the most solemn 
 period of the year, and the season when the city would be 
 
John 2: 12-22 THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 31 
 
 thronged with pilgrims from every quarter of the globe. 
 There and then he could offer himself to the people as their 
 Messiah, in whom were to be realized all the types and 
 hopes suggested by the great national festival. 
 
 The story is prefaced by a brief statement which is not 
 wanting in significance: "After this he went down to 
 Capernaum, he, and his mother, and his brethren, and his 
 disciples; and there they abode not many days." V. 12. 
 Jesus was waiting for the passover; he knew always when 
 his "hour" was come; he was also selecting a more con- 
 venient center than Nazareth for his public ministry. 
 This verse marks the transition from his private to his 
 public career. 
 
 On the eve of the passover, Jesus appears in Jerusalem 
 and presents himself as the Messiah by an act of deep 
 symbolic import. He drives from the Temple the traders 
 by whom the place of divine worship has been defiled. 
 He comes as the Son of God, filled with zeal for his Father's 
 house. He comes as the Messiah of Israel, offering to 
 secure national purification which will preface the Mes- 
 sianic Kingdom and blessedness. 
 
 The abuse which bur Lord was rebuking had arisen from 
 what was at first a mere matter of convenience for wor- 
 shipers. The sale of sacrifices in a place adjacent to the 
 Temple, and the exchange of foreign money for the sacred 
 coins with which the Temple tax could be paid, was all 
 innocent enough; but little by little the traffic had 
 crowded into the very court of the Temple; it was accom- 
 panied by disorder, greed, dishonesty, and extortion, until 
 the place of worship had become, as Christ declared, "a 
 house of merchandise." 
 
 Our Lord takes a scourge of cords, not as an instrument ) 
 of offense but as a badge of authority, and expels the) 
 traders, declaring that the Temple is his Father's house. 
 In no other more definite or picturesque way could he have 
 asserted his claim to be the Christ, the Son of God. 
 
 The significance of the act is at once appreciated by 
 the disciples who, at least, see in this incident the fulfill- 
 ment of a Messianic prophecy; "Zeal for thy house shall 
 eat me up." 
 
32 REVELATION TO WORLD John 2: 12-22 
 
 On the other hand the rulers regard the action with 
 sullen unbelief or with a sense of offended dignity; they 
 demand of Christ a "sign" in justification of what he has 
 done and as a proof of the divine authority he is claiming 
 to possess. Their demand was a stupid impertinence. 
 It was like asking for proof of a proof. His act was itself 
 a sign which they should have interpreted. 
 
 Jesus does promise, however, a sign so significant 
 that in its light no man would henceforth have any excuse 
 for doubting that he was "the Christ, the Son of God." 
 He declares that his death and resurrection are to be the 
 unanswerable arguments as to his divine Person and mis- 
 sion. 
 
 He phrases his reply, however, in such language that, 
 for the time, not even his disciples are able to comprehend 
 his meaning: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will 
 raise it up." "He spake of the temple of his body," the 
 writer explains. The Jews thought he referred to the 
 literal Temple, and received his words with contemptuous 
 incredulity. After his resurrection "his disciples remem- 
 bered that he spake this ; and they believed the scripture, 
 and the word which Jesus had said." It is in the light 
 of the resurrection that we can understand the Bible, and 
 can interpret and believe the words and claims of Christ. 
 
 It is noticeable that Jesus began his ministry with 
 an act of holiness rather than of power. He wished to 
 teach the nation that the supreme need was their spiritual 
 cleansing, their purification as worshipers, their moral 
 elevation as the people of God ; and he wished to suggest 
 that he could bring such blessings if they would accept 
 and follow him. 
 
 / It is further noticeable that Jesus saw, in the unbelief 
 j manifested in the fiist hour of his ministry, the certainty 
 of his final rejection and the clear vision of the cross. 
 They who would not receive him would indeed destroy 
 the "temple of his body." He saw, however, his resur- 
 rection, and all that it would imply and secure. It would 
 forever be the supreme justification of his claims; but, 
 further, as his death involved the destruction of the literal 
 Temple and its worship, so his resurrection would secure 
 
John 2: 23-25 THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 33 
 
 the erection of a truer spiritual Temple, even the Church 
 of Christ; and in place of a ritual of forms and shadows 
 and types, there would rise a religion of truer worship 
 and of more real fellowship with God. 
 
 We see then in this narrative the familiar ideas of this 
 Gospel, testimony to the truth that Jesus is the Christ, 
 the Son of God, the response of unbelief and of faith, and 
 the issue of faith in life, here pictured as the enjoyment of 
 all those realities which the ancient Temple symbolized 
 and foreshadowed. 
 
 (2) The Witness of Miracles. Ch. 2 : 23-25 
 
 23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, during 
 the feast, many beUeved on his name, beholding his signs 
 which he did. 24 But Jesus did not trust himself unto them, 
 for that he knew all men, 25 and because he needed not that 
 any one should bear witness concerning man; for he him- 
 self knew what was in man. 
 
 During the seven days' celebration of the feast, Jesus 
 remains in Jerusalern, and arouses curiosity, wonder, and 
 even incipient faith, by performing certain miracles. 
 "Many believed on his name;" they were willing to accept 
 him as a W^orker of miracles, "Beholding his signs which 
 he did," but they did not really trust him or commit 
 themselves to him as Master and Lord; they did not be- 
 lieve in him as "the Christ, the Son of God." Then we 
 read, "Jesus did not trust himself unto them, for that he 
 knew all men." He who could read the heart was not 
 deceived by any mere external appearances, or outward 
 professions. He could distinguish between partial and 
 real faith; and to those who are not willing to commit 
 themselves to him and to trust him wholly he never reveals 
 himself in all his fullness. 
 
 Even this minute paragraph is molded by the dominant 
 ideas of the Gospel. Testimony is borne by "signs," 
 faith is awakened, and it is suggested that where it is 
 sincere, and develops into trust, there will issue the life 
 which results in an ever deepening knowledge of Christ. 
 
 Thus, too, these verses form the link between the 
 
34 REVELATION TO WORLD John 3: 1-18 
 
 preceding and the following striking narratives. The 
 former shows the absolute unbelief of the rulers, and the 
 true faith of the disciples; the latter pictures a ruler 
 whose faith is only the incipient, imperfect belief of 
 those who accept Christ as a Worker of miracles; but as 
 he is sincere his faith deepens, Christ does reveal himself 
 to him, and the ruler becomes also the disciple. 
 
 (3) The Witness to Nicodemus. Ch, 3 : 1-21 
 
 1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nico- 
 demus, a ruler of the Jews: 2 the same came unto him 
 by night, and said to him. Rabbi, we know that thou art a 
 teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that 
 thou doest, except God be with him. 3 Jesus answered and 
 said unto him. Verily, verily, I say unto thee. Except one be 
 bom anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4 Nicodemus 
 saith imto him. How can a man be bom when he is old? 
 can he enter a second time into his mother's womb, and be 
 born? 5 Jesus answered. Verily, verily, ,1 say imto thee, 
 Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter 
 into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the 
 flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 
 
 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be bom anew. 
 
 8 The wind bloweth where it will, and thou hearest the voice 
 thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh, and whither it 
 goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. 9 Nico- 
 demus answered and said unto him. How can these things 
 be? 10 Jesus answered and said imto him, Art thou the 
 teacher of Israel, and understandest not these things? 11 
 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that which we know, 
 and bear witness of that which we have seen ; and ye receive 
 not our witness. 12 If I told you earthly things and ye 
 believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you heavenly things? 
 13 And no one hath ascended into heaven, but he that 
 descended out of heaven, even the Son of man, who is in 
 heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the 
 wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up; 
 15 that whosoever believeth may in him have eternal life. 
 
 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only be- 
 gotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not 
 perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God sent not the Son 
 into the world to judge the world; but that the world shoiJd 
 be saved through him. 18 He that believeth on him is not 
 
John 3: 19-21 THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 35 
 
 judged: he that believeth not hath been judged already, 
 because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten 
 Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment, that the light is 
 come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than 
 the light; for their works were evil. 20 For every one that 
 doeth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, lest 
 his works should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth the 
 truth Cometh to the light, that his works may be made mani- 
 fest, that they have been wrought in God. 
 
 There is an unfailing charm in the story of Nicodemus 
 but also a deep undertone of pathos and sadness. His 
 character is sketched in three scenes: in the first he ap- 
 pears as a cautious inquirer, in the second, as a timid 
 flefender, in the third, as a^secret disciple of Christ. He was 
 a Pharisee, but not therefore a hj-pocrite. The Pharisees, 
 in spite of their formalism, composed the most popular 
 and most patriotic party in Jerusalem, and among them 
 were men of earnestness and piety. He was "a ruler," 
 i.e., a member of the sanhedrin, a man of high reputation, 
 of learning, of influence, of power; and the story suggests 
 to us the great service he might have rendered to the 
 Master had he not been so evidently lacking in moral 
 pourage. 
 
 He came to Jesus "by night;" nevertheless he came: 
 that is the important point. The time may indicate 
 timidity, but the fact, and the sequel, reveal sincerity. 
 The great "teacher of Israel" came to the despised Prophet 
 from Galilee, seeking for light; and because of his sin- 
 cerity Jesus revealed to him the marvelous truths concern- 
 ing his Person and his saving work. 
 
 There may have been something of presumption, of self- 
 sufficiency, of pedantry, about the words with w^hich he 
 opens the interview: "Rabbi, we know that thou art a 
 teacher come from God ; for no one can do these signs 
 that thou doest, except God be with him;" but there was 
 so'.nething more serious still, which needed correction, 
 in the mind and heart of the inquirer, as was shown by the 
 startling reply of our Lord: "X'erily, verily, I say unto 
 thee, Except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom 
 of God." 
 
36 REVELATION TO WORLD John 3: 1-21 
 
 Nicodemus sincerely longed for the coming of that 
 Kingdom, but he expected it to be established by a 
 political revolution, and by acts of power, which the 
 miracles of Christ seemed to prophesy; and he believed 
 that every Jew, by right of birth would have a place in 
 that Kingdom. 
 
 It was surprising to be told that even he must experience 
 a new birth, in order to enter and enjoy the blessings of the 
 Kingdom, and his reply expresses his astonishment: 
 "How can a man be born when he is old?" Probably he 
 was interpreting the words with stupid literalism, as refer- 
 ring to a physical birth; but possibly he understands the 
 reference of our Lord to a moral renewal, and borrows his 
 figure to express the objection so familiar in these modern 
 days: "Character is the product of countless past im- 
 pressions and experiences; it cannot begin anew." What- 
 ever the false impression of Nicodemus may have been, his 
 ideas were moving wholly in the sphere of the material 
 or the natural, and Christ proceeds, therefore, to emphasize 
 the truth of the spiritual and the divine, as he explains 
 to him fully what he means by the new birth. How 
 difficult it is for men to take a spiritual view of life, and to 
 understand that "the kingdom of Cod" can never be 
 brought in by political expedients and social reforms and 
 natural processes; but that ft j j^ firs^^ p;reat nee d is a renewal 
 of the hea rt find f divjne transformation ore'a'rh"indi\ idiial 
 *mam "Jesus answered, VerilypverTIy, I say unto thee, 
 Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot 
 enter into the kingdom of God." 
 
 By "water" Jesus referred to the baptism of John and to 
 similar rites with which Nicodemus was familiar. There 
 must be repe ntanc e, confessio n, p ardon ^ pufificgjtion from 
 sin, before one could be prepared "To'enter the Kingdom; 
 but there must b e_ something more. There must be the 
 retjgwing jjid_transfQrming_p£)Wer of the*~5pirit~or God. 
 MereTiufnan nature, however beautiful, or cultured, or 
 sincere, can never rise above itself, or produce anything 
 better than itself. It possesses, however, capacities for 
 a higher life, which can be awakened, and called into 
 operation only by the Spirit of God: "That which is born 
 
John 3: 1-21 THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 37 
 
 of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit 
 is spirit." The truth is so obvious that it should occasion 
 us no surprise: "IMarvel not that I said unto thee, Ye 
 must be born anew." 
 
 There is, however, a mystery about the new birth, as 
 about every act of God. One who is born of the Spirit is 
 like the wind. We cannot tell its direction or source, yet 
 we can see its effects. It is the manifestation of an unseen 
 power. So the life of the regenerate soul will always be a 
 puzzle and an enigma to men of the world; yet even they 
 must be able to test its genuineness by its acts of humility, 
 of purity, of love. 
 
 As Nicodemus expresses his surprise or bewilderment, 
 our Lord states that these are truths which he should have 
 already known; they are merel}' "earthly things," which 
 the Old Testament taught, and John had recently pro- 
 claimed; but there are "heavenly things" concerning 
 Jesus' own Person and work which he alone can reveal. 
 These "heavenly things" do not concern the need and 
 nature of the new birth, which Nicodemus should already 
 haAe known, but they declare its condition, its method, 
 even faith in a divine, crucified Saviour; they answer the 
 eager question of Nicodemus: "How can these things be?" 
 These last words must express more than blind incredulity 
 or astonishment. Nicodemus must have been willing to 
 believe; for Christ now proceeds to reveal to him in 
 startling fullness the divine plan of salvation. He assures 
 Nicodemus that he is worthy of trust as he brings the 
 revelation for he is not only a human messenger "sent from 
 God," but a divine Being, one with God, who came down 
 from heaven, and, even as man, is in the most full and free 
 and perfect fellowship with God. 
 
 The substance of the revelation is this "As Moses lifted 
 up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of 
 man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth may in him 
 have eternal life." 
 
 What a striking use Christ here makes of a story from 
 Old Testament history; and with what divine prevision 
 does he foresee his own death upon the cross! The figure 
 is not to be pressed in all of its possible details; yet we 
 
38 REVELATION TO WORLD John 3: 1-21 
 
 should here note the suggestions: (1) That men are, like 
 the Israelites of old, serpent-bitten; but the deadly poison 
 is the sting of sin. (2) God has provided a remedy in 
 the Person of his Son; in his crucifixion we see sin van- 
 quished, as the uplifted serpent pictured the death of the 
 destroyer; yet, as the uplifted serpent was not real, but 
 one of brass, so Christ was not really a partaker of sin but 
 only made "in the likeness of sinful fiesh." (3) As it was 
 necessary for the dying Israelite to accept God's provision, 
 and, with submission and faith, to look upon the brazen 
 serpent so it is necessary for us to look, in repentance and 
 faith, to the crucified Saviour, and to commit ourselves 
 to God as he is graciously revealed in Jesus Christ. If 
 we refuse to accept Christ we "perish," but faith results in 
 "eternal life." (4) This provision is made by the love of 
 God, and is freely offered to everyone who will believe: 
 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begot- 
 ten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not 
 perish, but have eternal life." 
 
 The question is often raised as to whether verses 16-21 
 are the words of Jesus, or of John. It is not a problem of 
 supreme consequence, for whether uttered by our Lord 
 in the presence of Nicodemus or embodying truth taught 
 to John on other occasions, they form a fitting conclusion 
 to this fascinating narrative. The preceding verses have 
 recorded the testimony to the Person of Christ, as "a 
 teacher come from God," as "the Son of man" who de- 
 scended out of heaven, who hath ascended into hea\'en, 
 who is the Saviour of all who believe in him; they have 
 further shown that faith results in life, in being "born 
 anew;" in salvation, in having "eternal life." This clos- 
 ing paragraph contains, in veree sixteen, a summary of the 
 Gospel, further testifying /to^. the Person of Christ as 
 the "only begotten Son" of God, but, in this verse and in 
 the verses following, it (fleals particularly with the third 
 great theme of the evangelist, namely, faith. Here stress 
 is laid upon the moral element in belief or unbelief. It 
 is declared that the great purpose of God in sending 
 Christ into the world is to save men; but that those who 
 reject him place themselves under condemnation. As he 
 
John 3: 22-36 THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 39 
 
 is holy and pure and divine, those who turn from him 
 must do so because they love sin. They are not willing 
 to live in the presence of him who is "the true light" 
 and who, as such, would rebuke the works of darkness. 
 Christ is still the touchstone of character. 
 
 On the other hand there are always those who are sin- 
 cere and true, who desire to come to the light. For them 
 there is divine approval; to them comes more light. 
 That Nicodemus was of the latter class his subsequent 
 history shows. This first interview with the Master may 
 well have closed with some such word of approval and 
 encouragement and hope. 
 
 b. The Witness in Judea. Cli. 3 : 22-36 
 
 22 After these things came Jesus and his disciples into 
 the land of Judaea; and there he tarried with them, and 
 baptized. 23 And John also was baptizing in Mnon near 
 to Salim, because there was much water there : and they came, 
 and were baptized. 24 For John was not yet cast into prison. 
 25 There arose therefore a questioning on the part of John's 
 disciples with a Jew about purifying. 26 And they came unto 
 John, and said to him. Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond 
 the Jordan, to whom thou hast borne witness, behold, the 
 same baptizeth, and all men come to him. 27 John answered 
 and said, A man can receive nothing, except it have been 
 given him from heaven. 28 Ye yourselves bear me witness, 
 that I said, I am not the Christ, but, that I am sent before him. 
 29 He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend 
 of the bridegroom, that standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth 
 greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy there- 
 fore is made full. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease. 
 
 31 He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of 
 the earth is of the earth, and of the earth he speaketh: he 
 that cometh from heaven is above all. 32 What he hath 
 seen and heard, of that he beareth witness; and no man 
 receiveth his witness. 33 He that hath received his witness 
 hath set his seal to this, that God is true. 34 For he whom 
 God hath sent speaketh the words of God : for he giveth not 
 the Spirit by measure. 35 The Father loveth the Son, and 
 hath given all things into his hand. 36 He that believeth 
 on the Son hath eternal life; but he that obeyeth not the 
 Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. 
 
40 REVELATION TO WORLD John 3: 22-36 
 
 Jesus now withdrav/s from Jerusalem. Jie has been 
 received with coldness and unbelief. He continues his 
 ministry in Judea, but outside the capital city. His 
 work for the present is that of teaching his disciples, and, 
 by their hands, administering baptism to new followers. 
 John the Baptist is laboring in the same vicinity, and 
 not unnaturally the question is raised as to the relation 
 between the work of Jesus and of John. An opportunity 
 is thus afforded to John of delivering his final and supreme 
 witness to Christ. Some suppose that the words of John 
 end with the thirtieth verse, and others that they continue 
 to the end of the chapter; but whether spoken by the 
 Baptist or by the evangelist the whole section embodies 
 a striking testimony to the Person and work of our Lord, 
 and a solemn warning. as to the issues of faith and unbelief. 
 
 The immediate occasion of the witness of the Baptist 
 was a remark of his disciples which evidenced something of 
 jealousy: "Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond the Jor- 
 dan, to whom thou hast borne witness, behold, the same 
 baptizeth, and all men come to him." In noble contrast, 
 John replies with deep and characteristic humility that the 
 different tasks in life, and all apparent degrees of greatness, 
 must be explained as the expression of the will of God, and 
 that he is perfectly satisfied, nay, that he rejoices in the 
 part assigned to him in relation to the work and ministry 
 of Christ. John calls himself "the friend of the bride- 
 groom," i.e., one who arranged the wedding contract and 
 presided at the wedding feast and was glad as he heard the 
 voice of the bridegroom's greeting. He declares his great 
 joy at being privileged, as the actual forerunner of Christ, 
 to prepare a people for the heavenly Bridegroom. Last 
 of all he speaks that word which should be a motto for 
 everyone in relation to the Master: "He must increase, 
 but I must decrease." 
 
 So far the witness of the paragraph has been rather 
 negative. It has shown the inferiority of John to Jesus, 
 and the relation of their respective ministries. The 
 closing words show the infinite superiority of Jesus to all 
 men, and his unique relation to God. 
 
 Witness is borne (1) to the divine origin of Jesus: 
 
John 3; 22-36 THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 41 
 
 '"He that cometh from above is above all," which is a 
 reference not to the source of his mission, but to his Being. 
 In virtue of such an origin, and in contrast with men, who 
 are limited by the experiences of earth, his (2) teaching is 
 absolutely authoritative, for he has been a witness of the 
 heavenly truths he proclaims; and yet men are unwilling 
 to receive his testimony. There are exceptions, however, 
 and each believer has the dignity of being one who sets his 
 seal to the veracity of God. To believe Christ is to belie^'e 
 God; for Christ speaks the very words of God ; to him the 
 Father has giv^en his Spirit in all fullness, and not in limited 
 measure, as to human teachers. Nor is Christ merely a 
 teacher; in virtue of his love, the Father has bestowed upon 
 him, as his Son, (3) universal authority. He has "all 
 authority ... in heaven and on earth." 
 
 In view of such teaching and authority, the paragraph 
 may well close with the solemn warning as to the eternal 
 issues of faith and unbelief, which declares that belief 
 on the Son of God assures the present and continued enjoy- 
 ment of "eternal life," but that the rejection of the Son 
 invohes the experiencing of "the wrath of God." 
 
42 REVELATION TO WORLD John 4: 1-22 
 
 c. The Witness in Samaria. Ch. 4 : 1-42 
 
 1 When therefore the Lord knew that the Pharisees had 
 heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more dis- 
 ciples than John 2 (although Jesus himself baptized not, 
 but his disciples), 3 he left Judaea, and departed again into 
 Galilee. 4 And he must needs pass through Samaria. 5 
 So he Cometh to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near to 
 the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph: 
 6 and Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied*" 
 with his journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth 
 hour. 7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: 
 Jesus saith imto her, Give me to drink. 8 For his disciples 
 were gone away into the city to buy food. 9 The Samaritan 
 woman therefore saith unto him. How is it that thou, being a 
 Jew, askest drink of me, who am a Samaritan woman? 
 (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus 
 answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, 
 and who it is that saith to thee. Give me to drink; thou 
 wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee 
 living water. 11 The woman saith unto him. Sir, thou hast 
 nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: whence then hast 
 thou that living water? 12 Art thou greater than our father' 
 Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and 
 his sons, and his cattle? fli Jesus answered and said unto 
 her, Every one that drinlfeth of this water shall thirst again: 
 14 but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him 
 shall never thirst; but the water that I shaU give him shall 
 become in him a well of water springing up unto eternal 
 life. 15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, 
 that I thirst not, neither come all the way hither to draw. 
 16 Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy- husband, and come 
 hither. 17 The woman answered and said unto him, I have 
 no husband. Jesus saith unto her. Thou saidst well, I have 
 no husband: 18 for thou hast had five husbands; and he 
 whom thou now hast is not thy husband : this hast thou said 
 truly. 19 The woman saith unto him. Sir, I perceive that 
 thou art a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshipped in this moim- 
 tain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men 
 ought to worship. 21 Jesus saith unto her. Woman, believe 
 me, the hour cometh, when neither in this mountain, nor in 
 Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father. 22 Ye worship that 
 which ye laiow not: v/e worship that which we know; for 
 
John 4 : 23-42 THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 43 
 
 salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour cometh, and 
 now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in 
 spirit and truth : for such doth the Father seek to be his wor- 
 shippers. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him 
 must worship in spirit and truth. 25 The woman saith unto 
 him, I know that Messiah cometh (he that is called Christ) : 
 when he is come, he wiU declare unto us all things. 26 
 Jesus saith imto her, I that speak imto thee am /je."1 
 
 27 And upon this came his disciples; and they marvelled 
 that he was speaking with a woman ; yet no man said. What 
 seekest thou? or, Why speakest thou with her? 28 So the 
 woman left her waterpot, and went away into the city, and 
 saith to the people, 29 Come, see a man, who told me all things 
 that ever I did: can this be the Christ? 30 They went out 
 of the city, and were coming to him. 31 In the mean while 
 the disciples prayed him, saying. Rabbi, eat. 32 But he 
 said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not. 33 The 
 disciples therefore said one to another. Hath any man brought 
 him aught to eat? 34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to 
 do the will of him that sent me, and to accomplish his work. 
 
 35 Say not ye. There are yet four months, and then cometh 
 the harvest? behold, I say unto you. Lift up your eyes, and 
 look on the fields, that they are white already unto harvest. 
 
 36 He that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto 
 life eternal; that he that soweth and he that reapeth may 
 rejoice together. 37 For herein is the saying true. One 
 soweth, and another reapeth. 38 I sent you to reap that 
 whereon ye have not labored: others have labored, and ye 
 are entered into their labor. 
 
 39 And from that city many of the Samaritans believed on 
 him because of the word of the woman, who testified. He 
 told me all things that ever I did. 40 So when the Samaritans 
 came unto him, they besought him to abide with them: 
 and he abode there two days. 41 And many more believed 
 because of his word; 42 and they said to the woman. Now 
 we believe, not because of thy speaking: for we have heard 
 for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Saviour of 
 the world. 
 
 In striking contrast to the cold unbelief with which 
 our Lord was received in Jerusalem and in Judea, was his 
 experience in Samaria, where a whole city accepted him 
 as the promised Messiah. 
 
 It was the more strikine beraiise he remained there only 
 
44 REVELATION TO WORLD John 4: 1-42 
 
 two days, while on his journey from Judea to Galilee, he ' 
 performed there no miracles, and those who so readily 
 received him regarded all of his race as their natural 
 enemies. 
 
 It would be difificult to find a finer piece of dramatic'" 
 writing than is contained -in the dialogue between Jesus 
 and the woman at Jacob's well, and in the subsequent 
 narrative of her testimony to her fellow townsmen. To 
 regard it as fiction is to credit John with miraculous literary 
 skill. He must have seen and heard what is here recorded. 
 Therefore, as a narrative of fact, it challenges our attention 
 to notice what Christ claimed for himself, how he developed 
 faith in those who were willing to receive his word, and 
 what he promised to those who put their trust in him. 
 
 The narrative is full of encouragement for all who are 
 sincerely seeking for light on religious problems; for it 
 shows how faith may be gradually enlarged and strength- 
 ened. This woman looked upon Jesus, at first, as being 
 merely a weary traveler, ,ajew, then as "a prophet ," 
 and finally as th e. . " M essiah w hom her townsmen call 
 "ihe Saviour of theworlHT^ 
 
 Here, too, is great encouragement for all who are 
 laboring as witnesses for Christ. They are assured of 
 "fields, . . . white already unto harvest" if they are only 
 ready to lift up their eyes, to speak to passing strangers, 
 to testify where opportunities are offered. 
 
 Most of all is the story instructive to those who wish 
 to learn the method of approach to the souls who are in 
 need of Christ. We cannot, of course, follow the example 
 of Christ exactly, in every case, appealing to just so 
 many motives in his precise order; but we can find here 
 illustrations of those attitudes of heart and mind to which 
 we must appeal, if we are to bring men and women into 
 vital fellowship with Christ, and into the enjoyment of that 
 life which is promised to those who believe in him. 
 
 (1) We notice first of all that Christ makes a request 
 appealing to sympathy. Vs. 7-9. "Give me to drink." 
 Not only would the mention of his pitiful thirst touch the 
 heart of a woman, but the fact that a Jew would ask drink 
 of a Samaritan, would indicate that he felt sympathy for 
 
John 4: 1-42 THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 45 
 
 her. In asking a favor, the petitioner, for the time, places 
 himself upon a level with the person he addresses. He was 
 a Rabbi, but he was willing to speak to a woman, a poor 
 woman who was performing the act of a servant, a woman 
 who was a social outcast, a woman who belonged to a 
 despised race. The very fact that he should make a re- 
 quest of her, made her willing to listen further to what he 
 had to say. He won his way into her heart by his first word. 
 He made her believe that something beside his thirst led 
 him to address her. There are those who regard the 
 woman as cynical, insulting, flippant. She is, rather, an 
 example of the open-hearted sincerity which is necessary 
 in case we are to learn more from Christ. Only when we 
 believe that he desires to help us, only when we feel some- 
 thing of sympathy for him, can he reveal himself to us. 
 So, too, in approaching a needy soul with Christian testi- 
 mony, we must be careful "to win at the start," to estab- 
 lish some common ground, to make it evident that we 
 really desire to confer a benefit, that we feel true, unselfish 
 interest. 
 
 (2) Christ also makes a claim appealing to curiosity. 
 Vs. 10-12. If curiosity had been aroused already by his 
 request, it is now fanned into a flame by the statement 
 which falls from his lips: "If thou knewest the gift of God, 
 and who it is that saith to thee. Give me to drink; thou 
 wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee 
 living water." That is the way to arouse curiosity: 
 "If you knew; but of course you do not!" The woman 
 at once is asking herself who he can be. Does he claim to 
 be greater than Jacob who gave the well? What are the 
 claims of Christ? What does he say of himself? Does 
 he declare that he is more than man, even the divine Son 
 of God? If men are to be saved, they must be brought 
 seriously to consider exactly these questions. It is in- 
 difference which is so perilous. When a man is aroused to 
 consider the words and the claims of Christ recorded in 
 this Gospel, he is certain to find more light. 
 
 (3) Christ next makes a promise appealing to conscious 
 need: "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give 
 him shall never thirst." Vs. 13-15. Satisfaction was 
 
46 REVELATION TO WORLD John 4: 1-42 
 
 exactly that for which this poor woman was longing. She 
 had sought for it all her life, and in her search she had been 
 restrained by no laws of God or of man; but she was 
 thirsting still, and the thirst would never be satisfied till 
 she found in Christ a personal Lord and Saviour. 
 
 Men need to know the claims of Christ; but they should 
 hear his promise as well. There is in every heart a thirst, 
 a sense of lack, which our Lord promises to satisfy. 
 Really to know him, and to trust him is to have within the 
 heart "a well of water springing up unto eternal life." 
 
 All that Jesus meant and promised, the woman could 
 not have understood; but in her eager reply we hear 
 voiced the inarticulate cry of every human heart: "Sir, 
 give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come all the 
 way hither to draw." 
 
 (4) Jesus now gives a command appealing to the con- 
 science: "Go, call thy husband, and come hither." Why 
 this command? Because no matter how fully we may ad- 
 mit the claims of Christ, or how truly we may understand 
 his promises, we can never find satisfaction and peace till 
 we make right the thing in the life that is wrong. Jesus 
 has put his finger on the sore spot in this life. She at 
 once shrinks. Her answer is half true; it is made medi- 
 tatively rather than in anger; the stranger has given a 
 command which touches the dark secret of her soul. Not 
 unnaturally she is heard to reply "I have no husband." 
 
 (5) Jesus at once makes a disclosure appealing to the 
 religious instinct. Vs. 17-20. He lays bare the whole 
 story of her life, and in so doing reveals such divine insight 
 that she at once calls him "a prophet," and asks him a 
 question relative to the true place of worship. There are 
 those who feel that she is shrewdly attempting to change 
 the conversation which has become uncomfortably per- 
 sonal. But the connection of thought is evidently deeper. 
 The revelation of her hidden life, the presence of a divine 
 messenger, appeal to a religious instinct which however 
 dormant is never dead. The woman thinks of religion, 
 however, as a matter of form and ceiremony. She has 
 never found any satisfaction in its observances. So, with 
 some sincerity, she is asking the opinion of the prophet as 
 
John 4: 1-42 THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 47 
 
 to the proper place for religious rites. Possibly, she thinks, 
 the mistake has been here; should one worship at Mount 
 Gerizim, as the Samaritans believed, or at Jerusalem, as 
 the Jews taught? 
 
 (6) Our Lord now makes a revelation appealing to hope. 
 Vs. 21-25. He tells the woman that her trouble has not 
 been as to the place of worship, but as to the fact ; she has 
 never worshiped at all- "God is a Spirit" and true wor- 
 ship is therefore not a question of place but of faith and 
 love, not a matter of form and ceremony, but of spiritual 
 reality; its essence is found in a true knowledge of God and 
 in fellowship with him as a loving Father. Jerusalem has 
 indeed been the divinely appointed place of worship, re- 
 lated to the revelation of salvation made through the Jews, 
 but the time has come when there are to be no local re- 
 strictions to worship. True worshipers will not be con- 
 cerned with place and symbol, but will worship "in spirit 
 and truth." That there is need of some Mediator to give 
 this fuller knowledge of God, and to bring guilty souls into 
 fellow'ship with him, is suggested by the immediate reply 
 of the woman: "I know that Messiah cometh ... he 
 will declare unto us all things." Some hope of such a 
 Saviour had been kept alive in her heart, in spite of all her 
 ignorance and sin. 
 
 (7) The woman is now ready for the supreme word. 
 This was a declaration appealing to faith: "I that speak 
 unto thee am he." Does the woman believe? Her action 
 is more eloquent than speech. Six times Jesus has addressed 
 her and each time she has made a reply. His seventh 
 word declares him to be the Messiah; she makes no verbal 
 answer, but we read that she "left her waterpot, and 
 went away into the city, and saith to the people. Come, 
 see a man, who told me all things that ever I did: can 
 this be the Christ?" We do not know just how perfect 
 her faith may have been; but, to-day, when a man or 
 woman is found so interested in Christ that the daily 
 task is for a time forgotten, and the one desire is to tell 
 others about Chri'st, we are safe to Conclude that faith is 
 real and y'hal. As we read how this new disciple goes on 
 her surprising and successful mission, as we see the Samari- 
 
48 REVELATION TO WORLD John 4:43-50 
 
 tans coming forth to welcome the Messiah, the narrative 
 reaches its climax of interest and inspiration. 
 
 In reply to the disciples who offered him food to eat, 
 Jesus declares that his deeper satisfaction lies in revealing 
 himself to fainting souls, as he has just done to the woman 
 at the well. Those who seek him are sure to be surprised 
 by the clear revelation of himself he delights to give. 
 Vs. 31-34. 
 
 As Jesus sees the Samaritans streaming forth to meet 
 him, because of the witness they have heard, Jesus in- 
 timates that opportunities for fruitful testimony are always 
 at hand for his followers. There is never reason for delay. 
 The fields "are white already." It is as though others had 
 sown the seed of the harvests we may reap, and our 
 reward consists in the salvation of immortal souls. Vs. 
 35-38. 
 
 As the Samaritans receive him gladly into their city and 
 their hearts, demanding no miracle, and trusting him 
 simply because of his word, we catch a prophetic \'ision of 
 the multitudes from all nations who will be glad to wel- 
 come the Messiah whom the Jews are rejecting and to find 
 life in him whom they declare to be "the Saviour of the 
 world." Vs. 38-42. 
 
 d. The Witness in Galilee. Ch. 4 : 43-54 
 
 43 And after the two days he went forth from thence into 
 Galilee. 44 For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath 
 no honor in his own country. 45 So when he came into 
 Galilee, the Galilseans received him, having seen all the things 
 that he did in Jerusalem at the feast: for they also went unto 
 the feast. 
 
 46 He came therefore again unto Cana of Galilee, where he 
 made the water wine. Aiid there was a certain nobleman, 
 whose son was sick at Capernaum. 47 When he heard that 
 Jesus was come out of Judaea into Galilee, he went unto him, 
 and besought him that he would come down, and heal his 
 son; for he was at the point of death. 48 Jesus therefore said 
 unto him. Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will in no wise 
 believe. 49 The nobleman saith unto him. Sir, come down 
 ere my child die. 50 Jesus saith tmto him. Go thy way; 
 thy son liveth. The man believed the word that Jesus spake 
 
John 4: 51-54 THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 49 
 
 tinto him, and he went his way. 51 And as he was now going 
 down, his servants met him, saying, that his son hved. 52 
 So he inquired of them the hour when he began to amend. 
 They said therefore unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour 
 the fever left him. 53 So the father knew that it was at 
 that hour in which Jesus said unto him. Thy son liveth: and 
 himself believed, and his whole house. 54 This is again 
 the second sign that Jesus did, having come out of Judaea 
 into Galilee. 
 
 The conditions which met Jesus as he returned to Galilee 
 are summarized by quoting a proverb which he himself 
 repeated on two subsequent occasions: "A prophet hath 
 no honor in his own country." For thirty years Jesus had 
 lived among these Galilseans, but they had not recognized 
 him as a Prophet, they had no dream of his divine mission. 
 He had received no honor in his own country, but now he 
 had been to Jerusalem and had become the center of in- 
 terest; many had declared themselves ready to receive 
 him as the Messiah for whom they looked, a political 
 leader, a worker of miracles. On his return to Galilee, his 
 fame preceded him: "The Galilaeans received him, having 
 seen all the things that he did in Jerusalem. They be- 
 lieved in him now because of his reputation and his 
 works; but their faith was only incipient and imperfect, 
 like that of multitudes in Jerusalem of whom we read that 
 "Jesus did not trust himself unto them." Incipient faith, 
 however, might dev^elop into perfect trust. On the other 
 hand, it might give place to doubt and hate. In the 
 sixth chapter of the Gospel we have an example of the 
 latter; but here we have a charming instance of the 
 former. 
 
 The picture of the nobleman of Capernaum illustrates 
 tViP g^radllrll dpv''^'^r"iPnt if h^^'^f It is a miniature, but 
 every feature is distinct, and the stages of the develop- 
 ment of faith are as clearly drawn as in the case of the 
 woman of Samaria, or of the man who was born blind. 
 Ch.9. 
 
 At first the nobleman's faith regards Jesus as merely a 
 worker of miracles. He came to him because of dire need. 
 He believed that Jesus could heal his son who was "at 
 
so REVELATION TO WORLD John 4: 43-54 
 
 the point of death." He requested Jesus to come down 
 with him to Capernaum and effect the cure. He received 
 what may have seemed a severe rebuke: "Except ye see 
 signs and wonders, ye will in no wise believe." In these 
 words, however, our Lord was expressing the general 
 attitude of the Galilaeans toward himself. Of this imper- 
 fect faith the nobleman was an example. The words of 
 our Lord were intended to tell the nobleman of his need of a 
 higher faith. They intimated that Christ claimed to be 
 much more than a performer of wonders. He wished men 
 to know and trust and commit themselves to him. There 
 must have been much in the accents and the appearance of 
 Christ to soften the apparent harshness of his reply. 
 Surely the petitioner was not discouraged. There is only 
 more of faith and intensity in his repeated request: "Sir, 
 come down ere my child die." 
 
 Jesus now applies a severe test, yet one designed to 
 instruct the petitioner and to develop his faith: "Go thy 
 way; thy son liveth." It was difficult for the nobleman 
 to leave the Prophet whom he had hoped to bring to his 
 home. It was not easy to believe that his son had been 
 cured so instantly. The command of the Lord indicated 
 that he possessed more power than the man had supposed, 
 and that he could heal at a distance, and out of the unseen. 
 The nobleman's faith rises to meet this new demand; with 
 no delay he leaves the Lord and starts for his home. He 
 now believes not merely reports of the power of Christ; 
 he is resting confidently upon the word of Christ. A third 
 stage is reached as he meets his rejoicing servants and 
 learns from them that the child not only had begun to 
 improve, but had been cured, at the very hour when the 
 Lord gave the promise of hope. He is now ready to 
 intrust himself to Christ, to confess his belief, and to bring 
 all his household to a position of absolute trust and devo- 
 tion. 
 
 The historian concludes the story by reminding us that 
 this is the second of two miracles, each wrought at Cana of 
 Galilee, and each marking a certain crisis in the career of 
 our Lord. 
 
 What a strange contrast is at first suggested by the 
 
John 4: 43-54 THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 51 
 
 circumstances of these two "signs": the home of gladness 
 and marriage festivity, and the darkened home of anxiety 
 and pain and the shadow of death! However both mir- 
 acles contain testimony to the divine Person of Christ, both 
 result in a deepening faith, both illustrate the joy and bless- 
 edness which result from trust in him. 
 
 Then, too, as the first miracle brought to a joyous close 
 the private career of our Lord before he offered himself 
 to the Jews as their predicted Messiah, so this second 
 recorded sign ends the opening scenes of his public career, 
 and reminds us that during the coming days of suspicion 
 and hatred and opposition there are those, like this noble- 
 man of Capernaum, who trust him and love him, and 
 that too in the city which he has chosen for the time as 
 his home. 
 
52 REVELATION TO WORLD John 5: 1-5 
 
 2. The FuUer Manifestation. Chs. 5-1 L 
 
 The fifth chapter of John opens a distinct section in the 
 narrative of the pubHc ministry of our Lord. Here while 
 faith is seen to develop in certain individua' cases, unbe- 
 lief is almost universal and it o^epens into anger and deadly 
 hate. A great conflict opens oetween Christ and the lead- 
 ers of the Jews who finally determine to destroy him. 
 These seven chapters may be further divided as follows : 
 
 a. The "Sign'' on the Sabbath; and the Beginning of the 
 
 Conflict. Chs. 5-8. 
 h. The Sixth "Sign"; and the Formal Breach with the 
 
 Religious Leaders. Chs. 9, 10. 
 c. The Supreme "Sign"; and the Decree of Death. Ch. 11. 
 
 It will thus be seen that ach of these divisions begins 
 with a miratle which is ti.c occasion of increasing opposi- 
 tion and hatred, until at last the enemies of our Lord 
 formally agree upon his death. 
 
 The first division is itself composed of three separate 
 paragraphs : 
 
 (1) The' "Sign" on the Sabbath; and the Outbreak 
 
 of Hostility in Jerusalem. Ch. 5. , 
 
 (2) The Crisis of Belief in Galilee. Ch. 6. 
 
 (3) The Continuation of the Conflict in Jerusaleip. 
 
 Chs. 7, 8. 
 
 (1) The "Sign" on the Sabbath. Ch. 5 
 Jesus the Source of Life 
 
 The Sign and Its Sequel. Vs. 1-16 
 
 1 After these things there was a feast of the Jews; and 
 Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 
 
 2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, 
 which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porches. 
 3 In these lay a multitude of them that were sick, blind, 
 halt, withered. 5 And a certain man was there, who had 
 
John 5: 6-16 THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 53 
 
 been thirty and eight ye^rs in his infirmity. 6 When Jesus 
 saw him lying, and knew that he had been now a long time 
 in that case, he saith unto him, Wouldest thou be made 
 whole? 7 Th<e sick man answered him, Sir, I have no man, 
 when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but 
 while I am coming, anoth - steppeth down before me. 8 
 Jesus saith imto him, Arise, take up thy bed, and walk. 
 9 And straightway the man was made whole, and took up 
 his bed and walked. 
 
 Now it wfi.s the sabbath on that day. 10 So the Jews said 
 xmto him that was cured. It is the sabbath, and it is not law- 
 ful for thee to take up thy bed. 11 But he answered them, 
 He that made me whole, the same said unto me. Take up 
 thy bed, and walk. 12 They asked him, Who is the man that 
 said unto thee. Take up thy bed, and walk? 13 But he that 
 was healed knew not who it was; for Jesus had conveyed 
 himself away, a multitude bi.'^ng in the place. 14 Afterward 
 Jesus findeth him in the ten. le, and said unto him. Be- 
 hold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing 
 befall thee. 15 The man went away, and told the Jews 
 that it was Jesus who had made him whole. 16 And for 
 this cause the Jews persecuted Jesus, because he did these 
 things on the sabbath. 
 
 This miracle wrought by our Lord in Jerusalem is said 
 to have been performed at "a feast," but whether at Purim, 
 or Pentecost, or some other festival, it is impossible to 
 determine. 
 
 It is said to have been wrought at the pool of Bethesda 
 which was near the sheep market, or "gate." The exact 
 location is not knpwn. Neither the precise time nor place 
 concerns us; what is of importance is the significance of the 
 sign and its relation to the public ministry of Christ. 
 The miracle bore witness to his divine Person, as the Giver 
 of life. It was the occasion of claims which first aroused 
 the hatred of the Jews. It indicated the results of faith in 
 him. 
 
 The scene at Bethesda is a striking picture of the suffer- 
 ing, the selfishness, the sin, of the world, with which is 
 contrasted the healing service and salvation of our Lord. 
 He alone is able to repair the waste of humanity and to 
 save the lost. ' His is a minfstry of redemption. While 
 the entire chapter deals with witness to the Person of 
 
54 REVELATION TO WORLD John 5: 1-16 
 
 Christ, and with the blessed issues of faith, one striking 
 feature of the record of the tniracle is its account of the 
 development of faith. 
 
 There are three stages, suggested by the words of 
 Christ: (1) The question, "Wouldest thou be made 
 whole?" It implies a rebuke. The man has lost hope. 
 He does not expect to be cured. It might not be true to 
 say that he did not wish to be cured. In the realm of 
 spiritual infirmity, however, there are many who have no 
 expectation of being healed. They are painfully conscious 
 of their weakness and sins, but they have no hope of re- 
 covery. Some have no desire. They love sin. For them 
 the life of holiness and purity has no attraction. They may 
 be at Bethesda; they may be familiar with church and 
 sacraments; but they have no more than the vaguest hope 
 of ever being made whole. 
 
 The question, however, is more obviously an intimation 
 of hope. There must have been something in the accent 
 or gesture of our Lord, as well as in the startling question, 
 to indicate that he was able and willing to heal. Faith, 
 however feeble, must have been awakened. Every yearn- 
 ing of the soul for spiritual health should be interpreted 
 as a promise and inspiration of the divine Spirit. 
 
 (2) The command: "Arise, take up thy bed, and walk." 
 The first word, "arise," suggests the need of resolution and 
 immediate action. "Take up thy bed," reminds the one 
 who is to be healed that there must be no thought of re- 
 lapse, no provision for falling back into the old way of 
 living, no fear for the future, but confidence in Christ. 
 "Walk," declares the need of entering at once upon the 
 experience of the new life which Christ imparts. There 
 must be an immediate confession of faith, and performance 
 of Christian duty. The command of Christ is always a 
 promise; whatever he bids us do he will give us power to 
 perform. As Augustine said: "Give what thou comniand- 
 est and command what thou wilt." 
 
 (3) The warning: "Sin no more, lest a worse thing befall 
 thee." It might seem that such a caution was needless. 
 Thirty-eight years of suffering, brought on by sin, might 
 seem sufficient to keep a man from a further yielding to its 
 
John 5: 17-26 THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 55 
 
 power. The sad truth is that no amount of suffering 
 brought on by sin makes one hate sin, however much he 
 agonizes over its results. The only safety lies in yielding 
 the will to the will of the Saviour. 
 
 The man who was healed felt that he could safely obey 
 the command of Christ in whom he had trusted for his 
 cure. As he goes toward his home, bearing upon his 
 shoulder the little mat on which he had been lying, the 
 Jews rebuke him for thus working, and so desecrating the 
 Sabbath. He replies that the one who healed him gave 
 him the command he is obeying. We can argue that 
 Christ, who gives us life and spiritual health, is a Lord, in 
 obedience to whose will we shall find blessedness and joy. 
 Even when opposed to social custom, or convention, or to 
 the opinions of men, we must be true to him. He cannot 
 fail to be the true Lawgiver, if he is the Giver of life. 
 
 The Claim. Vs. 17-29 
 
 17 But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh even un- 
 til now, and I work. 18 For this cause therefore the Jews 
 sought the more to kill him, because he not only brake the 
 sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself 
 equal with God. 
 
 19 Jesus therefore answered and said unto them. Verily, 
 verily, I say imto you. The Son can do nothing of himself, but 
 what he seeth the Father doing: for what tilings soever he 
 doeth, these the Son also doeth in like maimer. 20 For the 
 Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that him-' 
 self doeth: and greater works than these will he show h&n, 
 that ye may marvel. 21 For as the Father raiseth the dead 
 and giveth them life, even so the Son also giveth life to whom 
 he wUl. 22 For neither doth the Father judge any man, but 
 he hath given all judgment unto the Son; 23 that all may 
 honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that 
 honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father that sent him. 
 
 24 Verily, verily, I say unto you. He that heareth my word, 
 and beUeveth him that sent me, hath eternal life, and cometh 
 not into judgment, but hath passed out of death into life. 
 
 25 Verily, verily, I say unto you. The hour cometh, and now is, 
 when the dead shaU hear the voice of the Son of God; and 
 they that hear shall Uve. 26 For as the Father hath life in 
 himself, even so gave he to the Son also to have life in him- 
 
56 REVELATION TO WORLD John 5: 27-29 
 
 self: 27 and he gave him authority to execute judgment, 
 because he is a son of man. 28 Marvel not at this: for the 
 hour Cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his 
 voice, 29 and shall come forth; they that have done good, 
 unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, 
 unto the resurrection of judgment. 
 
 The man who had been cured argued that if Jesus had 
 power to heal he must have the right to command, and 
 could safely be obeyed. 
 
 The Jews argued differently. They concluded that one 
 who acted contrary to their narrow interpretations of the 
 Law, must be a sinner. They began to persecute Jesus. 
 Their opposition, however, gave the occasion for him to 
 make the most startling claim that had fallen from his 
 lips. Its full significance, as recorded by John, is clearly 
 stated: "My Father worketh even until now, and I work." 
 "For this cause therefore the Jews sought the more to 
 kill him, because he not only brake the sabbath, but also 
 called God his own Father, making himself equal with 
 God." It is not suiificient to say that Jesus was claiming 
 merely to imitate the beneficent work of God; he was 
 asserting that his work was identical with that of God, and 
 that he sustained an absolutely unique relation to God, 
 whom he declared to be "his own Father." No wonder 
 the Jews attempted to kill him. Either Jesus was a blas- 
 phemer and a deceiver, or else he was the Son of God. 
 
 The divine activity which Jesus claimed to share with 
 the Father was twofold, and neither function could be 
 performed by man. He was, as illustrated by his miracle, 
 the Gtver of life, and he was the Judge of mankind. 
 This activity was in each case both present and future. 
 He was, even then, the Source of spiritual life and renewal. 
 He alone could heal the morally impotent. He could raise 
 the soul from spiritual death; but the hour was coming 
 when he would raise from the grave those who were under 
 the power of physical death. So, too, this judgment, like 
 the power of resurrection, includes both "the present judg- 
 ment for which Jesus said he was come into the world, and 
 which men pass on themselves by the very fact of their 
 attitude toward him, and his gospel, and also the future 
 
John 5: 30-46 THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 57 
 
 final judgment which manifests character and determines 
 destiny." Jesus therefore refers to two resurrections: 
 a spiritual resurrection in which all believers in him are 
 now, in this present age, rising to new life, vs. 24, 25; 
 and ^ bodily resurrection, which is still future; but of 
 both he is the Author and Agent. Could any man, save \ 
 the divine Son of God, make such a claim as this, stating 
 that "the hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs 
 shall hear his voice, and shall come forth ; they that have 
 done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have 
 done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment." Vs. 28, 29. 
 
 The Witness. Vs. 30-47 
 
 30 I can of myself do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my 
 judgment is righteous; because I seek not mine own will, but 
 the will of him that sent me. 31 If I bear witness of 
 myself, my witness is not true. 32 It is another that bear- 
 eth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he 
 witnesseth of me is true. 33 Ye have sent unto John, and 
 he hath borne witness unto the truth. 34 But the witness 
 which I receive is not from man: howbeit I say these 
 things, that ye may be saved. 35 He was the lamp that 
 bumeth and shineth; and ye were willing to rejoice for 
 a season in his light. 36 But the witness which I have 
 is greater than that of John; for the works which the 
 Father hath given me to accomplish, the very works that I 
 do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. 37 
 And the Father that sent me, he hath borne witness of me. 
 Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his 
 form. 38 And ye have not his word abiding in you : for whom 
 he sent, him ye believe not. 39 Ye search the scriptures, 
 because ye think that in them ye have eternal life ; and these 
 are they which bear witness of me; 40 and ye wiU not come 
 to me, that ye may have life. 41 I receive not glory from 
 men. 42 But I know you, that ye have not the love of God 
 in yourselves. 43 I am come in my Father's name, and ye 
 receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him 
 ye will receive. 44 How can ye believe, who receive glory 
 one of another, and the glory that cometh from the only God 
 ye seek not? 45 Think not that I v/ill accuse you to the 
 Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, on whom 
 ye have set your hope. 46 For if ye believed Moses, ye 
 
58 REVELATION TO WORLD John 5: 47 
 
 would believe me ; for he wrote of me. 47 But if ye believe 
 not his writings, how shall ye believe my words? 
 
 Jesus now declares the testimony by which so great a 
 claim is supported. It was not the testimony of man, but 
 of God himself. Of course human testimony had been 
 given. John the Baptist had been like a burning and a 
 shining "lamp" and "for a season" the Jews had rejoiced 
 in "his light." The great prophet had witnessed to this 
 very oneness with God which Jesus had just claimed: 
 "Behold, the Lamb of God!" and "This is the Son of God." 
 
 However, our Lord states that he has greater witness 
 than the witness of any man. It is the witness of his 
 Father, who is testifying to the divine Sonship of Jesus 
 through the miracles which he is performing. The Father 
 ' has, also, additional and equally important testimony. 
 It is in the writings of the Old Testament Scriptures. 
 They testified of the Son. Men did well to expect through 
 a knowledge of these Scriptures to find life; but this life 
 could be found only as they saw Christ revealed and 
 yielded themselves to him, the real Source and Author 
 of life. 
 
 Our Lord concludes his discourse by condemning the 
 Jews for rejecting him. They claimed to believe the 
 Scriptures; and they felt that in their rejection of Jesus 
 they were loyal to Moses; Jesus declares that real loyalty 
 to Moses would have led them to accept him, because, 
 in the Scriptures, Moses had testified of him. He insists 
 that the reason for Jewish unbelief is not lack of evidence 
 but lack of love toward God. They were seeking glory 
 from men, and this blinded them to the real truth concern- 
 ing the Son of God. Thus, according to John, there 
 is always a moral element in faith and unbelief. Where 
 the heart is turned toward God in love and devotion there 
 is awakened a response to the testimony concerning his 
 Son; faith results, and through faith the life eternal which 
 the Son alone can impart. 
 
 Thus, too, the key to the Scriptures is their testimony 
 concerning Christ, and faith in him transmutes truth 
 into life. 
 
John 6: 1-2 THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 59 
 
 (2) The Crisis of Belief in Galilee. Ch. 6 
 
 Jesus the Bread of Life 
 
 The transition to this chapter is apparently abrupt. 
 In the last chapter we were in Jerusalem; in the next we 
 shall be again in the holy city; but here we find ourselves 
 in Galilee, and by the sea of Tiberias. There is, however, a 
 real continuity of thought. In the last scene was depicted 
 the hatred aroused against Jesus beca use he had healed 
 a man on the Sabbath ; he cannot with sat'ety remain in 
 J erusalem ; he theretore withdraws to Galilee; and now he 
 is tarrying there, even though the feast of the passover 
 is being celebrated. In other words John is indicating 
 here the long Galilaean ministry which is detailed b}^ the 
 other Gospels and is intimating that its origin can be found 
 in the conflict which he has pictured as arising between 
 Jesus and the religious leaders of the Jews. 
 
 Why, however, does John select, from among the many 
 miracles of our Lord wrought in Galilee, the feeding of 
 the five thousand and the walking upon the sea? It is 
 because these miracles, with their related discourses, led 
 to a crisis among the followers of Christ, resulting in a 
 marked division and in an open confession of unbelief and 
 faith. Chapter six is therefore both a proper sequence and 
 a parallel to chapter five. The chapter contains three 
 natural divisions: (a) The Miracles , vs. 1-21; {h) The 
 ^"aCa urse, vs. 22-59 ; ic) Th e Crisis of Bel ief, vs. 60-71. 
 The "discourse may be properly separated into four dis- 
 tinct dialogues: That of verses 25-40 results from a 
 question by the Jews; the second, verses 41-51, from mur- 
 murs of the Jews; the third, verses 52-59, from a dispute 
 among the Jews; and the fourth, verses 60-65, from the 
 decision to turn away from Christ. It may well be treated, 
 however, as one sermon or discourse, because of its 
 obvious unity of theme. 
 
 Feeding the Multitude. V'^s. 1-15 
 
 1 After these things Jesus went away to the other side 
 of. the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias. 2 And 
 
60 REVELATION TO WORLD John 6: 3-15 
 
 a great multitude followed him, because they beheld the signs 
 which he did on them that were sick, 3 And Jesus went up 
 into the mountain, and there he sat with his disciples. 4 
 Now the passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. 5 
 Jesus therefore lifting up his eyes, and seeing that a great 
 multitude cometh unto him, saith unto Philip, Whence are we 
 to buy bread, that these may eat? 6 And this he said to 
 prove him: for he himself knew what he would do. 7 
 Philip answered him. Two hundred shillings' worth of bread 
 is not sufficient for titiem, that every one may take a little. 
 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith 
 unto him, 9 There is a lad here, who hath five barley loaves, 
 and two fishes: but what are these among so many? 10 
 Jesus said. Make the people sit down. Now there was 
 much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in 
 ntmiber about five thousand. 11 Jesus therefore took the 
 loaves; and having given thanks, he distributed to them that, 
 were set down; likewise also of the fishes as much as they 
 would. 12 And when they were filled, he saith unto his dis- 
 ciples. Gather up the broken pieces which remain over, that 
 nothing be lost. 13 So they gathered them up, and filled 
 twelve baskets with broken pieces from the five barley 
 loaves, which remained over unto them that had eaten. 
 14 When therefore the people saw the sign which he did, 
 they said. This is of a truth the prophet that cometh into the 
 world. 
 
 15 Jesus therefore perceiving that they were about to 
 come and take him by force, to make him king, withdrew 
 again into the mountain himself alone. 
 
 The feeding of the five thousand, together with the 
 miracle which follows, is found in all four of the Gos- 
 pels; the other miracles recorded by John are peculiar 
 to his narrative. These are evidently selected for reasons 
 stated above and also because so well adapted to further 
 the purpose of the writer, which is to prove that Jesus 
 is the Son of God. The first is a true act of creation. 
 Five barley loaves and two small fishes are so multiplied 
 by the power of Christ that they satisfy the hunger of a 
 fainting multitude. Yet the miracle is not only a proof 
 of divine power, but of divine grace. It is the char- 
 acter and motive of the works of Jesus which constitute 
 them "signs" of deity. Here is an act of compassion and 
 
John 6: 16-21 THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 61 
 
 love. Jesus has withdrawn across the sea for rest; the 
 multitude follow him, and throng him. He feels no resent- 
 ment, only pity for them, and joy that he can give them 
 relief. He addresses the disciples and receives a statement 
 of their confessed helplessness. He accepts from a lad his 
 small store of provisions, and with it feeds the throng. 
 Even the fragments remaining are sufficient for the needs 
 of the disciples for days to come, and they are, moreover, 
 memorials of the Master's divine act. 
 
 The effect upon the multitude was so great that they were 
 ready to crown him king. Faith in Jesus seemed to have 
 reached its climax; it was, however, not genuine faith; 
 it was the belief in him as a Worker of miracles which had 
 been aroused in Judea; by it the multitudes were led to 
 expect a series of prodigies which would relieve physical 
 and social distress and secure for them political independ- 
 ence. This faith was to be tested the following day, and 
 to be found untrue. But Jesus is not now deceived. He 
 quiets and dismisses the excited crowds; he sends his 
 disciples across the sea, away from their dangerous in- 
 fluence; and, all alone, he departs to the mountain soli- 
 tude to pray. 
 
 Walking on the Sea. Vs. 16-21 
 
 16 And when evening came, his disciples went down unto 
 the sea; 17 and they entered into a boat, and were going 
 over the sea unto Capernaum. And it was now dark, and 
 Jesus had not yet come to them. 18 And the sea was 
 rising by reason of a great wind that blew. 19 When 
 therefore they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty 
 furlongs, they behold Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing 
 nigh unto the boat: and they were afraid. 20 But he saith 
 imto them. It is I; be not afraid. 21 They were willing 
 therefore to receive him into the boat: and straightway the 
 boat was at the land whither they were going. 
 
 The walking on the water is a miracle which offers a 
 striking contrast to the conception of Jesus which the 
 multitudes had shown. It reveals, not a political leader, 
 with power in a restricted, earthly sphere, but a divine 
 Creator who has supreme authority in the universe. To 
 
62 REVELATION TO WORLD John 6: 22-29 
 
 the disciples, in the darkness and tempest, Jesus suddenly 
 appears, walking on the sea. He does not suspend the law 
 of gravitation, but shows himself superior to natural forces i 
 and independent of space. He enters the ship, and in- 1 
 stantly it has reached the desired haven. 
 
 So is Christ ever with his followers in the midnight and 
 the storm. Thus can he cheer and save. This very 
 experience has been interpreted as a foretaste of the dis- 
 tress of his disciples when he is taken from them to die, 
 and of their joy at the reunion with their risen Lord. 
 
 This incident is also thought to teach that those who 
 truly trust Christ will find loneliness and opposition and 
 tempests, but also the safety and gladness of a divine 
 fellowship. Another symbolic interpretation draws a. 
 parallel between the picture of Jesus as he prays alone upon 
 the mountain and then appears to rescue the disciples, 
 and the prediction that the divine Saviour, who is now 
 interceding for us on high, will, some day reappear to bring 
 blessedness to his followers and peace to the storm- 
 tossed nations of the world. 
 
 The Discourse. Vs. 22-59 
 
 22 On the morrow the multitude that stood on the other 
 side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there, save 
 one, and that Jesus entered not with his disciples into the 
 boat, but that his disciples went away alone 23 (howbeit 
 there came boats from Tiberias nigh unto the place where they 
 ate the bread after the Lord had given thanks) : 24 when the 
 multitude therefore • saw that Jesus was not there, neither 
 his disciples, they themselves got into the boats, and came to 
 Capernaum, seeking Jesus. 25 And when they found him on 
 the other side of the sea, they said imto him, Rabbi, when 
 earnest thou hither? 26 Jesus answered them and said. Ver- 
 ily, verily, I say unto you. Ye seek me, not because ye saw 
 signs, but because ye ate of the loaves, and were filled. 27 
 Work not for the food which perisheth, but for the food which 
 abideth unto eternal life, which the Son of man shall give imto 
 you : for him the Father, even God, hath sealed. 28 They said 
 therefore unto him, What must we do, that we may work the 
 works of God? 29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This 
 is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath 
 
John 6: 30-53 THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 63 
 
 sent. 30 They said therefore unto him, What then doest 
 thou for a sign, that we may see, and believe thee? what work- 
 est thou? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilder- 
 ness; as it is written, He gave them bread out of heaven 
 to eat. 32 Jesus therefore said unto them, Verily, verily, 
 I say unto you. It was not Moses that gave you the bread 
 out of heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread 
 out of heaven. 33 For the bread of God is that which 
 Cometh down out of heaven, and giveth life unto the world. 
 34 They said therefore unto him. Lord, evermore give us 
 this bread. 35 Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: 
 he that cometh to me shall not hunger, and he that believeth 
 on me shall never thirst. 36 But I said unto you, that ye have 
 seen me, and yet believe not. 37 All that which the Father 
 giveth me shall come unto me; and him that cometh to me I 
 will in no wise cast out. 38 For I am come down from heaven, 
 not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. 
 39 And this is the will of him that sent me, that of all that 
 which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should 
 raise it up at the last day. 40 For this is the will of my 
 Father, that every one that beholdeth the Son, and believeth 
 on him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at 
 the last day. 
 
 41 The Jews therefore murmured concerning him, because 
 he said, I am the bread which came down out of heaven. 42 
 And they said. Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose 
 father and mother we know? how doth he now say, I am come 
 down out of heaven? 43 Jesus asnwered and said unto 
 them. Murmur not among yourselves. 44 No man can come 
 to me, except the Father that sent me draw him: and I will 
 raise him up in the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, 
 And they shall all be taught of God. Every one that hath 
 heard from the Father, and hath learned, cometh unto me. 
 46 Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he that is 
 from God, he hath seen the Father. 47 Verily, verily, I say 
 unto you. He that believeth hath eternal life. 48 I am the 
 bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilder- 
 ness, and they died. 50 This is the bread which cometh 
 down out of heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. 
 51 I am the Uving bread which came down out of heaven: 
 if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: yea and 
 the bread which I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world. 
 
 52 The Jews therefore strove one with another, saying. 
 How can this man give us his flesh to eat? 53 Jesus there- 
 fore said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye 
 
64 REVELATION TO WORLD John 6: 54-59 
 
 eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, ye have 
 not life in yourselves. 54 He that eateth my flesh and drink- 
 eth my blood hath eternal life ; and I will raise him up at the 
 last day. 55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is 
 drink indeed. 56 He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my 
 blood abideth in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father 
 sent me, and I live because of the Father; so he that eateth 
 me, he also shall live because of me. 58 This is the bread 
 which came down out of heaven: not as the fathers ate, and 
 died; he that eateth this bread shall live for ever. 59 
 These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in 
 Capernaum. 
 
 The discourse, delivered in the synagogue at Caper- 
 naum, gives the true interpretation of the miracle wrought 
 for the relief of the multitudes. The lessons which 
 Jesus draws remind us that all of his miracles were acted 
 parables; in addition to their immediate purpose of 
 grace and love, they contained divine messages of spiritual 
 truth. Possibly the very essence of the discourse is con- 
 tained in the words: "I am the bread of life: he that 
 Cometh to me shall not hunger, and he that believeth on 
 me shall never thirst." V. 35. It is to be remembered 
 that while the miracle gave the occasion and the back- 
 ground of the discourse, its immediate reference is to the 
 request of the people for a "sign," such as the manna which 
 Moses gave. The reply of Jesus is that he is himself the 
 true Bread from heaven. He has come down from God; 
 he is the true Manna, given for the life of the world. His 
 body is to be broken, his blood shed; yet he is to ascend 
 again to heaven. To all who put their trust in him he will 
 give present satisfaction, future resurrection, eternal life. 
 
 Throughout the discourse, as in the previous chapter, 
 testimony is borne to the divine Person of Christ; yet, by 
 way of contrast the stress is here laid upon the necessity 
 for faith in him, and the results of true belief and trust. 
 The character of this faith in Christ is expressed in the 
 strongest imaginable terms, as being a true eating of his 
 flesh and as drinking of his blood, by which is meant a 
 complete identification with him, and an absolute de- 
 pendence upon him, as a crucified, risen, living, divine 
 Lord. 
 
John 6: 22-59 THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 65 
 
 Among the many lessons commonly drawn from this 
 narrative a few may be mentioned. (1) Our Lord regarded 
 the spiritual as more important than the physical needs of 
 men. He did graciously feed a multitude by the sea, but 
 his real mission was to give his life for the salvation of the 
 world. When referring to the miracle, he did not preach on 
 labor, wages, and industrial conditions, but on the need of 
 spiritual life. 
 
 (2) Faith in Christ is promised to secure not merely 
 healing, but nourishment. In the previous miracle 
 Jesus had given health to an impotent man; here he is 
 sustaining the strong. It is not only the moral outcasts and 
 lepers who need Christ, but the purest and noblest and 
 best of men. 
 
 (3) Faith in Christ is not a luxury but a necessity. 
 The people were given the simplest food, but they would 
 have fainted without it. A Christian experience is not 
 something which may or may not be added to other bless- 
 ings of life. Without Christ there is no real life, here or 
 hereafter. 
 
 (4) Faith centers in a Person. It is not the acceptance of 
 a creed or the performance of a ritual, but consists in the 
 surrender of self, in devotion and trust, to a personal, pres- 
 ent, loving Saviour. 
 
 (5) Faith is not compared with tasting, or admiring, but 
 with eating. It has been declared to mean identification 
 with Christ. He must be taken into every sphere and 
 experience of life. His words and will must be assimilated, 
 and become a part of our very being. 
 
 (6) Faith results in service; it is sharing not keeping. 
 Our knowledge of Christ is intended for the world. The 
 disciples were given food to give to the multitude. Our 
 talents may be few, our contributions consciously inade- 
 quate; let the Master bless them and their multiplied 
 possibilities will serve thousands. 
 
 (7) Faith brings satisfaction not mere temporary relief. 
 It is not only the supply for a single meal, but the "twelve 
 baskets full" that the true disciples find. Faith brings to 
 them abiding, abounding, eternal life. The hungering, 
 dissatisfied soul never turns to Christ in vain. 
 
66 REVELATION TO WORLD John 6: 60-71 
 
 The Crisis of Unbelief. Vs. 60-71 
 
 60 Many therefore of his disciples, when they heard this, 
 said, This is a hard saying; who can hear it? 61 But Jesus 
 knowing in himself that his disciples murmured at this, said 
 unto them. Doth this cause you to stumble? 62 What then 
 if ye should behold the Son of man ascending where he was 
 before? 63 It is the spirit that giveth life ; the flesh profiteti 
 nothing: the words that I have spoken unto you are spirit, 
 and are life. 64 But there are some of you that believe not. 
 For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that be- 
 lieved not, and who it was that should betray him. 65 And 
 he said. For this cause have I said unto you, that no man can 
 come unto me, except it be given unto him of the Father. 
 
 66 Upon this many of his disciples went back, and walked 
 no more with him. 67 Jesus said therefore unto the twelve, 
 V/ouId ye also go away? 68 Simon Peter answered him. 
 Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal 
 life. 69 And we have believed and know that thou art the 
 Holy One of God. 70 Jesus answered them, Did not I 
 choose you the twelve, and one of you is a devil? 71 Now 
 he spake of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he it was that 
 should betray him, being one of the twelve. 
 
 The crisis of unbelief may be suggested by the truth 
 last stated, namely, that real faith in Christ results in an 
 abiding satisfaction. There were multitudes in whom 
 the miracle had awakened wonder, and an incipient faith 
 in Christ. They had never trusted him, never been 
 satisfied in him. The word he is now speaking relative to 
 the necessity of eating his flesh and drinking his blood 
 seems to them difficult to understand. They appear in- 
 capable of comprehending spiritual truth. 
 
 Our Lord intimates that their bewilderment will only 
 be increased when he has withdrawn into the sphere of the 
 unseen. Those, however, who accept his words will find 
 them the channel of new spiritual life. Jesus is not sur- 
 prised at unbelief among his followers; he knew there was 
 a traitor even in the circle of his closest friends. 
 
 "Upon this many of his disciples went back, and walked 
 no more with him." They were disappointed that he was 
 not a political leader, they were unable to appreciate 
 his spiritual teachings. There were some, however, who 
 
John 6: 60-71 THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 67 
 
 trusted him. "Jesus said therefore unto the twelve, 
 Would ye also go away? Simon Peter answered him, 
 Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal 
 life. And we have believed and know that thou art the 
 Holy One of God." There are men to-day who are trou- 
 bled by the truths concerning the divine Person and 
 atoning death of Christ, and the need of faith in him. 
 When these truths are pressed, they are ready to turn 
 away. There are also those like Peter, however, who have 
 believed the words of Christ, and have found in him such 
 satisfaction of soul, that they feel that there is none 
 other to whom they can go, none other whom they 
 desire. The claims of Christ are still tests of faith. They 
 are still producing crises in the lives of his followers. 
 They are dividing the false from the true. They cause 
 many who have been nominal Christians to turn back 
 from him; they give occasion to true believers to confess 
 joyfully their satisfaction and their triumphant faith. 
 
68 REVELATION TO WORLD John 7: 1-13 
 
 (3) The Continuation of the Conflict in Jerusalem. 
 Chs. 7, 8 
 
 (c) The Witness at the Feast of Tabernacles. Ch. 7 
 Jesus the Riven Rock 
 
 Before the Feast. Vs. 1-13 
 
 1 And after these things Jesus walked in Galilee : for he 
 would not walk in Judaea, because the Jews sought to 
 kill him. 2 Now the feast of the Jews, the feast of taber- 
 nacles, was at hand. 3 His brethren therefore said unto him, 
 Depart hence, and go into Judasa, that thy disciples also may 
 behold thy works which thou doest. 4 For no man doeth 
 anything in secret, and himself seeketh to be known openly. 
 If thou doest these things, manifest thyself to the world. 
 5 For even his brethren did not believe on him. 6 Jesus 
 therefore saith unto them, My time is not yet come; but 
 your time is always ready. 7 The world cannot hate you ; but 
 me it hateth, because I testify of it, that its works are evil. 
 8 Go ye up unto the feast: I go not up unto this feast; be- 
 cause my time is not yet fulfilled. 9 And having said these 
 things tmto them, he abode still in Galilee. 
 
 10 But when his brethren were gone up unto the feast, 
 then went he also up, not publicly, but as it were in secret. 
 11. The Jews therefore sought him at the feast, and said, 
 Where is he? 12 And there was much murmuring among 
 the multitudes concerning him: some said. He is a good man; 
 others said. Not so, but he leadeth the multitude astray. 
 13 Yet no man spake openly of him for fear of the Jews. 
 
 In weighing the evidence for the deity of Christ as 
 presented by John, we should not fail to include the 
 divine knowledge of the future which our Lord was 
 shown to possess. He knew beforehand exactly the time 
 and nature of his death, and frequently referred to the 
 "hour" which was to come. It is this fact which ex- 
 plains the conversation between Jesus and his brothers, 
 shortly before the feast of tabernacles. During the six 
 months following the passover, when the crisis of un- 
 belief had occurred, Jesus continued his ministry in 
 
John 7: 1-13 THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 69 
 
 Galilee. As another great national festival approached, 
 his brothers urged him to go to Jerusalem and to declare 
 boldly and publicly that he was the Messiah. They had 
 no real faith in him; but they wished to have his claims 
 tested, and if they were true, to have Jesus receive national 
 recognition. "Jesus therefore saith unto them. My time 
 is not yet come; but your time is always ready. The 
 world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I 
 testify of it, that its works are evil . . . But when his 
 brethren were gone up unto the feast, then went he also up, 
 not publicly, but as it were in secret." There was no 
 deception here, no inconsistency, not even a sudden change 
 of mind. Jesus knew that the time had not come for his 
 final public manifestation to Israel. It was not at a feast 
 of tabernacles that he was to die, but at a passover, as the 
 paschal Lamb who would take away the sin of the world. 
 His earthly ministry was not yet finished. He did not wish 
 to precipitate the crisis. The hour for the final tragedy 
 and triumph had not struck. This is what Jesus meant 
 when he said that his time was "not yet come." He would 
 not go up to the feast in the manner and for the purpose 
 suggested by his brethren. He went up "not publicly, 
 but as it were in secret." 
 
 There was a deep significance in the words "Your time 
 is always ready." Jesus intimated that they were so far 
 in harmony with the spirit and practices of the world that 
 they had nothing to fear from the world, but he had in- 
 curred its hatred by his witness against its sin. Should 
 not the followers of Christ ask themselves the question 
 whether their aims and temper and conduct are more 
 calculated to grieve their Master or to arouse the enmity 
 of an unbelieving world? 
 
 The brothers of Jesus, however, are not the only ones who 
 are concerned about his attendance at the feast. He has 
 become a character of national interest. His claims can- 
 not be disregarded. The rulers are watching for his 
 appearance, and the multitudes are divided in their opin- 
 ions of him, some declaring him to be a "good man," 
 others that "he leadeth the multitude astray." So men 
 to-day are compelled to face the claims of Christ. These 
 
70 REVELATION TO WORLD John 7: 14-3; 
 
 cannot be put aside. They sustain a vital and persona 
 relation to every immortal soul. There can be but twc 
 possible judgments passed : either Jesus was a good man oi' 
 an impostor; but he could not have been "good" unless he 
 was the divine Son of God, for such he claimed to be. 
 
 During the Feast. Vs. 14-36 
 
 14 But when it was now the midst of the feast Jesus went 
 up into the temple, and taught. 15 The Jews therefore mar- 
 velled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never' 
 learned? 16 Jesus therefore answered them, and said, I 
 My teaching is not mine, but his that sent me. 17 If any 
 man willeth to do his will, he shall know of the teaching, 
 whether it is of God, or whether I speak from myself. 18 
 He that speaketh from himself seeketh his own glory: but 
 he that seeketh the glory of him that sent him, the same is 
 true, and no unrighteousness is in him. 19 Did not Moses 
 give you the law, and yet none of you doeth the law? Why 
 seek ye to kill me? 20 The multitude answered. Thou hast a 
 demon: who seeketh to kill thee? 21 Jesus answered and 
 said unto them, I did one work, and ye all marvel because 
 thereof. 22 Moses hath given you circumcision (not that 
 It IS of Moses, but of the fathers) ; and on the sabbath ye 
 cu-cumcise a man. 23 If a man receiveth circumcision on 
 the sabbath, that the law of Moses may not be broken- 
 are ye wroth with me, because I made a man every whit 
 whole on the sabbath? 24 Judge not according to appear- 
 ance, but judge righteous judgment. 
 
 25 Some therefore of them of Jerusalem said, Is not this he 
 whom they seek to kill? 26 And lo, he speaketh openly, and 
 they say nothing unto him. Can it be that the rulers mdeed 
 know that this is the Christ? 27 Howbeit we know this man 
 whence he is: but when the Christ cometh, no one knoweth 
 whence he is. 28 Jesus therefore cried in the temple, teach- 
 mg and saying. Ye both know me, and know whence I am: 
 and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true 
 whom ye know not. 29 I know him ; because I am from him 
 and he sent me. 30 They sought therefore to take him! 
 ana no man laid his hand on him, because his hour was not 
 yet come. 31 But of the multitude many believed on him: 
 and they said. When the Christ shaU come, will he do more 
 signs than those which this man hath done? 32 The Phar- 
 isees heard the multitude murmuring these things concerning 
 
John 7: 33-36 THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 71 
 
 him; and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to 
 take him. 33 Jesus therefore said, Yet a little while am I 
 with you, and I go unto him that sent me. 34 Ye shall seek 
 me, and shall not find me : and where I am, ye cannot come. 
 35 The Jews therefore said among themselves, Whither will 
 this man go that we shall not find him? will he go unto the 
 Dispersion among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? 36 
 What is this word that he said, Ye shall seek me, and shall 
 not find me; and where I am, ye catmot come? 
 
 During the feast, Jesus appears and teaches pub- 
 licly in the Temple. He there intimates how serious a 
 judgment one who rejects his claims pronounces upon 
 himself. The rulers wonder at the depth of meaning 
 which is being drawn from the Scriptures by Jesus, a man 
 who has never attended their schools. He replies: "My 
 teaching is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man 
 willeth to do his will, he shall know of the teaching, whether 
 it is of God, or whether I speak from myself." That is to 
 say, as his teaching and claims are of divine origin they 
 will be accepted as such by all who are in sympathy with 
 the divine will. Faith has more to do with the moral than 
 the intellectual faculties; it is more a question of spiritual 
 sympathy than of external evidence. One who is eager 
 to do the will of God cannot fail to yield himself to the 
 Son of God, when he has been clearly revealed in all his 
 matchless holiness and grace. 
 
 Jesus proceeds to defend his conduct. The only charge 
 ever preferred against him has been that of breaking the 
 Sabbath, in his cure of the sick man at Bethesda. He 
 replies by showing that the Mosaic legislation itself justi- 
 fies this reputed breach of the law. It allows to be per- 
 formed, upon the Sabbath, a rite which is related to 
 health and symbolic of holiness; can it be wrong then that 
 Jesus "made a man every whit whole on the sabbath?" 
 Jesus warns the Jews against such foolish and superficial 
 judgments; but it is to be noted that he here makes a 
 specific claim of sinlessness. Has any other man been 
 able successfully to defend such a claim, in the light of the 
 demands of the law of Moses, or in the court of conscience? 
 As the multitudes begin to question whether Jesus is 
 
72 REVELATION TO WORLD John 7:37-48 
 
 really the Messiah, they are puzzled bj- the fact that they 
 know his parents and home and early life, whereas the 
 coming of the Messiah was supposed by them to be shrouded 
 in mystery. Jesus publicly and solemnly declares that 
 the knowledge they possess is only superficial ; his true ori- 
 gin is from God and from heaven, and thither he is soon to 
 return; -he is to go away, and they shall not be able to 
 find him. Little did they understand his words which 
 seem so clear to us as we read them ; but do they contain 
 for us no serious message? 
 
 Is it not true that men reject Christ on some such trivial 
 grounds, or because of some such superficial reasoning? 
 They know this or that, and have conjectured some third 
 thing; but what did Jesus really do and say, what was his 
 life, what were his claims? Is it not only "a little while," 
 also, that we have opportunity to accept him; is the time 
 not fleeting, and will there possibly be regrets and remorse, 
 when he has gone, or the day is done, and we no longer 
 have opportunity to receive and follow him? 
 
 The Last Day of the Feast. Vs. 37-52 
 
 37 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus 
 stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come imto 
 me and drink. 38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture 
 hath said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water. 
 39 But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believed 
 on him were to receive: for the Spirit was not yet given; 
 because Jesus was not yet glorified. 40 Some of the multi- 
 tude therefore, when they heard these words, said. This is of 
 a truth the prophet. 41 Others said. This is the Christ. 
 But some said. What, doth the Christ come out of Galilee? 
 42 Hath not the scripture said that the Christ cometh of the 
 seed of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David 
 was? 43 So there arose a division in the multitude because 
 of him. 44 And some of them would have taken him; but 
 no man laid hands on him. 
 
 45 The officers therefore came to the chief priests and 
 Pharisees; and they said unto them. Why did ye not bring 
 him? 46 The officers answered, Never man so spake. 47 
 The Pharisees therefore answered them. Are ye also led 
 astray? 48 Hath any of the rulers believed on him, or of the 
 
John 7:49-52 THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 73 
 
 Pharisees? 49 But this multitude that knoweth not the law 
 are accursed. 50 Nicodemus saith unto them (he that 
 came to him before, being one of them), 51 Doth our law 
 judge a man, except it first hear from himself and know what 
 he doeth? 52 They answered and said unto him. Art 
 thou also of Galilee? Search, and see that out of Galilee 
 ariseth no prophet. 
 
 On the last day of the feast, Jesus made his supreme 
 claim, and gave the climax of his teaching relative to the 
 life which would result from faith in him. 
 
 He declared that he fulfilled in his own Person all the 
 great realities symbolized by the feast, and that his follow- 
 ers would realize all typified blessedness and joy. Taber- 
 nacles commemorated the wilderness life of ancient 
 Israel, and, as the harvest festival, celebrated also the good- 
 ness of God. The people dwelt in booths, and the chief 
 rites of the eight days of the feast called to mind the mi- 
 raculous blessings of Israel's pilgrim journey. Every 
 morning a libation made in the Temple called to mind the 
 w^ater which Moses had brought forth from the riven 
 rock. This libation was of water brought in a golden 
 pitcher from the pool of Siloam and poured out in the 
 Temple, amidst the sounding of trumpets and the shout- 
 ing of the rejoicing multitudes. It is quite probable that 
 upon the last day of the feast, the eighth day, "the great 
 day," this rite was omitted, either to suggest the blessed- 
 ness of Israel when the people had entered the land of 
 promise, or to indicate the thirst for the greater spiritual 
 blessings of which the prophets had sung and which had 
 not yet been realized. Surely Jesus saw in those multi- 
 tudes, and in the weary throngs they represented, who were 
 making their pilgrimages through all ages and lands, count- 
 less souls who were thirsting and fainting and distressed. 
 They were in his mind when he stood and cried: "If any 
 man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that 
 believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, from within 
 him shall flow rivers of living water." Jesus was claim- 
 ing that he was to be for all the weary, unsatisfied, thirsty 
 world, what the riven rock had been for Israel of old. 
 No greater claim could be made, nor under more impressive 
 
74 REVELATION TO WORLD John 7 : 37-52 
 
 circumstances. Yet Jesus adds a promise of the blessed- 
 ness which would belong to his followers more marvelous 
 than any which had hitherto fallen from his lips. Those 
 who were satisfied by him would become themselves 
 sources of spiritual blessing, channels of spiritual life. 
 His truth, his grace, his saving power, would flow through 
 them for the saving and satisfying of other souls. Their 
 influence would not be meager and restricted, but like 
 "rivers of living water." 
 
 The fulfillment of this promise would not be until Jesus 
 had been "glorified" in death, resurrection, and ascension. 
 Then, when he had been revealed in his true character as 
 the divine Son of God, as the Saviour of the world, then 
 his Spirit would come in Pentecostal power upon all those 
 who put their trust in him. 
 
 Such claims and promises were variously received. 
 It is ever so. This is a chapter in which, as is always true 
 in John, we not only read of testimony to the divine Person 
 of Christ and of promises of new life to his followers, but 
 of the development of faith and unbelief. The same testi- 
 mony produces contrasted efTects in different persons. 
 The chapter opened with a statement of the unbelief of the 
 men who for long years had been in the household of Jesus; 
 and now we read that, after the matchless claim of Christ 
 and his promise of "living water," there was a division in 
 the multitude because of him. Yet the most striking 
 contrast is that with which the chapter closes. Officers 
 have been sent to arrest Jesus; they return to the council 
 of rulers confessing that "Never man so spake." The 
 Pharisees rebuke them in bitter scorn and assert that only 
 hopeless ignorance can accept the claims of Jesus. One of 
 their number however, Nicodemus, he that came to Jesus 
 by night, declares that their law, for ignorance of which 
 they are despising the common people, rebukes them for 
 condemning Jesus without granting him a just hearing. 
 His defense is weak and lacking in moral courage, but it 
 springs from growing faith. 
 
 The multitudes always hear Christ willingly. Where 
 there is no pride of intellect, there his words are welcomed, 
 there his promises are gladly recei\'ed. The enemies of 
 
John7:53to8:ll THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 75 
 
 Christ have usually acted without reason toward him, sel- 
 dom allowing him fairly to present his claims; they have 
 great knowledge of "law," and human wisdom, but do not 
 honestly face his words and works. Nicodemus is facing 
 the light; he is seeking for the truth; he is of a timid 
 temperament; he will miss his truest joy; but we shall 
 find him at last a disciple, bringing his hundredweight of 
 spices to the tomb to show his devotion to the Lord 
 he really loved. 
 
 (b) Jesus and the Sinful Woman. Chs. 7 : 53 
 to8 : 11 
 
 53 [And they went every man unto his own house: 
 1 but Jesus went unto the mount of Olives. 2 And early 
 in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the 
 people came imto him; and he sat down, and taught them. 
 3 Aiid the scribes and the Pharisees bring a woman taken in 
 adultery; and having set her in the midst, 4 they say unto 
 him, Teacher, this woman hath been taken in adultery, in 
 the very act. 5 Now in the law Moses commanded us to 
 stone such: what then sayest thou of her? 6 And this they 
 said, trying him, that they might have whereof to accuse him. 
 But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the 
 ground. 7 But when they continued asking him, he lifted 
 up himself, and said unto them. He that is without sin 
 among you, let him first cast a stone at her. 8 And again 
 he stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground. 
 9 And they, when they heard it, went out one by one, begin- 
 ning from the eldest, even unto the last : and Jesus was left 
 alone, and the woman, where she was, in the midst. 10 And 
 Jesus lifted up himself, and said imto her, Woman, where are 
 they? did no man condemn thee? 11 And she said. No man, 
 Lord. And Jesus said. Neither do I condemn thee: go thy 
 way; from henceforth sin no more.] 
 
 This disputed passage is probably a true apostolic 
 tradition introduced by some later editor of the Gospel, 
 but it is so characterized by "the wisdom, holiness, and 
 goodness of him to whom it is attributed, that it could no 
 more have been invented than any other feature in the 
 inimitable Life of Christ." 
 
76 REVELATION TO WORLD John 7:53 to 8: 11 
 
 The motive of the Pharisees is not love for God, or 
 zeal for righteousness, or a passion for purity and holiness, 
 or indignation against sin, but wholly the desire to entangle 
 Jesus and to secure from him some word or utterance which 
 may lead to his arrest and condemnation and death. It 
 is worthy of notice that the desire which men often feel 
 for the punishment of offenders can be traced to motives 
 which are discreditable, if they could be truly revealed. 
 The religion of some men seems to consist in hatred 
 of their fellows, or in a passion for the punishment of 
 others. 
 
 The employment of such means as the Pharisees used 
 to entrap Jesus is a pitiful reflection upon their character. 
 That they should be willing to form a plot so distressing 
 and repulsive, shows that they were ready to stoop to 
 any measure in order to accomplish their desired end. 
 We find that the character of men is often revealed by the 
 instruments which they employ to secure their pur- 
 poses. 
 
 The aim of the Pharisees was to place Jesus in a dilemma. 
 Should he acquit the woman, he would then oppose the law 
 of Moses. Lev. 20 : 10; Deut. 22 : 22-24. Should he 
 condemn the woman to death, he would then encroach 
 upon the power and authority of the Roman state, John 
 18 : 28-31; for the Romans had taken from the Jews the 
 power of inflicting capital punishment. The dilemma is 
 similar to that suggested by the question as to whether 
 or not it was right to give tribute to Caesar. In this par- 
 ticular case, the attempt was to make Christ act contrary 
 to either the ecclesiastical or the civil law. 
 
 The reply of Jesus is a revelation of his divine wisdom 
 and grace. At first he hesitates to speak. He stoops and 
 writes upon the ground. Just what he wrote is merely a 
 matter of conjecture. His hesitation may have been due 
 to the shame which he felt, not only for the woman but 
 for her accusers. Some, on the other hand, have thought 
 that he wrote, as suggested by a verse from Jeremiah, the 
 word "Apostate," intimating how far' from God were the 
 very men who claimed to be acting in the place of God and 
 i;i his service. Others have thought that Jesus wrote the 
 
John7:53to8:ll THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 77 
 
 words which he uttered: "He that is without sin among 
 you, let him first cast a stone." By this utterance, Jesus 
 lifted the question out of the sphere of mere legal technicali- 
 ties into the realm of moral realities. He showed himself 
 to be qualified to judge rightfully all men; he silenced and 
 convicted and condemned his enemies. If these Phari- 
 sees were to be self-appointed executors of divine Justice, 
 then they should be like God in the purity of their lives. 
 They may not have been guilty of the particular sin in 
 question, although possibly our Lord referred to the fact 
 that impure thoughts are sinful as well as impure deeds; 
 but they were guilty of sin. Jesus does not here call in 
 question the right of human governments to inflict penal- 
 ties upon offenders, but he teaches that men who wish to 
 assume for themselves the function of ofificial judges must 
 themselves be pure. Evidently no one of that group felt 
 morally qualified, when tested by the standard Jesus 
 proposed. He thus upheld the law of Moses, but he con- 
 victed the proud accusers of being themseh-es worthy of 
 condemnation. 
 
 The defeat was most manifest; the Pharisees withdrew. 
 They were led by the older men, who evidently had formed 
 the plan, and were followed by the younger, even to the 
 last. The fact that they did not take the woman to the 
 lawful judges suggests not only their defeat, but the malice 
 of their design. 
 
 In the word of Jesus to the sinful woman, he practically 
 made for himself, a claim of sinlessness. He implied that 
 he could have pronounced the sentence which the Phari- 
 sees feared to pronounce; he could have condemned. He 
 did not pronounce the sentence, neither did he acquit the 
 woman of guilt. He did not speak the word of pardon, 
 for she had not come to him in penitence and in faith, as 
 had the woman whose story is given in Luke 7 : 37-50. 
 He merely warned the woman, and gave her time to repent 
 and believe. His word, however, was full of encourage- 
 ment, and we cannot but conclude that she must have gone 
 away to a new and better life. 
 
 His followers also, have learned anew the lesson : "Judge 
 not, that ye be not judged." 
 
78 REVELATION TO WORLD John 8: 12-21 
 
 (c) The Crisis of Belief in Jerusalem. Ch. 8 : 12-59 
 The Claim and the Testimony 
 
 The Witness. Vs. 12-20 
 
 12 Again therefore Jesus spake unto them, saying, I am the 
 light of the world : he that f olloweth me shall not walk in the 
 darkness, but shall have the light of life. 13 The Pharisees 
 therefore said unto him. Thou bearest witness of thyself; 
 thy witness is not true. 14 Jesus answered and said unto 
 them. Even if I bear witness of myself, my witness is true; 
 for I know whence I came, and whither I go ; but ye know not 
 whence I come, or whither I go. 15 Ye judge after the flesh; 
 I judge no man. 16 Yea and if I judge, my judgment is 
 true ; for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me. 
 17 Yea and in your law it is written, that the witness of two 
 men is true. 18 I am he that beareth witness of myself, and 
 the Father that sent me beareth witness of me. 19 They 
 said therefore unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus 
 answered, Ye know neither me, nor my Father: if ye knew 
 me, ye would know my Father also. 20 These words spake 
 he in the treasury, as he taught in the temple: and no man 
 took him; because his hour was not yet come. 
 
 Here Jesus compares himself with the cloud of glory 
 which had led the children of Israel through the wilder- 
 ness. The memory of this cloud was brought to the 
 minds of the Jews at the feast of tabernacles by the 
 illumination of the Temple and of the city. Jesus had 
 already compared himself with the Hven rock; now he 
 declares himself to be the true Pillar of fire. He claims 
 that he is able to guide and to give light to his followers. 
 
 The foolish objection of the Pharisees is, that in a law 
 court it is necessary to have two witnesses, and that 
 Jesus' witness is not true because he speaks of and for 
 himself. Jesus replies that his Father bears testimony 
 both by the written word and especially by the works 
 which Jesus himself performs. 
 
 The Warning. Vs. 21-30 
 
 21 He said therefore again unto them, I go away, and ye 
 shall seek me, and shall die in your sin: whither I go, ye can- 
 
John 8: 22-39 THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 79 
 
 not come. 22 The Jews therefore said, Will he kill himself, 
 that he saith. Whither I go, ye camiot come? 23 And he said 
 imto them. Ye are from beneath ; I am from above : ye are of 
 this world; I am not of this world. 24 I said therefore unto 
 vou, that ye shall die in your sins: for except ye believe that I 
 am he, ye shall die in your sins. 25 They said therefore unto 
 him. Who art thou? Jesus said imto them, Even that which 
 I have also spoken imto you from the beginning. 26 I have 
 many things to speak and to judge concerning you: howbeit 
 he that sent me is true; and the things which I heard from 
 ,him, these speak I unto the world. 27 They perceived not 
 that he spake to them of the Father. 28 Jesus therefore 
 said, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye 
 know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself, but as the 
 Father taught me, I speak these things. 29 And he that sent 
 me is with me; he hath not left me alone; for I do always 
 the things that are pleasing to him. 30 As he spake these 
 things, many beUeved on him. 
 
 Jesus solemnly declares that if the Jews do not believe 
 upon him they will die in their sins, that is to say, in the 
 state of inward depravity in which death would overtake 
 them and from which he might have deli\'ered them. 
 Heaven will be closed against them, and only perdition 
 can await them. Jesus further shows that sin is the 
 alienation of the heart from God. 
 
 Moral Freedom and Divine Sonship. Vs. 31-59 
 
 31 Jesus therefore said to those Jews that had believed 
 him, K ye abide in my word, then are ye truly my disciples; 
 32 and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shaU make you 
 free. H They answered vmto him. We are Abraham's seed, 
 and have never yet been in bondage to any man: how sayest 
 thou. Ye shall be made free? 34 Jesus answered them. 
 Verily, verily, I say unto you. Every one that committeth sin 
 is the bondservant of sin. 35 And the bondservant abideth 
 not in the house for ever: the son abideth for ever. 36 If 
 therefore the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free in- 
 deed. 37 I know that ye are Abraham's seed ; yet ye seek to 
 kill me, because my word hath not free course in you. 38 I 
 speak the things which I have seen with my Father: and ye 
 also do the things which ye heard from your father. 39 They 
 answered and said unto him, Our father is Abraham. Jesus 
 
591 
 
 80 REVELATION TO WORLD John 8: 40-59' 
 
 saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do 
 the works of Abraham. 40 But now ye seek to kill me, a 
 man that hath told you the truth, which I heard from God: 
 this did not Abraham. 41 Ye do the works of your father. 
 They said unto him, We were not born of fornication; we 
 have one Father, even God. 42 Jesus said unto them, If 
 God were your Father, ye would love me: for I came forth 
 and am come from God; for neither have I come of myself, 
 but he sent me. 43 Wliy do ye not understand my speech? 
 Even because ye cannot hear my word. 44 Ye are of your 
 father the devil, and the lusts of your father it is your will to do. 
 He was a murderer from the begiiming, and standeth not in 
 the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speak- 
 eth a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the 
 father thereof. 45 But because I say the truth, ye believe 
 me not. 46 Which of you convicteth me of sin? If I say 
 truth, why do ye not believe me? 47 He that is of God hear- 
 eth the words of God: for this cause ye hear them not, because 
 ye are not of God. 48 The Jews answered and said vmto him, 
 Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a demon? 
 49 Jesus answered, I have not a demon; but I honor my 
 Father, and ye dishonor me. 50 But I seek not mine own 
 glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth. 51 Verily, 
 verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my word, he shall never 
 see death. 52 The Jews said unto him. Now we know that 
 thou hast a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets; 
 and thou sayest. If a man keep my word, he shall never taste 
 of death. 53 Art thou greater than our father Abraham, who 
 died? and the prophets died: whom makest thou thyself? 
 54 Jesus answered. If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing: 
 it is my Father that glorifieth me ; of whom ye say, that he is 
 your God; 55 and ye have not known him : but I know him; 
 and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be like unto you, a 
 liar: but I know him, and keep his word. 56 Your father 
 Abraham rejoiced to see my day ; and he saw it, and was glad. 
 57 The Jews therefore said unto him. Thou art not yet fifty 
 years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? 58 Jesus said unto 
 them. Verily, verily, I say imto you. Before Abraham was bom, 
 I am. 59 They took up stones therefore to cast at him: but 
 Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple. 
 
 To those who were his nominal followers Jesus now 
 applies a test which will show whether or not their 
 faith is real. "Jesus therefore said to those Jews that 
 had believed him, If ye abide in my word, then are ye 
 
John 8: 31-59 THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 81 
 
 truly my disciples; and ye shall know the truth, and the 
 truth shall make you free." No passing emotion, no 
 empty profession, constitutes Christian discipleship, but 
 a patient continuance in the study and practice of the 
 teaching and will of Christ. The result will be a moral 
 freedom not otherwise to be obtained. 
 
 His hearers are offended at the implication that they are 
 slaves. In spite of the political domination of Rome, their 
 consciousness of descent from Abraham, their conseo.uent 
 hope of a national future in fulfillment of the promises, their 
 present enjoyment of social and personal freedom, all 
 made them sensitive to any implication of servitude. 
 Jesus reminds them that yielding to sin results in moral 
 slavery but that faith in him as the Son of God will secure 
 freedom from sin and the liberty of children of God. He 
 insists that their claim to be children of Abraham is 
 futile. Whatever the physical facts may be, they lack 
 any real moral relationship to Abraham, as is evidenced 
 by their deeds, and specially by their desire to kill Jesus. 
 
 If they were the true children of God they would love 
 and reverence the Son of God. Their hatred of him and 
 failure to appreciate his message indicate that their actual 
 moral relationship is with the Devil. His activities are 
 characterized by such enmity to truth and murderous hate 
 as the Jews have been showing. 
 
 Thus Jesus again declares that faith and unbelief are 
 less concerned with the mind than with the heart; they 
 are due to moral states and sympathies. "If God were 
 your Father, ye would love me: . . . He that is of God 
 heareth the words of God." 
 
 Finally, Jesus makes a marvelous promise and a startling 
 claim. "Verily, verily, I say unto you. If a man keep my 
 word, he shall never see death." This is only a negative 
 statement of the offer of eternal life which Jesus was again 
 and again making to his followers. The blessedness of 
 this experience would be a present possession, and the 
 accident of physical death would not affect its essence; 
 and in the resurrection of the body, this eternal life would 
 reach its full fruition. 
 
 When the Jews interpret his words literally and object 
 
82 REVELATION TO WORLD John 8: 31-59 
 
 that death is a universal experience, Jesus startles them by 
 replying that, for him, life has been, and ever will be, an 
 eternal state: "Verily, verily, I say unto you. Before Abra- 
 ham was born, I am." This is a claim of identity with 
 God in his changeless Being. No wonder that the Jews 
 "took up stones ... to cast at him" as a blasphemer. 
 Such he was, or else he spoke the truth; The claims of 
 Jesus are unmistakable. He was either a deceiver or the 
 divine Son of God. 
 
John 9: 1-19 THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 83 
 
 The Sixth "Sign"; and the Formal Breach with the Reli- 
 gious Leaders. Chs. 9, 10 
 
 (1) Jesus and the Man Who Was Born Blind. Ch. 9 
 
 Jesus the Light of the World 
 
 1 And as he passed by, he saw a man blind from his 
 birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, saying. Rabbi, who 
 sinned, this man, or his parents, that he should be bom 
 blind? 3 Jesus answered, Neither did this man sin, nor his 
 parents: but that the works of God should be made mani- 
 fest in him. 4 We must work the works of him that sent me, 
 while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. 
 5 When I am in the world, I am the light of the world. 6 
 When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made 
 clay of the spittle, and anointed his eyes with the clay, 7 
 and said xmto him, Go, wash in the pool of SUoam (which 
 is by interpretation, Sent). He went away therefore, and 
 washed, and came seeing. 8 The neighbors therefore, and 
 they that saw him aforetime, that he was a beggar, said. Is 
 not this he that sat and begged? 9 Others said. It is he: 
 others said, No, but he is like him. He said, I am he. 10 
 They said therefore unto him. How then were thine eyes 
 opened? 11 He answered, The man that is called Jesus 
 made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me. Go 
 to Siloam, and wash: so I went away and washed, and I 
 received sight. 12 And they said xmto him, Where is he? 
 He saith, I know not. 
 
 13 They bring to the Pharisees him that aforetime was 
 blind. 14 Now it was the sabbath on the day when Jesus 
 made the clay, and opened his eyes. 15 Again therefore the 
 Pharisees also asked him how he received lus sight. And he 
 said xmto them. He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, 
 and I see. 16 Some therefore of the Pharisees said. This 
 man is not from God, because he keepeth not the sabbath. 
 But others said. How can a man that is a sinner do such signs? 
 And there was a division among them. 17 They say there- 
 fore imto the blind man again. What sayest thou of him, 
 in that he opened thine eyes? And he said. He is a prophet. 
 18 The Jews therefore did not beUeve concerning him, that 
 he had been blind, and had received his sight, imtil they called 
 the parents of him that had received his sight, 19 and asked 
 
84 REVELATION TO WORLD John 9: 20-41 
 
 them, saying, Is this your son, who ye say was born blind? 
 how then doth he now see? 20 His parents answered and 
 said. We know that this is our son, and that he was bom 
 blind: 21 but how he now seeth, we kxiow not; or who opened 
 his eyes, we know not: ask him; he is of age; he shall 
 speak for himself. 22 These things said his parents, be- 
 cause they feared the Jews : for the Jews had agreed already, 
 that if any man should confess him to be Christ, he should 
 be put out of the synagogue. 23 Therefore said his parents, 
 He is of age; ask him. 24 So they called a second time 
 the man that was blind, and said unto him. Give glory to 
 God: we know that this man is a sinner. 25 He therefore 
 answered, Whether he is a sinner, I know not: one thing I 
 know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see. 26 They said 
 therefore unto him, What did he to thee? how opened he 
 thine eyes? 27 He answered them, I told you even now, and 
 ye did not hear; wherefore would ye hear it again? would ye 
 also become his disciples? 28 And they reviled him, and 
 said. Thou art his disciple; but we are disciples of Moses. 
 29 We know that God hath spoken unto Moses: but as for 
 this man, we know not whence he is. 30 The man answered 
 and said unto them. Why, herein is the marvel, that ye 
 know not whence he is, and yet he opened mine eyes. 31 We 
 know that God heareth not sinners : but if any man be a wor- 
 shipper of God, and do his will, hun he heareth. 32 Since 
 the world began it was never heard that any one opened the 
 eyes of a man bom blind. 33 If this man were not from 
 God, he could do nothing. 34 They answered and said xmto 
 him. Thou wast altogether bom in sins, and dost thou teach 
 us? And they cast him out. 
 
 35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and finding 
 him, he said. Dost thou believe on the Son of God? 36 
 He answered and said. And who is he. Lord, that I may 
 beheve on him? 37 Jesus said unto him. Thou hast both 
 seen him, and he it is that speaketh with thee. 38 And he 
 said. Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him. 39 And 
 Jesus said. For judgment came I into this world, that they 
 that see not may see; and that they that see may become 
 blind. 40 Those of the Pharisees who were with him heard 
 these things, and said unto him. Are we also blind? 41 Jesus 
 said unto them, If ye were blind, ye would have no sin : but 
 now ye say. We see : your sin remaineth. 
 
 This story possesses an irresistible and unfailing charm. 
 A subtle humor pervades the dialogue between the Phari- 
 
John 9: 1-41 THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 85 
 
 sees and the man who had been born blind; their ruffled 
 dignity and exasperation, and- his irritating irony, are little 
 less than amusing, while against all stands the contrast 
 of the majestic calm of Jesus. 
 
 The witness to the divine Nature of our Lord is of a 
 very unusual character. This is the best attested of all 
 his miracles. A public, official in^•estigation of the alleged 
 cure was held, and as proof of its reality, we have not 
 only the statements of the man, and of his parents and 
 neighbors, but the unwilling admissions of the Pharisees 
 themselves. 
 
 We also ha\-e here a significant example of the develop- 
 ment of faith. The man born blind regards our Lord, at 
 first, as a man called Jesus, then as "a prophet," and 
 finally as "the Son of God." 
 
 Most important of all, the miracle is an acted parable of 
 the life that issues from faith in Christ, the life of spiritual 
 illumination and moral vision, indicated by the great word 
 of the Master, "I am the light of the world." As the 
 story opens Jesus and his disciples are arrested by the 
 pitiful picture of a beggar seated by the wayside, "a man 
 blind from his birth." The evident pity of the Master led ^ 
 the disciples to propose the unsolved problem of the ages, 
 namely, the nriVin r^f hnpian suffering: "Rabbi, who 
 sinned, this man, or his parents, that he should be born 
 blind?" They did not mean to imply that the man had 
 existed in a previous state, or had sinned before his birth. 
 They were assuming t he uni\-ersal Ij iw that sin brings suf- 
 fering, but were making the mistake of supposing that each 
 individual case of suffering is due to specific sin; and they 
 were puzzled to know how to apply their rule to the case 
 of a man born blind. 
 
 "Jesus answered. Neither did this man sin, nor his 
 parents: but that the works of God should b ^ niadf '""^"j- 
 fest in him-" He did not intend to teach that the persons 
 in question were sinless, or that the man had been born 
 blind for the sole purpose that he might be miraculously 
 restored to sight. The statement is condensed. Our 
 Lord does not atempt to explain the mystery of pain. 
 He wishes to say to his disciples in all ages that the sight 
 
86 REVELATION TO WORLD John 9: 1-41 
 
 of human suffering should not suggest a theme for specula- 
 tion but a call to service. It is not for us to question 
 who has sinned ; here is an opportunity for God to manifest 
 his grace; "We must work the works of him that sent me, 
 while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work." 
 Jesus is saying, and the message is for us, that the hours of 
 life are few and limited, and there is a task for every hour; 
 if we neglect our opportunity for service it will be lost 
 forever; night will come and our work will never be com- 
 plete. 
 
 The specific task for that hour was to open the eyes of the 
 sufferer. "When I am in the world, I am the light of the 
 world." The claim of Jesus was likewise a promise. 
 It must have aroused the attention of the blind man, pos- 
 sibly his hope. It was larger, however, than the limits of 
 the present demand. To Jesus, the blind man was a pic- 
 ture of "the world" in its moral poverty and spiritual 
 blindness; and his word was a claim that he was to give 
 light and vision to all who would trust in him. He was 
 saying, too, that it was not his words and teachings which 
 were to be the source of such blessing, but his divine 
 Person: "I am the light." He was not merely "a prophet," 
 he was the Messiah, the "Sent One of God," the Saviour. 
 This marvelous claim is further emphasized by his act. 
 He places clay on the eyes of the blind man and bids him 
 go to the pool of Siloam and wash. Why? John explains, 
 "The pool of Siloam (which is by interpretation. Sent)." 
 Jesus had continually declared that he himself had been 
 sent of God, and he is now intimating that he alone could 
 heal; that he fulfilled alf the blessings which Siloam typi- 
 fied. Each day of the feast of tabernacles a libation had 
 been brought from that pool, to suggest the gifts of God 
 to his people. Jesus is now saying that as the waters of 
 Siloam will wash the clay from the eyes of the blind man, 
 so he, the true Siloam, the One sent of God, will take 
 away his physical blindness, and also will restore spiritual 
 sight to the world. 
 
 The blind man, in faith and hope, obeys the command; 
 he "washed, and came seeing"; and now the whole city is 
 stirred by the report of the great wonder that has been 
 
John 9: 1-41 THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 87 
 
 wrought. It was indeed a marvelous "sign" and would go 
 far to persuade men to admit the claims of Jesus. This 
 his enemies feared. At all costs they must prove that the 
 miracle had not been wrought. This they attempted to 
 do, but without success. The man who had been given 
 sight is summoned into the presence of the Pharisees and 
 carefully cross-examined. Then his parents are sum- 
 moned and they testify to the identity of their son, to 
 the fact that he was born blind, and that he now sees. A 
 second time the man is called and is urged to confess that 
 the reputed miracle is only a deception. This is what is 
 meant by their words: "Give glory to God: we know that 
 this man is a sinner." "He therefore answered. Whether 
 he is a sinner, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas 
 I was blind, now I see." He does not mean that he has 
 no opinion as to the character of Jesus; but he says that 
 he is willing to leave the theological problems to their 
 superior wisdom; he knows, however, what Jesus has done 
 for him; and he intimates that they must form their opinion 
 of Jesus in accordance with the fact of his cure. . 
 
 The dilemma of the Pharisees and their mode of reason- r" 
 ing are amusingly or pitifully reproduced to-day by many 
 reputed wise men who attempt to prove that Jesus is 
 not the divine Son of God. The Pharisees argued that 
 the miracle had not been performed because it was the 
 Sabbath, and God could not have healed a man on the 
 Sabbath and by so working have broken the law of rest. 
 That the Sabbath had been broken was merely their inter- 
 pretation of a law; and they were thus opposing a theory 
 to a fact, and on the ground of a speculation were denying 
 a reality. 
 
 So to-day, substituting for the religious formula of the 
 Pharisees the scientific axiom of the skeptics and ration- 
 alists, men tell us that the supernatural cannot exist, 
 that miracles do not occur, and that the reputed works of 
 Jesus are therefore mere fables; he was not born of a vir- 
 gin, never opened the eyes of the blind, and did not rise 
 from the dead. These wise men have theories and so they 
 reject facts. 
 
 The Pharisees were, however, in a dilemma ; there stood 
 
§8 REVELATION TO WORLD John 9: 1-41 
 
 the man; his sight was perfect; he had been born blind; 
 Jesus had opened his eyes. They must either deny the 
 facts or admit the divine nature of Jesus which the facts 
 proved. 
 
 The skeptics of to-day are troubled by facts. For 
 eJcample, they deny the miracles but admit that Jesus was 
 a supreme moral Teacher, and they praise him as a "good 
 man." But he claimed to have opened the eyes of a blind 
 man; he made his disciples believe that he walked on the 
 sea; he pretended to rise from the dead. Surely all this 
 was base deception, or else Jesus was the divine Son of 
 God. The Pharisees could not disprove the fact of the 
 miracle, but they denied that Jesus was "good" ; we cannot 
 admit that Jesus was "good" if we deny the fact of his 
 miracles. 
 
 The Pharisees tried to escape from their dilemma 
 by calling the man and asking him to repeat his story, 
 hoping to entangle him in his report. How modern skep- 
 tics would like to prove discrepancies in the Gospel story! 
 The man sees their dilemma and asks, in bold irony, 
 whether their eagerness for more information about Jesus 
 is due to their desire to become his disciples. They revile 
 him, and declare that they are disciples of Moses, and that 
 as for Jesus they "know not whence he is." 
 
 They have been driven to the position of the agnostic. 
 It is a cowardly position; it is due always to a lack of the 
 moral courage which is willing to face facts; it never 
 commands respect; and the man who had been blind 
 heaps upon it the ridicule and contempt it deserves. He 
 states his simple unanswerable argument that an impostor, 
 a deceiver, a sinner, could never have done the work that 
 Jesus had wrought: "If this man were not from God, he 
 could do nothing." The works of Jesus prove that he 
 could not have been false in his claims. 
 
 The Pharisees excommunicate the man whom they can- 
 not answer. How often does abuse take the place of argu- 
 ment; and how frequently do men dismiss with apparent 
 contempt facts and proofs which they cannot deny or 
 refute! 
 
 Jesus finds the lonely outcast, and leads him into more 
 
John 10: 1-21 THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 89 
 
 perfect light, until, as the scene closes, we find the man 
 worshiping Jesus as the Son of God. In painful contrast 
 stand the Pharisees. Their greater privileges, their knowl- 
 edge of the Scriptures, should have made them the first 
 to believe. Their boasted wisdom and insight are their 
 very condemnation and the aggravation of their guilt: 
 "Now ye say. We see: your sin remaineth." So it often 
 happens that humble minds which have no wisdom of their 
 own are the first to admit the claims of Christ; but 
 this is no excuse for the wise and learned. Their very 
 intelligence, if linked with moral sympathy and child- 
 like humility, would make them the most devoted and help- 
 ful followers of the Master. 
 
 How then can faith be developed; how can "they that 
 see not . . . see?" By imitating the man born blind; listen 
 to the words of promise which Christ has spoken; obey 
 his commands however strange; have the courage to hold 
 to your convictions in the face of reputed "wise men"; 
 be willing to suffer for his sake; and your spiritual sight 
 will be strengthened, light will be cast on life's mysteries, 
 and you will find Jesus to be indeed "the light of the 
 world." 
 
 (2) Jesus the True Shepherd. Ch. 10 : 1-21 
 
 The allegory which opens the tenth chapter of the Gos- 
 pel is inseparably connected with the incident of the 
 chapter which precedes. It is in fact a continuation of 
 the discourse which our Lorti had begun in the presence of 
 the Pharisees and of the man who had been born blind. 
 The purpose was, first, to rebuke the Pharisees for their 
 treatment of the man to whom Jesus had given sight; 
 secondly, to encourage the man in his faith and trust; 
 and thirdly, to describe the loving, saving ministry of our 
 Lord. 
 
 The allegory contains three related but distinct pictures. 
 It does not consist of a complete parable, vs. 1-6, and then 
 two paragraphs of interpretation, vs. 7-10 and 11-18, but 
 rather of three scenes, in each of which the imagery is 
 slightly altered and the application different. 
 
00 REVELATION TO WORLD John 10: 1-6 
 
 As one commentator suggests, the first may be a scene 
 in the early morning, when the sheep are being led out 
 from the fold by the shepherd ; the second, a scene at noon- 
 tide when the sheep are free to enter the fold for safety, 
 or to go out into the pasture for the satisfaction of hunger; 
 the third, a scene at nightfall when the returning flocks 
 may be in danger of wolves. The first contrasts the unlaw- 
 ful tyranny of the Pharisees with the divine appointment 
 of Christ; the second contrasts the injurious influences of 
 their power with his gift of satisfying and abundant life; 
 the third contrasts their cruel or cowardly motives with 
 his self-sacrificing love. 
 
 1 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not 
 by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbeth up some 
 other way, the same is a thief and a robber. 2 But he that 
 entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To 
 him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and 
 he calletii his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. 
 4 When he hath put forth aU his own, he goeth before them, 
 and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. 5 And 
 a stranger will they not follow, but wiU flee from him: for 
 they know not the voice of strangers. 6 This parable spake 
 Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they 
 were which he spake unto them. 
 
 Verses 1-6. In excommunicating the man who had been 
 born blind, the Pharisees had given an example of their 
 exercise of self-assumed authority. They were unauthor- 
 ized rulers; Christ was the Messiah. The true people of 
 God were dissatisfied with the Jewish leaders, and, like 
 the man born blind, were ready to follow Jesus. 
 
 All this our Lord illustrated b}' his allegory. The Phari- 
 sees had not secured their power by entering "the door" 
 of any divinely instituted ofiice or function. They had 
 climbed up "some other way." Their despotic power had 
 been secured by illegitimate means. They were like 
 thieves in their deceit and hypocrisy, and like robbers 
 in their violence and audacity. Christ, on the contrary, 
 had come on a di\'ine mission, and in the appointed office 
 of Messiah. He was the true Shepherd. John the Bap- 
 
John 10: 7-16 THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 91 
 
 tist, or others who had filled the prophetic office, like the 
 porter at the door of the fold, had given him access to the 
 flocks; and, as sheep recognize the voice of their shep- 
 herd, so, like the man whom Christ had healed, those who 
 truly love God would gladly accept Christ as the Messiah. 
 Our Lord even then intimated that to follow him would 
 mean to separate from the Jewish state and synagogue 
 and rulers, and to feel the loneliness the man had experi- 
 enced who was unwilling to submit to the Pharisees; 
 but he further indicates that a new flock is being formed, 
 composed of his followers and enjoying the blessings of his 
 guidance and care. 
 
 7 Jesus therefore said unto them again, Verily, verily, I 
 say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All that came 
 before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not 
 hear them. 9 I am the door; by me if any man enter in, 
 he shall be saved, and shall go in and go out, and shall find 
 pastiu-e. 10 The thief cometh not, but that he may steal, 
 and kill, and destroy: I came that they may have life, and 
 may have it abundantly. 
 
 Verses 7-10. In this second picture, Christ is not the 
 true Shepherd but "the door of the sheep." The way to 
 divine communion and fellowship is through him. All 
 others who have made such claims are "thieves and 
 robbers." The influence of such is to "steal, and kill, and 
 destroy," but those who come to God through Christ will 
 have life abundantly; they will have true liberty and sat- 
 isfaction and salvation. 
 
 11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd layeth 
 down his life for the sheep. 12 He that is a hireling, and not 
 a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, beholdeth the 
 wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fieeth, and the wolf 
 snatcheth tiem, and scattereth them: 13 he fieeth because 
 he is a hireling, and careth not for the sheep. 14 I am the 
 good shepherd; and I know mine own, and mine own know 
 me, 15 even as the Father knoweth me, and I know the 
 Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And other 
 sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must 
 bring, and they shall hear my voice; and they shall become 
 
92 REVELATION TO WORLD John 10: 17-18 
 
 one flock, one shepherd. 17 Therefore doth the Father love 
 me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. 
 18 No one taketh it away from me, but I lay it down of 
 myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to 
 take it again. This commandment received I from my 
 Father. 
 
 Verses 11-18. In this third picture, our Lord describes 
 himself as the Good Shepherd, and declares that, as such, 
 he is willing to lay down his life for the sheep. By way of 
 contrast he refers to others who show that they are not 
 worthy the name of shepherds, for their motive is selfish 
 gain, and, in the face of peril, they show fear and cowardice. 
 He calls them hirelings and declares that they flee when 
 they behold "the wolf coming." As the Lord before 
 designated the Pharisees "thieves and robbers" so here 
 they must be related to the "hireling" and the "wolf." 
 The latter pictures the cruel hate which animates his 
 enemies; but there were among the chief rulers "many" 
 who "believed on him; but . . . they did not confess it, 
 lest they should be put out of the synagogue"; they were 
 like hirelings; their real duty was to care for the sheep, 
 but they were unwilling to make any sacrifice and there- 
 fore failed to protect Christ or his followers for fear of 
 personal loss. However we may interpret the terms, 
 "wolf" and "hireling," they stand in clear contrast with 
 the Good Shepherd whose purpose is unselfish and whose 
 motive is love. 
 
 Then, too, he has perfect knowledge of his sheep, and 
 they know him; and this mutual relation is even compared 
 with that which exists between Christ and his Father. 
 This love and knowledge are not only for the disciples who 
 are represented by the man born blind, but also for a great 
 multitude from among the Gentile nations who are to 
 follow him. Christ declares that all who believe in him 
 form one flock, although they may be in different folds. 
 For all these he is to lay down his life. He is to die through 
 the murderous hate of his enemies; yet his life is to be a 
 voluntary offering for sinful men. However, he is to rise 
 from the dead; this is his ultimate purpose, for only as 
 risen, living, present, can he truly care for his sheep. 
 
John 10: 19-25 THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 93 
 
 Such power to H\e or die he has received from the Father, 
 to whom his self-devotion is infinitely pleasing. 
 
 19 There arose a division again among the Jews because 
 of these words. 20 And many of them said, He hath a de- 
 mon, and is mad; why hear ye him? 21 Others said, These 
 are not the sayings of one possessed with a demon. Can 
 a demon open the eyes of the blind? 
 
 Verses 19-21. The allegory is followed by this brief 
 historic note which describes the division among his 
 hearers which always resulted from the words of Christ. 
 It is characteristic of this Gospel which ever deals with the 
 development of faith and unbelief, and shows that as testi- 
 mony is borne to Christ either by word or deed, men are 
 judging themselves by their response. In the allegory, the 
 testimony has been stated in the claims of Christ. He has 
 declared himself the Messiah, by presenting himself as 
 the true Shepherd of Israel, the divinely appointed Saviour. 
 To these claims faith responded; the sheep heard his voice. 
 By these claims unbelievers were angered: "He hath a 
 demon, and is mad; why hear ye him?" In John, however, 
 in addition to testimony, and belief, there is a third 
 great idea: this is of the life in which faith issues. Most 
 beautifully is it set forth in this allegory. In the first 
 picture its blessedness centers in the divine guidance 
 granted by the true Shepherd; in the second, it consists 
 in safety and liberty and spiritual satisfaction; in the 
 third, it includes the love of Christ, a knowledge of him, 
 and fellowship of life, with all believers, of whatever fold 
 or denomination, in the one great flock of Christ. Blessed 
 indeed is he who can say from the heart: "The Lord is 
 IB}- shepherd." 
 
 (3) Jesus the Christ, the Son of God. Ch. 10 : 22-42 
 
 22 And it was the feast of the dedication3at Jerusalem: 23 
 it was winter; and Jesus was walking in the temple in 
 Solomon's porch. 24 The Jews therefore came round about 
 him, and said unto him, How long dost thou hold us in sus- 
 pense? If thou art the' Christ, tell us plainly. 25 Jesus 
 
1 
 
 94 REVELATION TO WORLD John 10: 26-42 
 
 answered them, I told you, and ye believe not: the works 
 that I do in my Father's name, these bear witness of me. 
 26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep. 27 
 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow 
 me: 28 and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall 
 never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand. 
 29 My Father, who hath given them unto me, is greater than 
 all; and no one is able to snatch them out of tiie Father's 
 hand. 30 I and the Father are one. 31 The Jews took up 
 stones again to stone him. 32 Jesus answered them. Many 
 good works have I showed you from the Father; for which 
 of those works do ye stone me? 33 The Jews answered 
 him. For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy; 
 and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. 
 34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I 
 said, Ye are gods? 35 If he called them gods, unto whom 
 the word of God came (and the scripture cannot be broken), 
 36 say ye of him, whom the Father sanctified and sent 
 into the world. Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the 
 Son of God? 37 If I do not the works of my Father, beUeve 
 me not. 38 But if I do them, though ye believe not me, 
 believe the works: that ye may know and imderstand that 
 the Father is in me, and I in the Father. 39 They sought 
 again to take him: and he went forth out of their hand. 
 
 40 And he went away again beyond the Jordan into the 
 place where John was at the first baptizing; and there he 
 abode. 41 ^d many came imto him; and they said, John 
 indeed did no sign : but all things whatsoever John spake of 
 this man were true. 42 And many believed on him there. 
 
 Two months have elapsed since the healing of the blind 
 man and the subsequent discourse at the feast of taber- 
 nacles. Jesus has been in Galilee, but he returns to Jeru- 
 salem to attend another national festival, "the feast of the 
 dedication," which celebrated the purification of the 
 Temple after its desecration by Antiochus. 
 
 Jesus is walking in an eastern cloister of the Temple 
 known as "Solomon's porch," seeking shelter from the 
 cold and rain of December. His enemies gather around 
 him in a circle and demand an explicit answer to the 
 question whether or not he is the Messiah. They are not 
 sincere in their request; they are well acquainted with his 
 claims; but they desire some occasion or excuse to de- 
 
John 10:22-42 THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 95 
 
 stroy him. Their question, moreover, is a difficult one; 
 for he is not the Messiah they are expecting, or sucli a 
 Messiah as they are ready to receive; but he is the Messiah 
 who has been predicted by the prophets, and who is to 
 save those who trust in him. 
 
 Jesus repHes with matchless wisdom. He declares 
 that his miracles, wrought by divine power, are sufficient 
 proof of the truth of his claims. He assures his questioners 
 that their unbelief is not due to lack of evidence but to the 
 imperfection of their moral disposition. If they were in 
 sympathy with him and his Father, they would believe 
 in him, and they would receive those supreme and eternal 
 blessings, which he could impart. "My sheep hear my 
 voice, . . . and I give unto them eternal life; and they 
 shall never perish." 
 
 Jesus further states that this safety of his followers is 
 due to the relationship which exists between him and the 
 Father: "No one shall snatch them out of my hand . . . 
 and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. 
 I and the Father are one." This oneness means unity 
 of will and of power, but it surely indicates even more, 
 unity of being. 
 
 It was so interpreted by the Jews who at once "took up 
 stones again to stone him," as they had done before when 
 Jesus had claimed essential unity with God. They might 
 have accepted Jesus as the Messiah, had he not made 
 claims of deity. They did not expect a divine Messiah. 
 It was because Jesus claimed to be one in essence with 
 God that he was hated, rejected, crucified. 
 
 With indignant irony Jesus asks; "Many good works 
 have I showed you from the Father; for which of those 
 works do ye stone me?" The Jews answer: "For a good 
 work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy; and because 
 that thou, being a man, makest thyself God." 
 
 In replying, Jesus first frees himself from their charge, 
 and then establishes the truth of his divine claim. Vs. 
 34-38. By his defense Jesus does not renounce his claim 
 to deity; but he argues that if the judges, who represented 
 Jehovah in their appointed office, could be called "gods," 
 in the Hebrew scriptures, it could not be blasphemy for 
 
96 REVELATION TO WORLD John 10: 22-42 
 
 him, who was the final and complete revelation of God, to 
 call himself "the Son of God." 
 
 Jesus further replies that he was not only innocent of 
 blasphemy; but, which is more important, that he has 
 stated in reference to his Person only that which is true. 
 His divine works of mercy and love are proofs of his one- 
 ness with God. If they will not believe his words, they- 
 should at least be convinced by these "signs." 
 
 The attempt to stone Jesus is for the time abandoned, 
 and while his enemies are planning his arrest, he escapes 
 from their hands, and withdraws from the city to a safe 
 retreat east of the Jordan. Here, in the scene of the minis- 
 try of John the Baptist, many persons, influenced by the 
 memory of the testimony of John and further by the mir- 
 acles of Jesus, became his disciples. Their faith formed 
 a striking contrast to the unbelief which had been reaching 
 its climax in Jerusalem. 
 
 The breach between Jesus and the rulers is now complete, 
 and it should be carefully noted that it was due to the 
 claims of Christ to be, not only the Messiah, but the Son 
 of God. This claim is here made with unparalleled clear- 
 ness and defended by Christ on the ground of his miracles. 
 To set forth such testimony was the first purpose of the 
 writer of this Gospel. Whatever we may think of the 
 Person of Christ, there can be no doubt that his enemies 
 understood him to assert his essential and absolutely unique 
 oneness with God ; and he never intimated that they were 
 mistaken. 
 
 Whatever view, too, we may take of the miracles, there 
 can be no question that our Lord regarded them, and 
 John records them, as sufficient evidence of his deity. 
 
 We should further consider what this section teaches 
 as to the moral element in faith and unbelief. It is always 
 a matter of the heart and will, quite as much as of the 
 mind. Men do not believe because they do not desire to 
 believe. The same testimony makes true disciples and 
 deadly enemies. Christ is ever the Touchstone of char- 
 acter. 
 
 The third great feature of this Gospel should also be in 
 mind, as we study these paragraphs ; and we should observe 
 
John 10:22-42 THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 97 
 
 what Jesus states of the life which issues from faith in 
 him. He describes it in six striking phrases which set forth 
 its blessedness in figures drawn from the very allegory 
 with which this chapter opens. 
 
 The first two correspond to verses 1-6, and set forth the 
 faith of the believer, and the personal interest of Christ: 
 "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them." The second 
 two correspond to verses 7-10, and intimate the faith- 
 fulness of the believer and the gracious gift of Christ: 
 "And they follow me: and I give unto them eternal 
 life." The last two correspond to verses 11-18, and sug- 
 gest the safety of the believer, and the protecting power 
 of Christ: "They shall never perish, and no one shall 
 snatch them out of my hand." 
 
 Here as throughout this Gospel, "eternal life" is a present 
 possession of the believer, to be enjoyed and developed 
 forever. Its main feature is not duration in time, but 
 blessedness and heavenliness of character. It is the 
 "abundant" life which Christ gives to all who put their 
 trust in him. 
 
98 REVELATION TO WORLD John 11: 1-6 
 
 c. The Supreme "Sign"; and the Conspiracy of the Rulers. 
 Ch. 11 
 
 1. The Raising of Lazarus. Ch. 11 : 1-44 
 
 This matchless narrative is of vital importance to the 
 Gospel story as related by John. The miracle it records 
 was the most marvelous and significant of all the "signs" 
 wrought by our Lord ; it awakened and strengthened faith 
 in those by whom it was witnessed, while it aroused fear 
 and deadly hatred in the rulers who now finally determined 
 upon the death of Jesus; but, above all, it was a proof and 
 prophecy of the life, present and eternal, which Christ 
 imparts to all who put their trust in him. 
 
 Such a narrative needs little comment, and may be 
 marred by any attempted analysis; yet it may be helpful 
 to fix the thought successively upon some of its special 
 features. 
 
 The Friendship. Vs. 1-6 
 
 1 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, of 
 the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 And it was 
 that Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped 
 his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. 3 
 The sisters therefore sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, 
 he whom thou lovest is sick. 4 But when Jesus heard it, he 
 said, This sickness is not imto death, but for the glory of 
 God, that the Son of God may be glorified thereby. 5 Now 
 Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. 6 When 
 therefore he heard that he was sick, he abode at that time 
 two days in the place where he was. 
 
 What is here related of Martha and Mary and Lazarus, 
 reminds us of the friendshipjof Jesus. These were very 
 real. The truth of the loneliness of our Lord may be 
 overemphasized, except as we think of his isolation 
 in the experience of atoning for sin. He possessed, 
 however, a genius for friendship, he had his chosen com- 
 panions, and there were homes where he was a wel- 
 come guest. "Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, 
 
John 11: 1-6 THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 99 
 
 and Lazarus." So, to-day, Christ has his inner circles of 
 friends; they are not chosen arbitrarily but they are com- 
 posed of those who love him and respond to him and have 
 the grace of hospitality in their hearts. 
 
 Of Mary and Martha we have the charming picture 
 drawn by the evangelist, Luke, where the very love of 
 Martha led her to assume such burdens that she became 
 anxious and troubled and complaining, while the sensi- 
 tive heart of Mary perceived that she could best enter- 
 tain the Master by sitting at his feet and listening to his 
 word. 
 
 But Mary also served; and her subsequent act of 
 devotion had already become so well known that when 
 John wrote this narrative he described her as "that Mary 
 who anointed the Lord with ointment." This anoint- 
 ing is that which is related in the next chapter of this 
 Gospel and is not to be identified with the story of the 
 sinful woman related by Luke. Nor is Mary to be con- 
 fused with Mary Magdalene. Mary of Bethany was the 
 sister of Martha and Lazarus, in whose home Jesus loved 
 to be. 
 
 Now trouble has come to this home. The friendship 
 of Jesus does not protect us from human sorrows, but it 
 gives us the assurance of sympathy and relief. 
 
 "The sisters therefore sent unto him, saying, Lord, 
 behold, he whom thou lovest is sick." By his reply Jesus 
 did not mean to say that Lazarus was not to die; nor 
 yet that the purpose and sole explanation of the sickness 
 was the opportunity for working a miracle of resurrection. 
 He meant that the result of this sickness would not be the 
 continued victory of death, but the manifested glory of 
 God, in the triumph of resurrection and life. \\'hen 
 distress comes to a Christian it is dangerous to assert that 
 the purpose is some benefit, and that the explanation is 
 found in some future blessing. The purposes of God are 
 beyond our ken, and suiTering is an unexplained mystery; 
 but it is absolutely certain that, for a friend of Jesus, the 
 result of suffering will be some eternal good, some mani- 
 festation of "the glory of God." 
 
 There are delays, however, by which our faith in the 
 
100 REVELATION TO WORLD John 11:7-16 
 
 friendship of our Lord may be tried. "When ... he 
 heard that he was sick, he abode . . . two days in the place 
 where he was." Jesus does not linger that Lazarus may 
 die. He was already dead, and buried, before the message 
 reached Jesus. The Lord came to Bethany on the fourth 
 day, vs. 17, 39: one day was spent on his journey, one by 
 the messenger on his, and two were spent by our Lord 
 after the message of illness had come. He knew that 
 Lazarus was dead ; why he delayed we can only conjecture. 
 The sisters had not asked him to come. They realized 
 the peril involved in his return to Judea. When Lazarus 
 died they sent no second messenger. Enough for them 
 that the Master knew they were in trouble. They longed 
 for him to come. They left everything to his decision. 
 They were confident of his love. 
 
 Nor was such confidence misplaced. With the certainty 
 that his action would result in the sacrifice of his own life, 
 the friendship of Jesus brought him back to the home in 
 Bethany. There are mysteries and delays in his dealings 
 with us; but we need never doubt that One who gave his 
 life for us has any other thought for us but love. 
 
 The Fearlessness. Vs. 7-16 
 
 7 Then after this he saith to the disciples, Let us go into 
 Judaea again. 8 The disciples say xmto him, Rabbi, the Jews 
 were but now seeking to stone thee; and goest thou thither 
 again? 9 Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hotirs in 
 the day? U a man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because 
 he seeth the light of this world. 10 But if a man walk in the 
 night, he stxmibleth, because the light is not in him. 11 
 These things spake he: and after this he saith imto them, 
 Our friend Lazarus is fallen asleep; but I go, that I may 
 awake him out of sleep. 12 The disciples therefore said 
 unto him. Lord, if he is fallen asleep, he will recover. 13 
 Now Jesus had spoken of his death: but they thought that he 
 spake of taking rest in sleep. 14 Then Jesus therefore said 
 imto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. 15 And I am glad for 
 your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe ; 
 nevertheless let us go unto him. 16 Thomas therefore, who 
 is called Did3mius, said unto his fellow-disciples, Let us 
 also go, that we may die with him. 
 
John 11: 17-20 THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 101 
 
 We should note here the fearlessness of Jesus. "He 
 saith to the disciples, Let us go into Juda:;a again." 
 He does not say to Bethany, but to Judea, the place 
 of peril. The disciples so understand his words and 
 reply: "Rabbi, the Jews were but now seeking to stone 
 thee; and goest thou thither again?" The reply of 
 Jesus shows that his courage was due to a confident be- 
 lief in the changeless purpose and providence of God: 
 "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If a man walk in 
 the day, he stumbleth not." He is asserting that he has 
 been given a task to perform and time for its performance. 
 No enemy, no accident, can shorten by a single hour 
 the allotted day of his earthly life. The only peril would 
 be in deserting the path of duty. That would result in 
 darkness and loss. In the way of his appointed work he 
 was absolutely safe. 
 
 Is not this true of each follower of Christ, and will not 
 the acceptance of this truth concerning the task and time 
 of life give us courage in seasons of peril and hardship and 
 darkness? 
 
 Jesus then states clearly to his disciples the fact of the 
 death of Lazarus, his purpose to raise him from the dead, 
 and his confidence that the miracle will strengthen the 
 faith of his followers. They are still fearful, and Thomas 
 is despondent, though faithful; but the intimation that 
 he is to raise Lazarus from the dead, and the prospect of 
 this wonderful work must have done much toward making 
 them forget their fear. So as we follow our Lord in the 
 path of duty, we are not only assured of safety, because he 
 who allotted the task will also give the time and the 
 strength, but we are cheered by the prospect of all that 
 is to be achieved by his presence and power and grace. 
 
 The Promise. Vs. 17-27 
 
 17 So when Jesus came, he foiind that he had been in the 
 tomb four days already. 18 Now Bethany was nigh imto 
 Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off; 19 and many of the 
 Jews had come to Martha and Mary, to console them con- 
 cerning their brother. 20 Martha therefore, when she heard 
 that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary still 
 
102 REVELATION TO WORLD John 11:21-27 
 
 sat in the house. 21 Martha therefore said unto Jesus, 
 Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. 
 22 And even now I know that, whatsoever thou shalt ask of 
 God, God will give thee. 23 Jesus saith unto her. Thy 
 brother shall rise again. 24 Martha saith unto him, I know 
 that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. 
 
 25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: 
 he that believeth on me, though he die, yet shall he live; 
 
 26 and whosoever liveth and believeth on me shall never die. 
 Believest thou this? 27 She saith unto him. Yea, Lord: I 
 have believed that thou art the Christ, the Son ot God, 
 even he that cometh into the world. 
 
 The essential message of this entire narrative is embodied 
 in the promise of Jesus: "I am the resurrection, and the 
 life: he that believeth on me, though he die, yet shall 
 he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth on me shall 
 never die." 
 
 These marvelous words were spoken in reply to the 
 request of Martha. She had heard that Jesus was coming. 
 True to her nature she was the first to act, and while Mary 
 still sat in the house, sh^ went out to meet him. The words 
 with which she greets him are not to be regarded as imply- 
 ing a complaint or a rebuke: "Lord, if thou hadst been 
 here, my brother had not died." They express genuine 
 regret, not that Jesus had delayed his coming after Lazarus 
 had died, but that he had not been present during his ill- 
 ness, and kept him from death. Martha then adds what 
 should be regarded as a request of triumphant faith; it 
 did imply that Jesus might secure the return of her brother 
 to life. Yet her faith was not perfect. It suggested that 
 Jesus, as a man, might make a request of God, and further 
 that the realm in which Christ was working was essentially 
 physical and not spiritual. To develop her faith Christ 
 replies: "Thy brother shall rise again"; but the promise 
 does not comfort Martha; she interprets it of a resurrection 
 general and remote. "I know that he shall rise again in the 
 resurrection at the last day" she answers. How truly does 
 she express the feeling of countless mourners to-day! 
 They are not satisfied, they should not be, with the 
 assurance of reunions in the distant future. The heart 
 
John 11:28-32 THE PUBLIC MIiNISTRY 103 
 
 craves something for the present, and needs a personal 
 relationship with Christ. To Martha, and to every 
 mourner, comes this incomparable promise of our Lord: "I 
 am the resurrection, and the life." He does not need to ask 
 that life shall be restored ; he does not bid Martha to wait 
 some future day; he is himself the Source of life-giving 
 power. It is our relation to a present, divine Lord which 
 gives us comfort. This spiritual fellowship is the basis and 
 pledge of bodily resurrection and eternal reunion. "He 
 that believeth on me, though he die, yet shall he live"; 
 the body of the believer is certain to be raised ; it is not to 
 continue forever under the power of death. "And whoso- 
 ever liveth and believeth on me shall never die." Faith 
 in Christ is the source of a spiritual resurrection, which is a 
 present and abiding experience of such blessedness that it 
 cannot be affected by any bodily change. What is called 
 death is but an incident in the course of an endless life. 
 The believer never dies. 
 
 Can Martha accept such a marvelous revelation? Is 
 she ready to believe so glorious a promise? "Believest 
 thou this?" Her reply shows the strength of her faith and 
 the clearness of her spiritual vision. Her hope is centered 
 in the Person of her Lord. Her answer is voiced in words 
 peculiarly characteristic of this Gospel: "I have believed 
 that thou art the Christ, the Son of God." To trace the 
 development of such faith is the purpose of the writer. 
 That we may so believe, he is about to record a miracle 
 which he relates as the supreme "sign." 
 
 The Sympathy. Vs. 28-37 
 
 28 And when she had said this, she went away, and called 
 Mary her sister secretly, saying. The Teacher is here, and 
 calleth thee. 29 And she, when she heard it, arose quickly, 
 and went unto him. 30 (Now Jesus was not yet come into 
 the village, but was still in the place where Martha met him.) 
 31 The Jews then who were with her in the house, and were 
 consoling her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up quickly 
 and went out, followed her, supposing that she was going unto 
 the tomb to weep there. 32 Mary therefore, when she came 
 where Jesus was, and saw him, fell down at his feet, saying 
 
104 REVELATION TO WORLD John 11:33-38 
 
 unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not 
 died. 33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the 
 Jews also weeping who came with her, he groaned in the 
 spirit, and was troubled, 34 and said, Where have ye laid 
 hiun? They say imto him, Lord, come and see. 35 Jesus 
 wept. 36 The Jews therefore said, Behold how he loved 
 him! 37 But some of them said. Could not this man, who 
 opened the eyes of him that was blind, have caused that this 
 man also should not die? 
 
 In his meeting with Mary, our Lord specially reveals 
 his human sympathy. It has been manifested by his 
 coming to Bethany, and by his words to Martha, but 
 now it is given an unrivaled expression. He sends 
 to Mary a message, telling her of his presence and his 
 personal desire to see her; she hastens to meet him: she 
 falls at his feet, expressing her faith in the words Martha 
 has used, but voices no request. Then, we read, "Jesus 
 . . . groaned in the spirit, and was troubled," and as 
 he asked to be shown the place of burial, "Jesus wept." 
 It may be difificult to determine exactly what is meant 
 by groaning "in the spirit"; probably, a deep indignation 
 of soul at death and all its suggestions of sufTering and sin. 
 Nor do we know exactly the force of the expression: 
 "He troubled himself"; probably, a physical shudder 
 shook his body. When, however, we read "Jesus wept," 
 we can hardly misunderstand the words. Even though he 
 knew that life was soon to be restored, and joy to fill the 
 hearts of those mourners, the thought of the suffering 
 that Lazarus had endured, and of the present anguish of 
 Mary, caused Jesus to express in tears the sympathy of his 
 loving soul. 
 
 In our time of bereavement, as we fall at the feet of the 
 Master, even though we believe in the miracle of the future 
 resurrection which will bring us our beloved again, we may 
 be less in need of the instruction given to Martha than of 
 the tender personal sympathy expressed for Mary by our 
 Lord. 
 
 The Power. Vs. 38-44 
 
 38 Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the 
 tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 
 
John 11:40-44 THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 105 
 
 Jesus saith, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of 
 him that was dead, saith unto him. Lord, by this time the 
 body decayeth ; for he hath been dead four days. 40 Jesus 
 saith imto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou believedst, 
 thou shouldest see the glory of God? 41 So they took away 
 the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I 
 thank thee that thou heardest me. 42 And I knew that thou 
 hearest me always : but because of the multitude that stand- 
 eth aroimd I said it, that they may believe that thou didst 
 send me. 43 And when he had thus spoken, he cried with a 
 loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. 44 He that was dead came 
 forth, bound hand and foot with grave-clothes; and his face 
 was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, 
 Loose him, and let him go. 
 
 It is not, however, to prove human sympathy but 
 divine power, that this story is told by John; or possibly 
 it is to show a divine sympathy which manifests itself 
 in supernatural power. There is a matchless eloquence 
 in these phrases of the narrative: "Jesus wept," "Laza- 
 rus, come forth"; here is love, linked with omnipo- 
 tence. 
 
 In the record of the miracle we should note, inciden- 
 tally, (a) the unbelief of the Jews, who were expecting no 
 miracle; (b) the faith of Martha which needs a last word of 
 encouragement; (c) the majestic confidence of our Lord, 
 expressed in the prayer that the hearers might understand 
 that they were to witness a work of God attesting the 
 divine Person and mission of his Son. 
 
 Of the miracle itself it is to be observed that (a) it was an 
 actual resurrection, such as cannot be explained as a case 
 of mental healing, or on the ground of natural law; Lazarus 
 had been dead four days, (b) It was unquestioned, even 
 by hostile witnesses who were present in large numbers, 
 (c) It was declared by our Lord, as no other "sign," to be 
 wrought with the purpose of producing faith. Can a care- 
 ful reading of the moving narrative leave, in a candid mind, 
 any other conviction than that "Jesus is the Christ, the 
 Son of God?" Shall we not, also, as we catch its deeper 
 meanings rejoice in the promise, which it gives to faith, 
 of a life whose triumph robs death of its sting, and the 
 grave of its victory? 
 
106 REVELATION TO WORLD John 11:45-57 
 
 (2) The Conspiracy of the Rulers. Ch. 11 : 45-57 
 
 45 Many therefore of the Jews, who came to Mary and 
 beheld that which he did, believed on him. 46 But some 
 of them went away to the Pharisees, and told them the things 
 which Jesus had done. 
 
 47 The chief priests therefore and the Pharisees gathered 
 a council, and said. What do we? for this man doeth many 
 signs. 48 If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on 
 him: and the Romans will come and take away both our 
 place and our nation. 49 But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, 
 being high priest that year, said unto them. Ye know nothing 
 at all, 50 nor do ye take account that it is expedient for you 
 that one man should die for the people, and that the whole 
 nation perish not. 51 Now this he said not of himself: but 
 being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should 
 die for tite nation; 52 and not for the nation only, but that 
 he might also gather together into one the children of God that 
 are scattered abroad. 53 So from that day forth they took 
 counsel that they might put him to death. 
 
 54 Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews, 
 but departed thence into the country near to the wilderness, 
 into a city called Ephraim; and there he tarried with the 
 disciples. 55 Now the passover of the Jews was at hand: 
 and many went up to Jerusalem out of the country before the 
 passover, to purify themselves. 56 They sought therefore 
 for Jesus, and spake one with another, as they stood in the 
 temple, What think ye? That he will not come to the feast? 
 57 Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given com- 
 mandment, that, if any man knew where he was, he should 
 show it, that they might take him. 
 
 The chapter closes with this statement of the immedi- 
 ate results of the raising of Lazarus. As in the case of 
 each "sign," the first effect was faith in Christ, on the 
 part of those who had been witnesses of his power. The 
 more serious result was the deepening of hatred in the 
 hearts of the rulers and their determination to put Jesus 
 to death. Their decision to take definite action against 
 Jesus was due to the fear lest the continuance of such 
 miracles might result in a popular uprising which the 
 Roman Government would use as a reason or excuse 
 for destroying the city and nation of the Jews. What 
 gave final form to the deliberations was the uncon- 
 
John 11:45-57 THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 107 
 
 scions prophecy of the high priest, Caiaphas: "It is 
 expedient for you that one man should die for the people, 
 and that the whole nation perish not." All that he meant 
 to say was that, in utter disregard for right or justice, it 
 would be better to murder Jesus than to allow their "place" 
 and "nation" to be in danger; his motive was selfish, his 
 counsel diabolical; yet his words contained a meaning of 
 which he never dreamed. It was true that Jesus was to 
 "die for the people," and to be the true Sacrifice for sin, 
 and the Source of life, for those who put their trust in him. 
 "And not for the nation only;" the result of his death would 
 be the formation of a new nation, even his Church, in which 
 would be gathered the children of God from among all the 
 nations of the world. The unconscious prophecy is being 
 fulfilled, but quite contrary to the thought of Caiaphas. 
 The result of the death of Jesus was the destruction by the 
 Romans of the very State Caiaphas wished to save, and 
 the securing through Jesus of universal blessings of which 
 Caiaphas never dreamed. No credit can be given to 
 Caiaphas, and there is no excuse for his words; the latter 
 resulted in the most cruel conspiracy the world has ever 
 seen. "They took counsel that they might put him to 
 death." Jesus withdrew for safety to a place of secrecy, 
 until the hour of divine appointment, the true passover 
 season, should arrive. Then, while the multitudes specu- 
 late as to whether Jesus will appear in public, the rulers 
 take further action that "if any man knew where he was, he 
 should show it, that they might take him," to put him to 
 death. 
 
108 REVELATION TO WORLD John 12: 1-2 
 
 3. The Close of the Ministry. Ch. 12 
 
 The twelfth chapter of John contains an account of the 
 last days of the public ministry of our Lord. In the five 
 chapters which follow, or until the narrative of his Passion, 
 he is alone with his disciples revealing himself to them in 
 secret. 
 
 The thought of the chapter moves in the sphere of the 
 three dominating truths of the Gospel, namely, testimony 
 that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, resultant faith and 
 unbelief, and the life in' which faith issues; but here 
 special emphasis is placed upon the second of these fea- 
 tures. Three incidents are sketched which depict, against 
 a background of unbelief, the faith in Christ which his 
 public ministry has developed; and the chapter closes 
 with judgments, pronounced upon faith and unbelief, 
 by John and by Jesus. The three incidents are (1) the 
 anointing at Bethany, where Jesus is shown to be devotedly 
 loved by his followers; (2) the triumphal entry into Jeru- 
 salem, where Jesus appears as the popular idol of the Jewish 
 multitudes; (3) the last ministry in the Temple, where 
 Jesus is the object of interest to the inquiring Greeks, who 
 are typical representatives of the Gentile world. How- 
 ever, the discontent of Judas depicted in the first scene, 
 the anger of the rulers in the second, and the reply of Jesus 
 in the third, all prepare us for the coming tragedy of unbe- 
 lief; so that this chapter serves to close the story of our 
 Lord's ministry and to introduce the narrative of his death; 
 and its concluding words, from the pen of John and the 
 lips of Jesus, summarize the results of the ministry of 
 Christ, and the substance of his teachings. 
 
 a. The Manifestations of Faith. Ch. 12 : 1-36 
 (1) The Anointing at Bethany. Ch. 12 : 1-11 
 
 1 Jesus therefore six days before the passover came to 
 Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus raised from the 
 dead. 2 So they made him a supper there: and Martha 
 
John 12:3-11 THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 109 
 
 served ; but Lazarus was one of them that sat at meat with 
 him. 3 Mary therefore took a pound of ointment of pure 
 nard, very precious, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped 
 his feet witti her hair: and the house was filled with the odor 
 of the ointment. 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, 
 that should betray him, saith, 5 Why was not this ointment 
 sold for three hundred shillings, and given to the poor? 
 6 Now this he said, not because he cared for the poor; 
 but because he was a thief, and having the bag took away 
 what was put therein. 7 Jesus therefore said. Suffer her 
 to keep it against the day of my burying. 8 For the poor 
 ye have always with you ; but me ye have not always. 
 
 9 The common people therefore of the Jews learned that 
 he was there: and they came, not for Jesus' sake only, but 
 that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from 
 the dead. 10 But the chief priests took coimsel that they 
 might put Lazarus also to death ; 1 1 because that by reason 
 of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus. 
 
 The life of Mary is painted for us in three memorable 
 pictures in each of which she is found at the feet of Jesus. 
 In the first she is seated at his feet listening to his word; 
 in the second she has fallen at his feet, seeking sympathy 
 and help; in the third, she is anointing his feet to express 
 her devoted love. It has been a cruel mistake on the 
 part of some to identify her, as she appears in this last 
 picture, either with Mary Magdalene, or with the sinful 
 woman who anointed the feet of Jesus with her tears. 
 Here is the same pure, gentle, sensitive, loving friend who 
 was sketched for us entertaining the Lord in her home in 
 Bethany. There she was contrasted with her sister 
 Martha; and it would be truly interesting to continue that 
 contrast by comparing the former service of Martha with 
 the present service of Mary. The form in which Martha 
 then expressed her respect or affection was in dishes pre- 
 pared for the table; Mary now pours a precious flask of 
 perfume upon the head and feet of her Lord. The amount 
 which Martha attempted to do was declared by Jesus to be 
 unnecessary; the prodigal expenditure of Marj^ receives 
 his approval. The spirit of Martha was that of trouble 
 and anxiety and jealous complaint; the motive of Mary 
 is gratitude and passionate, self-forgetful love. 
 
110 REVELATION TO WORLD John 12: 1-11 
 
 It is not, however, with. Martha that Mary is contrasted 
 in this last picture, but rather with Judas. Her motive, 
 just described, has as its foil the deceit and avarice of the 
 thief and traitor. 
 
 It is but six days before the death of Jesus. A feast is 
 being given at Bethany in his honor, and in gratitude for 
 his raising Lazarus from the dead. The latter is one of the 
 guests. Martha is serving, and surely in a spirit of peace- 
 ful gratitude and reverence. Mary takes a pound of 
 ointment, and not only follows the custom of anointing 
 with oil the head of an honored guest, but lavishly pours 
 the perfume on the feet of Jesus, and then, in deepest 
 humility, wipes his feet with her hair. Now it is that 
 Judas utters his cruel protest: "Why was not this oint- 
 ment sold for three hundred shillings, and given to the 
 poor?" "Now this he said, not because he cared for the 
 poor; but because he was a thief, and having the bag 
 [i.e., serving as treasurer for the little band of disciples] 
 took away [i.e., stole] what was put therein." How his 
 hypocrisy and greed stand out against the pure, passion- 
 ate devotion of Mary! Is it unkind to suspect sometimes 
 the motives of men who refuse to support evangelistic and 
 missionary work on the plea that it would be better to 
 spend money for charity? Of course we must ever fulfill 
 our obligations to the poor; but in his rebuke of Judas, 
 Jesus forever vindicates the most extravagant gifts which 
 are made in devotion to him, and condemns the spui;ious 
 philanthropy which is not animated by love for him: 
 "Suffer her to keep it against the day of my burning. For 
 the poor ye have always with you; but me ye have not 
 always." True gifts to the poor are in the name of Christ, 
 and for the sake of Christ, and to win men to Christ. 
 Social service divorced from Christianity may spend the 
 treasure of Mary according to the direction of Judas. 
 
 In her act of devotion, Jesus seemed to see that Mary had 
 unconsciously rendered a greater service than she had sup- 
 posed. The gift was no purposeless waste. It was in 
 reality an embalming of his body for burial. His words 
 suggest divine foresight, and, spoken to Judas, they inti- 
 mate that the cruel avarice of the traitor is about to cause 
 
John 12: 12-19 THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 111 
 
 the death of Jesus; while the deed of Mary shows how he is 
 embalmed in the hearts of his followers, and is a prophecy 
 of the devotion to him which will fill the world with the 
 perfume of self-sacrificing love. 
 
 Mary was rebuked by Judas; but her brother Lazarus 
 became the object of more deadly hatred. He was a living 
 witness to the power of Christ, and because of his testi- 
 mony many became believers. The story of the feast is 
 therefore followed by the statement that "the chief priests 
 took counsel that they might put Lazarus also to death." 
 Is it strange that witnesses for Christ are hated by his 
 enemies to-day? 
 
 (2) The Public Entry into Jerusalem. Ch. 12 : 12-19 
 
 12 On the morrow a great multitude that had come to the 
 feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 
 13 took the branches of the palm trees, and went forth to 
 meet him, and cried out, Hosanna: Blessed is he that cometh 
 in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel. 14 And 
 Jesus, having found a young ass, sat thereon ; as it is written, 
 15 Fear not, daughter of Zion: behold, thy King cometh, 
 sitting on an ass's colt. 16 These things understood not his 
 disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then re- 
 membered they that these things were written of him, and that 
 they had done these things unto him. 17 The multitude 
 therefore that was with hrm when he called Lazarus out of 
 the tomb, and raised him from the dead, bare witness. 18 
 For this cause also the multitude went and met him, for that 
 they heard that he had done this sign. 19 The Pharisees 
 therefore said among themselves. Behold how ye prevail 
 nothing; lo, the world is gone after him, 
 
 John has produced many witnesses to the fact that Jesus 
 is the Messiah, but none more picturesque than the multi- 
 tudes who pay their homage to Jesus as he enters the 
 holy city on the day following the anointing at Bethany. 
 Many features of the scene, reported by the other Gospels, 
 are omitted; but no other account gives more explicitly 
 the testimony of the festal throng to their belief that, in 
 the person of Jesus, the predicted Messiah has appeared. 
 They attest their faith in symbol and in song; they wave 
 
112 REVELATION TO WORLD John 12: 12-19 
 
 palm branches, the emblems of beauty and triumph and 
 joy; they cry: "Hosanna: Blessed is he that cometh in 
 the name of the Lord," thus using a psalm which all the 
 Jews regarded as a prophecy of the coming Messiah. 
 Ps. 118 :26. ^ 
 
 Jesus meets their confession of faith by as definite a 
 claim. He fulfills in minute detail the prophecy relative 
 to the coming Messiah, as he enters the city riding upon 
 an ass. Zech. 9 : 9. This was his final and most open 
 offer of himself to the nation as their King. The "hour" 
 had come which his mother and brethren had impatiently 
 desired, the "hour" of his royal manifestation to Israel; 
 but it was to be followed by the "hour" of which he knew 
 so well, the "hour" of his rejection and death, and the 
 "hour" of his resurrection and exaltation. 
 
 The faith of the multitudes was imperfect. Little did 
 they comprehend the true nature of his Person and his 
 mission. Even the most intimate of his disciples did not 
 understand the real meaning of the scene in which they were 
 playing a conspicuous part: "These things understood not 
 his disciples at the first : but when Jesus was glorified, then 
 remembered they that these things were written of him, 
 and that they had done these things unto him." Strange 
 mingling of sorrow and of joy, that memory must have 
 been! They saw how imperfectly they had seen, they 
 knew how little they had known, they"understood" how 
 they had not understood; but they remembered, too, how 
 exactly they had fulfilled the divine prophecy, how close 
 they had been to the person of the King. Thus memory 
 brings its remorse, when we recall how blind we were to 
 beauties so bright, to the true meaning of experiences most 
 precious, to the value of friends now gone; but so, too, 
 it has its blessedness, when we look back over the journey 
 and see that it was planned by a divine Master, or as we 
 review the experiences of the long years and see in them the 
 fulfillment of his eternal purposes of love. 
 
 John closes his narrative with a note found in no other 
 Gospel, and quite in keeping with his continual purpose. 
 He intimates that the faith of the multitudes was due, in 
 largest measure, to the "sign" of the raising of Lazarus; 
 
John 12: 20-36 THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 113 
 
 and that the unparalleled popularity of Jesus only goads 
 his enemies, the rulers, to follow as soon as possible, the 
 desperate counsel of Caiaphas, and to compass the death 
 of Christ. How continually is John contrasting the ex- 
 pressions of faith and unbelief! 
 
 (3) The Last Ministry in the Temple. Ch. 12 : 20-36 
 
 20 Now there were certain Greeks among those that went 
 up to worship at the feast : 21 these therefore came to Philip, 
 who was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying. Sir, 
 we woiild see Jesus. 22 Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: 
 Andrew cometh, and Philip, and they tell Jesus. 23 And 
 Jesus answereth them, saying, The hour is come, that the 
 Son of man should be glorified. 24 Verily, verily, I say unto 
 you. Except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it 
 abideth by itself alone; but if it die, it beareth much fruit. 
 25 He that loveth his life loseth it; and he that hateth his 
 life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. 26 If any 
 man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there 
 shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will the 
 Father honor. 27 Now is my soul troubled ; and what shall I 
 say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this cause 
 came I xmto this hour. 28 Father, glorify thy name. There 
 came therefore a voice out of heaven, saying, I have both 
 glorified it, and will glorify it again. 29 The multitude 
 therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it had thim- 
 dered : others said. An angel hath spoken to him. 30 Jesus 
 answered and said, This voice hath not come for my sake, but 
 for yoiu- sakes. 31 Now is the judgment of this world: now 
 shall the prince of this world be cast out. 32 And I, if I be 
 lifted up from the earth, will draw all men xmto myself. 33 
 But this he said, signifying by what maimer of death he should 
 die. 34 The multitude therefore answered him. We have 
 heard out of the law that the Christ abideth for ever : and how 
 sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? who is this 
 Son of man? 35 Jesus therefore said imto them. Yet a Uttle 
 while is the hght among you. Walk while ye have the Ught, 
 that darkness overtake you not: and he that walketh in the 
 darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. 36 While ye have 
 the light, beheve on the light, that ye may become sons of 
 Ught. 
 
 These things spake Jesus, and he departed and hid him- 
 self from them. 
 
114 REVELATION TO WORLD John 12:20-36 
 
 From among all the memorable incidents of Passion 
 Week, only one is selected by John; it is recorded by no 
 other writer, but it is distinctly in accordance with the pur- 
 pose of this Gospel. Certain Greeks request an interview 
 with Jesus; and in his reply our Lord gives testimony to 
 his divine Nature by his knowledge of the future, he inti- 
 mates the self-sacrifice involved in faith, and testifies to the 
 glory of the life in which faith issues. These Greeks were 
 probably proselytes to Judaism; they may have come 
 from only the Greek cities of Galilee; but to the mind of 
 Christ, and so of John, they were the representatives of 
 the whole Gentile world. Their request, following the 
 story of the devotion of Mary, and of the hosannas of the 
 multitudes, is the supreme proof of the love and faith and 
 interest aroused by the public ministry of Christ; it 
 further gave occasion for a prophecy of the universal 
 blessings to result from the mission of Christ, which, in 
 the view of John, always concerns the whole world. This 
 mission, however, will be accomplished only by death and 
 resurrection. Therefore, in his reply to the request of the 
 Greeks, our Lord emphasizes the supreme character of the 
 "hour" which has struck. 
 
 We are not told whether or not the Greeks were brought 
 into his presence; but his words are a real reply to their 
 request: "You would see me," he seems to say; "then you 
 have arrived at exactly the right time, for the hour has 
 come for the Son of man to be glorified." In his death 
 and resurrection he is to be revealed in his true character, 
 as the Saviour of the world. The Greeks did not need to 
 hear his words or to see his miracles; his death was what 
 they needed to witness. His cross would be the attractive 
 power which would draw to himself all those multitudes 
 of the Gentile world represented by these inquirers. 
 
 Jesus illustrates the absolute necessity of his death 
 by a reference to nature, v. 24; a grain of wheat must first 
 be buried, its coverings must decay, it must perish as a 
 grain before it can produce a multitude of grains like itself. 
 He applies to himself, v. 25, this great law of life through 
 death, of service and influence through self-sacrifice, and 
 declares that should he seek selfishly to avoid the cross, he 
 
John 12:20-36 THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 115 
 
 would forfeit all that was worthy the name "life"; but by 
 yielding up his life, he would secure and bestow blessings 
 that are eternal. This same law he applies to his dis- 
 ciples. V. 26. In contrast to the Greek ideal of self- 
 gratification, his servants must follow him in the path of 
 self-denial, not merely with a view to self-realization, and 
 not first of all for the sake of others, but for the sake of 
 Christ. The result will be a broadening life, an enlarging 
 influence, and also an abiding fellowship with Christ, and 
 the divine approval of his Father. "And I, if I be lifted up 
 . . . will draw all men unto myself." This does not mean 
 universal salvation, nor refer primarily to the ultimate 
 triumph of Christ. "All men" refers to the Greeks, and 
 to those of all the nations whom they represented. Not 
 only Jews were to be drawn to Christ, but also Gentiles: 
 that is "all men" without distinction, not without excep- 
 tion. 
 
 The attractive power was to be his cross. The lifting 
 up of Christ has no reference to preaching. He was to be 
 "lifted up," not by testimony nor by imitating his life; but 
 in his death: "This he said, signifying by what manner 
 of death he should die." The cross is still the supreme 
 moral magnet of the world. It is not the teachings of 
 Christ, nor his example, unrelated to his death, but his 
 cross that is attracting multitudes and making them will- 
 ing, as devoted followers, to take up the cross and come 
 after him. 
 
 The people were puzzled by his plain prediction of death. 
 They expected the Messiah to assume political rule and to 
 abide in endless power; they did not understand the prior 
 necessity of his death. The ofifense of the cross has not 
 ceased. Men are still troubled by the truth relative to a 
 crucified Saviour. It is natural, however, to shrink from 
 the suffering involved in the complete surrender of self. 
 Pain is not pleasing; death is not a delight. In spite of 
 all that is to be secured, Jesus trembles at the sight of the 
 cross. He sees its necessity; but he is not blind to its 
 anguish. "Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I 
 say? Father, save me from this hour." There is all the 
 agony of Gethsemane in this bitter cry; and, in the words 
 
116 REVELATION TO WORLD John 12:37-42 
 
 which follow, all its victory, too: "But for this cause came 
 I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name." 
 
 "There came ... a voice out of heaven, saying, I have 
 . . . glorified it," that is, in the ministry of Jesus, "and 
 will glorify it again," that is, in his death and resurrection 
 and in their results. V. 28. This voice the people could 
 not understand ; but Jesus declared that it had been uttered 
 for their sakes. It was designed to make them realize the 
 supreme importance of his death. Vs. 29, 30. This 
 death was to be "the judgment of this world"; by it, the 
 moral character of the world would be revealed and its sin 
 condemned. The prince of this world would "be cast out," 
 for by it Satan was to receive his defeat, and through it his 
 final overthrow. V. 31. 
 
 Jesus does not now tarry for explanation. He gives to 
 the world one final warning and promise: "While ye have 
 the light, believe on the light, that ye may become sons of 
 light." He is himself "the light of the world." Whatever 
 the problems or the mysteries involved in his Person and 
 work, we must believe him, follow him, commit ourselves to 
 him; otherwise we shall be like men stumbling along in a 
 pathless night; but faith in him will transform us more and 
 more into his likeness. "These things spake Jesus, and 
 he departed and hid himself from them." His public 
 ministry was at an end. 
 
 b. The Condemnation of Unbelief. Ch. 12 : 37-50 
 
 37 But though he had done so many signs before them, yet 
 they believed not on him: 38 that the word of Isaiah the 
 prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake. 
 Lord, who hath believed our report? 
 And to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? 
 39 For this cause they could not believe, for that Isaiah said 
 again, 40 He hath blinded their eyes, and he hardened their 
 heart; 
 Lest they should see with their eyes, and perceive with 
 
 their heart. 
 And should turn. 
 And I should heal them. 
 41 These things said Isaiah, because he saw his glory; and he 
 spake of him. 42 Nevertheless even of the rulers many be- 
 
John 12:43-50 THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 117 
 
 lieved on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not con- 
 fess it, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: 43 for 
 they loved the glory that is of men more than the glory that 
 is of God. 
 
 44 And Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, 
 believeth not on me, but on him that sent me. 45 And he 
 that beholdeth me beholdeth him that sent me. 46 I am 
 come a Ught into the world, that whosoever believeth on me 
 may not abide in the darkness. 47 And if any man hear my 
 sayings, and keep them not, I judge him not: for I came not 
 to judge the world, but to save the world. 48 He that re- 
 jecteth me, and receiveth not m.y sayings, hath one that 
 judgeth him: the word that I spake, the same shall judge 
 him in the last day. 49 For I spake not from myself; but 
 the Father that sent me, he hath given me a commandment, 
 what I should say, and what I should speak. 50 And I know 
 that his commandment is Ufe eternal: the things therefore 
 which I spealc, even as the Father hath said unto me, so I 
 speak. 
 
 As the writer now pauses to glance backward o\-er the 
 ministry of Jesus, he aims to emphasize the causes and the 
 consequences of Jewish unbelief. This he does in two brief 
 paragraphs in one of which he employs largely the words of 
 the prophet, Isaiah; and in the other the words of Jesus. 
 However, as in every section of the Gospel, he presents 
 testimony to the Person of our Lord. In quoting from 
 Isaiah he actually identifies Jesus as the same divine 
 Being whom Isaiah saw in his vision, even as the "Jehovah" 
 of the Old Testament. V. 41. This same identity with 
 God, Jesus claims for himself, in words quoted from his 
 lips. Then, too, he suggests the issues of faith in a life of 
 spiritual vision, and of endless blessedness. Vs. 46, 50. 
 The main burden of the two paragraphs, however, is a con- 
 demnation of unbelief. 
 
 In the first paragraph, vs. 37-43, John refers to the 
 miracles of Jesus as sufficient to produce faith in him. 
 In the light of such signs, unbelief was sinful; but how 
 could it be explained? On the same grounds as unbelief 
 can always be explained, namely, spiritual blindness and 
 moral cowardice. The former was in the nature of a 
 judicial blindness; the Jews would not believe, so a time 
 
118 REVELATION TO WORLD John 12:37-50 
 
 came, as it always does, when they could not believe. 
 Such was true in the days of Isaiah, and such in the days of 
 Jesus. 
 
 Then, too, their hearts were not right: "They loved the 
 glory that is of men more than the glory that is of God." 
 Even when a partial faith had been awakened, it could 
 neither be confessed nor developed because of the fear of 
 human opposition or the loss of the social prestige. No one 
 can ever hope to see the truth who is not willing to accept 
 the consequences which its acceptance may bring; and 
 continued unwillingness to belief results in the atrophy 
 of the very faculty of faith. 
 
 The baleful consequences of unbelief are stated in the 
 second paragraph. Vs. 44-50. This was not a discourse 
 delivered by our Lord on some unknown occasion; but, 
 as in the previous paragraph, the writer has dwelt upon the 
 works of Jesus, here he dwells upon his words, and gives 
 a summary of his teachings, to emphasize the solemn conse- 
 quences of unbelief. Jesus has claimed to be a personal 
 manifestation of God, and to have proclaimed the very 
 will of God. Therefore, to reject Jesus is to reject God. 
 During his earthly ministry Jesus refrained from pro- 
 nouncing judgment upon men; but by their refusal to 
 believe on him men were continually judging themselves, 
 and "in the last day" they would be convicted by the very 
 words which he had spoken. How can one, who willfully 
 rejects Jesus, hope for acceptance with God? With such 
 judgments upon unbelief, pronounced by John and by 
 Jesus, the first half of the Gospel closes, and the reader 
 is privileged to turn to the bright contrast of the triumph 
 of faith, with which the remainder of the book is chiefly 
 concerned y.^ 
 
John 13: 1-4 THE PRIVATE TEACHING 119 
 
 III. The Revelation to the Disciples, and the Cul- 
 mination OF Faith and Unbelief. Chs. 13-20 
 
 A. THE PRIVATE TEACHING. Chs. 13-17 
 
 As we begin the thirteenth chapter of John we enter 
 "the holy place," in the sacred structure of this Gospel, 
 and during the narrative of five successive chapters we 
 find ourselves alone with our Lord and his disciples. It 
 is the night on which Jesus is betrayed. His public min- 
 istry has ended. The morrow will witness his anguish and 
 death. He withdraws with "the twelve," to an "upper 
 room," to eat with them the passover feast, to institute 
 his own memorial "supper," to reveal to his followers his 
 matchless love, and to prepare them for the separation 
 which he knows to be near. The main portion of the narra- 
 tive is occupied with words of comfort and farewell. 
 These, howe^•er, are preceded by two significant acts, and 
 are followed by an intercessory prayer. These acts are 
 necessary preliminaries to the discourses which are to be 
 delivered; they consist in the moral preparation of heart 
 produced by washing the disciples' feet, and in the dismissal 
 from their company of the traitor, Judas. 
 
 1. The Ministry of Love. Ch. 13 
 
 a. Washing the Disciples' Feet. Ch. 13 : 1-20 
 
 1 Now before the feast of the passover, Jesus knowing that 
 his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto 
 the Father, having loved his own that were in the world, he 
 loved them unto the end. 2 And during supper, the devil 
 having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Sunon's 
 son, to betray him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had 
 given all things into his hands, and that he came forth from 
 God, and goeth unto God, 4 riseth from supper, and layeth 
 aside his garments ; and he took a towel, and girded himself. 
 
120 REVELATION TO DISCIPLES John 13:5-20 
 
 5 Then he poureth water into the basin, and began to wash 
 the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith 
 he was girded. 6 So he cometh to Simon Peter. He saith 
 unto him. Lord, dost thou wash my feet? 7 Jesus answered 
 and said imto him. What I do thou knowest not now; but 
 thou shalt imderstand hereafter. 8 Peter saith imto him, 
 Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him. If 
 I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. 9 Simon Peter 
 saith imto him. Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and 
 my head. 10 Jesus saith to him, He that is bathed needeth 
 not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye 
 are clean, but not all. 11 For he knew him that should be- 
 tray him; therefore said he. Ye are not all clean. 
 
 12 So when he had washed their feet, and taken his gar- 
 ments, and sat down again, he said unto them. Know ye what 
 I have done to you? 13 Ye call me. Teacher, and. Lord: 
 and ye say well; for so I am. 14 If I then, the Lord and the 
 Teacher, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one 
 another's feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that 
 ye also should do as I have done to you. 16 Verily, verily, 
 I say imto you, A servant is not greater than his lord ; neither 
 one that is sent greater than he that sent him. 17 If ye 
 know these things, blessed are ye if ye do them. 18 I 
 speak not of you all : I know whom I have chosen : but that 
 the scripture may be fulfilled. He that eateth my bread lifted 
 up his heel against me. 19 From henceforth I tell you before 
 it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe 
 that I am he. 20 Verily, verily, I say unto you. He that 
 receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that 
 receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. 
 
 On the way to the room which had been prepared for the 
 paschal supper, or as the disciples were seating themselves 
 at the table, a dispute had arisen as to who among them was 
 the greatest. Jesus takes the occasion to remind them that, 
 among his followers, greatness is measured by service, 
 and then he gives them a memorable object lesson; He 
 "riseth from supper, and layeth aside his garments; and he 
 took a towel, and girded himself. Then he poureth water 
 into the basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and 
 to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded." 
 
 John prefaces the story of this memorable act by several 
 phrases which emphasize its incomparable humility and 
 
John 13: 1-20 THE PRIVATE TEACHING 121 
 
 intimate something of its meaning. He declares that it was 
 just "before the feast of the passover." That note of time 
 indicates that we have begun a new portion of the narra- 
 tive, we have reached the period toward which we have 
 been pointed continually, we are now to read of events 
 which are connected with the death of Christ, and which 
 are the fulfillment of all that the passover feast, and the 
 offering of the paschal lamb symbolized. The very act of 
 washing his disciples' feet was to be a picture of that 
 voluntary humiliation whereby he had laid aside his 
 "existence-form as God," had assumed the garment of 
 human flesh, had taken the place of a servant, had even 
 stooped to the death of the cross, that he might cleanse his 
 followers from sin. John further states that Jesus was 
 conscious "that his hour was come that he should depart 
 out of this world unto the Father"; but even then, he was 
 self-forgetful and mindful only of the needs of his dis- 
 ciples. The motive of our Lord which the act so strikingly 
 illustrates is declared to be perfect, unfailing love: "Hav- 
 ing loved his own that were in the world, he loved them 
 unto the end." This motive is even further emphasized 
 by the statement which suggests that Jesus did not shrink 
 from washing the feet even of the traitor, "the devil having 
 already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, 
 to betray him." Last of all, the supreme humility of the 
 act is indicated by the assurance that Jesus was mindful of 
 his universal power, of his diAine origin and destiny: 
 "Knowing that the Father had given all things into his 
 hands, and that he came forth from God, and goeth unto 
 God." Even with such a sublime consciousness, Jesus 
 stooped to wash his disciples' feet. 
 
 His act was interrupted by a notable dialogue between 
 himself and Peter, which reveals the spiritual significance 
 of the scene. The disciple is hesitating to allow his Master 
 to perform for him so menial a service; and even though 
 assured that Jesus has a purpose which Peter will under- 
 stand afterwards, he objects: "Thou shalt never wash my 
 feet." Jesus replies: "If I wash thee not, thou hast no 
 part with me," indicating not only a part in the passover 
 supper, but in the friendship of Jesus, and in all that he was 
 
122 REVELATION TO DISCIPLES John 13: 1-20 
 
 that night to impart to his disciples. Peter now turns 
 impulsively to the other extreme: "Lord, not my feet only, 
 but also my hands and my head." And Jesus answered: 
 "He that is bathed needeth not save to wash his feet, but 
 is clean every whit." It is at once evident that Jesus refers 
 to a spiritual cleansing which he was seeking to effect. He 
 did wash his disciples' feet to give them physical comfort. 
 No servant had appeared, as the supper was served, to per- 
 form that usual, necessary task; no one of the disciples, 
 disputing as they were as to relative greatness, dared so to 
 humble himself as to perform this lowly service. Jesus 
 therefore washed his disciples' feet; but he did more; he 
 cleansed their hearts. As the disciples beheld his match- 
 less humility, and as he touched their feet, all their envy 
 and bitterness and unkindness and wrath were gone. 
 They were ready then to listen to the marvelous discourses 
 which fell from his lips. He knew that the disciples loved 
 him, and that new life had been given them by his Spirit, 
 but he also recognized their need of having their present 
 state of mind altered. He was aware that the heart of one 
 was filled with deadly enmity: "Ye are clean, but not all. 
 For he knew him that should betray him." How comfort- 
 ing, yet how serious is the message for us. Jesus knows 
 that we love him and trust him, and he does not reject us 
 because of a sudden failure, or a single fault. We have 
 been cleansed from the guilt and stain of sin; but we do 
 need daily cleansing from daily defilement. This he is 
 ready and able to give ; and of this we are assured as we see 
 him stooping to wash his disciples' feet. The act was fol- 
 lowed by a word of explanation, in which Jesus makes plain 
 to his disciples that they should imitate him in loving, 
 lowly service, and aim to secure not merely the physical 
 comfort of others, but their moral and spiritual cleansing 
 as well: "For I have given you an example, that ye also 
 should do as I have done to you." He declares the blessed- 
 ness of such service; but recalls a prophecy which shows 
 that from such blessedness one of their number, the 
 traitor, will be excluded ; the rest, however, will have the 
 dignity of being thus the very representatives, not only of 
 their Master, but of his Father. 
 
John 13: 21-30 THE PRIVATE TEACHING 123 
 
 b. The Dismissal of the Traitor. Ch. 13 : 21-30 
 
 21 When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in the 
 spirit, and testified, and said. Verily, verily, I say unto you, 
 that one of you shall betray me. 22 The disciples looked one 
 on another, doubting of whom he spake. 23 There was at 
 the table reclining in Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom 
 Jesus loved. 24 Simon Peter therefore beckoneth to him, 
 and saith unto him. Tell us who it is of whom he speaketh. 
 25 He leaning back, as he was, on Jesus' breast saith imto 
 him, Lord, who is it? 26 Jesus therefore answereth, He it is, 
 for whom I shall dip the sop, and give it him. So when he had 
 dipped the sop, he taketh and giveth it to Judas, the son of 
 Simon Iscariot. 27 And after the sop, then entered Satan 
 into him. Jesus therefore saith unto him. What thou doest, 
 do quickly. 28 Now no man at the table knew for what 
 intent he spake this unto him. 29 For some thought, because 
 Judas had the bag, that Jesus said unto him, Buy what things 
 we have need of for the feast ; or, that he should give some- 
 thing to the poor. 30 He then having received the sop went 
 out straightway : and it was night. 
 
 By washing the disciples' feet, Jesus removed from their 
 hearts the mood and temper which would have made them 
 unable to receive his word; one more act must be per- 
 formed; he must remove from the circle the one unfaith- 
 ful follower, the one unsympathetic hearer, before he could 
 feel free to pour out before the disciples the full measure 
 of his final message of mystery, of love, and of cheer. 
 
 He states plainly the fact to w'hich he has again and 
 again referred: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of 
 you shall betray me." The startled disciples are eager to 
 learn who the traitor can be. By a simple sign Jesus makes 
 it evident to Peter and John that the traitor is Judas. 
 At the same time Jesus addresses Judas and commands 
 him to delay no longer in carrying out his foul purpose; 
 but in doing so he uses w^ords which leave the mis- 
 sion of Judas unknown to the disciples: "What thou doest, 
 do quickly." John tells us that Judas "went out straight- 
 way"; he adds significantly, "and it was night." 
 
 The character of Judas gives us the most pitiful picture 
 of unbelief contained in the Gospel. His opportunities of 
 knowing Christ were unsurpassed; but he resisted the 
 
124 REVELATION TO DISCIPLES John 13:31-38 
 
 Light, he cherished his sin of avarice, he was untouched by 
 the matchless love of the Master who even stooped to wash 
 his feet; and now, at the table, Jesus gave him a last sign 
 of fellowship, there was a final struggle of soul, but Satan 
 conquered, and Judas went out into the night of his eternal 
 disgrace and doom. 
 
 As in the former act of washing his disciples' feet Jesus 
 revealed his divine love, so here he manifested his divine 
 knowledge. As in both cases Jesus was preparing the 
 way for his words of cheer, we may be reminded that the 
 Master is never willing to speak to hearts filled with enmity 
 for others, or lacking in loving sympathy for him. 
 
 c. Jesus Announces His Departure. Ch. 13 : 31-38 
 
 31 When therefore he was gone out, Jesus saith, Now is 
 the Son of man glorified, and God is glor&ed in him; 32 and 
 God shall glorify him in himself, and straightway shall he 
 glorify him. 33 Little children, yet a little while I am with 
 you. Ye shall seek me : and as I said unto the Jews, Whither 
 I go, ye cannot come; so now I say unto you. 34 A new 
 commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; 
 even as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 
 35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye 
 have love one to another. 
 
 36 Simon Peter saith unto him. Lord, whither goest thou? 
 Jesus answered, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; 
 but thou shalt follow afterwards. 37 Peter saith unto him, 
 Lord, why cannot I follow thee even now? I will lay down my 
 life for thee. 38 Jesus answereth. Wilt thou lay down thy 
 life for me? Verily, verily, I say unto thee. The cock shall not 
 crow, till thou hast denied me thrice. 
 
 Jesus naturally begins his farewell discourse by a state- 
 ment of his departure, vs. 31-33, but he adds a command, 
 vs. 34, 35, and a warning. Vs. 36-39. This announcement 
 of his going away is stated, however, in terms which the 
 disciples are slow to understand. He is to be "glorified," 
 by which he means that he is to be revealed as the Saviour, 
 as the divine Son of God, by his death and resurrection and 
 ascension, and by the gift of the Holy Spirit. He gives 
 them as a parting word a "new commandment;" this was 
 
John 14 THE PRIVATE TEACHING 125 
 
 the old commandment in which Moses had summarized 
 the whole law, but Jesus made it "new" by giving to it a 
 new standard, and a new motive: "Love one another; 
 even as I have loved }'ou." His lo\'e was to be shown in 
 his death for others; such self-sacrificing lo\"e shown by his 
 followers would be the witness to the world of true dis- 
 cipleship. 
 
 Peter did not understand what Jesus meant by saying 
 "Whither I go, ye cannot come." He did understand the 
 command to love. He thought that Jesus was about to 
 undertake some dangerous journey upon earth. He there- 
 fore declares that his lo\'e is so great that he will follow, 
 and that he is willing to lay down his life for his Master. 
 Jesus gi\'es the solemn warning that before the dawn 
 Peter will deny him thrice. He does predict, however, 
 that Peter will follow him afterwards. How weak his 
 lonely disciples were to be; how much did they need the 
 promises of the chapters which immediately follow! 
 When the Spirit had been given in Pentecostal power, how 
 truly did Peter follow his Master, even to the cross! It 
 is by the power of the same Spirit that we can show the 
 love of true disciples and without denying him, can follow 
 the footsteps of our Lord. 
 
 2. The Words of Cheer. Chs. 14-16 
 a. Jesus Comforts His Disciples. Ch. 14 
 
 Having announced to the disciples his approaching 
 separation from them, Jesus now speaks to them words of 
 cheer and counsel. These are contained in the conversa- 
 tions and addresses of chapters fourteen, fifteen, and six- 
 teen. Each of these chapters is concerned with the three 
 dominant truths of this Gospel, namely: witness to the 
 divine nature of Christ, the character and development of 
 faith in him, and the experiences and qualities of the life 
 in which faith issues. It may be noted also, that each of 
 these chapters emphasizes one of these truths, and in the 
 order named. As to the Person of our Lord, the record 
 
126 REVELATION TO DISCIPLES John 14: 1-3 
 
 of no miracle could bear such testimony to his deity, as the 
 words which are recorded in the present chapter. Jesus 
 claims to be one with God, to be worthy of trust as God, to 
 be the sole Revealer of God, to be an abiding, personal 
 presence, inseparable from the divine Spirit of God. 
 These claims are part of the very fabric of the narrative, 
 but are incidental to its immediate aim, which is to record 
 the words of comfort which Jesus addressed to his dis- 
 ciples. These are contained in a dialogue in which the 
 thought centers largely in the promise that Jesus is to be 
 with his disciples in a real but spiritual presence. 
 
 The Coming Reunion. Vs. 1-3 
 
 1 Let not your heart be troubled: believe in God, believe 
 also in me. 2 In my Father's house are many mansions; 
 if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare 
 a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I 
 come again, and will receive you unto myself; that where I 
 am, there ye may be also. 
 
 This is the most natural word of cheer; separation is 
 at hand, but there is to be a reunion, speedy and endless. 
 "Let not your heart be troubled;" but surely there was 
 reason for dismay. Jesus had just assured his followers 
 that one of them would betray him, that Peter would deny 
 him, and, most distressing of all, that he was about to go 
 whither they could not come. In spite of all, they were 
 to trust in the goodness of God, and in his own purposes 
 of love; "believe in God, believe also in me." This is 
 the one remedy for troubled hearts. 
 
 "In my Father's house are many mansions;" there is 
 room for all, and a welcome for all, in that state and place 
 whither Jesus is going. In case there was to be no reunion, 
 no gathering in that heavenly home, he would not have so 
 often suggested to his followers a blessed eternity of fellow- 
 ship: "If it were not so, I would have told you." 
 
 "I go to prepare a place for you." By his death and 
 ascension and glorification, he was opening a way of 
 access to the Father, and to the bliss of his abode. "And 
 if I go and prepare a place for you, I come again, and will 
 
John 14: 4-11 THE PRIVATE TEACHING 127 
 
 receive j'ou unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be 
 also." The spiritual coming, which forms the substance 
 of this and the two following chapters, was to result in the 
 most intimate personal fellowship with Jesus, but it would 
 find its consummation at his visible return in glory, and 
 in the endless reunion in the Father's house. 
 
 The Way to the Father. Vs. 4-11 
 
 4 And whither I go, ye know the way. 5 Thomas saith 
 unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; how know 
 we the way? 6 Jesus saith xmto him, I am the way, and the 
 truth, and the life: no one cometh imto the Father, but by 
 me. 7 If ye had known me, ye would have known my 
 Father also : from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. 
 8 Philip saith tmto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it 
 sufficeth us. 9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long 
 time with you, and dost thou not know me, Philip? he that 
 hath seen me hath seen the Father; how sayest thou, Show 
 us the Father? 10 Believest thou not that I am in the 
 Father, and the Father in me? the words that I say imto you I 
 speak not from myself: but the Father abiding in me doeth 
 his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and 
 the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' 
 sake. 
 
 "And whither I go, ye know the way." He had told 
 them that he was going to the Father, and by the way of 
 death and resurrection ; but they were bewildered. They 
 could not understand why he should die; they did not 
 believe that he would die. Their confusion is voiced by 
 Thomas: "Lord, we know not whither thou goest; how 
 know we the way?" The question affords Jesus an 
 opportunity of giving a spiritual and profound interpre- 
 tation of his words. "The way to the Father," he seems 
 to be saying, "for me, is by way of death, but for you, 
 and for all men, I am the way, because I am the truth and 
 the life. No one cometh unto the Father, but by me. 
 If ye had known me ye would have known my Father also: 
 and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him." 
 Philip asks for a direct vision of the Father; and by his 
 reply Jesus shows his distress that his disciples have not 
 
128 REVELATION TO DISCIPLES John 14: 12-20 
 
 seen in him, already, a true Revelation of God. He 
 declares that his oneness with the Father has been attested 
 both by his words and his works. 
 
 The Continued Work. Vs. 1244 
 
 12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, 
 the works that I do shaU he do also ; and greater works than 
 these shall he do; because I go unto the Father. 13 And 
 whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the 
 Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If ye shall ask any- 
 thing in my name, that will I do. 
 
 Another ground for comfort is stated in the promise 
 that his going away is not to end the work which Jesus 
 has begun. Believers are to perform greater works 
 than even his miracles, not more marvelous in the judg- 
 ment of the world, but of a higher character and a vaster 
 extent. This is to be made possible because he is to go to 
 the Father, and, as he proceeds to explain, is to send the 
 Holy Spirit to work in and through his followers. This 
 work is to be accomplished in answer to prayer which is 
 to be offered in his name. By this last phrase Jesus means 
 in virtue of, and in acceptance of, all that he has been 
 revealed to be, as the divine Son of God, one with the 
 Father. The promises to answer prayer are unlimited, 
 except by the clear statements made on other occasions 
 that prayer must be in faith, which includes submission, 
 and in accordance with the will of God, both of which 
 conditions are implied by the phrase, "In my name." 
 
 The Coming of the Comforter. Vs. 15-27 
 
 15 If ye love me, ye will keep my commandments. 16 
 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another 
 Comforter, that he may be with you for ever, 17 evenihe Spirit 
 of truth: whom the world cannot receive; for it beholdeth 
 him not, neither knoweth him : ye know him ; for he abideth 
 with you, and shall be in you. 18 I will not leave you 
 desolate: I come unto you. 19 Yet a little while, and the 
 world beholdeth me no more ; but ye behold me : because I 
 live, ye shall live also. 20 In that day ye shall know that I am 
 
John 14: 21-27 THE PRIVATE TEACHING 129 
 
 in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. 21 He that hath 
 my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth 
 me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, 
 and I will love him, and will manifest myself unto him. 22 
 Judas (not Iscariot) saith unto him. Lord, what is come to 
 pass that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the 
 world? 23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love 
 me, he will keep my word: and my Father will love him, 
 and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. 
 24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my words: and the 
 word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's who sent me. 
 25 These things have I spoken unto you, while yet abiding 
 with you. 26 But the Comforter, even the Holy Spirit, 
 whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all 
 things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said unto you. 
 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you: not 
 as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not yoxir heart be 
 troubled, neither let it be fearful. ^ 
 
 The supreme ground of comfort, and the main message 
 of the chapter, is found in the promise: "I will pray the 
 Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he 
 may be with you for ever." The word "Comforter" or 
 "Paraclete," or "Advocate," as it is at times translated, 
 means "one who is called to the side of another" to give 
 help, protection, deliverance. This promised Comforter 
 was the Holy Spirit, and his various offices and functions, 
 as related to believers, are all summed up in the little word 
 "another." That is to say, Jesus had been a true "Com- 
 forter" for the disciples; now that his bodily presence was 
 to be withdrawn, his Spirit was to do for his disciples all 
 that Jesus had been doing for them. He was to guide, to 
 inspire, to strengthen, to sanctify. This promise of the 
 gift of the Holy Spirit does not imply that he was not on 
 earth already. He had ever been in the world, and had 
 always been performing the same work for the peoi)le of 
 God; but after the ascension of Christ, the Spirit was to 
 manifest himself in new power; he was to have, as an 
 instrument, the truth concerning a crucified, risen, Lord; 
 and the resulting work of the Spirit was to be like a new 
 "coming," a new "gift." His manifestation was to be 
 conditioned upon loving obedience to Christ. Ws. 15, 21. 
 
130 REVELATION TO DISCIPLES John 14: 28-31 
 
 His presence was to be continuous: "That he may be with 
 you for ever." Here Jesus is not contrasting the action of 
 the Spirit in former ages with that in the new age, but the 
 abiding of the Spirit is contrasted with his own approaching 
 departure by way of death and resurrection. The Com- 
 forter is further called "the Spirit of truth." The world, 
 because of its lack of moral sympathy with Christ, will not 
 be able to receive or recognize this Spirit. This Spirit was 
 even then abiding in all fullness in the Master, and was so 
 to dwell in his followers. V. 17. 
 
 In this coming of the Spirit, Christ himself returns to 
 earth, and as a result of his coming the disciples will enjoy 
 a larger life and a fuller knowledge of the Father and the 
 Son. Vs. 18-20. 
 
 As Jesus is interrupted by the question as to how it is 
 that he, the true Messiah, is to be manifested only to the 
 disciples and not to the world, Jesus replies that the mani- 
 festation of which he has been speaking is spiritual; it 
 is conditioned upon obedience to Christ, and its result will 
 be a veritable abiding, in the believer, of the Father and the 
 Son. Vs. 22, 23. Jesus further assures his followers that 
 the Comforter, whom he now clearly designates as "the 
 Holy Spirit," will teach them all things and bring to their 
 remembrance all the words of their Master. Vs. 25, 26. 
 In view of such promises, Jesus bequeaths to his disciples 
 a legacy which he takes from the treasure house of his own 
 experience: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give 
 unto you . . . Let not your heart be troubled, neither let 
 it be fearful." 
 
 The Necessary Separation. Vs. 28-31 
 
 28 Ye heard how I said to you, I go away, and I come unto 
 you. If ye loved me, ye would have rejoiced, because I go 
 unto the Father: for the Father is greater than I. 29 And 
 now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is 
 come to pass, ye may believe. 30 I will no more speak much 
 with you, for the prince of the world cometh: and he hath 
 nothing in me; 31 but that the world may know that I love 
 the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, even 
 so I do. Arise, let us go hence. 
 
John 15: 1-11 THE PRIVATE TEACHING 131 
 
 Jesus adds a single word of comfort. In spite of his 
 promised spiritual return, the disciples were to endure the 
 anguish of seeing him depart by way of death. They were 
 to lose his bodily presence. Jesus assures them therefore 
 that his going awa>- was a necessary condition of his spirit- 
 ual return; that his very prediction of death would later 
 strengthen their faith; that while they were now to sepa- 
 rate, and Satan was to assault him, he was to gain no abid- 
 ing victory, but only to aid in manifesting to the world the 
 loving obedience of the Son to the will of his Father. 
 In these last sentences Jesus uses the phrase: "The Father 
 is greater than I," and it has been interpreted as intimating 
 that he did not claim actual deity; but could any mere 
 man, unless insane or blasphemous use those words in 
 comparing himself with God? It is true that the Son, in 
 the mystery of his relation to the Father, was, in the days 
 of his flesh, or in his eternal Sonship, subordinate to the 
 Father; but these words, like many in this sublime chapter, 
 are true witnesses to the conscious deity of the God-Man, 
 Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 
 b. Jesus the True Vine. Ch. 15 : 1-17 
 
 1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 
 2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh it 
 away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he cleanseth it, 
 that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already ye are clean because 
 of the word which I have spoken unto you. 4 Abide in me, 
 and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, 
 except it abide in the vine ; so neither can ye, except ye abide 
 in me. 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that 
 abideth in me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: 
 for apart from me ye can do nothing. 6 If a man abide not 
 in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered ; and they 
 gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. 
 7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatso- 
 ever ye will, and it shall be done unto you. 8 Herein is my 
 Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; and so shall ye be 
 my disciples. 9 Even as the Father hath loved me, I also 
 have loved you: abide ye in my love. 10 If ye keep my 
 commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have 
 kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. 11 
 
132 REVELATION TO DISCIPLES John 15: 12-17 
 
 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy may be in 
 you, and that your joy may be made full. 12 This is my 
 commandment, that ye love one another, even as I have loved 
 you. 13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay 
 down his Uf e for his friends. 14 Ye are my friends, if ye do 
 the things which I command you. 15 No longer do I call 
 you servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord 
 doeth : but I have calledfyou friends ; for all things that I heard 
 from my Father I have made known unto you. 16 Ye did 
 not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that ye 
 should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide: 
 that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he 
 may give it you. 17 These things I command you, that ye 
 may love one another. 
 
 To comfort his disciples, on the eve of his departure, our 
 Lord had been assuring them that while he was indeed to 
 go away, still, by his Spirit, he would be an abiding presence 
 with them, and through them his work would be continued. 
 This same truth he further illustrated by the figure of a 
 vine and its branches. The disciples were to be in vital 
 union with their unseen Lord, and through them his life 
 was to be manifested and his purposes accomplished; 
 just as the branches are in living connection with the vine, 
 which, only on its branches, bears its fruit. As the pre- 
 vious chapter bore witness to Christ as a divine Being who 
 would ever abide in his followers, so here, stress is laid 
 upon the need of faith in him as the absolute condition of 
 the life which he would impart. Faith is here pictured as 
 an abiding in Christ, which is to be as inseparable as the 
 union of a living branch and its vine; the result will 
 be rich fruit of spiritual experience, of Christian virtues, 
 of souls saved. 
 
 Jesus first expresses the displeasure of his Father 
 toward his faithless followers: "Every branch in me that 
 beareth not fruit, he taketh it away;" and he then mentions 
 the provision for strengthening the spiritual life of true 
 believers: "And every branch that beareth fruit, he 
 cleanseth it, that it may bear more fruit." Both figures 
 refer to the process of pruning; dead wood is cut away, and 
 even living shoots and fruit-bearing branches are cut back, 
 in order that the clusters of grapes may be more rich and 
 
John 15: 1-17 THE PRIVATE TEACHING 133 
 
 full. So God, by his providences, does discipline Christians; 
 and so it is necessary that our natural tendencies and ac- 
 tions and desires must be restrained, that the virtues of our 
 Lord may be manifested in us and his work wrought through 
 us. However, the instrument here suggested by which 
 this pruning is accomplished, is not divine Providence but 
 the teachings and the manifested will of Christ: "Already 
 ye are clean because of the word which I ha\e spoken unto 
 you." The disciples, who had received this word, were 
 cleansed, in principle, and potentially; but in experience 
 every follow^er of Christ must apply to his own life this 
 pruning knife, if fruit is to be produced in character and 
 service. 
 
 The suprem.e condition of fruitfulness, however, is 
 abiding in Christ; as the branches draw sap from the vine, 
 so believers must deri\e their strength and wisdom and 
 holiness and power from their present, di\'ine, Lord: 
 "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear 
 fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; so neither can ye, 
 except ye abide in me." The faith in Christ thus sym- 
 bolized is not, however, separated from "the word" to 
 which reference was first made. The figure of speech has 
 changed, but abiding in Christ has, as its very essence, 
 obedience to him and submission to his word. 
 
 Before dwelling at length upon this condition of fruitful- 
 ness Jesus again expresses the divine displeasure with life- 
 less branches, which are to be "cast forth" and "withered" 
 and "burned." The thought is not to be so pressed 
 as to raise the question of the loss of souls who are once 
 united with Christ. We are concerned here with service 
 rather than salvation. The words, however, are not with- 
 out serious implications as to the absolute necessity of a 
 real and continuous union with Christ. 
 
 This union, if characterized by a true submission to the 
 will of Christ, is certain to result in fruitfulness: "If ye 
 abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatsoever 
 ye will, and it shall be done unto you." Here a new ele- 
 ment is introduced, namely, prayer; but the relation is 
 vital. One who is united with Christ in trustful obedience, 
 one who meditates upon his word, one who is guided by his 
 
134 REVELATION TO DISCIPLES John 15: 18 to 16: 15 
 
 indwelling Spirit, will be led to pray for the success of the 
 divine work in his own experience and in the world, and, 
 for prayer so originating, there is no limit to its power. 
 Fruitfulness must result; God will be glorified and believers 
 will thus show themselves to be true disciples. V. 8. 
 
 As Jesus further urges his followers to abide in him, he 
 slightly changes the figure and declares that they must 
 abide in his love. He thus emphasizes anew the element of 
 obedience, as characterizing true faith; only by obedience 
 can we know and appreciate and abide in the love of Christ; 
 "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love." 
 This surely will produce fruitfulness; this love is like sun- 
 light to the ripening fruit. The result which Jesus specifies 
 is "joy:" "These things have I spoken unto you, . . . that 
 your joy may be made full." V. 11. 
 
 How frequently are we tempted to believe that sin will 
 produce happiness ! Joy is the flower of right ; it is always 
 and only the fruit of obedience to Christ, and in its 
 essence it is a consciousness of his approving love. 
 
 Last of all Jesus concentrates all his commandments in 
 the one law of love: "This is my commandment, that ye 
 love one another, even as I have loved you." V. 12. 
 He illustrates this love by his own self-sacrifice which was 
 to be consummated the next day, upon the cross, and by his 
 divine friendship which had led him to confide in his dis- 
 ciples all his plans and gracious purposes, and by the very 
 work to which he had called them, a work which would 
 consist in revealing true virtues and in the salvation of 
 immortal souls, a work which would be accomplished by 
 prayer in his holy name. It may be that some of us, who 
 wonder at our fruitlessness, as followers of Christ, need this 
 word of the JVIaster: "These things I command you, that 
 ye may love one another." 
 
 c. The Enmity of the World and the Work of the Spirit. 
 Chs. 15 : 18 to 16 : l5 
 
 After the loving exhortation contained in the allegory 
 of "the true vine," Jesus gives to his disciples a word of 
 warning and also of encouragement. In spite of the beau- 
 
John 15: 18-27 THE PRIVATE TEACHING 135 
 
 tiful fruit of Christian character, the disciples would be 
 hated by the world; even while, in the name of Christ, 
 they offered eternal life, the world would seek to put them 
 to death; nevertheless, in their persecution and peril, they 
 would be sustained by the Holy Spirit, who would triumph 
 over the spirit of the world, and would give the disciples 
 fuller revelation of truth. Such is in substance the con- 
 tent of this paragraph. Its thoughts center upon the great 
 truths of this Gospel. It bears testimony to the Person of 
 Christ by his expressed consciousness of equality with the 
 Father and the divine Spirit; it intimates the development 
 of faith and contains a solemn rebuke of unbelief; but it 
 speaks most specifically of the life of believers as witnesses 
 for their Lord. The disciples had just been exhorted to 
 abide in Christ, that they might bear fruit; here they are 
 encouraged by the assurance that, in spite of the hostility of 
 the world, abundant fruit would be produced through their 
 testimony for the Master in the power of his indwelling 
 Spirit. 
 
 (1) The Enmity of the World. Ch. 15 : 18 to 16 : 6 
 
 18 If the world hateth you, ye know that it hath hated me 
 before it hated you. 19 If ye were of the world, the world 
 would love its own: but because ye are not of the world, but 
 I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. 
 20 Remember the word that I said xmto you, A servant is not 
 greater than his lord. If they persecuted me, they will also 
 persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours 
 also. 21 But all these things will they do unto you for my 
 name's sake, because they know not him that sent me. 
 22 If I had not come and spoken imto them, they had not had 
 sin: but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 He 
 that hateth me hateth my Father also. 24 If I had not done 
 among them the works which none other did, they had not 
 had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and 
 my Father. 25 But this cometh to pass, that the word may be 
 fulfilled that is written in their law. They hated me without 
 a cause. 26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will 
 send tmto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, 
 which proceedeth from the Father, he shall bear witness of 
 me: 27 and ye also bear witness, because ye have been with 
 me from the beginning. 
 
136 REVELATION TO DISCIPLES John 16: 1-7 
 
 1 These things have I spoken irnto you, that ye should not 
 be caused to stumble. 2 They shall put you out of the syna- 
 gogues: yea, the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you 
 shall think that he offereth service unto God. 3 And these 
 things will they do, because they have not known the Father, 
 nor me. 4 But these things have I spoken imto you, that 
 when their hour is come, ye may remember them, how that I 
 told you. And these things I said not imto you from the 
 beginning, because I was with you. 5 But now I go imto 
 him that sent me ; and none of you asketh me. Whither goest 
 thou? 6 But because I have spoken these things imto you, 
 sorrow hath filled your heart. 
 
 The enmity of the world is contrasted with the love of 
 believers, of which Jesus had just been speaking. In a 
 Christian community, and wherever Christ is loved, his 
 followers will not be hated; but from those who reject 
 Christ and his claims, nothing need be expected but enmity, 
 persecution, death; the servants will be hated just as the 
 Master was and just because of the Master. 
 
 This hatred is attributed to ignorance of God, to false 
 conceptions of his nature and will: "Yea, the hour cometh, 
 that whosoever killeth you shall think that he offereth 
 service unto God" ; but it is further attributed to a willful, 
 stubborn, sinful, ignorance of God, and to a hatred of him 
 as he has been revealed by Christ. The clear testimony 
 borne by the words and w^orks of Christ had only aggra- 
 vated their guilt: "If I had not come and spoken unto them, 
 they had not had sin : but now they have no excuse for 
 their sin. He that hateth me hateth my Father also. 
 If I had not done among them the works which none other 
 did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and 
 hated both me and my Father." In no other part of his 
 Gospel has John declared more clearly the sinful nature of 
 unbelief, and the peril of rejecting Christ; for to deny 
 his claims and to refuse to become his disciple is to hate 
 God and to condemn one's own soul. 
 
 (2) The Work of the Spirit. Ch. 16 : 7-15 
 
 7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is expedient for you 
 that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not 
 
John 16:8-15 THE PRIVATE TEACHING 137 
 
 come irnto you ; but if I go, I will send him unto you. 8 And 
 he, when he is come, will convict the world in respect of sin, 
 and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they 
 beUeve not on me; 10 of righteousness, because I go to the 
 Father, and ye behold me no more; 11 of judgment, because 
 the prince of this world hath been judged. 12 I have yet 
 many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. 
 13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall 
 guide you into all the truth: for he shall not speak from him- 
 self; butwhatthingssoeverheshallhear, if/je5c shallhe speak: 
 and he shall declare unto you the things that are to come. 14 
 He shall glorify me: for he shall take of mine, and shall 
 declare it unto you. 15 All things whatsoever the Father 
 hath are mine: therefore said I, that he taketh of mine, and 
 shall declare it tmto you. 
 
 The work of the Holy Spirit has been mentioned more 
 than once in the course of this Gospel, and notably in the 
 previous chapters which spoke of the coming of the Com- 
 forter, but in no section of the narrative, possibly in no 
 part of Scripture, is his work so clearly set forth as in this 
 paragraph. 
 
 Jesus had told his disciples that he was going to the 
 Father; he wished them to ask him more about this de- 
 parture: "None of you asketh me, Whither goest thou?" 
 Peter had asked but he had in mind something quite 
 different, some perilous journey on earth; but the dis- 
 ciples were wholly concerned with their own sorrow at the 
 coming separation. Jesus now assures them that the 
 loss of his physical presence will be more than com- 
 pensated by the coming of the Spirit. He did not mean 
 that the Holy Spirit was not then present or had not always 
 been in the world, but that, after the death and resurrection 
 and ascension of Jesus, he would begin a work so marvelous 
 and unique that it could properly be described under the 
 figure of a "coming" or of a being "sent from the Father." 
 This work would have as its very essence the making of 
 Jesus known to his disciples in all the fullness of his divine 
 Person and work : "He shall glorify me"; and through the 
 disciples the making of Jesus known to the world: "He 
 shall bear witness of me: and ye also bear witness." It 
 is upon the work in the world accomplished through the 
 
138 REVELATION TO DISCIPLES John 16: 7-11 
 
 disciples by the Spirit, that Jesus first dwells, ch. 16 : 8-11, 
 before enlarging upon the work of the Spirit within the dis- 
 ciples. Vs. 12-15. 
 
 In the World. Vs. 7-11 
 
 It is true that the disciples are not here mentioned; the 
 whole thought centers upon the mission of the Comforter; 
 but they are the instrumentsby whichheisto work; their 
 witness is to be by his power; they are to be the voices 
 by which he is to speak. In fact, these verses are simply 
 a statement of the result of the witness to Christ which his 
 followers were to give, under the power of his Spirit. He 
 will reprove, or convince, or "convict," by the presentation 
 of evidence: "He, . . . will convict the world ... of 
 sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." 
 
 (a) "Of sin, because they believe not on me." This 
 does not mean that unbelief is a sin; of course it is; but it 
 means that the Holy Spirit will convict the world of being 
 sinful, on the ground, or evidence, of its rejection of 
 Christ. It is a sin not to believe in Christ; but the truth 
 here taught is that the rejection of Christ shows one to be 
 a sinner. Christ is good and holy and pure ; to reject him 
 is to convict oneself of being opposed to goodness and 
 holiness and purity and love. When Christ is preached 
 he becomes the Touchstone of character. 
 
 (b) "Of righteousness, because I go to the Father, and 
 ye behold me no more"; that is, by his resurrection and 
 ascension, Jesus was proved to be a righteous man, and all 
 his claims to deity were vindicated. The resurrection and 
 ascension of Jesus still form the ground on which the Holy 
 Spirit convicts men that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. 
 
 (c) "Of judgment, because the prince of this world hath 
 been judged." The specific judgment in mind is that of 
 the Devil. At the cross he massed all his forces, there he 
 sufifered his eternal defeat. His doom was settled and his 
 sentence pronounced. Every time Christ is preached, 
 under the power of the Holy Spirit, Satan suffers some 
 further loss, and every saved soul is a new proof of his 
 "judgment." 
 
John 16: 12-17 THE PRIVATE TEACHING 139 
 
 Thus we are concerned here with the sin of the world, 
 the righteousness of Jesus, and the judgment of Satan, as 
 these are proved by the Holy Spirit, on the evidence of the 
 rejection of Jesus, of his resurrection, and of his triumph 
 on the cross. These great facts, if presented by witnesses 
 under the power of the Holy Spirit, never fail to convict 
 the world. The first great fulfillment of the promise was 
 on the Day of Pentecost when, as Peter, "filled with 
 the Holy Spirit," presented these proofs, three thousand 
 souls were convicted and saved. So to-day, when the 
 Holy Spirit accomplishes a great work of saving grace, it 
 is only where witnesses are testifying faithfully to a cruci- 
 fied, risen, ascended, divine Christ. 
 
 Within Believers. Vs. 12-15 
 
 This has been intimated already. It was summed up in 
 the gracious words of Jesus: "I have yet many things to 
 say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now," for until his 
 death and resurrection there were many spiritual realities 
 which his disciples would not be able to understand: 
 "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall 
 guide you into all the truth: for he shall not speak from 
 himself; but what things soever he shall hear, these shall 
 he speak: and he shall declare unto you the things that 
 are to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall take of 
 mine, and shall declare it unto you. All things whatso- 
 ever the Father hath are mine." Thus, it is the ofiice of 
 the Comforter to reveal to the believer all the divine riches 
 and grace that are in Christ Jesus, to take the great realities 
 of his divine Person and work and make their meaning 
 clear and vital. Nothing is said here of the consequent 
 sanctifying influence in life and character; but we are con- 
 cerned here with witnessing for Christ and are reminded 
 that in preparation for such service we need the illumina- 
 tion and guidance of the Holy Spirit of truth. 
 
 d. The Encouraging Fareivell. Ch. 16 : 16-33 
 
 16 A little while, and ye behold me no more; and again a 
 little while, and ye shall see me. 17 Some of his disciples 
 
140 REVELATION TO DISCIPLES John 16: 18-33 
 
 therefore said one to another, What is this that he saith unto 
 us, A little while, and ye behold me not; and again a little 
 whUe, and ye shall see me : and. Because I go to the Father? 
 18 They said therefore. What is this that he saith, A Uttle 
 while? We know not what he saith. 19 Jesus perceived 
 that they were desirous to ask him, and he said imto them, 
 Do ye inquire among yourselves concerning this, that I said, 
 A little while, and ye behold me not, and again a Uttle while, 
 and ye shall see me? 20 Verily, verily, I say unto you, that 
 ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: ye 
 shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. 
 21 A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her 
 hour is come: but when she is delivered of the child, she 
 remembereth no more the anguish, for the joy that a man is 
 bom into the world. 22 And ye therefore now have sorrow: 
 but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and 
 your joy no one taketh away from you. 23 And in that day 
 ye shall ask me no question. Verily, verily, I say unto you, 
 If ye shall ask anything of the Father, he will give it you in 
 my name. 24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: 
 ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be made full. 
 
 25 These things have I spoken unto you in dark sayings: 
 the hour cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in 
 dark sayings, but shall tell you plainly of the Father. 26 In 
 that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not imto you, 
 that I will pray the Father for you; 27 for the Father himself 
 loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that 
 I came forth from the Father. 28 I came out from the Father, 
 and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and 
 go unto the Father. 29 His disciples say, Lo, now speakest 
 thou plainly, and speakest no dark saying. 30 Now know 
 we that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any 
 man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou earnest 
 forth from God. 31 Jesus answered them, Do ye now 
 believe? 32 Behold, tiie hour cometh, yea, is come, that 
 ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me 
 alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. 
 3i These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye 
 may have peace. In the world ye have tribulation: but be of 
 good cheer; I have overcome the world. 
 
 Now the last words are to be spoken. The time for 
 separation has come. Jesus is going forth to betrayal 
 and to death. Naturally he reverts to the subject of his 
 departure; but his last message of comfort is the same in 
 
John 16: 16-33 THE PRIVATE TEACHING 141 
 
 substance that he has already conve^'ed. He is going 
 away, but he encourages his disciples by again assuring 
 them that he is to be with them ever as an unseen, abiding, 
 presence. When the Holy Spirit has come in Pentecostal 
 power, then the disciples will enjoy a truer, fuller fellowship 
 with Christ than even in the days of his earthly ministry. 
 
 It is, in fact, with the work of the Holy Spirit, that we are 
 here concerned, as in the verses which precede. His 
 agency, and the blessing he confers, is the very beginning 
 and ending of the teaching of our Lord in the "upper 
 room." 
 
 Thus when Jesus closes his farewell discourse he teaches 
 (1) that the real manifestation of his spiritual presence, by 
 the agency of the Holy Spirit, will speedily follow his 
 death: "A little while, and ye behold me no more"; he 
 was to die on the morrow. "Again a little while, and ye 
 shall see me," not only in resurrection, but with enlarged 
 spiritual vision, at Pentecost, and ever after. 
 
 As the disciples are puzzled at a promise so mysterious, 
 which intimated that the going away of Jesus was a condi- 
 tion of his more real presence, he further reassures them by 
 stating (2) that their temporary anguish at the separation 
 caused by his death will be forgotten in the joy of the 
 spiritual reunion which will be endless: "And ye therefore 
 now have sorrow:^ but I will see you again, and your heart 
 shall rejoice, and your joy no one taketh away from you." 
 
 (3) The influence of the Holy Spirit will further enlarge 
 the knowledge of the disciples, as already suggested in 
 verses 12-15. They will not need to make such inquiries 
 of the Lord as they have made during this conversation: 
 "And in that day ye shall ask me no question." (4) 
 They will pray, howe^'er, but it will be to the Father in the 
 name of the Son: "Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my 
 name: ask, and }'e shall receive, that your joy may be 
 made full." "In my name" signifies in virtue of all he 
 has been revealed to be; after Pentecost, as never before, 
 he was known as the Christ, the Son of God, the risen, 
 glorified, invisible, divine Lord and Saviour. Prayer in 
 his name would surely avail. (5) Jesus finally lays aside 
 all figures of speech and plainly declares his di\ine pre- 
 
142 REVELATION TO DISCIPLES John 17: 1-26 
 
 existence, his incarnation, his death, his resurrection: 
 "I came out from the Father, and am come into the world: 
 again, I leave the world, and go unto the Father." 
 
 This, at last, the disciples, seem to understand, and they 
 assert their faith: "By this we believe that thou earnest 
 forth from God." Jesus replies (6) that their faith is to 
 be sorely tested, and will not be victorious at first: "Be- 
 hold, the hour cometh, yea, is come, that ye shall be scat- 
 tered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone." 
 (7) However, united to him by a strengthened faith, by the 
 power of his Spirit, they shall soon enjoy peace and share 
 the victory of their Master over the opposition and enmity 
 of the world. 
 
 This closing paragraph is in peculiar harmony with the 
 continual purpose of John. As the fourteenth chapter 
 presents testimony to the divine Person of Christ, as the 
 fifteenth emphasizes the need of a vital faith by which be- 
 lievers can abide in him, so this chapter enlarges upon the 
 life which results from faith, a life in which the Lord by the 
 power of his indwelling Spirit, makes real his gracious 
 presence, gives increasing knowledge of the truth and 
 confidence in prayer, inspires heroic courage, and secures 
 abiding peace. 
 
 3. Jesus' Intercessory Prayer. Ch. 17: 1-26 
 
 "There is no voice which has ever been heard, either in 
 heaven or in earth, more exalted, more holy, more fruit- 
 ful, more sublime, than this prayer offered up by the Son of 
 God himself." Such are the words of Melancthon; and 
 such has been the verdict of the Christian centuries. This 
 chapter constitutes "the most precious fragment of the 
 past." Here, according to all commentators, we enter 
 the holy of holies of the New Testament, for here we are 
 given the most profound revelation of the very heart of 
 our Lord. 
 
 This is, in very truth, "The Lord's Prayer." We prop- 
 erly apply this name to the formula taught by Jesus to his 
 disciples, and beginning: "Our Father who art in heaven"; 
 but speaking more strictly, this is his prayer; he could not 
 
John 17: 1-5 THE PRIVATE TEACHING 143 
 
 have used the petitions he taught his disciples, including 
 as they do a request for forgiveness; and none of his 
 disciples could have uttered these words. If we wish 
 one unanswerable argument to prove the deity of Christ, 
 it can be supplied in this single chapter of John. The 
 sublime self-consciousness of the speaker, his claim of 
 universal dominion, his reference to a previous existence 
 in living unity with the eternal God, leave us as the only 
 possible explanations, either insanity, blasphemy, or deity. 
 If on the other hand, we are not concerned with witness to 
 the person of Christ but wish an answer to the question 
 with which John is continually concerned, namely, what 
 is the life in which faith in Christ will issue, we have here 
 certain petitions offered, by the Son of God, for his follow- 
 ers; as they come from him, what are these but prophecies 
 of blessing and promises to faith? 
 
 Jesus Prays to Be Glorified. Vs. 1-5 
 
 1 These things spake Jesus; and lifting up his eyes to 
 heaven, he said, Father, tfie hour is come ; glorify thy Son, 
 that the Son may glorify thee: 2 even as thou gavest him 
 authority over all flesh, tiiat to all whom thou hast given him, 
 he should give eternal life. 3 And this is life eternal, that 
 they should know thee the only true God, and him whom 
 thou didst send, even Jesus Christ. 4 I glorified thee on the 
 earth, having accomplished the work which thou hast given 
 me to do. 5 And now. Father, glorify thou me with thine 
 own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world 
 was. 
 
 Jesus prays, first of all for himself; but the petition 
 is the farthest possible, removed from selfishness. He 
 prays to be glorified, in order that he may glorify his 
 Father, and thus give "eternal life" to his followers. 
 "Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that the Son 
 may glorify thee: even as thou gavest him authority over 
 all flesh, that to all whom thou hast given him, he should 
 give eternal life." 
 
 "The hour," was the expected time of his death and 
 resurrection. This prayer was uttered on the night of his 
 agony only a few hours before his Passion. By his request 
 
144 REVELATION TO DISCIPLES John 17: 1-5 
 
 to be glorified, Jesus referred to his crucifixion, his triumph 
 over the grave, his ascension, and supremely his outpouring 
 of the Holy Spirit. To "glorify" one is to make one 
 known; Jesus desires to be made known in his true char- 
 acter, as the divine Son of God, as the Messiah, as the 
 Saviour of the world. This manifestation all centered in 
 "the hour" which had come, but which would include Pen- 
 tecost and all that the gift of the Holy Spirit suggests. 
 That gift constituted or secured the answer to this prayer. 
 By "the glory" of the Son, the glory of the Father was 
 secured. God was never so fully revealed in all his justice 
 and love and holiness and grace, as by "the hour" with 
 which we are now concerned. 
 
 Then, too, by this revelation, life was secured for the fol- 
 lowers of Christ; for "this is life eternal, that they should 
 know thee the only true God, and him whom thou didst 
 send, even Jesus Christ." To "know," according to this 
 Gospel, is not merely an act of the mind; in that sense, 
 demons know God; but it denotes love, obedience, faith, 
 the response of the entire being. Thus to know God as 
 revealed in his Son is to have eternal life. This life is, 
 therefore, not only a future, but a present experience; 
 it denotes endless existence but also a heavenly blessed- 
 ness. This first petition Jesus based upon the fact that his 
 earthly task was complete: "I have accomplished the 
 work which thou hast given me to do." Already the 
 surpeme sacrifice seemed to him to have been made. 
 His work was finished; and he would therefore pray; 
 "And now. Father, glorify thou me with thine own self 
 with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." 
 
 How few of us feel, under the shadow of death, that life 
 is complete, that its work is finished! What a pathetic 
 series of beginnings and failures and imperfect endeavors 
 it does seem to be. Yet, if one does the will of God, the 
 symbol of life need not be a broken column. Much 
 may seem incomplete: only three years of ministry, only 
 a few sick healed, only a few sermons preached, only eleven 
 disciples secured, no book written, no organization formed; 
 but the work may be finished, we need not linger longer 
 here; the cross remains, then glory. 
 
John 17: 6-19 THE PRIVATE TEACHING 145 
 
 Jesus Prays for His Disciples. Vs. 6-19 
 
 6 I manifested thy name unto the men whom thou gavest 
 me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them 
 to me ; and they have kept thy word. 7 Now they know that 
 all things whatsoever thou hast given me are from thee: 8 
 for the words which thou gavest me I have given unto them ; 
 and they received them, and knew of a truth that I came forth 
 from thee, and they believed that thou didst send me. 9 I 
 pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for those whom 
 thou hast given me; for they are thine: 10 and all things that 
 are mine are thine, and thine are mine : and I am glorified in 
 them. 11 And I am no more in the world, and these are in 
 the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep them in thy 
 name which thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as 
 we are. 12 While I was with them, I kept them in thy name 
 which thou hast given me : and I guarded them, and not one of 
 them perished, but the son of perdition; that the scripture 
 might be fulfilled. 13 But now I come to thee; and these 
 things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy made 
 full in themselves. 14 I have given them thy word ; and the 
 world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I 
 am not of the world. 15 I pray not that thou shouldest take 
 them from the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from 
 the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not 
 of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth: thy word is 
 truth. 18 As thou didst send me into the world, even so 
 sen* I them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify 
 myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. 
 
 Jesus prays next for his immediate disciples, for "the 
 twelve" who had been with him; but he first describes 
 them in phrases which have a meaning and a message 
 for all who call themselves his followers: "The men 
 whom thou gavest me out of the world," "they have 
 kept thy word"; "the w^ords which thou gavest me . . . 
 they received"; "they believed that thou didst send me." 
 
 For these men Jesus prajs: "I pray not for the world, 
 but for those whom thou hast given me." He does not 
 mean that he never prayed for the world, or that we should 
 not so pray; but on this supreme occasion he wishes to 
 ask certain things for his followers. 
 
 The petitions are two in number. First he prays that 
 they may be kept from evil. During the earthly ministry 
 
146 REVELATION TO DISCIPLES John 17: 20-23 
 
 of Jesus he has guarded his disciples, but now he is leaving 
 them. The world will hate them. He therefore commits 
 them to the care of his Father. He does not ask that they 
 shall be taken out of the world as he himself is leaving 
 the world. He does not ask that they shall be kept from 
 sorrow and pain and temptation, but from gloom and dis- 
 couragement and sin. "I pray not that thou shouldest 
 take them from the world, but that thou shouldest keep 
 them from the evil one." 
 
 Their protection was to be effected by the agency of his 
 Spirit, but also by the instrument of the truth concerning 
 his Father. "While I was with them, I kept them in thy 
 name," that is by means of what God was known to be, by 
 the revelation which Jesus had given of the Father; and 
 by the same means they will be kept after his departure: 
 "Holy Father, keep them in thy name which thou hast 
 given me." 
 
 Secondly, Jesus prays that his disciples may be sancti- 
 fied. This does not here refer specifically to holiness, or 
 separation from sin. That was the burden of the first 
 petition. The request is rather, that they may be set 
 apart for service, and more specifically for the service of 
 witnessing to the truth. It is really a prayer for the 
 consecration of his chosen messengers to their appointed 
 mission. "Sanctify them in the truth: thy word is truth." 
 The revelation of the Father which Jesus had given, 
 "the truth" he had revealed, was to be not only the instru- 
 ment of their consecration but the sphere of their service. 
 Therefore Jesus adds "As thou didst send me into the 
 world, even so sent I them into the world," that is, to be 
 his messengers, to testify to "the truth." 
 
 Jesus Prays for His Church. Vs. 20-26 
 
 20 Neither for these only do I pray, but for them also that 
 believe on me through their word; 21 that they may all be 
 one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they 
 also may be in us: that the world may believe that thou didst 
 send me. 22 And the glory which thou hast given me I have 
 given \mto them ; that they may be one, even as we are one ; 
 23 lin them, and thou in me, that they may be perfected into 
 
John 17:24-26 THE PRIVATE TEACHING 147 
 
 one ; that the world may know that thou didst send me, and 
 lovedst them, even as thou lovedst me. 24 Father, I desire 
 that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I 
 am, that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given 
 me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. 
 25 O righteous Father, the world knew thee not, but I knew 
 thee; and these knew that thou didst send me; 26 and I 
 made known unto them thy name, and will make it known; 
 that the love wherewith thou lovedst me may be in them, and 
 I in them. 
 
 Having prayed for himself and his disciples, Jesus 
 now prays for all believers, "that they may all be one," 
 and that at last they may be with him in heavenly "glory." 
 The first petition, for the oneness of believers, refers 
 to something quite different, and far more wonder- 
 ful, than the "church unity," the "organic union" the 
 "united Christendom," to which it is commonly supposed 
 to refer. It contemplates a spiritual unity, which must be 
 given visible expression, but which, in its essence, con- 
 sists of a union with Christ, and through him with God. 
 Jesus prayed "that they also may be in us." The prayer 
 was given its initial answer on the Day of Pentecost when, 
 by the Holy Spirit, beligvers were "all baptized into one 
 body." So Paul does not pray for "church unity," but 
 insists that it already exists. Even now, "there is one 
 body," composed of all who are united with Christ, as there 
 is "one Spirit, . . . one hope . . . one Lord, one faith, 
 one baptism, one God and Father of all." 
 
 There does remain, however, a further fulfillment of this 
 petition, and for it we are to work and to pray. This 
 spiritual unity must be made manifest, and so manifest as 
 to be an irresistible argument for the divine mission of 
 Christ: "that the world may know that thou didst send 
 me." What this ultimate expression may be, in this pre- 
 sent age of imperfect knowledge, none is wise enough to 
 predict. There is little hope, perhaps no reasonable de- 
 sire, for unity of organization, for uniformity of worship, 
 for unanimity of creed ; certainly not if any of these must 
 be secured by compulsion, or by the sacrifice of conviction. 
 There is, however, much that can be done by every be- 
 
148 REVELATION TO DISCIPLES John 17: 20-26 
 
 liever: first, accept and act upon the reality of our vital 
 union as members of the one body of Christ, whatever our 
 particular "church" or "society" maybe; second, remem- 
 ber that Christian unity can be advanced only by an in- 
 creasing knowledge of Christ and of the truth which he 
 reveals; third, manifest the love, long-suffering, gentle- 
 ness, meekness, and patience which are the fruit of the 
 Spirit, and look to the guidance of that Spirit to lead us 
 toward that manifestation of unity for which a lost world 
 still waits. 
 
 A time is surely coming when this manifestation will be 
 complete. "When Christ, who is our life, shall be mani- 
 fested, then shall ye also with him be manifested in glory." 
 It is with a petition fo/ this future "glory" of the Church 
 that the prayer of Jesus reaches its climax. "Father, I 
 desire that they also whom thou hast given me be with me 
 where I am, that they may behold my glory, which thou 
 hast given me." Of course believers enjoy a present 
 glory; "the glory which thou hast given me I have given 
 unto them," the glory of being children of God and pos- 
 sessors of eternal life; but there is greater blessedness in 
 store for them, an actual vision of Christ, a share in the 
 ineffable glory granted to the Son by the love of the 
 Father. For such glory Jesus pleads on the ground of the 
 faith of his followers, and of his continuing revelation to 
 them, and of his own abiding presence with them. It is the 
 last phrase, "I in them," which is the assurance and con- 
 dition of the answer to this high-priestly pra^'er of inter- 
 cession. The indwelling of Christ, by his Spirit, is the 
 power and agent by whom his followers are being kept 
 from sin, sanctified in service, given unity of life, made 
 ready for glory. 
 
John 18: 1-10 THE SUPREME WITNESS 149 
 
 B. THE SUPREME WITNESS. Chs. 18-20 
 1. The Betrayal and Trial. Ch. 18:1 to 19:16 
 
 As we review the closing scenes in the life of our Lord, we 
 find the culminating witness to his divine Person in his 
 victory over fear and pain and death; we also have the 
 picture and promise of the larger life assured to his follow- 
 ers by his own resurrection; but it is the purpose of John 
 so to rehearse the story as especially to exhibit the con- 
 summation of faith and unbelief. 
 
 The former is manifested in the confident joy of the 
 disciples and especially in the belief of Thomas; the latter 
 finds its expression in the mad hatred of the Jews which is 
 consummated by the murder of Jesus. 
 
 This cruel unbelief is found, however, even in the little 
 circle of the disciples; and there it appears even more 
 hateful because of its contrast with the tender love of 
 Jesus, and the peculiar opportunities for the development of 
 faith. 
 
 a. The Betrayal and Arrest. Ch. IS : 1-11 
 
 1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with 
 his disciples over the brook Kidron, where was a garden, into 
 which he entered, himself and his disciples. 2 Now Judas 
 also, who betrayed him, knew the place: for Jesus ofttimes 
 resorted thither with his disciples. 3 Judas then, having 
 received the band of soldiers, and officers from the chief 
 priests and the Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and 
 torches and weapons. 4 Jesus therefore, knowing all the 
 things that were coming upon him, went forth, and saith unto 
 them. Whom seek ye? 5 They answered him, Jesus of 
 Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he. And Judas also, 
 who betrayed him, was standing with them. 6 When there- 
 fore he said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and 
 fell to the grovmd. 7 Again therefore he asked them. Whom 
 seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. 8 Jesus an- 
 swered, I told you that I am he; if therefore ye seek me, let 
 these go their way : 9 that the word might be fulfilled which 
 he spake, Of those whom thou hast given me I lost not one. 
 10 Simon Peter therefore having a sword drew it, and struck 
 
ISO REVELATION TO DISCIPLES John 18: 11 
 
 the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. Now the 
 servant's name was Malchus. 11 Jesus therefore said unto 
 Peter, Put up the sword into the sheath: the cup which the 
 Father hath given me, shall I not drink it? 
 
 As Judas enters the Garden, whither our Lord had with- 
 drawn to pray with his disciples, he is not to be regarded 
 as an inhuman monster, nor yet as an innocent and mis- 
 guided enthusiast. Both these false extremes in the inter- 
 pretation of the character of Judas, are held by modern 
 writers. The fact is that his development had been per- 
 fectly normal and natural; it is this which constitutes the 
 solemnity of the warning to the professed followers of 
 Christ. He is simply the illustration of a man who cher- 
 ishes a besetting sin, and yields to an evil passion, in the 
 face of warning and in spite of abundant light, until at last 
 he hates the light and takes his place on the side of the 
 enemies of Christ. Judas is an example of the triumph 
 of selfishness; and there is no one of the followers of Christ 
 who is incapable of traitorous thought, and who need not 
 be on his guard against treacherous deeds which may 
 imperil the cause of his Master. 
 
 In striking contrast to the hideous spectacle of Judas 
 is the figure of Jesus, in his divine majesty and his loyal 
 love. He voluntarily offers himself to his enemies, know- 
 ing their murderous purpose, and his one thought is for the 
 safety of his followers. The soldiers are so awed by his 
 appearance that they fall to the ground. As they hesitate 
 to arrest him, he again ofTers himself to them but requests 
 that his disciples may be allowed their liberty. He 
 feared lest, should they share his fate, even in part, their 
 faith might fail. Our Lord never allows us to be too sorely 
 tempted, never beyond what we are able to endure. Peter 
 by a rash act attempts to defend his Lord by attacking 
 with a sword a servant of the high priest; he thus nearly 
 frustrates the purpose of the Master and compromises 
 his cause. 
 
 Jesus rebukes him with a word full of deep significance, 
 showing the voluntary character of his atoning death: 
 "Put up the sword into the sheath: the cup which the 
 Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?" What is 
 
John 18: 12-22 THE SUPREME WITNESS 151 
 
 this "cup?" Not as some are asserting, mere ph^-scial 
 death, but death as the bearer of sin. There are those who 
 suggest that in his agony, a few moments before, Jesus 
 feared that he might die in the Garden and so not reach 
 the cross. Nothing could be farther from the truth. 
 Jesus dreaded "the cup," not merely of physical death, 
 but of death in the place of sinners. He did shrink from 
 being "made to be sin" for us; from the mystery of that 
 experience he asked to be delivered ; but only for the brief 
 hour; the victory was his, and here he steps forth to meet 
 the traitor and his murderous band with a calm which is 
 majestic and divine. 
 
 b. The Trial. CJis. 18 : 12 to 19 : 16 
 By the Jews. Ch. 18: 12-27 
 
 12 So the band and the chief captain, and the officers of 
 the Jews, seized Jesus and bound him, 13 and led him to 
 Annas first; for he was father in law to Caiaphas, who was 
 high priest that year. 14 Now Caiaphas was he that gave 
 counsel to the Jews, that it was expedient that one man should 
 die for the people. 
 
 15 And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another 
 disciple. Now that disciple was known unto the high priest, 
 and entered in with Jesus into the court of the high priest; 
 16 but Peter was standing at the door without. So the other 
 disciple, who was known unto the high priest, went out and 
 spake imto her that kept the door, and brought in Peter. 17 
 The maid therefore that kept the door saith unto Peter, Art 
 thou also one of this man's disciples? He saith, I am not. 
 18 Now the servants and the officers were standing there, 
 having made a fire of coals; for it was cold; and they were 
 warming themselves: and Peter also was with them, standing 
 and warming himself. 
 
 19 The high priest therefore asked Jesus of his disciples, 
 and of his teaching. 20 Jesus answered him, I have spoken 
 openly to the world ; I ever taught in synagogues, and in the 
 temple, where all the Jews come together; and in secret 
 spake I nothing. 21 Why askest thou me? ask them that 
 have heard me, what I spake unto them: behold, these know 
 the things which I said. 22 And when he had said this, one 
 of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand, say- 
 
152 REVELATION TO DISCIPLES John 18: 23-27 
 
 ing, Answerest thou the high priest so? 23 Jesus answered 
 him, If I have spoken evil, bear witness of tiie evil: but if 
 well, why smitest thou me? 24 Annas therefore sent him 
 boimd unto Caiaphas the high priest. 
 
 25 Now Simon Peter was standing and wanning himself. 
 They said therefore imto him, Art thou also one of his dis- 
 ciples? He denied, and said, I am not. 26 One of the ser- 
 vants of the high priest, being a kinsman of him whose ear 
 Peter cut off, saith. Did not I see thee in the garden with him? 
 27 Peter tiierefore denied again: and straightway the cock 
 crew. 
 
 John has repeatedly asserted that unbelief was due to 
 sin, to moral perversity, to love of evil ; the fact could not 
 have been more clearly demonstrated than when Jesus is 
 brought before his enemies for trial. Here the Jewish 
 rulers were really upon trial, and here they condemned 
 themselves. 
 
 It is probable that John does not relate the action of the 
 highest ecclesiastical court which is described in the other 
 Gospels. He recounts only a preliminary examination, 
 at the home of the high priest; but the narrative shows the 
 spirit of the judges and the temper of the court which 
 a little later pronounced upon Jesus the sentence of death. 
 It is a revelation of hatred, insincerity, malice, cruelty, and 
 rage. These always characterize the open enemies of 
 Christ. "The high priest . . . asked Jesus of his dis- 
 ciples, and of his teaching," not that he wished information, 
 but only because he desired to entangle Jesus, to^ extort 
 some word or claim which he could place before the 
 sanhedrin as a ground for condemning Jesus. 
 
 Jesus replied that his teachings had ever been public 
 and open, and witnesses could testify as to what he had 
 said. There was an implied rebuke of the high priest in 
 the answer of Jesus, and "one of the ofificers standing by 
 struck Jesus with his hand, saying, Answerest thou the 
 high priest so? Jesus answered him. If I have spoken 
 evil, bear witness of the evil: but if well, why smitest thou 
 me?" They could offer violence to Jesus but they could 
 not produce witness that his teachings had been false. 
 Just here was their dilemma: they wished to condemn 
 
Johnl8:28tol9:16 THE SUPREME WITNESS 153 
 
 Jesus to death, but they had no proof of guilt or fault; 
 and this has ever been the dilenuiia of his enemies. Men 
 may hate him and reject him, but they cannot disprove his 
 perfect sinlessness, and in rejecting him they must condemn 
 themselves, as did his enemies of old. 
 
 During this examination an incident occurred, in the 
 court of the palace, which was real evidence of the char- 
 acter of Jesus, and which is full of significance for his fol- 
 lowers. Peter thrice denied that he knew his Master. 
 He thus showed the divine foresight of the Lord who only 
 a few hours before had predicted this denial; but he also 
 revealed the weakness of the flesh, and the peril of self- 
 confidence. The disciple who had sworn that he was will- 
 ing to die for Jesus, and who had rashly drawn a sword in 
 his defense, now blushes and stammers before a few ser- 
 vants, in the dim light of a fire, and declares that he does 
 not belong to the disciples of Jesus. Let us note that it 
 was not his faith that failed, but his courage. He goes out 
 and weeps bitterly. He loves his Lord. He is not a 
 Judas, he will yet be restored, and be commissioned to 
 service in the Master's name. 
 
 Before Pilate. Chs. 18 : 28 to 19 : 16 
 
 While the sentence of death was pronounced by the Jew- 
 ish court, it could not be executed by Jews. Rome had 
 taken from the subject nation the power of inflicting capital 
 punishment. It was necessary therefore to bring Jesus 
 before the Roman governor to have confirmed the sentence 
 of the Jewish tribunal. In this civil court, as before in the 
 ecclesiastical, his accusers, rather than Jesus, are really on 
 trial; it is not the prisoner but the judge who is finally 
 condemned. 
 
 This judge was Pontius Pilate, who, among all the figures 
 of the Gospel narrative stands out as peculiarly pitiful, 
 weak, and contemptible. Yet he, like Judas, is no monster 
 so far separated from us in depravity as to afiford us no 
 warning. You may do to-day exactly what Pilate did. 
 He is simply an example of a man who lacks decision of 
 character, who does not possess the courage of his convic- 
 
154 REVELATION TO DISCIPLES John 18: 28-32 
 
 tions, who tries to compromise with wrong, who disobeys^ 
 conscience through fear of personal loss. 
 
 It is not the character and fate of Pilate, however, with 
 which John is especially concerned, but rather with the 
 testimony to Jesus as "the Christ, the Son of God," and 
 with the unbelief of the Jews which, in the presence of 
 Pilate, reaches its incredible climax. This testimony and 
 unbelief are most prominent in the second and the last of 
 the four phrases of this civil trial ; but the divine character 
 of Jesus and the base craftiness of his enemies are evident 
 in every part of the story. 
 
 28 They lead Jesus therefore from Caiaphas into the 
 Praetorium: and it was early; and they themselves entered 
 not into the Praetorium, that they might not be defiled, but 
 might eat the passover. 29 Pilate therefore went out imto 
 them, and saith, What accusation bring ye against this man? 
 
 30 They answered and said unto him, 5 this man were not an 
 evil-doer, we should not have delivered him up unto thee. 
 
 31 Pilate therefore said unto them. Take him yourselves, 
 and judge him according to your law. The Jews said unto 
 him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death: 32 that 
 the word of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spake, signify- 
 ing by what manner of death he should die. 
 
 (1) First of all the Jews ask Pilate to confirm the death 
 sentence without any process of trial; and this the Roman 
 governor properly refuses to do. How really noble he 
 appears in contrast to the Jewish rulers! How ridiculous, 
 too, is their hypocrisy ; they would not enter the palace of 
 the Gentile prince, for fear of ceremonial defilement; 
 but their hearts were black with murderous hate, and they 
 were asking Pilate to condemn an innocent man! How 
 ready we are to "strain out the gnat, and swallow the 
 camel'." They will not go in to Pilate, so he goes out to 
 them, and, through the whole trial, the scene is continually 
 shifting as Pilate speaks first with Jesus within the judg- 
 ment hall and then with the Jews outside. 
 
 Pilate begins by asking what charge they bring against 
 Jesus. V. 29. They insolently reply that if he were not a 
 guilty criminal they would not have brought him to be 
 
John 18:33-39; 19: 1-4 THE SUPREME WITNESS 155 
 
 condemned. V. 30. The reply of Pilate is clever: "If 
 you have settled the whole matter, if you are the judges, 
 and this is not a case which needs to be tried in a civil 
 court, then proceed to punish the offender according to 
 your power and law, and infiict such punishment as under 
 such conditions is allowable." "Take him yourselves, and 
 judge him according to your law." In this case some 
 minor penalty, but not death, could have been inflicted. 
 The Jews therefore are compelled humbly to admit that as 
 death is exactly the penalty desired, they will submit the 
 whole case to the civil court. V. 31. John notes the 
 significance of this fact. Had Pilate not upheld the Roman 
 law, Jesus would have been stoned; he had predicted for 
 himself the Roman form of execution; his foresight was 
 divine. V. 32. 
 
 33 Pilate therefore entered again into the Praetoriura, and 
 called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the 
 Jews? 34 Jesus answered, Sayest thou this of thyself, or 
 did others tell it thee concerning me? 35 Pilate answered, 
 Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests delivered 
 thee unto me: what hast thou done? 36 Jesus answered, 
 My kingdom is not of this world : if my kingdom were of this 
 world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be 
 delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdomnotfromhence. 
 37 Pilate therefore said imto him, Art thou a king then? 
 Jesus answered. Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end 
 have I been bom, and to this end am I come into the world, 
 that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is 
 of the truth heareth my voice. 38 Pilate saith imto him, 
 What is truth? 
 
 And when he had said this, he went out again unto'the Jews, 
 and saith unto them, I find no crime in him. 39 But ye have 
 a custom, that I should release unto you one at the passover: 
 will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews? 
 40 They cried out therefore again, saying, Not this man, but 
 Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber. 
 
 1 Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him. 2 
 And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his 
 head, and arrayed him in a purple garment ; 3 and they came 
 unto him, and said. Hail, King of the Jews! and they struck 
 him with their hands. 4 And Pilate went out again, and saith 
 unto them, Behold, I bring him out to you, that ye may know 
 
156 REVELATION TO DISCIPLES John 19:5-6 
 
 that I find no crime in him. 5 Jesus therefore came out, 
 wearing the crown of thorns and the purple garment. And 
 Pilate saith unto them, Behold, the man! 6 When therefore 
 the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, 
 saying, Crucify him, crucify him! Pilate saith unto them. 
 Take him yourselves, and crucify him : for I find no crime in 
 him. 
 
 (2) As the second stage of the trial opens the Jews 
 present their charge; they accuse Jesus of a political crime: 
 he has called himself a king. This charge Pilate now 
 investigates. "Art thou the King of the Jews?" The 
 reply of Jesus constitutes one of the most striking testi- 
 monies contained in the Gospel to the fact that "Jesus 
 is the Christ." Pilate evidently expected a simple 
 negative answer. The matter was not so simple as he 
 supposed. There was a sense in which Jesus was indeed 
 a king, the true Messiah, the King of Israel; such he 
 claimed to be, such Nathanael had confessed him to be 
 on the first day of his discipleship; in another sense he 
 was not a king, not a political intriguer, not a leader of 
 sedition or rebellion. He therefore asks Pilate whether 
 the question was intended in a Roman or in a Jewish 
 sense. V. 34. Pilate replies indignantly: "Am I a Jew?" 
 He will not tolerate being implicated or interested in Jew- 
 ish claims and religious subtleties. He is a Roman judge, 
 and he asks Jesus to tell him plainly what his crime has 
 been. V. 35. In his reply Jesus reverts to his own ques- 
 tion and answers that if Pilate has in mind a political ruler 
 who is attempting to seize power by force of arms, then he-is 
 mistaken; but if Pilate is suggesting real influence and 
 authority over the lives and hearts of men, then Jesus is a 
 King. His instrument is not the sword, but the truth; 
 and everyone who loves truth will be his willing subject. 
 Pilate makes the reply of "frivolous skepticism :" "What is 
 truth?" He sees that whether Jesus is a fanatic or a 
 prophet, he is guilty of no capital crime, and so he deter- 
 mines to release him. He wishes, however, to secure the 
 favor of the Jews; so he attempts a compromise. Justice 
 would have granted an immediate acquittal, but self-inter- 
 est suggests two expedients, both of which fail and lead to 
 
John 19: 7-11 THE SUPREME WITNESS 157 
 
 the final tragedy. He first offers to the people, as a special 
 favor, to release Jesus, as the king they had welcomed into 
 the city a few days before, understanding that the plot 
 against Jesus was formed by the Jewish rulers and out 
 of pure envy. Pilate, however, was disappointed ; the rulers 
 persuaded the people to ask for the release of a robber, called 
 Barabbas, and to demand the death of Jesus. Vs. 38-40. 
 
 Secondly, Pilate gives Jesus over to be scourged. This 
 was a brutal and inhuman form of torture, as administered 
 by the Romans. It usually preceded the execution of the 
 death sentence. Pilate hoped by this to appease the rage 
 of the rulers and to inspire pity in the common people. 
 To the painful scourging the soldiers added cruel mocking; 
 they crowned the "King" with thorns, they robed him 
 with purple, and showed their homage by smiting him on 
 the face with their hands. Pilate therefore "went out 
 again, and saith unto them. Behold, I bring him out to 
 you, that ye may know that I find no crime in him. 
 Jesus therefore came out, wearing the crown of thorns and 
 the purple garment. And Pilate saith unto them. Behold, 
 the man!" But the expedient failed. The beasts have 
 tasted blood; they howl for more: "Crucify him, crucify 
 him!" Ch. 19 : 1-6. 
 
 Pilate is enraged. They are asking him to condemn a 
 man whom he has declared innocent of the charge pre- 
 ferred. "Take him yourselves, and crucify him," he cries; 
 he will himself have no part in such a judicial murder. 
 Nobly spoken! But little did the Roman ruler realize 
 the net the crafty Jews were weaving about him. 
 
 7 The Jews answered him, "We have a law, and by that 
 law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of 
 God. 8 When Pilate therefore heard this saying, he was 
 the more afraid; 9 and he entered into the Praetorium 
 again, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus 
 gave him no answer. 10 Pilate therefore saith vmto him, 
 Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have 
 power to release thee, and have power to crucify thee? 
 11 Jesus answered him, Thou wouldest have no power 
 against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore 
 he that delivered me xmto thee hath greater sin. 
 
158 REVELATION TO DISCIPLES John 19: 12-13 
 
 (3) If Jesus has been found innocent of the one charge, 
 there is another, and they at once accuse Jesus of a re- 
 ligious offense which is truly deserving of death. 
 
 "The Jews answered him. We have a law, and by that 
 law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of 
 God." The Jews were exactly right: Jesus did claim to be 
 the Son of God, and for that claim he deserved to die as a 
 blasphemer, unless he was the Son of God. Here the testi- 
 mony of John is reaching a climax. Jesus did claim to be 
 divine; for that claim he was arrested, condemned, cru- 
 cified. Never for a moment did he deny the charge. He is 
 either an impostor or divine ; there can be no middle ground. 
 
 Upon Pilate the charge has a most unexpected effect: 
 he is filled with terror. Can anyone to-day lightly dismiss 
 the claims of Christ? Even Pilate turns to ask eagerly 
 whether Jesus has come from above. However ignorant 
 and superstitious his thoughts, he is intelligent enough to 
 be arrested by the suggestion that this patient, princely, 
 innocent sufferer may be a divine Being. 
 
 Jesus makes no answer. Why? He never does to a 
 man who is violating justice, disobeying conscience, and 
 parleying with sin. It was not the time to ask Jesus as to 
 his origin, but to declare his innocence and set him free. 
 Pilate is irritated by the silence of Jesus. He asserts his 
 dignity: "Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not 
 that I have power to release thee, and have power to 
 crucify thee?" 
 
 Jesus responds in truer dignity: "Thou wouldest have 
 no power against me, except it were given thee from 
 above." How solemn the warning: Your power is a divine 
 trust; beware lest you abuse it. Jesus adds: "Therefore 
 he that delivered me unto thee hath greater sin;" because 
 he is employing a divinely commissioned officer of the law 
 as a tool to accomplish his murderous will. What a warn- 
 ing to Caiaphas and his band of guilty conspirators! 
 
 12 Upon this Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews 
 cried out, saying, If thou release this man, thou art not 
 Caesar's friend: every one that maketh himself a king 
 speaketh against Caesar. 13 When Pilate therefore heard 
 
John 19:14-16 THE SUPREME WITNESS 159 
 
 these words, he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the judg- 
 ment-seat at a place called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, 
 Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the Preparation of the passover: 
 it was about the sixth hour. And he saith unto fiie Jews, 
 Behold, your King! 15 They therefore cried out, Away with 
 him, away with him, crucify him! Pilate saith unto them. 
 Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We 
 have no king but Caesar. 16 Then therefore he dehvered 
 him imto them to be crucified. 
 
 (4) Pilate is deeply moved. His one desire now is to 
 release Jesus; but the rulers have one last, desperate 
 resort. They turn upon Pilate with a personal threat: 
 "If thou release this man, thou art not Ca?sar's friend." 
 To acquit a Jew who claimed to be a King, how would this 
 sound when reported against Pilate at Rome? The 
 enemy has attacked Pilate in his weakest point; he sur- 
 renders on the instant; self-love and self-interest must 
 be regarded at any cost of injustice and crime ; his soul is 
 lost. He takes his place upon the judgment seat. He 
 turns to the Jews with the solemn question, spoken in 
 bitter irony: "Shall I crucify your King?" "The chief 
 priests answered, We have no king but Caesar." Then they 
 are the confessed vassals of Rome, then they have re- 
 nounced their Messianic hopes, then they have denied their 
 national rights, then they, are apostate from God. They 
 have succeeded in accomplishing the death of Jesus, but 
 the success is the failure and the doom of a race. The 
 climax has been reached in the record of Jewish unbelief. 
 
 2. The Crucifixion. Ch. 19:17-42 
 
 Before even the briefest survey of the solemn scenes 
 connected with the Passion of our Lord, we should remind 
 ourselves of the significance of the death of Jesus as already 
 stated in this Gospel. According to the testimony of John 
 the Baptist, Jesus was "the Lamb of God, that taketh 
 away the sin of the world," and this removal of guilt in- 
 volved the death of the sacrifice. Referring to his own death 
 upon the cross, Jesus declared that "As Moses lifted up the 
 serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be 
 
160 REVELATION TO DISCIPLES John 19: 17-18 
 
 lifted up; . . . that whosoever believeth on him should 
 not perish, but have eternal life." His death therefore, was 
 to arrest all the virulent power of sin, in the case of the 
 believer. Jesus further taught that, as "the Good Shep- 
 herd," he was to give his life for the sheep, but in order that 
 they might have life more abundantly. On the last day 
 of his public ministry he asserted that it was the attractive 
 power of his cross which would draw all men unto him. 
 The death of Christ was therefore not merely the voluntary 
 testimony of a martyr to the truth of his teachings; it 
 was an atoning act, removing the guilt and power of sin, 
 drawing men to Christ, and making possible a larger life 
 through faith in him. 
 
 As we now turn to the record of the Passion as recorded 
 by John we note that he has completed the narratives of 
 the other Gospels by adding important details; but, what 
 is of far greater importance, we also observe that his ac- 
 count is so framed as to fulfill his supreme purpose of 
 bearing testimony to the Person of Jesus, and of showing 
 the development of faith in him. As the resurrection will 
 demonstrate that Jesus is the Son of God, so this story of 
 the crucifixion will declare him to be the Christ, the Mes- 
 siah of prophecy. 
 
 17 They took Jesus therefore.: and he went out, bearing 
 the cross for himself, unto the place called The place of a 
 skiUl, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha: 18 where they 
 crucified him, and with him two others, on either side one, 
 and Jesus in the midst. 
 
 Verses 17, 18. In the specific reference to the particular 
 episode of the crucifi.xion, John spares us all the revolting 
 details of the tragic picture. He simply states that Jesus 
 had to bear his cross, the symbol of infamy and agony; 
 that "they crucified him," and, to identify him more fully 
 with criminals, two others with him, "on either side one, 
 and Jesus in the midst." We need not be told that this 
 form of death was the most shameful and cruel that man 
 had devised; we need only to be reminded that, to secure 
 our salvation, Jesus endured the utmost of disgrace and 
 torture, even the death of the cross. 
 
John 19: 19-24 THE SUPREME WITNESS 161 
 
 19 And Pilate wrote a title also, and put it on the cross. 
 And there was written, JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF 
 THE Jews. 20 This title therefore read many of the Jews, 
 for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city; 
 and it was written in Hebrew, and in Latin, and in Greek. 
 21 The chief priests of the Jews therefore said to Pilate, 
 Write not, The 'King of the Jews; but, that he said, I am 
 King of the Jews. 22 Pilate answered, What I have written 
 I have written. 
 
 Verses 19-22. It was usual to place an inscription 
 over the head of the cross stating the crime of the sufferer. 
 Pilate, to show his hatred of the rulers, who had really 
 entrapped and defeated him, wrote as a title; "Jesus of 
 Nazareth, the King of the Jews." He did so in bitter 
 irony; he meant that the only king, or deliverer, the subject 
 Jews could boast or need expect, was a helpless sufferer, 
 dying the death of a malefactor. Pilate, however, like 
 Caiaphas, was affirming more than he intended. What he 
 stated was the truth, and the very truth John wished to 
 establish by his Gospel namely, that Jesus was "the 
 Christ," that is, the King of the Jews. Here, too, was a 
 prophecy: the only Saviour of the Jews, their only hope 
 now and ever, is this same crucified Jesus. Only when 
 they accept him as their King, can Israel be saved. 
 
 23 The soldiers therefore, when they had crucified Jesus, 
 took his garments and made four parts, to every soldier a 
 part; and also the coat: now the coat was without seam, 
 woven from the top throughout. 24 They said therefore one 
 to another. Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it 
 shall be : that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, 
 
 They parted my garments among them. 
 
 And upon my vesture did they cast lots. 
 
 Verses 23, 24. Of two memorable groups, standing 
 near the cross, John first mentions "the soldiers" who 
 "when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments and 
 made four parts, to every soldier a part," and cast lots 
 for his seamless coat. According to law these garments 
 belonged to the executioners. The reference was made 
 not merely to give us a symbol of the callous unbelief in 
 
162 REVELATION TO DISCIPLES John 19: 25-30 
 
 which men can make light of the death of Jesus, or can 
 plan paltry personal gain in the very sight of the cross; 
 but rather to be another proof that "Jesus is the Christ." 
 Even these brutal soldiers were the blind instruments of 
 fulfilling a psalm which had long been interpreted as a 
 prophecy relating to the coming Messiah: "They parted 
 my garments among them, and upon my vesture did .they 
 cast lots." 
 
 25 These things therefore the soldiers did. But there 
 were standing by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his 
 mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Mag- 
 dalene. 26 When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the 
 disciple standing by whom he loved, he salth unto his mother, 
 Woman, behold, thy son! 27 Then saith he to the disciple, 
 Behold, thy mother! And from that hoiu: the disciple took 
 her xmto his own home. 
 
 Verses 25-27. Four women seem to have formed the 
 second group, a striking contrast to the four soldiers: 
 the mother of Jesus, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of 
 Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. In connection with the 
 first of these, an incident occurs which as beautifully as any 
 fact in the Gospel history re\'eals the tender, human 
 sympathy of our Lord. Forgetting his own deep anguish, 
 and mindful only of those he loved, "When Jesus therefore 
 saw his mother, and the disciple standing by whom he 
 loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold, thy son! 
 Then saith he to the disciple. Behold, thy mother! And 
 from that hour the disciple took her unto his own home." 
 In these touching words does John record a supreme ex- 
 ample of filial piety, as he shows how Jesus gave to his 
 mother a son, and to his friend a mother. 
 
 28 After this Jesus, knowing that all things are now fin- 
 ished, that the scripture might be accomplished, saith, I 
 thirst. 29 There was set there a vessel full of vinegar: 
 so they put a sponge full of the vinegar upon hyssop, and 
 brought it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus therefore had 
 received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed 
 his head, and gave up his spirit. 
 
John 19: 31-37 THE SUPREME WITNESS 163 
 
 Verses 28-30. The death of Jesus as recorded by 
 John is described by one suggestive phrase, the meaning 
 of which is imperfectly conveyed by the translation; "He 
 . . . gave up his Spirit." The phrase really implies an 
 act which is voluntary and free. No one took his life 
 from him; he had power to lay it down and power to take 
 it again. Therefore when he knew that all things were now 
 accomplished, with kingly majesty, fully conscious of his 
 power, he dismissed his spirit. There are, however, two 
 words, spoken by our Lord, just before his death, the deep 
 significance of which John has noted. The first of these 
 was the cry of the sufferer: "I thirst." It voiced the 
 utmost experience of physical anguish; but it did more; 
 it exactly fulfilled the insj^red prophecy which had fore- 
 told the suffering of the Alessiah, and, spoken with that 
 prophecy in mind, it is recorded as a proof that Jesus is 
 the Christ. 
 
 The other word "It is finished," intimated, as John tells 
 us, a divine consciousness that his earthly mission was 
 ended, that redemption was comj^lete. For those who are 
 burdened by the guilt of sin, nothing remains to be done 
 but to accept him as the Lamb of God ; for those who ha\-e 
 been stricken by the power of sin, there is eternal life if 
 they look in trust to the uplifted Christ. Such is the_issue 
 of faith in the divine Son of God. 
 
 31 The Jews therefore, because it was the Preparation, 
 that the bodies should not remain on the cross upon the sab- 
 bath (for the day of that sabbath was a high day), asked of 
 Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be 
 taken away. 32 The soldiers therefore came, and brake 
 the legs of the first, and of the other that was crucified with 
 him: ii but when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was 
 dead already, they brake not his legs: 34 howbeit one of the 
 soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and straightway there 
 came out blood and water. 35 And he that hath seen hath 
 borne witness, and his witness is true : and he knoweth that 
 he saith true, that ye also may believe. 36 For these things 
 came to pass, that the scripture might be fulfilled, A bone of 
 him shall not be broken. 37 And again another scriptxxre 
 saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced. 
 
164 REVELATION TO DISCIRLES John 19: 38-42 
 
 Verses 31-37. While the body of Jesus still hjung upon 
 the cross, an incident occurred which occasioned the ful- 
 fillment of two further prophecies and is interpreted by 
 John as a double proof that Jesus is the Christ. According 
 to Jewish law it w^as necessary to remove from sight, before 
 sunset, the bodies of executed criminals. The enemies of 
 Jesus were the more eager to obey this law because of the 
 sacred character of the day which was to begin. In order 
 to hasten the death of the three sufferers, permission was 
 received from Pilate to have their legs broken. "But 
 when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, 
 they brake not his legs: howbeit one of the soldiers with a 
 spear pierced his side, and straightway there came out 
 blood and water." The nature and meaning of the blood 
 and water are difficult to determine. John interprets 
 them in his First Epistle as symbols of redemption and 
 evidences of divine incarnation; but here the thought is 
 fixed on the proof from fulfilled prophecy that Jesus is the 
 Christ. It had been provided, in reference to the paschal 
 lamb: "A bone of him shall not be broken;" this was now 
 true in the offering up of "the Lamb of God;" and Zech- 
 ariah had referred to the coming of the Messiah in the 
 words, "They shall look on him whom they pierced." 
 There was evidence then, in the pierced side, that Jesus was 
 the Christ. A larger fulfillment of the latter prophecy 
 remains for the future; some day Israel in awe and sorrow 
 and repentance will "look on him whom they pierced," as 
 he reappears in heavenly majesty, and then will begin the 
 true glory of the converted and believing nation. 
 
 38 And after these things Joseph of Arimathaea, being a 
 disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked of 
 Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate 
 gave him leave. He came therefore, and took away his body. 
 39 And there came also Nicodemus, he who at the first came 
 to him by night, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, 
 about a hundred pounds. 40 So they took the body of Jesus, 
 and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as the custom 
 of the Jews is to bury. 41 Now in the place where he was 
 crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new tomb 
 wherein was never man yet laid. 42 There then because of 
 
John 20: 1-31 THE SUPREME WITNESS 165 
 
 the Jews' Preparation (for the tomb was nigh at hand) they 
 laid Jesus. 
 
 Verses 38-42. The burial of Jesus presents a picture 
 of pathetic and melancholy interest. Two men, who had 
 lacked the courage of their convictions and had failed to 
 give their support and encouragement to Jesus while he 
 was living, now come forward to pay him honor after he is 
 dead. These are both rulers, men of position and power, 
 Joseph of Arimathaea, and Nicodemus; the former lays 
 the body of Jesus in his own new tomb, the second wraps 
 the body in a profusion of rich spices. These may have 
 been deeds of courage and of love, but they came too late; 
 not too late to fulfill prophecy, nor to render a real service 
 to the cause of Christ, but too late, surely, to afford satis- 
 faction to the hearts of the two men who mourned their 
 cowardice and remembered with poignant regret what they 
 might have been and might have done. Their faith is like 
 a glow of sunset at the close of the dark day of cruel and 
 murderous unbelief; but as we turn from its shadows let 
 us remember that Jesus does not ask for secret dis- 
 ciples; he bore the painful cross for us, and he expects 
 us openly, courageously, willingly, to take up the cross 
 and follow him. 
 
 3. The Resurrection. Ch. 20: 1-31 
 
 Now the night has gone; the bright dawn has burst; 
 Jesus has risen from the dead! W^ith the same physical 
 body which Joseph had placed in his rock-hewn sepulcher, 
 bearing the marks of the spear thrust and the nails, Jesus 
 has appeared to his disciples; and, as unbelief found its 
 consummation in his cross, so faith reaches its climax at 
 the sight of the empty tomb, and in the vision of a risen 
 Lord. 
 
 As we review the four scenes painted by John, we should 
 notice the nature of the evidence to the fact of the resur- 
 rection which each presents, secondly, the content of the 
 faith inspired, and thirdly, the prophecy which each con- 
 tains of the life in which faith will issue. 
 
166 REVELATION TO DISCIPLES John 20 1-10 
 
 1 Now on the first day of the week cometh Mary Mag- 
 dalene early, while it was yet dark, unto the tomb, and seeth 
 the stone taken away from the tomb. 2 She runneth there- 
 fore, and Cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple 
 whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them. They have taken 
 away the Lord out of the tomb, and we know not where they 
 have laid him. 3 Peter therefore went forth, and the other 
 disciple, and they went toward the tomb. 4 And they ran 
 both together: and the other disciple outran Peter, and came 
 first to the tomb; 5 and stooping and looking in, he seeth the 
 linen cloths lying; yet entered he not in. 6 Simon Peter 
 therefore also cometh, following him, and entered into the 
 tomb; and he beholdeth the linen cloths lying, 7 and the nap- 
 Idn, that was upon his head, not lying with the linen cloths, 
 but rolled up in a place by itself. 8 Then entered in there- 
 fore the other disciple also, who came first to the tomb, and 
 he saw, and believed. 9 For as yet they knew not the 
 scripture, that he must rise again from the dead. 10 So the 
 disciples went away again unto their own home. 
 
 Verses 1-10. This first scene depicts Peter and John 
 at the tomb of Jesus early on the morning of the resurrec- 
 tion. They do not know that Jesus has risen; they are 
 not expecting him to rise. They have been summoned 
 by the announcement of Mary Magdalene: "They have 
 taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we know not 
 where they have laid him." They have run to the tomb, 
 and have found it empty. Peter now turns away bewil- 
 dered and distressed; but when he sees the tomb empty, 
 and the cloths which had been about the body of Jesus 
 undisturbed, and the napkin which had been about his 
 head carefully "rolled up in a place by itself," John be- 
 lieves. He concludes that there is only one explanation 
 of the facts before him: Jesus has risen from the dead. 
 There is no other explanation of the empty tomb, but men 
 have been suggesting others ever since: "His disciples 
 came by night and stole him away"; "Jesus did not really 
 die, he only swooned upon the cross, and then revived and 
 escaped from the tomb"; "the disciples never saw him, 
 they only imagined that he rose"; "his followers were 
 guilty of intentional falsehood." These answers to the 
 problem have been attempted: theft, resuscitation, hal- 
 
John 20: 11-18 THE SUPREME WITNESS 167 
 
 lucination, deception; there is only one answer for the 
 thoughtful mind: resurrection. 
 
 What was it, however, that John believed? That Jesus 
 had risen? Surely this, but further that, as he had risen, 
 he was therefore the divine Son of God. The conviction 
 then produced was the origin of this Gospel, the source 
 of a life of loving devotion for the Apostle John. Such, 
 too, in the mind of the writer, is the only possible conclu- 
 sion to draw from the. fact of the resurrection; Jesus must 
 be divine, and deserving of our devotion and our love. 
 
 11 But Mary was standing without at the tomb weeping: 
 so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; 12 
 and she beholdeth two angels in white sitting, one at the head, 
 and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. 13 
 And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She 
 saith unto them. Because they have taken away my Lord, and 
 I know not where they have laid him. 14 When she had 
 thus said, she turned herself back, and beholdeth Jesus|stand- 
 ing, and knew not that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus saith unto 
 her. Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, 
 supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him. Sir, if thou 
 hast borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and 
 I will take him away. 16 Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She 
 tumeth herself, and saith unto him in Hebrew, Rabboni; 
 which is to say, Teacher. 17 Jesus saith to her. Touch me 
 not; for I am not yet ascended unto the Father: but go unto 
 my brethren, and say to them, I ascend unto my Father and 
 your Father, and my God and your God. 18 Mary Mag- 
 dalene Cometh and telleth the disciples, I have seen the Lord; 
 and that he had said these things unto her. 
 
 Verses 11-18. Mary Magdalene was the first person 
 to whom the risen Lord appeared. She had come to the 
 tomb to weep, and to pay fiomage to the body of the dead; 
 she was surprised by a vision of angels, and was convinced 
 of the resurrection by a single spoken word. She saw Jesus 
 but did not recognize him until her own name fell from his 
 lips: "Mary. She turneth herself, and saith unto him in 
 Hebrew, Rabboni; which is to say. Teacher." It is the 
 mourner who stands weeping at the grave of buried hopes 
 who, perhaps first of all, needs the vision of a risen Christ; 
 
168 REVELATION TO DISCIPLES John 20: 19-23 
 
 and sometimes he speaks, to the very heart, a message 
 which inspires as true a faith as tiiat .which comes to John 
 as he reasons from the fact of an empty tomb. 
 
 What is the message to Mary; what the content of her 
 faith? That Jesus is a divine Being, who stands in an 
 absolutely unique relation to the Father, as the Son of 
 God. Jesus bids her tell the disciples that he is about to 
 ascend, not to our Father, but "unto my Father and your 
 Father, and my God and your God." 
 
 What further was the life which was to issue from belief 
 in him, and as a result of his ascension? A fellowship 
 with himself, more intimate and real than his followers had 
 ever known, a fellowship made possible by the gift of the 
 Spirit. Therefore Jesus designates his disciples by a name 
 he had never used before: "My brethren." This also 
 explains the words of Jesus; "Touch me not; for I am not 
 yet ascended." It was not yet the time, even for reverent 
 love, and even by a symbolic touch, to claim the fellow- 
 ship which death had broken or the true communion which 
 his ascension was to secure. "Not yet;" but now that he 
 has come to dwell with believers as an abiding spiritual 
 presence, now we have the truest fellowship "with the 
 Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ." 
 
 19 When therefore 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 
 the midst, and saith unto them. Peace be unto you. 20 And 
 when he had said this, he showed imto them his hands and 
 his side. The disciples therefore were glad, when they saw 
 the Lord. 21 Jesus therefore said to them again. Peace 
 be unto you: as the Father hath sent me, even so send I you. 
 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith 
 unto them. Receive ye the Holy Spirit: 23 whose soever sins 
 ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them; whose soever sins 
 ye retain, they are retained. 
 
 Verses 19-23. The first appearance to the disciples 
 occurred the same day, in the e\'ening, when, fearing the 
 Jews, they had withdrawn for safety to an upper room. 
 They believed the fact of the resurrection, not when re- 
 ported to them by credible witnesses, but on the e\'idence 
 
John 20: 24-29 THE SUPREME WITNESS 169 
 
 of a physical demonstration: "Jesus . . . stood in the 
 midst . . . And ... he showed unto them his hands 
 and his side." Such proof was needed then, but not now. 
 Other kinds of evidence should suffice for us. We should 
 know the blessedness of those who "have not seen, and 
 yet have believed." Their faith was now in one who was 
 unquestionably divine, one who could give peace to the 
 soul, one who could impart the Spirit of God, one who was 
 indeed the Son of God. The life on which they were to 
 enter, as his followers, was to be, in its essence, a great 
 mission, identical with the mission of the divine Son. His 
 mission had not ended, it would not end: "As the Father 
 hath sent me [a perfect tense], even so send I you [a present 
 tense]." The disciples were to carry on the work of the 
 Master. The power, too, was to be his: "He breathed on 
 them, and saith unto them. Receive ye the Holy Spirit." 
 This gift imparted to them a fuller knowledge of the truth; 
 it was completed in the greater gift at Pentecost. The 
 Spirit, through the agency of those who testified for Christ, 
 was to secure the pardon of believers and the condemnation 
 of unbelief. Thus the risen Christ was to carry on his 
 saving work through his human messengers, by the power 
 of his divine Spirit. 
 
 24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not 
 with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples there- 
 fore said unto him. We have seen the Lord. But he said 
 unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the 
 nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put 
 my hand into his side, I will not believe. 
 
 26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, 
 and Thomas with them. Jesus cometh, the doors being 
 shut, and stood in the midst, and said. Peace be unto you, 
 27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and see 
 my hands ; and reach hither thy hand, and put it into my side : 
 and be not faithless, but believing. 28 Thomas answered 
 and said unto him. My Lord and my God. 29 Jesus saith 
 unto him. Because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: 
 blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have beUeved. 
 
 Verses 24-29. In his second appearance to the dis- 
 ciples, one week later, the purpose of Jesus was to con- 
 
170 REVELATION TO DISCIPLES John 20:30-31 
 
 vince Thomas of the reality of his resurrection. This 
 disciple has been known commonly as "the doubter." 
 In a sense, he was no more skeptical than the others had 
 been, before they had seen the risen Christ. When he 
 heard their report, he demanded practically the same proof 
 that had been given them. He should, however, have 
 accepted their testimony. It was his fault, and it is of 
 the very essence of doubt, to demand a peculiar and 
 specific kind of proof, and to refuse to believe on other 
 and sufficient grounds. That he was an "honest doubter" 
 is certain, (1) because of his attitude toward the evidence. 
 He went to the meeting of the disciples, to the very place 
 where he would hear repeated the testimony he regarded 
 as inadequate. (2) He was not afraid of the consequences 
 of belief. He loved the Master and had been willing to 
 die with him. When one is willing to face the evidence, 
 and really loves Christ, he is certain to receive light. 
 
 Conviction came to Thomas as the Lord appeared and 
 ofifered to give the kind of evidence desired. Then 
 Thomas believed, but without demanding the proof 
 he had before required. He was convinced by the love and 
 mercy and knowledge of his Lord, not only of his resurrec- 
 tion, but of his divine nature. He cried out in adoring 
 wonder: "My Lord and my God." This confession is 
 not only the culmination of belief; it is also the climax of 
 the Gospel. John at once adds that his purpose in writing 
 has been to bring his readers to just such faith in Christ. 
 If one naturally so skeptical as Thomas was convinced 
 that Jesus rose from the dead, we have no excuse for doubt. 
 If Jesus did so rise, then we should argue, as did Thomas, 
 that he is divine. If Jesus allowed Thomas to worship 
 him as God, we should yield ourselves to him in adora- 
 tion and love as to a divine Master, who has been proved 
 to be, by his resurrection from the dead, "very God, of 
 very God." 
 
 The Conclusion 
 
 30 Many other signs therefore did Jesus in the presence 
 of the disciples, which are not written in this book : 31 but 
 these are written, that ye may believe that Jesus is the 
 
John 20: 30-31 THE SUPREME WITNESS 171 
 
 Christ, the Son of God ; and that believing ye may have life 
 in his name. 
 
 In these words John states both his method and pur- 
 pose in writing this Gospel. He has not intended to 
 compose a life of Jesus. His aim has been to select from 
 a vast array of facts only a sufficient number to convince 
 the readers that "Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God." 
 By the first term, "the Christ," he designates the office 
 of the Messiah, in whom were fulfilled all the prophecies 
 concerning the Redeemer and Saviour of the world; by 
 the term "Son of God," he denotes the divine Person of 
 our Lord. The proof presented is that of "signs"; 
 by these John means not only those of this chapter, 
 but the miracles related in his entire narrative. Among 
 these "signs" the resurrection of Jesus is supreme; when 
 it has been accepted by Thomas he at once believes, and 
 confesses his faith. To produce such faith in others is 
 the purpose of the writer. He addresses, however, not 
 chiefly those who are unbelieving, but evidently those 
 who already have faith in Christ. He has given us a 
 narrative in which we have seen how faith can be increased 
 and developed, and he here intimates that a like experi- 
 ence of enlarging belief will be ours, if we carefully study 
 these "signs" wrought by our divine Lord. IVlost of all 
 he encourages his readers by the statement that his aim 
 is practical not speculative, moral not intellectual; he 
 wishes them to believe in order that they may have life; 
 he assures them that creed will afi"ect character, that 
 belief will result in experience, that faith will determine 
 conduct. John has written this Gospel in order that we 
 may know Christ, may trust him, may commit ourselves 
 to him, and thus have life in all its fullness of peace and 
 joy and beauty and fruitfulness and hope, even the life 
 eternal which issues from a knowledge of the true God 
 revealed in Jesus Christ his Son. 
 
172 THE EPILOGUE John 21 
 
 IV. The Epilogue. The Presence and the Symbolic 
 "Sign." Ch. 21 
 
 This charming scene, in which the risen Christ meets his 
 disciples by the inland lake, is regarded as an addition, 
 or an appendix, to the Gospel. It is vitally related, how- 
 ever, to the great truths of the book, and is in perfect 
 harmony with its contents. Before this chapter opens, 
 the argument of the writer has been concluded; but by 
 it his message is enforced and enlarged, and an artistic 
 literary completeness is given to his work. 
 
 Here a symbolic "sign," and a specific prophecy, attest 
 the divine Nature of Christ; here the essence of faith is 
 set forth as loving obedience; here life is interpreted in 
 terms of service. 
 
 At the bidding of their Master, the disciples had re- 
 turned to Galilee, where he had promised they should see 
 him. While they waited for him to appear, a group of 
 seven returned to their former task as fishermen. After a 
 long night of unsuccessful toil, in the early dawn, they saw 
 Jesus standing on the shore; but they did not recognize 
 him. At his suggestion they again let down their net, and 
 were surprised by a miraculous catch of fish. John at 
 once discerned the presence and act of the divine Lord; 
 Peter hastened to swim ashore, in his eagerness to greet 
 the Master; the others followed in the boat, and "when 
 they got out upon the land, they see a fire of coals there, 
 and fish laid thereon, and bread. . . And none of the dis- 
 ciples durst inquire of him. Who art thou? knowing that 
 it was the Lord." By this unexpected appearance, as by 
 each similar manifestation after his resurrection, Jesus was 
 making it more easy for his disciples to believe what he 
 had told them of a time soon to come, when, by his Spirit, 
 he would be with them continually. The first message of 
 this chapter, therefore, is that of the personal presence 
 of Christ with all believers. Sometimes, after long hours 
 of lonely toil, or in the dark night of weariness, we remem- 
 
John 21: 1-14 THE EPILOGUE 173 
 
 ber the Saxiour's promise, and realize his presence and 
 find peace and gladness and hope, as we greet the dawn of a 
 brighter day. The essential message of this closing scene 
 of the Gospel relates, however, to Christian serxice. 
 
 1 After these things Jesus manifested himself again to 
 the disciples at the sea of Tiberias; and he manifested him- 
 self on this wise. 2 There were together Simon Peter, and 
 Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, 
 and the sotis of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples. 
 3 Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say 
 unto him. We also come with thee. They went forth, and 
 entered into the boat; and that night they took nothing. 4 
 But when day was now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach: 
 yet the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. 5 Jesus there- 
 fore saith unto them. Children, have ye aught to eat? They 
 answered him. No. 6 And he said unto them, Cast the net 
 on the right side of the boat, and ye shall find. They cast 
 therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multi- 
 tude of fishes. 7 That disciple therefore whom Jesus loved 
 saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. So when Simon Peter 
 heard that it was the Lord, he girt his coat about him (for he 
 was naked), and cast himself into the sea. 8 But the other 
 disciples came in the little boat (for they were not far from the 
 land, but about two hundred cubits off), dragging the net 
 full of fishes. 9 So when they got out upon the land, they 
 see a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread. 
 10 Jesus saith unto them. Bring of the fish which ye have 
 now taken. 11 Simon Peter therefore went up, and drew the 
 net to land, full of great fishes, a hundred and fifty and three : 
 and for all there were so many, the net was not rent. 12 
 Jesus saith unto them. Come and break your fast. And none 
 of the disciples durst inquire of him. Who art thou? knowing 
 that it was tiie Lord. 13 Jesus cometh, and taketh the bread, 
 and giveth them, and the fish likewise. 14 This is now the 
 third time that Jesus was manifested to the disciples, after 
 that he was risen from the dead. 
 
 Verses 1-14. The "sign" of the miraculous draught 
 of fishes is not to be confused with a similar miracle 
 wrought by our Lord at the opening of his ministry; it is, 
 however, to be interpreted in the light of that previous 
 event. On that former occasion Jesus stated clearly the 
 truth he wished to illustrate: "Come ye after me, and I 
 
174 THE EPILOGUE John 21:15-16 
 
 will make you fishers of men." So now it required no word 
 of explanation to impress upon his disciples the truth that 
 he had called them to undertake for him the work of 
 "saving men alive." This was to be the character of their 
 service. In this task of winning souls for Christ, every 
 Christian is concerned. Opportunities and talents differ: 
 but it is the privilege and duty of all to be "fishers of men." 
 
 So, too, the "sign" suggests the guidance which the 
 Master is ever ready to give, and upon which we must 
 depend in case our service is to be successful. These men 
 toiled all the night and took nothing: but Jesus "said unto 
 them. Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and 
 ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not 
 able to draw it for the multitude of fishes." How often 
 we stand in need of some directing word from our Master! 
 
 The "sign" declares further that we can depend upon 
 the power of our Lord in doing his work. The miracle is 
 not to be explained on the ground, merely, that Jesus knew 
 the best place to fish; but rather that all things were sub- 
 ject to him, including, as the psalmist suggests, "the fish 
 of the sea, whatsoever passeth through the paths of the 
 seas." As we undertake the ser^'ice of the Master, we 
 should be encouraged by the belief that he has all power, 
 "in heaven and on earth." 
 
 Then again the story tells us of the support which the 
 Master gives his servants. We can depend not only upon 
 his power to do the work but upon his grace to give what 
 we are needing for the body and the soul. When the dis- 
 ciples come to land they find the broiled fish and the bread 
 ready for their morning meal, and to this provision they 
 are told to add from the abundant supply in the net. The 
 latter is described as containing "a hundred and fifty and 
 three" great fish; so there was provision for the future as 
 well as for the present. As servants of Christ we are to 
 receive "of his fulness," "and grace for grace." 
 
 15 So when they had broken their fast, Jesus saith to Si- 
 mon Peter, Simon, son of John, lovest thou me more than 
 these? He saith tmto him. Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I 
 love thee. He saith unto him. Feed my lambs. 16 He 
 saith to him again a second time, Simon, son of John, lovest 
 
John 21: 17-23 THE EPILOGUE 175 
 
 thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord«; thou knowest 
 that I love thee. He saith unto him, Tend my sheep. 17 He 
 saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of John, lovest thou 
 me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third 
 time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him. Lord, thou 
 knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus 
 saith imto him. Feed my sheep. 18 Verily, verily, I say 
 unto thee. When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, 
 and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be 
 old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall 
 gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. 19 
 Now this he spake, signifying by what manner of death he 
 should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith 
 unto him. Follow me. 20 Peter, turning about, seeth the 
 disciple whom Jesus loved following; who also leaned back 
 on his breast at the supper, and said. Lord, who is he that 
 betrayeth thee? 21 Peter therefore seeing him saith to 
 Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? 22 Jesus saith 
 imto him. If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to 
 thee? follow thou me. 23 This saying therefore went forth 
 among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet 
 Jesus said not unto him, that he should not die; but. If I 
 will that he tarry tni I come, what is that to thee? 
 
 Verses 15-23. In the dialogue between our Lord and 
 Peter there is further instruction as to the nature of ser- 
 vice. Here the apostle is given by the Master a threefold 
 commission: "Feed my lambs"; "Tend my sheep"; "Feed 
 my sheep." It is necessary to "save men alive" by cast- 
 ing the Gospel net, and bringing men to Christ in living 
 faith; but it is also necessary to guide believers in the way 
 of truth, to shepherd them with pastoral care, and to feed 
 them with the Word of life. This work is assigned in 
 more special measure to some Christians than to others, 
 yet there is none who cannot have a part in this blessed 
 ministry. 
 
 The more specific message, in connection with this com- 
 mission of Peter is, however, for all believers alike. It 
 concerns not so much the form as the condition, or motive, 
 of service. This is declared to be love for Christ. Peter 
 had denied his Lord, and forfeited his place as an apostle; 
 Jesus, after his resurrection, had met with Peter alone, and 
 undoubtedly had given pardon to the penitent disciple; 
 
176 THE EPILOGUE John 21: 15-23 
 
 but now he is publicly to reinstate him in office, and before 
 so doing he draws from Peter a declaration of his devoted 
 love. Three different questions are asked, three replies 
 given, and each is followed by the welcome command to 
 public, apostolic service. Jesus is undoubtedly calling 
 to mind the threefold denial of Peter, and also the proud 
 boast of surpassing love which had preceded it. "Simon, 
 son of John, lovest thou me, more than these?" asks the 
 Master, referring to the self-confident promise of Peter to 
 follow the Master even though all the other apostles should 
 fail. 
 
 In his reply Peter does affirm his love, but humbled 
 by the memory of his fall, he uses a less emphatic word 
 than that of his Master: "Yea, Lord; thou knowest that 
 I love thee." He does not claim a perfect, complete 
 devotion; he feels that his denial disproves such love; 
 but looking into his own heart he cannot deny a supreme 
 admiration, a true affection for his Lord. Jesus saith 
 unto him: "Feed my lambs." 
 
 Jesus now alters his question; he omits the phrase 
 which had rebuked the former boast of Peter: "Lovest 
 thou me?" Peter replies as before, using for "love" a 
 humbler term than the Master, and again appealing to the 
 testimony of the Master's own knowledge of Peter's heart, 
 as he affirms his affection : "Yea, Lord; thou knowest that 
 I love thee." Jesus saith unto him: "Tend my sheep." 
 
 Again Jesus changes the form of his question; this time 
 he substitutes the term for "love" that Peter had used, 
 and seems to ask whether Peter really had even such hum- 
 ble and imperfect devotion as he was claiming. Peter is 
 deeply grieved, not only by the repetition of the question, 
 but also by this change in its form. He cannot deny his 
 own consciousness, however, even though he once did deny 
 his Lord; he knows that he loves the Master, and cannot 
 but affirm that love, and he now appeals for confirmation 
 to the inmost, divine knowledge of Christ which he em- 
 phasizes by an added phrase: "Lord, thou knowest all 
 things; thou knowest that I love thee." Yes, the Lord 
 does know; and for this reason he repeats a third time his 
 inspiring commission: "Feed my sheep." We, too, may 
 
John 21: 24-25 THE EPILOGUE 177 
 
 have denied our Master, by word or deed; but if we have 
 truly repented, and if in our hearts there is a sincere love 
 for Christ we need not hesitate, in humble dependence upon 
 him, to enter anew even jjublic service in his cause. 
 
 In the case of Peter, and in the experience of all the ser- 
 vants of Christ, there will be opportunities of exjircssing 
 love more forcibly than by the utterance of words however 
 carefully selected. Suffering is usually the accompani- 
 ment of service, and the test of lo\-e. Peter was to pro\e 
 his devotion to Christ by a martyr's death; and of this 
 fact he is now tenderly informed by his Master, who then 
 bids Peter to follow him. Looking behind him, Peter sees 
 his dear friend, John, following with them, and at once 
 asks what his experience is to be. Jesus replies: "If I will 
 that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou 
 me." Of course Jesus did not intend to suggest that we 
 are not to take a deep interest in the fate of others, but he 
 wishes us to be kept from all envy and discontent which 
 comparisons may produce; and he desires us to be con- 
 cerned, rather, as to our absolute fidelity to him. He is 
 specially suggesting a lesson in the time of ser\ice. For 
 one, the allotted season is brief, the pangs of death severe, 
 the heavenly rest near at hand; for another there are long 
 years of testimony, and of waiting for the Lord's return. 
 "This saying therefore went forth among the brethren, 
 that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto 
 him, that he should not die; but. If I will that he tarry 
 till I come, what is that to thee?" The coming of Christ, 
 therefore, does not refer to death, but to his return in 
 glory, when the dead shall be raised and living believers 
 transformed, and together "caught up ... to meet the 
 Lord in the air" that they ever may "be with the Lord." 
 This has been the blessed hope of e\'ery generation of 
 Christians, and it should encourage us to such fidelity in 
 service that we ever can pray: "Come, Lord Jesus." 
 
 24 This is the disciple that beareth witness of these things, 
 and wrote these things: and we know that his witness is 
 true. 
 
 25 And there are also many other things which Jesus did, 
 the which if they should be written every one, I suppose 
 
178 THE EPILOGUE John 21: 24-25 
 
 that even the world itself would not contain the books that 
 should be written. 
 
 Verses 24, 25. Two brief words close this Epilogue. 
 The first affirms the truthfulness and credibility of John 
 as a witness to the facts which the Gospel relates. The 
 more carefully one reads this remarkable book the more 
 ardently will he assent to this testimony. The author 
 must have been not only an eyewitness, and a man of the 
 most profound spiritual vision, but one who in special 
 measure received the aid of the Spirit who was promised 
 to guide the disciples of Christ into ail truth. 
 
 The last verse, in pardonable hyperbole, asserts that 
 "There are also many other things which Jesus did, the 
 which if they should be written every one, I suppose that 
 even the world itself would not contain the books that 
 should be written." The meaning evidently is this: 
 that no writings, however true, could comprehend the 
 infinite glory manifested by the divine Son of God. Of 
 that glory this Gospel affords us a glimpse, but it is so 
 satisfying, so splendid, so alluring, that we love to linger 
 in its light, and we yearn for that clearer vision when we 
 shall meet him face to face and "shall be like him!' when we 
 'see him even as he is." 
 
 

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