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OTHER BOOKS BY DR. KEPPEL 
 
 THE BOOK OF REVELATION NOT A 
 MYSTERY 
 
 THAT YE MAY KNOW 
 
That Ye May Believe 
 
 The Argument of Saint John's Gospel 
 
 By 
 DAVID KEPPEL 
 
 THE METHODIST BOOK CONCERN 
 NEW YORK CINCINNATI 
 
** 
 
 4fi>4? 
 
 Copyright, 1922, by 
 DAVID KEPPEL 
 
 Printed in the United States of America 
 
 The Bible text used in this volume is taken from the American 
 Standard Edition of the Revised Bible, copyright, 1901, by Thomas 
 Nelson & Sons, and is used by permission. 
 
 SEP 
 
 ©CI.AG83154 
 
TO THE MEMORY OF 
 
 THREE JOHNS 
 
 mt brother 
 
 The Reverend John Hadden Keppel 
 
 preacher op the gospel in canada and the 
 
 united states, who was the first to 
 
 encourage me in these studies; 
 
 my father 
 
 John Keppel 
 
 of tullow, ireland, and later of the united 
 
 states, an earnest student of holy 
 
 scripture, including john's gospel; 
 
 my grandfather 
 
 The Reverend John Hadden 
 
 one of john wesley's preachers in Ireland, 
 
 himself a son of thunder and a 
 
 beloved disciple. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Prefatory Note 9 
 
 I. The Testimony of John the 
 
 Baptist to Jesus 11 
 
 II. The First Disciples 17 
 
 III. The First Miracle 22 
 
 IV. Jesus and Nicodemus 26 
 
 V. Jacob's Well and Beyond 30 
 
 VI. The Lord of the Sabbath 35 
 
 VII. The Bread of Life 40 
 
 VIII. Jangling Voices 47 
 
 IX. "Can a Devbl Open the Eyes of 
 
 the Blind?" 53 
 
 X. Bethany 60 
 
 XL Jerusalem 65 
 
 XII. The Upper Room 70 
 
 XIII. The Battle of Calvary 76 
 
 XIV. John Sums Up 81 
 
PREFATORY NOTE 
 
 In the Gospel of Saint John there are 
 two things of importance, the substance 
 of the book and the object for which it 
 was written. In the substance of the 
 book we have a nearly unique account 
 of the works and words of Jesus, with 
 the evangelist's profound deductions. 
 
 With the substance of the book the 
 reader is apt to become quite familiar. 
 He reads John's Gospel, as he reads the 
 synoptic Gospels, for the sacred story 
 and the lessons that lie upon the sur- 
 face. 
 
 But the average reader is exceedingly 
 apt to miss the object of the book. If 
 we are not greatly mistaken, very few 
 readers can tell offhand why John wrote 
 the book at all. 
 
 Yet Saint John is careful to state the 
 
 object of his book. "These things are 
 
 written, that ye may believe that Jesus 
 
 is the Christ, the Son of God; and that 
 
 9 
 
10 PREFATORY NOTE 
 
 believing ye may have life through his 
 name" (20. 31) ; just as near the close 
 of his First Epistle, he states the object 
 of that little tract, "These things have I 
 written unto you, that ye may know 
 that ye have eternal life, even unto you 
 that believe on the name of the Son of 
 God" (1 John 5. 13). 
 
 Thus the Epistle completes the argu- 
 ment of the Gospel. In a former trea- 
 tise entitled That Ye May Know we at- 
 tempted to trace the line of argument 
 of the Epistle; in the present treatise 
 we attempt to do the same for the Gos- 
 pel, by tracing John's argument, prov- 
 ing that Jesus is indeed the Christ, the 
 Son of God, and the grounds given for 
 such belief in Christ that we may have 
 lif e through his name. 
 
 Trusting that the purpose of the 
 Gospel of John may be realized by 
 many readers, that they may be led to 
 accept Jesus as the Christ, the Son of 
 God, and find eternal life through faith 
 in his name, this little book is sent forth. 
 
THE TESTIMONY OF JOHN 
 THE BAPTIST TO JESUS 
 
 (John 1. 19-36; 3. 22-36.) 
 
 In bringing his Gospel to a close 
 Saint John tells us why he wrote it: 
 "These things are written, that ye may 
 believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son 
 of God ; and that believing ye may have 
 life through his name" (John 20. 31). 
 
 The author never loses sight of this 
 purpose; and each successive section of 
 his book contains a direct argument, 
 usually based upon some sign shown by 
 the Lord Jesus, and bearing upon the 
 purpose just stated. 
 
 To present these arguments, culmi- 
 nating in the proof that Jesus is the 
 Christ, the Son of God, in a series of 
 brief and helpful chapters, is the pur- 
 pose of the writer. 
 11 
 
12 THAT YE MAY BELIEVE 
 
 First we consider the testimony of 
 John the Baptist to Jesus. 
 
 A wonderful man was John the Bap- 
 tist. One of the few whose career was 
 foretold by the earlier prophets, he was 
 accepted by the mass of the people as a 
 prophet, and declared by our Lord to 
 be more than a prophet. 
 
 His testimony to Jesus falls into two 
 parts: his earlier testimony given at 
 Bethany beyond Jordan, when he first 
 met Jesus ; his later testimony given at 
 iEnon near to Salim, some months 
 later. 
 
 In his earlier testimony he says that 
 He who had sent him to baptize had 
 given him a sign: "Upon whomsoever 
 thou shalt see the Spirit descending, 
 and abiding upon him, the same is he 
 that baptizeth in the Holy Spirit" (1. 
 33). 
 
 Jesus came to his baptism a stranger ; 
 but on him was the sign fulfilled. "I 
 have beheld the Spirit descending as a 
 dove out of heaven ; and it abode on him. 
 
THE TESTIMONY OF JOHN 13 
 
 . . . And I have seen, and have borne 
 witness that this is the Son of God" (1. 
 32, 34). 
 
 Such was the Baptist's testimony to 
 Jesus. Over and again he repeats it. 
 To the delegates from the Pharisees he 
 says : "In the midst of you standeth one 
 whom ye know not, even he that cometh 
 after me, the latchet of whose shoe I am 
 not worthy to unloose" (26, 27) . 
 
 To those who attended his ministry 
 he said, pointing to Jesus as he walked, 
 "Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh 
 away the sin of the world!" (29) and 
 to two of his disciples, one of them 
 Andrew, the other probably John the 
 author of the Gospel, he repeated: "Be- 
 hold, the Lamb of God!" (36). 
 
 His later testimony is recorded after 
 Jesus had been exercising his ministry 
 for some time, and was followed by 
 multitudes of the common people, but 
 despised and rejected by their rulers. 
 
 Being driven out of Jerusalem, he 
 went with his disciples into the open 
 
14 THAT YE MAY BELIEVE 
 
 country of northern Judaea, "and there 
 he tarried with them, and baptized." 
 At the same time John the Baptist was 
 baptizing at "iEnon, near to Salim." 
 Thus the two masters were exercising 
 similar functions not many miles apart 
 (3.23). 
 
 Jesus had the crowd ; and a discussion 
 which arose between the disciples of 
 John and a Jew, who may have been an 
 adherent of Jesus, about purifying, 
 brought the not unnatural jealousy of 
 John's disciples to a crisis. 
 
 The disciples carried the case to their 
 master. "Rabbi," said they, "he that 
 was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom 
 thou hast borne witness, behold, the 
 same baptizeth, and all men come to 
 him" (3.26). 
 
 Note his noble and utterly unselfish 
 answer: "A man can receive nothing, 
 except it have been given him from 
 heaven. Ye yourselves bear me wit- 
 ness, that I said, I am not the Christ, 
 but, that I am sent before him. . . . 
 
THE TESTIMONY OF JOHN 15 
 
 He must increase, but I must decrease" 
 (27-30). 
 
 It is not easy to decide whether the 
 following testimony is from the Baptist, 
 or from the evangelist; but it is to the 
 effect that Jesus is as superior to John 
 as the bridegroom to the groomsman, as 
 the heavenly to the earthy, as the son to 
 the servant. 
 
 Perhaps the most important point in 
 this testimony to Jesus by John the 
 Baptist is that it is given by the duly 
 authorized and foretold "messenger of 
 the covenant" (Mai. 3. 1). Verily, in 
 assuming his place as the "great shep- 
 herd of the sheep" Jesus entered by the 
 door into the sheep fold, and did not 
 climb up some other way! "To him the 
 porter," who is none other than this 
 same messenger, "openeth." He 
 came in the regular, God-appointed 
 way, as foretold by the holy prophets. 
 
 Another point worthy of notice is 
 that the Baptist announces him, not 
 as the Christ, or Messiah only, but as 
 
16 THAT YE MAY BELIEVE 
 
 the Son of God. To us both terms con- 
 vey about the same idea; but not so to 
 the Jews of Jesus' day. There were 
 thousands then who were willing to ac- 
 cept a purely human Messiah ; but very 
 few who grasped the idea that God 
 would send a divine being, "God mani- 
 fest in the flesh," as his Christ, his 
 anointed representative, his Son. In 
 the discussions in John's Gospel we find 
 the opposing Jews not unwilling to con- 
 sider our Lord's claim to be the Christ ; 
 but the moment he claims sonship to 
 God they pick up stones to stone him as 
 a blasphemer; and in his trial before 
 Pilate, they claimed: "We have a law, 
 and by our law he ought to die, because 
 he made himself the Son of God." Ac- 
 quitted on every other count, on this he 
 was crucified. Bear in mind then, that 
 Jesus' claim to be the Son of God was 
 no afterthought, but that this first wit- 
 ness said: "And I have seen, and have 
 borne witness that this is the Son of 
 God" (1.34). 
 
II 
 
 THE FIRST DISCIPLES 
 (John 1. 37-51.) 
 
 They met Jesus as strangers. He 
 had done no miracle and spoken no 
 word to impress them. They are first 
 attracted to him by the word of the 
 Baptist, "Behold, the Lamb of God!" 
 (1.36). 
 
 "And the two disciples," one An- 
 drew, the other perhaps John, "heard 
 him speak, and they followed Jesus. 
 And Jesus turned, and beheld them fol- 
 lowing, and saith unto them, What seek 
 ye? And they said unto him, Rabbi, 
 . . . where abidest thou? He saith 
 unto them, Come, and ye shall see. 
 They came therefore and saw where he 
 abode; and they abode with him that 
 day" (37-39). 
 
 How commonplace! The disciples 
 17 
 
18 THAT YE MAY BELIEVE 
 
 were very ordinary young men from the 
 humbler walks in life, fishermen from 
 Lake Tiberias, and he whom they called 
 "Rabbi" was untaught in the schools, 
 had done or said nothing remarkable, 
 was unknown in the nation. Yet prob- 
 ably both of them accepted him at once 
 as the Messiah. 
 
 "One of the two that heard John 
 speak, and followed him, was Andrew, 
 Simon Peter's brother. He findeth first 
 his own brother Simon, and saith unto 
 him, We have found the Messiah. . . . 
 He brought him unto Jesus. Jesus 
 looked upon him, and said, Thou art 
 Simon, the son of John, thou shalt be 
 called Cephas," Peter, "the Rock." 
 Jesus saw that beneath the rather shifty 
 exterior was the foundation of rock. 
 
 To learn the effect of this interview 
 upon Peter we must pass over several 
 weeks. Jesus had become famous. His 
 miracles had become more and more 
 wonderful, so that men spoke of making 
 him king. His teaching, however, be- 
 
THE FIRST DISCIPLES 19 
 
 came more spiritual, and therefore less 
 acceptable to the worldly. Many of his 
 disciples went back and walked no more 
 with him. "Would ye also go away?" 
 said he to the twelve, of whom Peter 
 had become leader. Then Peter, granite 
 rock that he was, made answer: "Lord, 
 to whom shall we go? thou hast the 
 words of eternal life. And we have be- 
 lieved and know that thou art the Holy 
 One of God" (John 6. 66-69) . 
 
 But, returning to John the Baptist's 
 encampment, we learn that "on the 
 morrow he," Jesus, "was minded to go 
 forth into Galilee, and he findeth 
 Philip : and Jesus saith unto him, Fol- 
 low me" (1. 43) . With these two words 
 Philip is won to faith in the Messiahship 
 of Jesus. 
 
 Even more remarkable is the case of 
 Nathanael. "Philip findeth Nathanael, 
 and saith unto him, We have found him, 
 of whom Moses in the law, and the 
 prophets, wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the 
 son of Joseph." Nathanael, without 
 
20 THAT YE MAY BELIEVE 
 
 guile indeed, but not without prejudice, 
 answers, "Can any good thing come out 
 of Nazareth?" And Philip, knowing 
 the compelling influence of the very- 
 presence of Jesus upon himself, says, 
 "Come and see." Jesus, seeing Na- 
 thanael approaching, exclaimed, "Be- 
 hold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no 
 guile!" Nathanael, surprised but not 
 convinced, knew his own portrait as 
 sketched by the Master. "Whence 
 knowest thou me?" he asked. "Before 
 Philip called thee," said Jesus, "when 
 thou wast under the fig tree, I saw 
 thee." Who, then, is this prophet of the 
 clear eye, who sees a man under his own 
 fig tree alone with God? The doubts 
 of the Israelite in whom was no guile 
 vanish, and he exclaims ,"Thou art the 
 Son of God; thou art King of Israel!" 
 (45-49). 
 
 If we had been in that group, and had 
 marked this mastery of men by an un- 
 known carpenter, from an obscure vil- 
 lage, without the training of the schools, 
 
THE FIRST DISCIPLES 
 
 21 
 
 or any other extraneous help, would we 
 not have taken our place with them, be- 
 lieving that Jesus is the Christ, the Son 
 of God? 
 
Ill 
 
 THE FIRST MIRACLE 
 (John 2. 1-11.) 
 
 We have now reached a turning- 
 point in our Lord's ministry. Up to 
 this time he had used only natural 
 means in his appeal to men ; now he uses 
 the supernatural. Even then he would 
 have preferred not to have done so. 
 His hour was not yet come. But, like 
 an affectionate son, he yields to the re- 
 quest of his mother. 
 
 We are familiar with the story of the 
 marriage in Cana, as recorded in the 
 second chapter of John; the wedding 
 feast, the invitation of Jesus and his dis- 
 ciples, the failing of the supply of wine, 
 the mother's request, Jesus' hesitation 
 but consent to do what his mother re- 
 quested, the water turned into good 
 wine, the effect of the miracle on the 
 
THE FIRST MIRACLE 23 
 
 ruler of the feast, the servants, and the 
 disciples. 
 
 Our Lord's hesitation to use his 
 miraculous power is what might be ex- 
 pected. He had utterly refused to turn 
 the stones of the wilderness into bread; 
 shall he now consent to turn water into 
 wine? 
 
 Well, he might do for his mother 
 what he refused to do for the devil. 
 The occasion was not ideal, neverthe- 
 less, while obliging the mother who had 
 already suffered so much for him, he 
 could give his disciples, whom he is so 
 soon to call to leave all and follow him, 
 proof that he is not only able to give 
 them "day by day their daily bread," 
 but if need be, to furnish even the lux- 
 uries of life also. 
 
 On the wedding guests the miracle 
 seems to have had little favorable effect. 
 It was to practically the same people 
 that he said a little later, "Except ye see 
 signs and wonders, ye will in no wise 
 believe" (4. 48). 
 
24 THAT YE MAY BELIEVE 
 
 The ruler of the feast, the best man, 
 had his little joke on the bridegroom. 
 Calling him, he said something like this : 
 "Well, you are a great provider! Folks 
 generally put on their best wine first; 
 and when the guests have drunk freely, 
 then that which is not so good. But you 
 have kept the good wine until now!" 
 
 "The servants that had drawn the 
 water knew" (2. 9). How often it is 
 that those in humble life grasp the truth 
 which their social superiors altogether 
 miss. They knew; but it is doubtful 
 whether they took the obvious step of 
 believing that Jesus was the Christ, the 
 Son of God, or that any of them en- 
 rolled as disciples of Jesus. 
 
 But those who had already accepted 
 Jesus as the Christ, and thus were in 
 condition to profit by it, were lifted by 
 this miracle to a higher plane. They 
 saw that their new friend and Master 
 exercised the very same power by which 
 the God of nature, in the alembic of the 
 vine, turns the water of the rain and 
 
THE FIRST MIRACLE 25 
 
 dew into the sweet juices of the grape. 
 Thus Jesus "manifested his glory; and 
 his disciples believed on him" (2. 11). 
 
 One other lesson we should not miss : 
 that this wonderful Jesus was man. 
 Yonder matron bustling about enter- 
 taining the guests is his mother. He sits 
 among the guests, eating and drinking, 
 sharing and encouraging their festivi- 
 ties, beautifying and adorning the insti- 
 tution of marriage, with his presence, 
 and the first miracle that he wrought. 
 Whatever more and greater he may be, 
 he is "The man Christ Jesus." 
 
 "We have not a high priest that can- 
 not be touched with the feeling of our 
 infirmities; but one that hath been 
 tempted on all points like as we are, yet 
 without sin." "In that he himself hath 
 suffered being tempted, he is able to 
 succor them that are tempted" (Heb. 
 4. 15 and 2. 18). 
 
IV 
 JESUS AND NICODEMUS 
 
 (John 3. 1-16.) 
 
 After a short visit to Galilee, Jesus 
 came to old, conservative Jerusalem. 
 It was Passover time, and everything 
 was at fever heat — great ceremonials, 
 vast crowds, gross abuses. 
 
 One of these abuses was, to use Jesus' 
 own phrase, making his "Father's house 
 a house of merchandise" (2. 16). 
 Later, according to another evangelist, 
 Jesus characterized it as making it a 
 "den of robbers" (Matt. 21. 13). 
 
 Jesus, who in the meantime had been 
 performing some wonderful miracles, 
 and had, as we are aware, been an- 
 nounced as Messiah by John the Bap- 
 tist, leaped at once into the exercise of 
 the functions of the Messiahship, by ex- 
 pelling the profane and dishonest swarm 
 86 
 
JESUS AND NICODEMUS 27 
 
 of buyers and sellers from the Temple. 
 This he had a right to do, if, indeed, he 
 was the Messiah. 
 
 The authorities were swift to chal- 
 lenge his right: they asked, "What sign 
 showest thou unto us, seeing that thou 
 doest these things?" (2. 18) . 
 
 Public opinion was divided; some, 
 with the majority of the rulers, demand- 
 ing greater signs ; others holding that no 
 man could do such miracles as Jesus was 
 doing save with the approval and help 
 of God. 
 
 Of the latter class was Nicodemus, a 
 candid, open-minded but timid man, a 
 ruler and teacher of Israel, who made 
 the memorable night visit to Jesus. 
 
 It is not at all likely that we have 
 anything more than the high lights of 
 the conversation recorded, since all that 
 Saint John gives us may easily be re- 
 peated in two or three minutes, a period 
 altogether too brief for such a momen- 
 tous interview. This accounts for an 
 apparent lack of connection, for in- 
 
28 THAT YE MAY BELIEVE 
 
 stance, between Nicodemus' courteous 
 address and the seemingly brusque re- 
 ply of Jesus. 
 
 How many great truths are given in 
 this short interview 1 God and the 
 kingdom of God; the new birth by 
 which alone that kingdom can be en- 
 tered, or seen; the spiritual nature of 
 the new birth, and its source in the 
 Spirit of God; the depravity of that 
 which is born of the flesh ; the spiritual 
 birth, invisible and mysterious as the 
 wind, but no less real; Jesus himself, 
 speaking what he knew and bearing 
 witness of what he had seen, descending 
 out of heaven, ascending into heaven, 
 nay, even then in heaven, Son of man 
 and Son of God; atonement through the 
 lifting up of the Son of man, and eter- 
 nal life through faith in his name (John 
 3. 1-15). 
 
 Throughout the interview we are 
 struck by what we may call the supe- 
 riority of the Lord Jesus. Nicodemus 
 high in position, rich, learned, influen- 
 
JESUS AND NICODEMUS 29 
 
 tial; Jesus, the Carpenter of Nazareth, 
 poor, despised and rejected of men; yet 
 everywhere Nicodemus is the puzzled 
 learner, and Jesus the Teacher sent 
 from God. 
 
 It is not our purpose to elaborate 
 these capital doctrines uttered by our 
 Lord, but simply to ask ourselves, If we 
 had been present at that interview, as 
 we believe John was, what would have 
 been its bearing upon our belief in 
 Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, 
 and our possession of eternal life 
 through faith in his name? 
 
 Do we not find fitting answer in the 
 golden words with which John sums up 
 his impressions, "For God so loved the 
 world, that he gave his only begotten 
 Son, that whosoever believeth on him 
 should not perish, but have eternal 
 life"? 
 
V 
 JACOB'S WELL AND BEYOND 
 
 (John 4. 4-54.) 
 
 Withdrawing from Judasa, and 
 thus removing all occasion of friction 
 with the adherents of John the Baptist, 
 Jesus and his disciples took the north- 
 ward road leading through Samaria to 
 Galilee. 
 
 Weary with his long tramp, Jesus sat 
 thus on the well. There was probably 
 not a door in all Samaria that would 
 open to him, and his only shelter from 
 the blazing sun was the canopy over the 
 well. The disciples have gone to the vil- 
 lage to buy food, and Jesus is alone. 
 
 A Samaritan woman approaches to 
 draw water from the deep well, and 
 Jesus asks for a drink of water, only 
 to be refused. 
 
 30 
 
JACOB'S WELL AND BEYOND 31 
 
 Jesus was one of those gifted souls 
 who 
 
 "Find tongues in trees, books in the running 
 brooks, 
 Sermons in stones, and good in every- 
 thing"; 
 
 and from the drink of water refused, 
 preached the "living water" as a free 
 gift. 
 
 "Sir," said she, "give me this water, 
 that I thirst not, neither come all the 
 way hither to draw." "Jesus saith unto 
 her, Go, call thy husband, and come 
 hither. The woman answered and said 
 unto him, I have no husband. Jesus 
 saith under her, Thou saidst well, I have 
 no husband : for thou hast had five hus- 
 bands; and he whom thou now hast is 
 not thy husband." (4. 15-18.) 
 
 Finding the veil snatched away from 
 her sinful life, but very little abashed 
 by the exposure, she exclaims, "Sir, I 
 perceive that thou art a prophet" ; and 
 then, perhaps to change a conversation 
 
32 THAT YE MAY BELIEVE 
 
 that had become embarrassing, and per- 
 haps from higher motives, she broaches 
 the age-long question between Jews and 
 Samaritans, as to where they ought to 
 worship, in Jerusalem or on the Samari- 
 tan mountain; and the Great Teacher 
 gives an answer that empties the whole 
 controversy of significance. It is not 
 the place, but the spirit of worship that 
 matters. "Jesus saith unto her, 
 Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, 
 when neither in this mountain, nor in 
 Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father. 
 . . . But the hour cometh, and now is, 
 when the true worshipers shall wor- 
 ship the Father in spirit and truth. . . . 
 God is a Spirit: and they that worship 
 him must worship in spirii and truth" 
 (4.21-24). 
 
 Impressed, but not ready to give up 
 her lifelong sectarian belief, the woman 
 appeals the question to a higher author- 
 ity than that of a prophet, "I know that 
 Messiah cometh; . . . when he is 
 come, he will declare unto us all things. 
 
JACOB'S WELL AND BEYOND 33 
 
 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto 
 thee am he" (4. 25, 26). 
 
 Leaving her water-pot, and that with 
 which she lowered it into the well, for 
 the convenience of Jesus and his com- 
 pany, she hurried back to her village. 
 To the men she cried, "Come, see a man, 
 who told me all things that ever I did: 
 can this be the Christ?" (29). 
 
 What a narrow, soiled life was hers ! 
 Like some of our times, she counted her 
 years by her husbands. Yet she had 
 influence enough to bring the whole vil- 
 lage to Jesus ; and after two days' min- 
 istry with them, the people of Askar 
 recognized Jesus as more than a 
 prophet, broader than a Jewish messiah, 
 as "indeed the Saviour of the world" 
 (42). 
 
 When he came into Galilee the news 
 spread that their own prophet, who had 
 done such wonders in Judaea, was com- 
 ing home; and at Cana he found a 
 nobleman who had hurried up from 
 Capernaum to beg him to come down 
 
34 THAT YE MAY BELIEVE 
 
 and heal his fever-smitten son. In- 
 stead of that, he spoke the word of 
 power in Cana and healed the lad in 
 Capernaum. And the grateful father 
 believed and his whole house. 
 
 If we had been among the simple- 
 minded Samaritans, or in the noble- 
 man's family, would we not have done 
 the same? 
 
 
VI 
 THE LORD OF THE SABBATH 
 
 (John 5. 1-47.) 
 
 The evangelist now introduces a 
 series of encounters of our Lord with 
 the hostile Jews, in which his claim to be 
 the Christ, the Son of God, was an- 
 tagonized. 
 
 One of these was occasioned by the 
 cure of a paralytic at the pool of Be- 
 thesda in Jerusalem. 
 
 One Sabbath day Jesus visited this 
 pool, whose waters were reputed to have 
 curative properties, especially at the 
 moment of the moving of the waters, 
 ascribed by some to the descent of an 
 angel into the pool, really due to the 
 action of an intermittent spring. 
 
 He found there many sick people, 
 blind, lame, or paralyzed, among them 
 one who had been an invalid for thirty- 
 35 
 
36 THAT YE MAY BELIEVE 
 
 eight years. After a few words which 
 drew out the fact that the man was ut- 
 terly helpless, Jesus told him to rise, 
 take up his bed, and walk. 
 
 The man rose up in perfect health, 
 rolled up the pallet on which he had 
 been lying, and walked about with it in 
 his arms. 
 
 The crowd, instead of being grateful 
 for the marvelous miracle, were horri- 
 fied at the breach of the Sabbath in- 
 volved in carrying the bed. 
 
 The upshot of the matter was that 
 Jesus was publicly charged with the 
 crime of Sabbath-breaking. This 
 brought up the question of his Messiah- 
 ship ; for if he indeed was the Christ, he 
 was Lord of the Sabbath also, whereas 
 if he were only man, he was, like other 
 men, subject to the law. 
 
 In his answer he planted himself 
 squarely upon his Sonship to God. "My 
 Father," said he, referring, of course, to 
 God his heavenly Father, "worketh 
 hitherto, and I work." 
 
THE LORD OF THE SABBATH 37 
 
 This brought upon him the even more 
 serious charge of blasphemy, "because 
 he not only brake the sabbath, but also 
 called God his own Father, making 
 himself equal with God" (5. 18). 
 
 To this capital charge Jesus does not 
 plead "Not guilty." He admits the 
 fact, and justifies it on the loftiest 
 grounds. 
 
 He is indeed the Son, in such intimate 
 union with the Father that he does 
 nothing whatever but "what he seeth 
 the Father doing" ; while the Father so 
 loves him that he shows everything that 
 he does to the Son (19). 
 
 Moreover the Father imparts mar- 
 velous powers to the Son; the power to 
 raise the dead and to judge the world, 
 so that men should honor the Son even 
 as they honor the Father (21-23) . 
 
 Even then the Son was granting 
 eternal life and immunity from judg- 
 ment to those who heard his word, and 
 believed in his divine mission (24) . 
 
 But the time was coming when the 
 
38 THAT YE MAY BELIEVE 
 
 dead in the tombs should hear his voice, 
 and should come forth, "they that have 
 done good, unto the resurrection of life ; 
 and they that have done evil, unto the 
 resurrection of judgment" (29). 
 
 That such a Being was Lord of the 
 Sabbath needs no argument. But was 
 he? What proof does he offer that he 
 is indeed the Son of God? 
 
 He frankly admits that his own tes- 
 timony alone was not sufficient. But he 
 has other testimony : 
 
 1. The witness of John the Baptist. 
 This was fresh in the memory of all, for 
 the very men who were accusing Jesus, 
 had sent to John, not long before, and 
 received his express declaration that 
 Jesus is the Son of God (1. 34). 
 
 2. The greater witness of the Father. 
 "The works' which the Father hath 
 given me to accomplish," says Jesus, 
 "the very works that I do, bear witness 
 of me, that the Father hath sent me" 
 (5. 36). 
 
 Another witness is that of the Scrip- 
 
THE LORD OF THE SABBATH 39 
 
 tures. "Ye search the scriptures," said 
 Jesus, "because ye think that in them ye 
 have eternal life; and these are they 
 which bear witness of me" (5. 39) . The 
 evidence of the Scriptures is just as con- 
 vincing to us to-day, as to believers on 
 Jesus in the days of his flesh. 
 
 We have a testimony which these an- 
 cient believers did not have in the same 
 degree — the growth of the Church of 
 Christ. When we view the church, in 
 spite of the apparent humbleness of its 
 origin, in spite of internal weakness, 
 and errors, and dissensions, rising like a 
 trickling rill from Calvary, deepening 
 and widening until like a mighty river 
 it sweeps on through the centuries, 
 touching and blessing well-nigh every 
 family of man, more potent after two 
 thousand years than ever, and perhaps 
 the greatest moral force on earth to-day, 
 we have proof far greater than that of 
 miracle that Jesus is the Christ, the Son 
 of God. 
 
yn 
 
 THE BREAD OF LIFE 
 
 (John 6.) 
 
 John the Baptist was murdered. 
 Sick at heart and weary in body, Jesus 
 crossed the lake with his disciples, to 
 "rest awhile." But instead of rest he 
 found five thousand people awaiting 
 him ; and, instead of being indignant at 
 the intrusion, he "had compassion on 
 them," taught them, healed their sick, 
 and fed the five thousand with the two 
 loaves and five little fishes, from a boy's 
 lunch-bag. 
 
 The feast was an object lesson. 
 What it did for the natural life, Jesus 
 declared himself willing to do for the 
 spiritual life. Both were misunder- 
 stood — the feast and the discourse on 
 the bread of life. To some who ate of 
 the loaves and fishes, it was merely a 
 40 
 
THE BREAD OF LIFE 41 
 
 free meal, and they were ready for an- 
 other the next day. Others saw more 
 clearly what Jesus had to do with feed- 
 ing them ; and they intended to take him 
 by force and make him king, thinking, 
 doubtless, that a man who could carry 
 the commissariat of an army in a lunch- 
 bag would be an ideal leader in a cam- 
 paign against the Romans. A very few 
 were affected by the miracle of the 
 loaves much as the disciples had been by 
 his first miracle at Cana. He "mani- 
 fested forth his glory," and they "be- 
 lieved on him." 
 
 In like manner the discourse on the 
 bread of life was misunderstood. Our 
 Lord's profoundly spiritual words were 
 taken in the most crass literalness. 
 When he spoke of their eating his flesh 
 and drinking his blood, they thought of 
 cannibalism. They forgot that in the 
 feast on the other side of the lake the 
 original loaves and fishes were a very 
 small part of the feast, and all the rest 
 was — Jesus. If he had not been there, 
 
42 THAT YE MAY BELIEVE 
 
 they would have gone hungry. But 
 taking the baldly literal sense of what 
 he was saying, they altogether missed 
 his meaning, and were disgusted at what 
 they thought he meant; and "upon this 
 many of his disciples went back, and 
 walked no more with him" (6. 66) . 
 
 What, then, was Jesus saying in this 
 discourse on the bread of life? 
 
 He was speaking of something far 
 too deep for words, and that must be ex- 
 pressed by figures, if at all. He was 
 speaking of something that to this day 
 most of his followers miss. 
 
 There are two sorts of life in the same 
 man : the natural life, by which he does 
 natural things, such things as animals 
 do, only a grade higher — thinking, talk- 
 ing, toiling, playing; and the spiritual 
 life, which only rises to consciousness at 
 the new birth, and by which he does 
 such things as the holy angels are doing, 
 who do God's commandments, "heark- 
 ening unto the voice of his word" (Psa. 
 103. 20). 
 
THE BREAD OF LIFE 43 
 
 Jesus does not call this "spiritual 
 life" as we do. Indeed, if by spiritual 
 life we mean a life that influences the 
 spirit only, it is a misnomer ; for this life 
 is interfused throughout spirit, soul, and 
 body, keeping the spirit in touch with 
 God, inspiring the soul with new desires 
 and ambitions, making the body the 
 agent of God's will. 
 
 Jesus does call it "eternal life." But 
 here, again, we are liable to mistake. 
 We have a way of dividing our exist- 
 ence into two parts — time and eternity; 
 and of thinking of eternal things as hav- 
 ing to do mainly with that portion of 
 our lives which lies beyond the grave. 
 There is no such division. We are just 
 as much in eternity now as we ever shall 
 be. Eternal life, beginning now and 
 reaching throughout eternity is, indeed, 
 a life that shall last forever, that is not 
 interrupted by what we call death ; but 
 it is much more than that. It is the sort 
 of life that the holy saints lived while in 
 the body, and are still living in glory. 
 
44 THAT YE MAY BELIEVE 
 
 As there are two lives, even so there 
 are two foods — a food for the natural 
 life and a food for the spiritual life. It 
 is of these that Jesus says, "Work not 
 for the food which perisheth, but for the 
 food which abideth unto eternal life, 
 which the Son of man shall give unto 
 you" (6.27). 
 
 Partly grasping the idea that this 
 "food which abideth" was that which 
 would make them efficient to do God's 
 will, some one in the crowd asked him, 
 "What must we do, that we may work 
 the works of God?" (6.28). 
 
 If we had not the teaching of Christ, 
 how would we answer this most impor- 
 tant question? Would we say, "Well, 
 if we really want to work the works of 
 God, we must study his Word, we must 
 pray a good deal, we must be very dili- 
 gent and earnest"? Others might say, 
 "Fast a good bit, afflict your soul, mor- 
 tify that flesh of yours." Still others 
 might say: "Oh, well, if you really want 
 to do God's will, make up your mind 
 
THE BREAD OF LIFE 45 
 
 that you will, and then jump in and 
 do it." 
 
 Excellent! but not at all what Jesus 
 says. He says, "This is the work of 
 God, that ye believe on him whom he 
 hath sent" (29). 
 
 Get it, beloved! It isn't anything 
 that you can get from Christ, much less 
 anything that you can do, it is Christ 
 himself that is the bread of life. What- 
 ever else you may have, without Christ 
 you cannot work the works of God ; and 
 if you try, you'll make a mess of it. 
 
 "I am the bread of life" is perhaps the 
 most astounding assumption that Jesus 
 ever made ; that of all the millions who 
 profess to work the works of God, none 
 shall succeed but those who eat the 
 flesh and drink the blood of the Son of 
 man. "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" (15. 4), says 
 Jesus to the eleven. But, how can we 
 abide in him? He tells us: "He that 
 
46 THAT YE MAY BELIEVE 
 
 eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, 
 abideth in me and I in him." 
 
 Pretty strong meat! Yes, it sifted 
 the Master's following. The greater 
 part walked no more with him. Even 
 among the twelve there were symptoms 
 of dissatisfaction. "Would ye also go 
 away?" said Jesus to the twelve. "Peter 
 answered him, 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" (6. 68, 
 69). 
 
 Well, which way shall we go? with 
 the departing disciples, who said, "This 
 is a hard saying; who can bear it?" or 
 with good old Peter, who had been 
 feasting on the bread of life, and be- 
 lieved and knew that none other than 
 the Holy One of God could feed the 
 soul with the bread of life? 
 
VIII 
 JANGLING VOICES 
 
 The seventh and eighth chapters of 
 John's Gospel are not easy to analyze ; 
 but above the strife of tongues, like the 
 tolling of a great bell above the clatter 
 of a city street, we cannot miss the ma- 
 jestic words of Jesus, words which 
 "nothing extenuate, nor set down aught 
 in malice." 
 
 The first jangling voices which we 
 hear are those of Jesus' own brothers. 
 Hard, worldly, skeptical words they ut- 
 ter. "His brethren did not believe on 
 him," but they could not but know that 
 their great Brother was doing marvel- 
 ous deeds and speaking wonderful 
 words; and, feeling that if he should 
 now be accepted by the authorities as 
 the Messiah it would reflect great credit 
 upon his kinsmen, they appeal to his 
 worldly ambition. 
 
 47 
 
48 THAT YE MAY BELIEVE 
 
 "The lever they use to move him is a 
 taunt. If these works of yours are 
 genuine miracles, don't hang around vil- 
 lages and little country towns, but go 
 and show yourself in the capital. No 
 one who is really confident that he has 
 a claim on public attention wanders 
 about in solitary places, but repairs to 
 the most crowded haunts of men. Go 
 up now to the feast, and your disciples 
 will gather about you, and your claims 
 will be settled once for all" (Marcus 
 Dods). 
 
 His brethren did not know that to do 
 what they suggested, and what Jesus 
 actually did six months later, meant to 
 him — death. 
 
 When Jesus did at last enter Jeru- 
 salem, the city was seething with jan- 
 gling voices: "Where is he?" "He is a 
 good man." "Not he ; but he leadeth the 
 multitude astray." "Is not this the man 
 they are seeking to kill?" "Lo, he 
 speaketh openly, and they say nothing 
 against him." "Do the rulers know 
 
JANGLING VOICES 49 
 
 that this is indeed the Messiah?" "Nay, 
 we know whence this man is, but when 
 Christ cometh no one knoweth whence 
 he is." "Well, when the Christ shall 
 come, will he do more signs than this 
 man has done?" 
 
 The clear, majestic voice of Jesus 
 dominated these jangling voices. We 
 may say, in brief, that he took back 
 nothing that he had said as to his Mes- 
 siahship and divine Sonship ; but some- 
 times reached heights he had never 
 touched before. 
 
 For instance, "On the last day, the 
 great day of the feast, Jesus stood and 
 cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him 
 come unto me and drink." Jesus had 
 said something very like this before ; but 
 now he adds : "He that believeth on me, 
 . . . from within him shall flow rivers 
 of living water" (7.37,38). Besides re- 
 ceiving spiritual gifts, the believer is to 
 impart them, to himself become a foun- 
 tain of the living water. We do not 
 wonder that when his hearers grasped 
 
50 THAT YE MAY BELIEVE 
 
 this promise of the Great Teacher, some 
 said, "Of a truth this is the Prophet," 
 and others, "This is the Christ." 
 
 Another high point in Christ's teach- 
 ing was when Jesus spoke 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." A mighty claim this, to be the 
 light of the world! Not one of many 
 lights, but the light. It is true all of 
 his followers are lights of the world, but 
 only so as planets reflecting the light of 
 the sun. 
 
 "They are but broken lights of thee; 
 And thou, O Lord, art more than they." 
 
 Jesus was not by any means allowed 
 to teach in peace. Once a warrant was 
 issued for his arrest ; but he captured the 
 captors. The officers returned to those 
 who sent them, without their prisoner, 
 reporting, "Never man spake like this 
 man!" 
 
 Often the jangling words interrupted 
 
JANGLING VOICES 51 
 
 his teaching. Then the fire flew. It 
 was plain that the "sword of his mouth" 
 was no wooden weapon, but a true Da- 
 mascus blade. Watching the thrust 
 and parry, we perceive that the Man of 
 Galilee was no mean swordsman. Take 
 this for example: 
 
 "I speak the things which I have seen 
 with my Father: and ye also do the 
 things, which ye heard from your 
 father." 
 
 "Our father is Abraham." 
 
 "If you were Abraham's children, ye 
 would do the works of Abraham. But 
 now ye seek to kill me, a man that has 
 told you the truth, which I heard from 
 God : this did not Abraham." 
 
 "We are not born of fornication; we 
 have one Father, even God." . . , 
 
 "Ye are of your father the devil; and 
 the lusts of your father it is your will to 
 do" (38-44). 
 
 Pretty sharp talk that ! There was a 
 good deal of human nature in Jesus of 
 Nazareth. 
 
52 THAT YE MAY BELIEVE 
 
 In this discussion Jesus laid stress 
 upon the credibility of his own testi- 
 mony. This may not have seemed very 
 convincing to the Pharisees, who said, 
 "Thou bear est witness of thyself: thy 
 witness is not true" ; but to us now, there 
 is no proof whatever so convincing as 
 Jesus' own evident conviction that he 
 was indeed the Christ, the Son of God. 
 
 Right here comes in the evidential 
 value of miracles to us who have never 
 seen a miracle. If Jesus' assertion and 
 evident belief that he was the Christ the 
 Son of God stood alone, we might sus- 
 pect that he was a victim of insane de- 
 lusions of grandeur. But we have over- 
 whelming historical proof that his asser- 
 tion was backed up by such miracles as 
 no other man ever did ; so that we have, 
 as he says, "the witness of two" — of 
 himself and of the heavenly Father who 
 gave him power to work miracles — that 
 he was the Christ, the Son of God. 
 
IX 
 
 "CAN A DEVIL OPEN THE 
 EYES OF THE BLIND?" 
 
 We now take up the study of one of 
 the sweetest stories ever told, that of the 
 grateful man who was born blind (John 
 9. 1 to 10. 21). 
 
 "A prophet on the Sabbath day 
 Had touched his sightless eyes with clay, 
 And made him see, who had been blind." 
 
 This was a miracle in many ways 
 unique. First of all, we can trace its 
 origin back into the mind of Jesus and 
 into the heart of God his Father. 
 
 There was in the mind of the Master 
 a powerful impulse to give sight to this 
 blind man; and back of that still, his 
 consciousness that it was the will of his 
 Father that he should do so. 
 
 God wanted that blind man given his 
 53 
 
54 THAT YE MAY BELIEVE 
 
 sight, partly for the blind man's own 
 sake, but more for the sake of giving the 
 light of life to those who would receive 
 it through his Son. 
 
 Jesus wanted to give sight to the 
 blind man, partly because he loved him, 
 but even more because it was the will of 
 the Father to glorify his Son by em- 
 powering him to give to the world just 
 such signs. 
 
 The miracle was done in circum- 
 stances of extreme danger to Jesus, 
 He had just escaped from stoning by 
 hiding himself (8. 59) . It was the Sab- 
 bath day, which he was already under 
 indictment for violating. Another Sab- 
 bath miracle would seem altogether 
 likely to reveal his hiding place and 
 bring the whole rabble, with the stones 
 in their hands, and more angry than 
 ever, down upon him. 
 
 Some may have thought that it was 
 no time or place for such a miracle ; but 
 Jesus felt that it must be done and done 
 then. "I must work the works of him 
 
EYES OF THE BLIND 55 
 
 that sent me while it is day," said he, 
 adding, "The night cometh when no 
 man can work." Truly he was our 
 brother ! 
 
 It may be that our Saviour's desire to 
 avoid a tumult explains his seemingly 
 grotesque act in spitting on the ground, 
 making a paste of the road-dust with 
 the spittle, and, smearing the eyes of him 
 who was born blind. It is altogether 
 likely that it was the Master's touch, 
 and not the clay, or spittle, or the 
 Siloam-water, that was the means of re- 
 storing the blind man's sight. If so, the 
 actual miracle was performed at the 
 Temple gate, not at Siloam. But to 
 keep the knowledge of the miracle, not 
 only from the angry mob within the 
 Temple, but from everybody, including 
 the restored man himself, Jesus seals up 
 his eyes with the clay, and sends him 
 to Siloam to wash. And as he washed, 
 the seal of clay dissolved, and the man 
 came seeing. When he came back to his 
 old sitting place the excitement was 
 
56 THAT YE MAY BELIEVE 
 
 over, and those who would could look 
 calmly upon another sign given by the 
 Father to justify the belief that Jesus 
 is the Christ, the Son of God. 
 
 There is perhaps no recorded miracle 
 more open to investigation than this 
 one, or any that was more carefully 
 investigated; and that by thoroughly 
 competent and most unfriendly investi- 
 gators. In every direction it can be 
 traced back to beginnings. 
 
 The man was born blind. This was 
 the common belief. The disciples said 
 so; Jesus himself said so; his parents 
 said so; and what is more convincing 
 than a mother's evidence that her baby 
 was blind? The man himself said so, 
 and didn't he know? Was not his whole 
 youth and early manhood proof 
 enough? 
 
 Now he saw. "One thing I know," 
 said he, "that whereas I was blind, now 
 I see." They doubted his word, they 
 reviled him, they twitted him as "alto- 
 gether born in sin," they cast him out 
 
EYES OF THE BLIND 57 
 
 of the synagogue, a dreadful penalty! 
 But, 
 
 "Their threats and fury all went wide; 
 They could not touch his Hebrew pride; 
 Their sneers at Jesus and his band, 
 Nameless and homeless in the land, 
 Their boasts of Moses and his Lord, 
 All could not change him by one word : 
 I know not what this man may be, 
 Sinner or saint ; but as for me, 
 One thing I know, that I am he 
 Who once was blind, but now I see." 
 
 And how clearly he reasoned! "Since 
 the world began it was never heard that 
 anyone opened the eyes of a man born 
 blind. If this man were not from God, 
 he could do nothing." 
 
 They could find no answer, so they 
 cast him out of the synagogue, expelled 
 him from their church ; and when Jesus 
 heard of it, he found him and took 
 him in. 
 
 This brings before us two groups, 
 the Pharisees, who cast this long- 
 afflicted lamb out of their fold, and 
 
58 THAT YE MAY BELIEVE 
 
 Jesus and his followers who found him, 
 and took him in. Both groups claimed 
 to shepherd the flock of God. Of those 
 who had thrown this man out, their own 
 prophet had said, "Woe unto the shep- 
 herds that destroy and scatter the sheep 
 of my pasture! saith Jehovah" (Jer. 
 23. 1). It is of them that Jesus says, 
 "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" 
 (10. 1). Of himself he says, "I am the 
 good shepherd; the good shepherd lay- 
 eth down his life for the sheep" (10. 
 11). "I am the good shepherd; and I 
 know mine own, and my own know me" 
 (14). 
 
 "There arose again a division among 
 the Jews. . . . And many of them said, 
 He hath a demon and is mad ; why hear 
 ye him? Others said, These are not the 
 words of one possessed with a demon. 
 Can a demon open the eyes of the 
 blind?" (19-21). 
 
EYES OF THE BLIND 59 
 
 Can it? Would it if it could? Are 
 not these miracles of Jesus "too great to 
 be done by man, and too good to be 
 done by the devil" ? How can we avoid 
 the conclusion that verily Jesus is the 
 Christ, the Son of God? ' 
 
BETHANY 
 
 Sweet Bethany! Here Jesus was 
 always welcome and honored. Here, in 
 a home of refinement and comfort, he 
 rested before the Battle of Calvary. 
 Here too we get outstanding proof of 
 the lovable humanity and mighty divin- 
 ity of Jesus Christ. 
 
 Saint Luke tells of the Master's first 
 reception in Bethany: "As they went on 
 their way, he entered into a certain vil- 
 lage : and a certain woman named Mar- 
 tha received him into her house" (Luke 
 10. 38) . Happy is the home into which 
 Jesus is received ! Thrice happy where, 
 as in this home, he loves to stay ! 
 
 Martha "had a sister called Mary, 
 who also sat at the Lord's feet, and 
 heard his word" (Luke 10. 39) . "Now 
 Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and 
 Lazarus" (John 11. 5) . Blessed home! 
 60 
 
BETHANY 61 
 
 Driven out of Jerusalem and rejected 
 in Galilee, Jesus "went away again be- 
 yond the Jordan into the place where 
 John was at the first baptizing; and 
 there he abode" (John 10. 40). — 
 "Tenting again on the old camp- 
 ground" ! 
 
 Here he receives an urgent message 
 from the sisters, "Lord, behold he whom 
 thou lovest is sick," but strangely seems 
 to loiter there until Lazarus died, was 
 buried and lay in the grave. Then, 
 with his disciples, he turned his steps 
 toward Judsea. 
 
 There is little need to recount the 
 story so familiar and so thrilling ; Jesus, 
 a hunted man, shunning the town where 
 he knew the emissaries of the Sanhedrin 
 would be; Martha, strong and vigilant 
 even in the shadow of death, hearing of 
 his coming, and meeting him with the 
 words, so often repeated with Mary, 
 "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my 
 brother would not have died" ; her flick- 
 ering hope that her brother would rise 
 
62 THAT YE MAY BELIEVE 
 
 again, perhaps "in the resurrection at 
 the last day," perhaps sooner; her firm 
 faith in Jesus as all that he claimed to 
 be, that whatever he might do or not do, 
 he was "the Christ, the Son of God, even 
 he that cometh into the world" (11. 27) . 
 Then we have gentle Mary, too much 
 absorbed with grief to notice who came 
 or went, but at Martha's whisper, "The 
 Master is here and calleth for thee," 
 rising quickly, hastening to where Jesus 
 was, taking her old place "at his feet," 
 and echoing the words so often conned 
 over with her sister, "Lord, if thou 
 hadst been here, my brother would not 
 have died." And we have that weeping 
 procession to the grave, when, with the 
 rest, "Jesus wept"; the reluctant re- 
 moval of the stone door of the sepulcher, 
 when we seem to catch the mephitic 
 smell, and see the prone body in its 
 white linen cerements; the prayer of 
 Jesus, rather a confidential talk with 
 God than a prayer ; the cry with a loud 
 voice, "Lazarus, come forth!" the stir 
 
BETHANY 63 
 
 in the cave as the rising dead comes 
 forth "bound hand and foot with grave 
 clothes; and his face was bound about 
 with a napkin" (11. 44). 
 
 It is all over. The sisters, wild with 
 joy, cling about the neck of their risen 
 brother, the crowd go with them and 
 him to their home, the spies of the 
 Pharisees creep off to tell them the 
 latest news; and Jesus? — Ah! Jesus, 
 more than ever fugitive, is well on his 
 way toward Ephraim, surely not the 
 Ephraim of modern scholarship — or 
 guesswork — but the ancient Ephron, 
 where Judas Maccabseus won a great 
 victory (1 Mace. 5. 46), still beyond the 
 place where John at first baptized. 
 
 There is another recorded visit of 
 Jesus to Bethany (12. 1-11), when 
 "they made him a supper there; and 
 Martha served; but Lazarus was one of 
 them that sat at meat with him. Mary 
 therefore took a pound of ointment 
 of pure nard, very precious, and 
 anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped 
 
64 THAT YE MAY BELIEVE 
 
 his feet with her hair; and the house" — 
 and world — "was filled with the odor of 
 the ointment" (12. 2, 3). Then it was 
 that Judas Iscariot found the odor of 
 the ointment more offensive than the 
 body of entombed Lazarus could have 
 been, and in his indignation went and 
 forged the last link in the chain that 
 should bind Jesus to the cross. 
 
 In Bethany we find Jesus intensely 
 human in his tearful sympathy; but di- 
 vine in the power that called his dead 
 friend back to life. As Martha said 
 of him, so say we: "Yea, Lord: I have 
 believed that thou art the Christ, the 
 Son of God, even he that cometh into 
 the world" (11. 27). 
 
XI 
 
 JERUSALEM 
 
 (John 12.) 
 
 While our Lord's fame on account 
 of the raising of Lazarus was fresh, he 
 offered himself to the common people 
 of Jerusalem and the passover pilgrims 
 from all over the Jewish world as their 
 Messiah and King. This he did by pur- 
 posely fulfilling the prophecy of the 
 prophet Zechariah: "Thy king cometh 
 unto thee, . . . riding upon an ass, 
 even upon a colt the foal of an ass" 
 (Zech. 9. 9). He presented himself in 
 a way that, without offending the 
 Romans, would be understood by every 
 Israelite. What interests us is that 
 Jesus claimed to be the Messiah of the 
 Hebrew prophets, and by the hosannas 
 of the multitude was so accepted by the 
 people. From thence forward, whether 
 65 
 
66 THAT YE MAY BELIEVE 
 
 he lived or whether he died, he was 
 Jesus the King of the Jews ; so even 
 his enemies hailepl him; so Pilate wrote 
 the title for his cross, writing wiser than 
 he knew. May we add that, in spite of 
 the fact that "he came unto his own, and 
 his own received him not," Jesus has 
 brought more honor upon Israel than 
 all her prophets and kings ; and to-day, 
 in the estimation of the world, the 
 greatest of the sons of Abraham is Jesus 
 of Nazareth. 
 
 And he had a message for the Gen- 
 tiles. Certain Greeks that came up to 
 worship at the feast sought and ob- 
 tained an interview with Jesus. To 
 them he said, "The hour is come, that 
 the Son of man should be glorified" ( 12. 
 23) ; that is, that the movement which 
 he was heading should succeed glori- 
 ously. 
 
 But how? Not by his continued life, 
 but by his death. As a kernel of wheat 
 must drop into the ground, or remain a 
 bare kernel of wheat, must die to bring 
 
JERUSALEM 67 
 
 forth much fruit, so must the Messiah 
 die, to 
 
 "live again 
 In minds made better by his living." 
 
 A Messiah reigning on in Jerusalem 
 would mean a localized kingdom, a 
 kingdom of this world; but a Messiah 
 who hated his life in this world, and who 
 was "lifted up" to die upon the cross, 
 would draw all men, Greeks and He- 
 brews, Jews and Gentiles, unto him. 
 
 Here the hostile Jews broke in: 
 "Lifted up ! How can the Christ, who 
 abideth forever, be lifted up?" They 
 rightly understood by "lifting up" exe- 
 cution on a cross, just as we understand 
 by hanging execution on a gallows. 
 How, then, could the Christ be lifted 
 up? 
 
 Jesus does not directly answer, but 
 he has a word for those hostile Jews. 
 He would have them come into the light 
 in which he and his little flock were 
 walking. It was still shining, but the 
 
68 THAT YE MAY BELIEVE 
 
 darkness was at hand. Yet there was 
 still time; and if they would only "be- 
 lieve in the light," even they might be 
 sons of the light. 
 
 Then he gave them an object lesson 
 of the coming darkness. Jesus "de- 
 parted and hid himself from them" (12. 
 36). 
 
 He adds a few words, perhaps the 
 last that he was ever to speak to his own 
 who received him not, most of them al- 
 ready spoken to the same people. Their 
 gist is that he is so united to God the 
 Father, so truly his messenger and rep- 
 resentative, that to believe in him was 
 to believe in God, to reject him was to 
 reject God, and that in rejecting both 
 him and the Father they were rejecting 
 eternal life. 
 
 What shall we say of this man, who, 
 having just displayed his power in rais- 
 ing dead Lazarus to life, staked and de- 
 liberately lost his life on the claim that 
 he was the Messiah and King of Israel, 
 and that, if he were lifted up, he would 
 
JERUSALEM 69 
 
 draw all men unto him, Gentiles as well 
 as Jews — a claim fulfilled by the com- 
 ing into his kingdom of multitudes of 
 all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, 
 and tongues, more and more continually 
 even unto this day? Is not this the 
 Christ, the Son of God, the author and 
 giver of eternal life? 
 
XII 
 
 THE UPPER ROOM 
 
 (John 13-17.) 
 
 The "upper room" is the Holy of 
 holies of John's Gospel, if not of the 
 entire Bible. An exhaustive study of it 
 does not belong to our plan, which is, 
 rather, to listen to this marvelous table 
 talk of Jesus, Testament in hand, and 
 inquire what bearing it has on our belief 
 that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of 
 God? 
 
 First of all we are impressed with his 
 human friendship. "Having loved his 
 own that were in the world, he loved 
 them unto the end" (13. 1). 
 
 This love was condescending love. 
 "Knowing that the Father had given 
 all things into his hands, and that he 
 came forth from God, and goeth unto 
 God" (13. 3), he took upon him the 
 70 
 
THE UPPER ROOM 71 
 
 form of a servant, by washing his dis- 
 ciples' feet. 
 
 This was to teach them a lesson in 
 service. "Ye call me Teacher and, 
 Lord : and ye say well ; for so I am. If 
 I then, the Lord and Teacher, have 
 washed your feet, ye also ought to wash 
 one another's feet." In this he does not 
 bate in the least his claim of superiority. 
 
 In no one thing was the quality of his 
 friendship shown more clearly than in 
 his treatment of Judas Iscariot, the 
 traitor, so kind, so patient, so forbear- 
 ing was it, until by his own act that 
 wretched apostle became apostate. 
 
 If we may accept the arrangement 
 suggested by Dr. Moffatt and others, 
 by which chapters fifteen and sixteen 
 are restored to what is supposed to be 
 their original position in the middle of 
 the thirty-first verse of the thirteenth 
 chapter, we come at once to the cement- 
 ing or interfusing of the friendship of 
 the disciples with their Lord, as the 
 branch abides in the vine. This is much 
 
72 THAT YE MAY BELIEVE 
 
 more intimate than earthly friendship. 
 It is the interlocking of their very na- 
 tures, he in them and they in him, as the 
 branch in the vine and the vine in the 
 branch. 
 
 The bond which united them — as we 
 might say, the sap which made the vine 
 and its branches one — was love, the 
 measure of which in them was that they 
 should keep his commandments, and in 
 him that he should lay down his life for 
 his friends (15.10,13). 
 
 Nor would he have this merely a 
 union between himself and each one of 
 them. He would have no schism 
 among the branches any more than be- 
 tween each branch and the vine; the 
 gist of his commandment was that they 
 should "love one another, even as he had 
 loved them" (15. 12). 
 
 This mutual love would soon be their 
 only earthly consolation, for the world 
 would hate them even as it had hated 
 him, would persecute them as it had 
 persecuted him, would think that a serv- 
 
THE UPPER ROOM 73 
 
 ice had been rendered to God in killing 
 them even as on the morrow his mur- 
 derers would think the same in killing 
 him (15. 18ff.; 16.2). 
 
 One mighty heavenly consolation 
 they would have in the loneliness and 
 suffering which they would endure in 
 the world: the comforter (15. 26), 
 whose presence would be so indispensa- 
 ble to them, that it was expedient that 
 Jesus should go away from them, for if 
 he did not go away, the Comforter 
 would not come, "but," said he, "if I go, 
 I will send him unto you" (16. 7). It 
 was impracticable for Jesus, at the same 
 time, to be with them in bodily presence 
 and in them in spirit; and this Com- 
 forter, this Spirit of truth, was none 
 other than "the Spirit of Jesus" (Acts 
 16. 7) . Thus it is that in promising the 
 coming of the Spirit of truth, Jesus 
 says, "I will not leave you desolate: I 
 come unto you" (14. 18). 
 
 There was another party to this 
 league of friendship — the Father. In 
 
74 THAT YE MAY BELIEVE 
 
 answer to a question of Judas, not Is- 
 cariot, "Lord, what is come to pass that 
 thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and 
 not unto the world?" Jesus answered, 
 "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" (14. 22, 23). So that 
 the Father, as well as the Spirit and the 
 Son, joins this sacred fellowship. 
 
 To this Father — whom Jesus had 
 once identified to the Jews, as he "of 
 whom ye say, that he is your God" 
 (John 8. 54), and to whom he was 
 so related that to have seen Jesus was to 
 have seen the Father — "Lifting up his 
 eyes to heaven, he said," in a prayer of 
 which every petition is afire with 
 God: "Father, glorify thou me with 
 thine own self with the glory which I 
 had with thee before the world was. I 
 manifested thy name unto the men 
 whom thou gavest me out of the world. 
 . . . The words which thou gavest me I 
 have given unto them, and they received 
 
THE UPPER ROOM 75 
 
 them, and knew of a truth that I came 
 forth from thee, and they believed that 
 thou didst send me. . . . Neither for 
 these only do I pray, but for them also 
 that believe on me through their 
 word; that they may all be one; . . . 
 even as we are one ; I in them, and thou 
 in me, that they may be perfected into 
 one ; that the world may know that thou 
 didst send me" (John 17. 5, 6, 8, 20, 
 23). 
 
 We have followed this confidential 
 table talk of Jesus, in which he laid bare 
 his very soul to his disciples, and to 
 God ; and in view of it all we ask, in our 
 Lord's own words: "What think ye of 
 the Christ? whose son is he?" (Matt. 
 22. 42.) 
 
XIII 
 THE BATTLE OF CALVARY 
 
 (Chapters 18-20.) 
 
 When Judas Iscariot went to the 
 chief priests to betray Jesus for thirty- 
 pieces of silver, if he could have re- 
 vealed some immorality in his life, or 
 some trickery in his miracles, he might 
 as well have asked and received thirty 
 thousand pieces of silver as a paltry 
 thirty. But, after three years' inti- 
 mate association with Jesus, all that he 
 could reveal was the place where "Jesus 
 ofttimes resorted with his disciples" for 
 rest and prayer. 
 
 This he did reveal; and when with "a 
 band of men and officers from the chief 
 priests and Pharisees, with weapons and 
 torches," the garden was surrounded, 
 and Jesus "knowing all things that 
 were coming upon him, went forth, and 
 76 
 
THE BATTLE OF CALVARY 77 
 
 saith unto them, I am he; . . . they 
 went backward, and fell to the ground" 
 (18. 4, 6). 
 
 It is hard to conceive how John, who 
 is usually so restrained in his state- 
 ments, and who is here describing the 
 humiliation of Jesus, his arrest, his 
 binding and leading away, his scourg- 
 ing and crucifixion, should put into his 
 history an event so unlikely as this, un- 
 less it was true. 
 
 True indeed it was I The kingly man 
 who met them at the entrance of the 
 garden was so majestic, so unlike their 
 conception of the supposed bandit, 
 whom they had come with swords and 
 staves to arrest, that they could not be- 
 lieve it when they heard from his own 
 lips that he was Jesus of Nazareth, and, 
 taking him to be some high dignitary, 
 they saluted him as if he were a king. 
 
 Not less dignified was his bearing at 
 his mock trial before Annas and Caia- 
 phas, who had already prejudged him 
 to death. And when in his hearing 
 
78 THAT YE MAY BELIEVE 
 
 Peter, as Jesus had foretold, thrice 
 denied that he knew him, that kingly- 
 glance that had brought those who came 
 to arrest him to the earth, melted 
 Peter's heart. 
 
 Had it not been for the malignity of 
 the persecutors and the weakness of the 
 judge, the trial of Jesus before Pilate 
 would have been a vindication. Pilate 
 found "no fault at all in him." Nay, 
 comparing him with the Jewish rabble 
 who were accusing him, Pilate ranked 
 Jesus as King of the Jews. Whatever 
 the purple robe may have meant to the 
 mocking soldiers, to Pilate it betokened 
 kingly majesty, just as the gorgeous 
 robe with which Herod arrayed him 
 was really a white robe betokening inno- 
 cence (Luke 23. 11). When Pilate 
 penned the title for the cross, "Jesus of 
 Nazareth the King of the Jews/" 
 he knew that, though 
 
 "Trouble-tried and torture-torn, 
 The kingliest kings are crowned with 
 thorn." 
 
THE BATTLE OF CALVARY 79 
 
 Pilate also knew that he could have 
 no authority at all against Jesus, except 
 it were given him from above. Roman 
 law gave him no authority to condemn 
 an innocent man to the cross; and he 
 certainly had no other authority. Were 
 it not for the will of God that Jesus 
 should die for sinners, and Jesus' con- 
 sent to yield his will to that of God, 
 Pilate could never have sent him to the 
 cross. He was only an instrument, 
 guilty indeed, of a higher power. 
 
 The real charge against Jesus was 
 that he made himself the Son of God. 
 This he never denied. For this he died 
 on the cross, thus ratifying by his suf- 
 fering and death his claim to be the 
 Christ, the Son of God. 
 
 We need not dwell upon the scene of 
 Calvary, perhaps never so well summed 
 up as by Rousseau the French philos- 
 opher: "If the life and death of Soc- 
 rates are those of a philosopher, the life 
 and death of Jesus are those of a God." 
 But in the resurrection, the Battle of 
 
80 THAT YE MAY BELIEVE 
 
 Calvary that seemed almost lost as he 
 was "crucified, dead and buried," turns 
 to victory. What mean the stone 
 taken from the sepulcher, the empty 
 tomb, the words passed between the 
 risen Christ and Mary Magdalen, the 
 lips so lately sealed in death, saying to 
 the disciples, "Peace be unto you"? 
 Can we better answer than in the words 
 of the doubting apostle, when he saw 
 the pierced hands and feet and the riven 
 side of the Crucified vibrant with eter- 
 nal life, "Thomas answered and said 
 unto him, My Lord and my God" (20. 
 28)? 
 
XIV 
 JOHN SUMS UP 
 
 Two writers are really concerned in 
 producing John's Gospel, an editor and 
 the author. The editor was probably 
 that Gaius to whom John addressed his 
 Third Epistle, and of whom a tradition, 
 of some authority, says that "the Gospel 
 of John was published in Ephesus 
 through Gaius." 
 
 This editor, who certainly was of suf- 
 ficient standing in the early church to 
 give his commendation weight, testifies 
 to the veracity and competency of the 
 author: "This is the disciple that bear- 
 eth witness of these things, and wrote 
 these things ; and we know that his wit- 
 ness is true." It is probably the editor 
 who identifies the author as, "the dis- 
 ciple whom Jesus loved . . . who also 
 leaned back on his breast at supper, and 
 said, Lord, who is he that betrayeth 
 thee?" (21.20). 
 
 81 
 
82 THAT YE MAY BELIEVE 
 
 It may be asked, why the editor did 
 not name the author, instead of desig- 
 nating him in this roundabout way? 
 Well, the answer seems to be, that to do 
 so would be to bring suffering, or even 
 death, upon the author, who was al- 
 ready a marked man by his exile to Pat- 
 mos. Such was the enmity of the 
 Roman government toward the sect 
 everywhere spoken against, that to be 
 a Christian was considered a capital 
 crime. And it will be noticed that not 
 one of the historical writers of the New 
 Testament writes under his own name. 
 
 The editor, then, goes as far as he 
 safely could toward identifying the 
 author as John the Beloved, the bosom 
 friend of Jesus, and declares him to be 
 competent and trustworthy. Tradition 
 assures us that John wrote his Gospel in 
 ripe old age, when he had had ample op- 
 portunity to put his beliefs to the test. 
 
 What, then, has this close friend of 
 the Lord Jesus — whose testimony as an 
 eyewitness is received by his contempo- 
 
JOHN SUMS UP 83 
 
 raries as beyond all question, who for 
 threescore or more years had been put- 
 ting his beliefs to the test — to say about 
 the argument he himself has framed? 
 
 He tells us that after the resurrection 
 of Jesus from the dead, new light was 
 thrown upon his dark saying, "Destroy 
 this temple, and in three days I will 
 raise it up." Whatever else Jesus may 
 have had in mind, he referred to the 
 "temple of his body"; and John says, 
 "When therefore he was raised from the 
 dead, his disciples remembered that he 
 spake this; and they believed . . . the 
 word which Jesus had said" (2. 19, 22) . 
 
 It is not always easy, or even possible, 
 to decide whether certain words are to 
 be credited to John, or to some other 
 speaker. Thus at the close of the con- 
 versation with Nicodemus, we are not 
 sure whether Jesus or John gives the 
 well-known sentence, "For God so 
 loved the world, that he gave his only 
 begotten Son, that whosoever believeth 
 on him should not perish, but have 
 
84 THAT YE MAY BELIEVE 
 
 eternal life" ; but in either case the bear- 
 ing of the words on the conclusion of 
 John's argument is clear (3. 16). 
 
 We cannot fail to notice the fairness 
 of John's argument. He does not by 
 any means confine his account to things 
 favorable to the claims of Jesus. He 
 gives both sides. 
 
 Thus, referring especially to the rais- 
 ing of Lazarus, he says, "But though 
 he had done so many signs before them, 
 yet they believed not on him" (12. 37). 
 And why not? Their own prophet, 
 Isaiah, tells why. The trouble was not 
 of the head, but of the heart. Blindness 
 had happened to Israel, that judicial 
 blindness which comes as the result and 
 punishment of sin. 
 
 "He hath blinded their eyes, and hard- 
 ened their heart; 
 
 Lest they should see with their eyes, 
 and perceive with their heart; 
 
 And should turn, 
 
 And I should heal them" (John 12. 
 40; Isa. 6. 10). 
 
JOHN SUMS UP 85 
 
 They had sinned away their day of 
 grace, and the things which belonged to 
 their peace were hid from their eyes. 
 
 The careful reader of John's Gospel 
 can hardly miss other remarks of the 
 evangelist himself, going to show that 
 he had the utmost confidence in the con- 
 clusion that Jesus is the Christ, the Son 
 of God, and that those who believe in 
 his name have eternal life. We offer 
 but one more. 
 
 An author often conceives the ideas 
 of the introduction to his book last of 
 all. It was so with John. We look, 
 therefore, to the opening words of his 
 Gospel for his ripest conclusion. 
 
 He introduces him who is to be the 
 subject of his book as the Logos. This 
 was a term much in use by the theolo- 
 gians of John's day to denote a manifes- 
 tation of or from God. Philo used it 
 to express God speaking or acting in 
 time and space. In his use of the word 
 Philo seems almost Christian. He 
 speaks of the Logos as "The high 
 
86 THAT YE MAY BELIEVE 
 
 priest and advocate who pleads the 
 cause of sinful humanity before God," 
 as "The first-born Son of God," as 
 "The second God." 
 
 John identifies this Logos, or Word,, 
 with Jesus, who "became flesh and 
 dwelt among us," to whom John the 
 Baptist was bearing testimony; and also 
 with the Word of God, through whom 
 "all things were made that are made"; 
 who was in the beginning with God. 
 "AND THE WORD WAS GOD." 
 
 This is the last word that need be 
 said. It explains all the rest, the mar- 
 velous life, the mighty signs, the won- 
 derful words, the sublime self-sacrifice 
 of Jesus. He was the Word, and the 
 Word was God. 
 
 He who believes in the name of Jesus 
 as including all this, who so reverences 
 him as to obey and follow him, and so 
 trusts him as to accept him as Saviour, 
 hath everlasting life. 
 
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