| By Andy Moyle | 1 min 50 secs | 0 Comments
The Son of Man must die, to reign forever The crowds in Jerusalem leading up to the Passover feast were huge. Josephus, writing of events 30 years later, described a crowd of 2.7 million people. The crowd around Jesus are coming to see Him enter Jerusalem. Like Maccabees nearly 200 years before, it’s a triumphal […]
| By Andy Moyle | 1 min 57 secs | 0 Comments
The poor you will always have The passage starts with yet more religious leaders’ self-interest. Jesus’ ministry is going to mean they will lose their place and their nation. They, like Judas later in the passage, are interested in profiting from religion and their status. This is in marked contrast to John the Baptist who […]
| By Andy Moyle | 2 mins 55 secs | 0 Comments
Come forth! Today’s reading is one of the more well-known passages in the gospels – the raising of Lazarus. Jesus is very clear that Lazarus is, in fact, dead – and John is careful in his telling to make sure we have no doubt about this fact. He mentions specifically that Lazarus had been in […]
| By Andy Moyle | 2 mins 32 secs | 0 Comments
My sheep The Feast of Dedication was not prescribed by God in the Scripture. Better known today as Hanukkah, it was instituted by the Jewish Priest Maccabees in 165BC, to celebrate the re-dedication of the temple after it had been desecrated by Antiochus Epiphanes. So nationalistic tensions would have been running high and the desire […]
| By Andy Moyle | 1 min 36 secs | 0 Comments
Abundant life The statement “For judgement I came into this world” is perplexing as it seems to directly contradict John 3:17, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn.” No! He came primarily to save sinners in this lost and fallen world. But His coming results in both salvation and judgement. […]
| By Andy Moyle | 1 min 43 secs | 0 Comments
Demonstrating the light Jesus is the light of the world. He now demonstrates that by bringing light to a man’s eyes. One of the marks of the Messianic age was the recovery of sight for the blind (Isa 29:18; 35:5), so Jesus demonstrates that. The scene is set with a man born blind. The question […]
| By Andy Moyle | 2 mins 40 secs | 0 Comments
Is the Gospel of John Anti-Semitic The Gospels are filled with Jesus’ battle of words and deeds with Jewish leaders. Liberal commentators argue that today’s reading is the climax of antisemitism and must have been written later when battles between Jews and Christians were hotter and the gospel was edited to demonise Jews in general. […]
| By Andy Moyle | 1 min 41 secs | 0 Comments
Light of the world Jesus – the light of the world, is a great comfort in the midst of darkness. It is, as John Piper puts it, “the soft glow in a lonely room when we are bearing devastating loss”. His sweet light and presence carries us through the darkest of times. His light also […]
| By Andy Moyle | 3 mins 26 secs | 0 Comments
“Did God really say…?” – Satan, the serpent. Genesis 3:1 You’ll notice that a good chunk of today’s passage is encased in brackets. The accompanying note tells us that “the earliest manuscripts do not include 7:53 – 8:11”. Now, I’m the sort of person who likes to have things laid out clearly. If we’re going […]