DESTINY’S BIBLE STUDY NOTES AND QUOTES

(The LIFE and MINISTRY of JESUS # 34)

Who is the Greatest? (See Matthew 17:22-27, and 18:1-20)

Jesus had told the disciples that He was to die for their sake, and their selfish ambitions was in painful contrast to His unselfish love.

The strife for the highest place was the outworking of that same spirit which was the beginning of the great controversy in heaven.

There rose up before Jesus a vision of Lucifer, the “son of the morning,” in glory surpassing all of the angels that surround the throne. Lucifer had said, “I will be like the Most High. (Isaiah 14:12, 14) and the desire for self-exaltation had brought strife into the heavenly courts, and ultimately banished a large multitude of the hosts of God.

Had Lucifer really desired to be like the Most High, he never would have deserted his appointed place in heaven. For the spirit of the Most High is manifested in unselfish ministry.

Lucifer desired God’s power, but not His character.

The kingdom of Satan is a kingdom of force.

While Lucifer counted it a thing to be grasped to be equal with God. Christ, the Exalted One, “made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” (Philippians 2:7, 8)

The sincere, contrite soul is precious in the sight of God.

The simplicity, the self-forgetfulness, and the confiding love of a little child are the attributes that Heaven values. These are the characteristics of real greatness.

When we see Jesus, a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief, working to save the lost, slighted, scorned, derided, driven from city to city till His mission was accomplished; when we behold Him in Gethsemane, sweating great drops of blood, and on the cross dying in agony. When we see this, self will no longer clamor to be recognized. Looking unto Jesus, we shall be ashamed of our coldness, our lethargy, our self-seeking.

It is by beholding that we become changed.

We ourselves are erring, and need Christ’s pity and forgiveness, and just as we wish Him to deal with us, He bids us deal with one another.

Whenever His word is obeyed with a sincere heart, there Christ abides.

Jesus says, “My Father which is in heaven,” reminding His disciples that while by His humanity He is linked with them, a sharer in their trials, and sympathizing with them in their sufferings. By His divinity He is connected with the throne of the Infinite. All the power of heaven is brought to combine with human ability drawing souls to Christ.

At the Feast of Tabernacles (See John 7:1-15, 37-39)

Three times a year the Jews were required to assemble at Jerusalem for religious purposes. Enshrouded in the pillar of cloud, Israel’s invisible Leader had given the directions in regard to these gatherings.

Since the healing at Bethesda Jesus had not attended the national gatherings. To avoid useless conflict with the leaders at Jerusalem, He had restricted His labors to Galilee. His apparent neglect of the great religious assemblies, and the enmity manifested by the priests and rabbis, were a cause of perplexity to the people about Him, and even His own disciples and kindred.

In his teachings He had dwelt upon the blessings of obedience to the law of God, and yet he Himself seemed to be indifferent to the service which had been divinely established. His mingling with publicans and others of ill repute, His disregard of the rabbinical observances, and the freedom with which He set aside the traditional requirements concerning the Sabbath, all seeming to place Him in antagonism to the religious authorities, excited much questioning.

If Jesus knew He was the Messiah, many wondered why this strange reserve and inaction? If He really possessed such power, why not go boldly to Jerusalem, and assert His claims?

The world does not hate those who are it in spirit; it loves them as its own.

No one was regarded as qualified to be a religious teacher unless he had studied in the rabbinical schools, and both Jesus and John the Baptist had been represented as ignorant because they had not received this training… The God of heaven was their teacher, and from Him they had received the highest kind of wisdom.

There had been nothing in all the round of ceremonies to meet the wants of the spirit, nothing to satisfy the thirst of the soul for that which does not perish. Jesus invited them to come and drink of the fountain of life, of that which would be in them a well of water, springing up unto everlasting life.

Jesus knows the wants of the soul. The cry of Christ to the thirsty soul is still going forth.

“Whoever desires, let him take the water of life FREELY.” (Revelation 22:17)

“Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:14)

Among snares (See John 7:16-36, 40-53, 8:1-11)

All the while Jesus was at Jerusalem during the feast, he was shadowed by spies. Day after day new schemes to silence Him were tried. The priests and rulers were watching to entrap Him.

The perception and appreciation of truth, Jesus said, depends less upon the mind than upon the heart. Truth must be received into the soul, so it then can claim the homage of the will.

“Why do you go about to kill Me?” Jesus asked. Like a swift flash of light these words revealed to the rabbis the pit of ruin into which they were about to plunge. For an instant they were filled with terror. They saw that they were in conflict with Infinite Power. But they would not be warned.

If they had lived in accordance to the will of God, they would have known His Son when He was manifested to them.

Had the people in sincerity studied the scriptures for themselves, they would not have been misled. Chapter 61 of Isaiah testifies that Christ was to do the very work He did. Chapter 53 sets forth His rejection and sufferings in the world, and chapter 59 describes the character of the priests and rabbis.

God does not compel people to give up their unbelief. Before them are light and darkness, truth and error. It is for them to decide which they will accept. The human mind is endowed with power to discriminate between right and wrong.

God designs that people should not decide from impulse, but from weight of evidence, carefully comparing scripture with scripture.

More often than not, people do not search the scriptures for themselves, and judge for themselves what is truth. They yield up their own judgement, and therefore commit their souls to their leaders.

The officers sent out by the priests and rulers to arrest Jesus, returned without Him. They were angrily questioned, “Why have you not brought Him?” With solemn countenance they replied, “Never man spoke like this Man.”

Those to whom the message of truth is spoken seldom ask, “Is it true?” But “By whom is it advocated?” Multitudes estimate it by the numbers who accept it; and the question is still asked, “Have any of the learned or religious leaders believed?” Men are no more favorable to real godliness now than in the days of Christ. They are just as intently seeking earthly good to the neglect of eternal riches!

A group of Pharisees and scribes approach Jesus with a terror stricken woman who they accused of breaking the 7^th commandment. Jesus looked for a moment upon the scene—the trembling victim in her shame, and the hard faced dignitaries, devoid of even human pity. His spirit of stainless purity shrank from the spectacle.

Impatient at His delay, and apparent indifference, the accusers drew nearer, urging the matter upon His attention. But as their eyes, following those of Jesus, fell upon the pavement at His feet, their countenances changed. There, traced before them, were the guilty secrets of their own lives.

Fixing His gaze upon the plotting elders, Jesus declared. “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” They stole away, leaving their victim with the pitying Savior.

“Neither do I condemn you, go, and sin no more,” Jesus told her. Her heart was melted. She cast herself at the feet of Jesus, sobbing out her grateful love, and with bitter tears, confessing her sins. This was to her the beginning of a new life.

While Jesus does not condone sin, or lessen the sense of guilt, He does not condemn, but saves!

The world had for this erring woman only contempt and scorn, but Jesus spoke to her words of comfort and hope.

Humanity hates the sinner, but loves sin. Christ hates sin, but loves the sinner!