December 2024

Behold the Man!

Read John 18:38–19:5. How did Pilate try to persuade the people to ask for Jesus’ release?

Pilate did not wait for an answer from Jesus concerning truth. Instead, he went back out to try to persuade the people. By dialoguing with them instead of just letting Jesus go free, Pilate placed himself at a disadvantage. The religious leaders recognized that they could manipulate the governor through the crowd.

Further Thought

Read Ellen G. White, “ ‘Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled,’ ” pp. 662–680, in The Desire of Ages; “Additional Note on [John] Chapter 1,” The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 5, pp. 911–919.

The Prayer of Jesus

John 17 is sometimes called the high priestly prayer of Jesus. It concludes the farewell discourse. Jesus came to this earth so that humanity might be restored, ultimately, to its original personal relationship with God. He faithfully performed the signs that God gave Him to do. In words and acts, He communicated God to the people.

The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is not as prominent in the Gospel of John as the Father and the Son are. Yet, His role is crucial to the success of Jesus’ mission.

Read John 1:10–13. What does this text teach us about the importance of the Holy Spirit for conversion?

Knowing the Son Is Knowing the Father

Throughout the Gospel of John, the apostle describes how Jesus, the Son, does activities that point to the Father. Jesus explains who the Father is and shows what His relationship to our world is. This is all in keeping with John 1:18, which says that He makes the Father known (Greek exēgeomai: to explain, interpret, exposit). Again and again Jesus does this. The word Father (patēr) appears 136 times in John and 18 times in 1–3 John, more than one-third of the entire uses in the New Testament.

Jesus and the Father

We were created by the Godhead for a personal relationship with Them (Gen. 1:26, 27). Yet, because of sin, that relationship was radically disrupted. We can see the immediate impact of this disruption in the Garden of Eden story.

Read Genesis 3:7–9. How does this reveal the breach that sin caused, and what does it mean that it was God seeking them out, not vice versa?

The intention of the Godhead was to offer healing to all humanity for that breach caused by sin, even if all humanity would not accept what They offered.

The Heavenly Father

The Gospel of John is written from the standpoint of the overall biblical narrative, beginning with our origins. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). Or: In the beginning the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit created the heavens and the earth. They are the Source of all that exists. They created the universe, including the beings who inhabit it. On our planet there was a special creation of life, and the most special of that creation was humanity.