The Word of God

(John 3:31-36)

Jesus spoke the words of God and He is the Word of God. What he spoke and taught in His gospel were not the words of man but of God. He did not speak about the things of this earth, but the things of the kingdom of heaven for His words are the words of the spirit, not the words of the flesh.

This is the testimony of the apostle John in these few verses as he testifies to the truth about the Word of God.

He Who Comes From Above

Verse 31 begins this section saying, “He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all.” In this we see that Jesus, who is the one who comes from above, is above everything. All things are in his hand and subject to his authority for the Father has given Him authority over all things, both in heaven and on earth.

There is no authority other than what is set and given by God. Even Satan who opposes all rule and authority of God has limits beyond which he cannot extend, as is clear in the first chapters of Job.

Now we see also the distinction between Christ and the people of the earth. Christ speaks of the things of God. He teaches us the knowledge and wisdom of the things of heaven and the spiritual realm. Whereas men speak and teach about the things of this earth.

Why is this so? Because a person can only speak and teach the things that they know and have seen for themselves. Jesus can speak of the wisdom of heaven because he came from heaven. He can teach us the truth that will lead us to life because he knows the way to life. He can lead us to eternal peace and life free from all sin and suffering because he knows the way, indeed He IS the way.

By contrast man does not know or understand the matters of the spirit. Science cannot understand the things of the spirit because they operate from a different paradigm. Man bases his understanding on what he can see, smell, touch and taste. His understanding comes through the five senses in conjunction with human reasoning. Man wants empirical and measurable evidence before he can accept a matter as being real or not.

But this is not the way of God.

Bearing Witness to the Truth

The way of God is the way of truth. The truth of God is not based upon human understanding and reasoning, for who can understand God? The way of God is based upon faith. It is based upon believing the one who came to teach us the ways of God so that we may be able to understand the things of the spirit.

Sure we don't know how he did the miracles, but we know they happened as there were many, many witnesses and the truth could not be hidden. How did Jesus walk on water? How did He feed the multitudes with just a few loaves of bread and some fish? How did he turn the water into wine? How did he raise Lazarus from the dead? How did he heal the sick, cast out demons and so many of the other miraculous things he did?

All of these things cannot be explained by the knowledge and wisdom of man because they were done by the power of the spirit. And these things, miraculous as they were, we're done primarily to bear witness to the truth of the gospel. The purpose was so that we would believe what Jesus was saying and come to know the truth so that we could be set free from the things that bind us on this earth and learn how to live a life in the spirit.

The Gift of the Holy Spirit

Which brings me to the gift of the Holy Spirit. We cannot make ourselves perfect in the sight of God because we are already broken and imperfect. Even by mans wisdom, something broken cannot fix itself. So to be “fixed” and come to perfection we need external help. If we are to be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ we need to have a guide to show us the way and to do the work of transformation.

For example, if your car is broken, you call a mechanic to fix it. If your appendix is inflamed you call a surgeon to operate and fix it. If your finances are out of control you call an accountant or financial advisor to fix it. And so on.

Likewise if your spirit is broken and your life is in the pits, you call on Jesus Christ to help you fix it. And Jesus sends us the Holy Spirit to be our spiritual “mechanic” to do the work necessary in our lives to remove and replace the brokenness so that we will become whole again.

How does the spirit do this work of transformation? By leading us to understand the things of the spirit so that we can put them into place in our lives. He opens up the words of the bible so that we understand. He intercedes for us in prayer so that when we pray and when He prays for us, his words are in accord with the will of God. He leads us into situations to strengthen us and at the same time provides the means by which we can endure all temptations and sufferings, by walking in the Spirit.

Finally we see in this section of scripture that when we are obedient to the words of God and to Jesus Christ, we have the promise of eternal life. But those who do not obey will suffer the wrath of God when the time comes. I know where I'd rather be. How about you?

(Photo sourced from stock.xchng www.sxc.hu/ taken by Madelon Wijnbergen)

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