Why did John record the story of Jesus' third appearance to the disciples at the Sea of Galilee?  None of the other Gospels mention this story.

 

It seems the apostles had gone back to their normal, every-day work.  They were fishing in the Sea of Galilee.  When Jesus first called these men it was at the Sea of Galilee.  Luke 5 tells the story of how Jesus commanded Peter to let down his nets for a catch after Peter had been fishing all night and caught nothing.  Peter obeyed and caught a tremendous quantity of fish.  The clear teaching was Jesus can provide the catch - Peter just needed to obey Him.  Jesus said to him at that time, "Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men."

 

In John 21 we read a simi ...

Wouldn't we all like to have a nice, large nest-egg fall into our laps?  Where is my windfall?  When will I get lucky?  For some, the amount doesn't have to be that big.  Hey, I'd love to have an extra $100 or $500 bucks.  What am I willing to do for it?  Others are looking for the big money.  They need several thousand dollars to whet their minds.  What are they willing to do for it?

 

Would you sell Jesus Christ?

 

Judas sold Him for 30 pieces of silver (Matt. 26:14-16).  Some commentators have estimated this to be, in today's money, about $10.  I have to believe it was more than that, because the potter's field was bought with the money later, but, in any case, it was a fairly small sum.

 

The soldiers, in a di ...

Every one of the Gospels clearly mark the resurrection as happening on the first day of the week (Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:2; Luke 24:1; John 20:1).  This was the day after the sabbath - certainly not the same as the sabbath day.

 

In Luke's account, we find two men were walking that very day (Luke 24:13) towards Emmaus, which was about 7 miles from Jerusalem.  Jesus walked with them and had a conversation with them about Himself.  After the arrived at Emmaus, their eyes were opened and they realized this was Jesus!  It was towards evening (Luke 24:29), but they picked up and went back to Jerusalem "that very hour" (Luke 24:33) and found the eleven apostles gathered together.  While they were telling the apostles about see ...

There are three recorded miracles that coincided with Jesus' death.

 

1.  The temple veil split in half from top to bottom (Matt. 27:51; Mark 16:38; Luke 24:45).  This signified an end to the Jewish way of worship.  The temple veil separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place.  Only one man (the high priest) once a year was allowed to enter into the Most Holy Place.  Now the veil was removed.  Now that the veil was gone, any priest could look at the ark of the covenant (the mercy seat), where, to them, God sat.  So it also signified a more general access to God.  Not only the high priest, but any faithful person could now come before the throne of God - the access was granted through Jesus Chris!

 

2.  The earth shook and rocks were split (Ma ...

The chief priests were upset when Pilot placed the sign above Jesus on the cross which read: "Jesus the Nazarene, The King of the Jews" (John 19:19-22).  The whole point of crucifying Him was to stamp out, once and for all, any notion that He was the king of the Jews.  The sign was certainly uncalled for, and they let Pilot know he had written it wrong.  "What I have written, I have written," Pilot countered.

 

Perhaps Pilot put the sign up to mock the Jews.  He did not want to condemn Jesus to crucifixion in the first place, so maybe this was his way of getting in the last word, even though he folded to their demands.  Whatever the case, Pilot did not know how right he was.

 

Everyone who looked at the sign would have recognized Who thi ...

After Joseph of Arimathea buried Jesus in his new tomb and rolling a large stone against the mouth of the tomb, the chief priests and the Pharisees demanded Pilot set up a special guard.  The guard would ensure none of the disciples of "that deceiver" (Matt. 27:63) came to steal the body.  Matt. 27:66 says, "And they went and made the grave secure, and along with the guard they set a seal on the stone."  They were taking no chances.

 

For all their hard work, Jesus' disciples never came to steal the body.  What ACTUALLY happened was just what Jesus had promised: He was raised from the dead!  No one came to get Him out.  He walked out.  There was an earthquake and an angel of God came to the tomb to roll away the stone.  The guards were fearful of the ...

John makes the point several times in his gospel that he actually saw the things of which he wrote.  At the end of the book he makes several significant statements. 

 

John witnessed the soldiers piercing Jesus' side.  He had first-hand confirmation that Jesus was indeed dead.  John 19:35 - "And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe."

 

John witnessed the empty tomb.  He saw the evidence of Jesus' resurrection.  John 20:8 - "So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb then also entered, and he saw and believed."

John witnessed Jesus' first ...

Yesterday we looked at Mark 15:31: "He saved others; He cannot save Himself."

 

The mockers continued in Mark 15:32: "Let this Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, so that we may see and believe!"

 

What had these people already seen?  "The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have the gospel preached to them.  Blessed is he who does not take offense at Me" (Luke 7:22-23).  You would think these people had enough miraculous proof of Jesus' lordship.  They saw all these things and yet did not believe.

 

Those who mocked Christ at the cross jeered at Him, "He saved others.  He cannot save Himself" (Mark 15:31).

 

They were right.  He did save others.  He saved others from blindness, lameness, leprosy, diseases, and even death.  That's what Jesus came to do: save people.  What these selfish, non-compassionate mockers didn't realize was Jesus was in the process of saving men right then!  The reason Jesus DIDN'T come down from the cross was for the salvation of some of those standing at the foot of His cross.

 

They were wrong.  He could save Himself.  Jesus, as the Son of God, had full power to obliterate mankind.  We have seen the wrath of God turn away from men at various times throughout history, grace extended.  ...

We don't have many details, but the bible records the following mocking and beating of the Son of God:

 

Matt. 27:27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole Roman cohort around Him.
 28 They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him.
 29 And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!"
 30 They spat on Him, and took the reed and began to beat Him on the head.
 31 After they had mocked Him, they took the scarlet robe off Him and put His own garments back on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him.< ...