Believe in the Triune God - Part 2 (Jn. 14:1-6)

This is my personal summary of Rev Dr Stephen Tong's sermon on 29 April 2012 in STEMI Expository Preaching at True Way Presbyterian Church Singapore. It was preached in Chinese with English translation.

Passage: John 14:1-6

God called Abraham to leave all the false idols and to worship the one true God. God continued to give the command to the Israelites through Moses in Deuteronomy 6 to love God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength. Israelites kept falling into idol worship for many generations until God sent them to exile. After coming back from Babylon, Jews repented. They finally embraced the one true God. By the time Jesus came, the Jews no longer worshipped idols, they were strictly monotheists.


However in Jn 14, Jesus was challenging the whole scene. Jesus said “Let your heart not be troubled. Believe in God, belive also in Me.” (Jn 14:1) How could Jesus compare Himself with God? Why believe in God and also in Him? Is this not promoting self and blasphemy? Is this not going against God’s revelation over thousands of years to believe only in one true God?


God had revealed the possibility plural personhood of God long time ago. The one true God is Triune. “Hear o Israel, the LORD your God, the LORD is one.” “Elohim” in Deu 6 is not a singular term, it is not even dual, it is many. The Bible says “Holy, holy, holy” three times. The Triune God is implicit in the entire Bible.


In John 14-16 Jesus only spoke to His disciples, even Judas was not there. He was speaking to the disciples who had seen His power over the storm, the fig tree, over diseases, over demons, over life and death. From all the miracles, one will have figured out that He is divine. But is He the God we will worship? Why did Jesus ask them to believe in God and the in Him? He equated Himself with God. The disciples did not object. But still they had doubts.


Jesus said believing in Him is the same as believing in God who sent Him. Jesus wanted to bring His disciples to the understanding that believing in Him is believing in God. In the second century, one of the most important debates was who Jesus Christ is. At the time of Athanasius, the doctrine of Trinity was consolidated. Arius, however, considered Jesus as part of creation and the Father is the Almighty God. So Jesus was divine but not God Himself. This is acceptable to many people. Isaiah 9 wrote that He is Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace. This was taken to mean that Jesus is “mighty” God, but not Almighty God.


By saying “Believe in God, belive also in Me” (Jn 14:1) Jesus already prepared His disciples to accept the Triune God.


A rich young ruler once asked Jesus, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” This question has important elements of morality, personal responsibility and eternal life. Jesus answered, “Why do you call Me good?” There is only one good, that is God. Jehovah’s Witnesses interpret that based on this verse Jesus had declared He is not God.


However, what was the person asking? Why call Jesus a “good teacher”? Since only God is good, and you call Me good, do you believe I am God? Eternal life is matter relating to God, not men. If I were a man, why do you seek eternal life from Me? If I am God, why do you call Me Teacher? If I am Man, why do you kneel before Me? Why ask eternal life from a teacher? Do you go to man for eternal life? It is as though you believe I am God, but you do not seem to be sure. Now that you address me as good teacher, since only God is good, you believe I am God? Could it be you already knew I am God? So if I am God, are you willing to obey Me? Jesus saw very clearly the man’s confusion.


“My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come backand take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” (Jn. 14:2-4)


This is a precious passage. God is willing to be with us. He came in the flesh and live among us. In the Old Testament, the tabernacle represents God’s presence with His people. This foreshadowed the coming of Jesus Christ. The most important representation is the Holy of Holies, where the ark of the covenant sits. It is the eternal covenant that cannot be removed. God will not change, God is eternal and faithful. The covenant is built upon His faithfulness, unchangeability and eternal existence. Thus the covenant is true.

In Jn 14, Jesus spoke about the Triune God. The first thing was to believe in God, and believe in Him. Then He said He was going to the Father, that it is good that He went away, otherwise the Holy Spirit would not come. He was going back to the Father to prepare a place for them. There will be eternal union with the Father. There they would be with the Lord forever. And the Lord is Love, Truth, Righteousness, Holiness and Goodness. To be forever with the Lord is to be united with truth, love, righteousness, goodness and holiness. It is the highest blessedness.


The disciples still could not understand and asked “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” (Jn 14:5) After 3.5 years with Jesus, they were still thinking in very worldly way.


Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (Jn. 14:6) The Way was already here, Jesus Himself. This is spiritual truth. Therefore, if you are not born again, cannot see the kingdom of God. If you are not born of Spirit and water, you cannot enter the kingdom of God.

Believe in the Triune God - Part 1 (John 14:1)

This is my personal summary of Rev Dr Stephen Tong's sermon on 22 April 2012 in STEMI Expository Preaching at True Way Presbyterian Church Singapore. It was preached in Chinese with English translation.

Passage: John 14:1

Although at this time Jesus must be feeling hurt because Judas betrayed him, he did not let himself affected by his personal feeling. When a person feels happy he will say happy things and in sadness, sad things. However, even though Jesus currently felt bitter, the words out of his mouth were still full of grace. This was a very difficult thing to do. Indeed, it was in fact at this time that he could still console his disciples, 'Do not let your hearts be troubled.' It was a truly great act of ministry.

This does not mean Jesus never wept. The Bible records 3 times Jesus wept, none of them for himself:
1. When Jerusalem refused to repent
2. Because in front of Lazarus' tomb the Jews did not believe in Him
3. In the garden of Gethsemane because he was going to take upon the sins of the whole world

The Bible also recorded once that Jesus sang a psalm, and that was in the garden of Gethsemane. It was in the face of death that Jesus did this, but it was not out of concern for himself.

Next Jesus said something that was very hard to accept, 'You believe in God, believe also in me.' The first part would be easy to accept, but the later part was problematic. This was because to believe in God but also to believe in Jesus would have been blasphemous to the Jews, just as Moses wrote in Deut 6:4-5, 'Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and all your soul and with all your might.' They are to absolutely have no one else as God; How could they believe in God but also believe Jesus is God? But this would not be a problem if they understood that Jesus came from the Father.

The later part says '... love the LORD your God with all your heart and all your soul and with all your might.' It tells the Jews to love the Lord in an undivided manner, i.e. not to have other gods. However even as the later part says so, we can still love others. Loving God goes hand-in-hand with loving men, they don't contradict each other. We can only love others if we first love God. We also need to love men even as we love God. For example, it is not right to say that because we need to serve God in church then it is alright not to serve our family members' need. We still have the responsibility to serve others, even as we serve God.

For some time the Jews had this command, but it was a very difficult thing to do. We see in the Old Testament through many centuries they worshipped many other gods and caused God to anger. God sent many prophets like Jeremiah to tell them to repent but they either repented and the next generation forgot, or completely rejected the prophets. God finally allowed the Solomon temple in Jerusalem to be destroyed and for them to be carried off in exile.

Only after the exile, there was no more idol worship among the Israelites. They had truly repented. This is why in the New Testament, only in Caesarea Phillipi idol worship still exists. It was against this background when Peter made the declaration to Jesus, 'You are the Son of the living God!' We can see 2 aspects of belief here:
1. Worship God only (no idol worship)
2. This God is the triune God (i.e. Jesus Christ is the God-incarnate).

So at this point (John 14:1) Jesus was not trying to confuse the disciples, but he wants them to believe in the triune God. He is speaking a hard truth here. We see the second person of God in this chapter, and we'll see the third person of God in the later chapters.

“As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (John 13:34-35)

This is my personal summary of Rev Dr Stephen Tong's sermon on 25 March 2012 in STEMI Expository Preaching at True Way Presbyterian Church. It was preached in Chinese with English translation.

Passage: John 13:34-35

The glory of God is seen through the humiliation of Christ. But when Jesus left the highest honour of heaven to be born in a manger, that would be the manifestation of the greatest glory. In the most despicable place, we see the highest descend to us and God manifest his honour and glory through the most humble vessel. That's why when Jesus was born, the angels sang: “Glory to God in the highest.”

The lifetime of Jesus manifested this glory. Not once did he lead an unholy life or say something despicable. All of God's honour, glory, power and abundance were manifested in Jesus.

The culmination of this glory is the crucifixion. On the cross, there is no miracle or wisdom. The Jews did not want this sort of Messiah and rejected Jesus as Messiah. For the Greeks, on the cross, Jesus did not display any wisdom greater than that of Greek philosophers. Paul said: “Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified.” (1 Corinthians 1:22-23a)

Other than the Word becoming flesh where the glory of God was manifested, the lifting of Jesus Christ upon the cross became the greatest manifestation of God's glory. We cannot see the things that man desires in the life of Jesus, for Jesus was not elevated by miracles or human wisdom and knowledge. But upon the cross, even at his weakest, he was stronger than the greatest of mankind; at his most foolish, he was still greater than the wisest among us. This is God's wisdom and God has hidden his wisdom upon the wisdom that we are familiar with. Based on human thinking, God's method is very foolish, but in the end, the wisdom is higher than even Greek wisdom.

Jesus said: “My children, I will be with you only a little longer.” He is saying he doesn't have too much time to be with them and asking if they are treasuring the time. There were only a few days' left for Jesus to spend with the disciples. He will return to the Father, back to the kingdom of the Father who sent him. The apostles could not partake in his death on the cross. The Israelites will not be able to find him or go where he went. And so he said that just as he told the Jews, they will lose this Christ with whom they have lived and suffered, for the place he goes to, they cannot go. In other portions of the Bible, he said in the future, they will go. But the Jews have no part in this.

After Jesus said this, he gave a new command: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” This is a most unique portion of the Bible because this is one of the two important commands of Christianity. What sort of command did our Lord give us? Love one another. What sort of command did He give to unbelievers? That they are to be baptised, join the church, preach the gospel to the ends of the earth and make disciples of all nations, and He will be with them till the end of the times. You have a command externally and a command internally. Jesus gave us these commands. Whoever is obedient to the command will then lead an abundant life and have abundant blessings.

Why is this command considered new? The content of the command tells us to love one another. It is quite similar to the old one, but with a difference. The Bible says because God is one, you are to love him with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength. And you are to love your neighbour as yourself. Isn't it true that the Old Testament has both commands with a very wide and clear scope? There are two objects of love. The first is to love God who has created you. The second is to love humanity that is made in the image and likeness of God. The command to love mankind has been given in the Old Testament. But the new command brings with itself a new example. In the Old Testament, when you love your neighbours, there was no example to be seen. Here lies the essence of the entire Christianity. Christianity talks about love between humanity, and love between mankind and God. The gospel of John combines the love and the command together. Because when love comes about, it means you truly and sincerely want to follow the rules of the truth and it becomes a mark of the truth. Jesus Christ says if someone really loves him, the person will obey his teachings. It was not just from the lips, but something done in one's life and everyday actions.

God says you are to love him and to love each other. What is the basis of loving God and loving one another? In the Old Testament, the love for each other does not talk about rewards. Even if the person does not respond, you just love them as if you are loving yourself. You take the initiative and have the responsiblity to do this. The Old Testament does not say what is the true example of this love. But in the New Testament, the gospel of John, Chapter 13, talks about a new command. These are precious words. Before Jesus commanded us, he first gave us a general principle: “As I have loved you”. Who knows this love of Jesus that is so wide, so high, so deep? Only people who have experienced this love. Our experience of our love of our Lord becomes the basis for the love of other people. Did Moses hear that? You don't see that in the Pentateuch, in the historical books, in the Psalms, in the wisdom literature. None of the prophets have said that. We need to love others with the same standard as Christ loves us. This is unimaginable. How is it possible that we would love someone to the same degree as Christ loves us? Christ loved us so much he gave his life for us, bled for us and sacrificed his life in the hands of God. How can we manifest that kind of love to the extent that Christ has done? It would seem most impossible. Let us ask ourselves how deep is the love of Christ for us. How many Bible verses describe his love? When a person understands the limitless love of Jesus Christ, he will surely realise he cannot measure the depth of his love. All you can do is to kneel before God and admit Christ's love is far beyond your comprehension, your imagination and what you can do. Many Christians experience the love of Jesus Christ but take it for granted and do not learn many things from it. This verse demands that as we have experienced Christ's love, we need to share this love with others. It is quite horrifying. Lord, do you want me to treat other people as you have treated me? The love that you have for me enabled you to leave the glory of heaven to come into a humiliated life. Just on this alone, I cannot be like you. The kind of love I express to others are based on my own standards. I cannot tell the rest of the world to follow my principles. I can only say, perhaps other people can learn the same principle and do the same thing. So this verse by Jesus Christ is most transformational, something that you will not find from people beyond his time or before his time.

Why is this a new command? This command comes from someone who has done things no one else has ever done. The Father has never said this. God the Son said this. He came into the world and sacrificed himself. God the Son is completely obedient to God the Father. As God, he came in the flesh. The Apostle Paul said it is a great mystery that God should come in the flesh, for Christ to come among us, take on flesh and bleed like us. And this is the blood of God. Before Jesus Christ went on the cross, he taught: “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”

In the Old Testament, you are commanded to love your neighbour. It first assumed that you are a person without any problems, a source of love. So when you love God, you are being responsible. When you are responsible to others, again you are the source and you express your love to other people. But the Bible knows that our love towards God is not trustworthy and cannot possibly be the source of love to God. How can we ever become the source of love to love the people around us? So when Jesus Christ said “As I have loved you”, this is an example; “Love one another” is the command. The command is based on the example of Christ and the objective of the command is that we actually do what Christ has done. You are not the one who takes the initiative. You are not an important source of love because the love you have towards others is based on the love of Christ. You cannot be the source. In loving one another, we must be careful not to take the glory away from God. Do not deny he is the source of love. Follow his example and give our emotions to God. How the Lord has loved us, we are to love others.

Is it easier to love others or to love God? People may say: “It's easier to love God because God is very good and he is so good to me; people are all so evil, I'm not going to love them.” If you use this sort of thinking process to read the Bible, Jesus should have said: “You should love other people the way you love me.” Will Jesus Christ have been satisfied that we love others with the love we have God? If we love other people based on the way we love God, it is very dangerous, for our love towards God is not stable at all and always has a selfish motive. When we say we love God, there is an element of sin in us. Do you love God this year more than last year? Maybe six months later you will no longer love God. If we are to gauge our love towards others based on our love towards God, what will happen if we feel backslided or selfish, or when we forget the grace of God or when our love towards God changes? Then the love that other people receive from us will be influenced by our selfish motive. Are there people who love the Lord so much 10 years ago but has now left the Lord, or were fervent two years ago but now hate Christ? A person may say: "O Lord, I love you 80 per cent of the time, so I take this 80 per cent to distribute to others.” But later he says: “Now I no longer love you, so other people would not receive my love.” Jesus Christ said: “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” There is no escape. You cannot make use of the word of God to fulfill your own desires. You have to be obedient. When you love someone with the wrong motive, people will remember.

People treat others badly because they have been treated badly. But Jesus says the way I treated you, you are to do the same for others; the way I love you, you are to love one another. Christ has never taken advantage of anyone. He commanded the church to learn the way he has loved them, and in turn to love others. In the Old Testament, to love one's neighbours and to love God comes from oneself. But in Jesus Christ, we see a great transformation in ethics. We do good because the kingdom of God is upon us. We call upon the name of the Lord for we first assumed the whole world should honour his name. In the Lord's Prayer, we find such profound lessons.

People thirst not because they have no water, and hunger not because they have no bread, but because they lack the word of God. No one has spoken like Jesus Christ. Instead of a command to go and do what you want, he says, as I have done it, you are to do it. The world needs a common motivating factor. The world needs a source of ethics and morality. When our Lord first loved his disciples, they enjoyed the heavenly blessings. But Jesus Christ commanded them to share with others, to go and spread the gospel to others. Jesus Christ himself was the source and example. He says you cannot escape the fruit of my love towards you. You cannot just think about it and not do it. I have set the example. When you follow my example, you will share the love to others.

Jesus said: “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Loving one another is a power exemplified by a Christian's life. If you ask the people of the world: “Do you know God? How do you know Christians? How do you yourself become a Christian?” They may answer: “Let me look at the lifestyle of Christians first and find out where they find their love from.” So let us not deceive ourselves. In the whole world, only Jesus can say this: “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet.”

What is the mark of a church, the one thing that will declare we are part of Jesus' church, that we are born of him and belong to him, that all men will know we belong to our Lord and follow our Jesus Christ?

The first mark is people who love one another. When a non-Christian sees that this society lacks mutual love, where the fittest survive, and the strong consume the weak, he says this is social ethics. The victims can never get their redress. Not so with Christians, who are to love one another.

The second mark is in Acts 4. After they flogged the apostles Peter and John, they were astonished by their courage to proclaim Jesus Christ and to see that they were but common folks. So you don't want to judge a Christian by the exterior. You want to see whether they have experienced God's love and grace, and when they share this grace to others, you will see the mark that they are different from other people who are self-centred. When you see that Christians are unselfish and share with each other the love of God, then you know the mark of God is there.

In John 15:1, Jesus says: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.” He tells us that he was passive before the Father, in the status, honour and glory that he has received. Before this, everything belonged to him, for all the fullness and abundance of God was found in Jesus Christ. After man sinned, God sent a sacrifice to get rid of our problems. Jesus Christ came to be the sacrifice and suffer without any enjoyment in his lifetime. But was that the only purpose of his life? No. Through his suffering he entered into glory. None of us can understand his suffering and even the potential of glory through his suffering. We have a mark as people who belong to the family of God. Jesus said you are to bear fruit. This is a mark. You've got to boldly bear testimony. This is a mark. In Acts, people see that these common folks were so bold and recognised them as Jesus' followers. When we love one another, through the bold testimony we give, through giving glory to God by bearing fruit, we become the disciples of Jesus Christ.

The question is are we willing to be the ones who manifest the glory of God, that others will recognise it and come to the Lord? The Lord wants us to become such people, that the world would recognise us as such a witness and return to God.

Christ's Miracles Point to His Divinity Pt 2 (Jn. 10:30-42)

This is my personal summary of Rev Dr Stephen Tong's sermon on 25 September 2011 in STEMI Expository Preaching at True Way Presbyterian Church. It was preached in Chinese with English translation.

Passage: John 10:30-42

In chapter 10 we read Jesus saying to the people of his era things that the latter should have understood. Jesus said they did not obey him because they were not his sheep. Some people accepted him but some rejected him because the latter's hearts were such that they would not welcome God's word into them. They thought Jesus' teaching may be different but they were not prepared to receive the actual enormous degree of difference. This was because they were in the first place closed to the possibility that Jesus may be God. As such they were not prepared to hear words with great authority from him; they treated his words as those in normal conversations. They did not realise that these words were actually of great wisdom. There were also some who did realise later, but by then it was already too late. On the other end of the spectrum, there were also those who thought his words were blasphemous.

So this polarised the society back then. Those who liked his teachings, loved him very much. But those disliked his teachings, hated him very much. In the world today we still find people like this (e.g. Kirkegaard, myself). Jesus pointed out that crux of the matter was that some people do not belong to his flock. In contrast, there are those who truly listen to his Word and seize every opportunity to do so, these are his sheep; these are the elect of God from all time, nations and places. These are the nations mentioned in Ps 2:7-8 ('...You are my Son... and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possesion.'). And these people have eternal life as their possessions, because Jesus said 'I give them eternal life.' These people belong to the Son, and they also belong to the Father, just as Jesus said, 'Those mine are given to me by my Father.'

Those who belong to Jesus cannot be snatched away by anyone - this is the first guarantee: '... no one will snatch them out of my hand' (v28). This same people, also belongs to the Father, and this is the second guarantee: '... and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand' (v29). This same people belongs to both God the Father and God the Son because Jesus and the Father are one (v30).

'I and the Father are one' (v30). These are the greatest words in Christology. There is no measure of superiority here, just as summed up in the Nicene creed. The Father, the Son and the Spirit share the same eternity, the same glory, and the same power. The Father, Son and the Spirit are of the same essence - all are God. God the Father is Light, God the Son is Light, God the Spirit is Light. God the Father is eternal, God the Son is eternal, God the Spirit is eternal.

But in another verse this does not seem the case - God the Father seems bigger than God the Son. We can only understand this from the point of the order: God the Father sends God the Son into the world and God the Son is obedient to God the Father. But all three are of the same status; they are just of a different order. It has always been God the Father sending the Son and never the other way around. It is also God the Father and God the Son sending the Holy Spirit and no other way around.

When Jesus declared that 'I and the Father are one' he did not mean that his physical self on earth was the same physical self of the Father; he meant that He and the Father are of the same divine essence. But the Jews took it that Jesus was referring to his physical self and thus considered him blasphemous. They cannot see Jesus as God so they wanted to stone him.

In defence, Jesus asked them a very important question: For which good works from the Father were they going to stone him for. By saying this, Jesus declared that all his good works were from the Father. His relationship with God is a divine one; only the Son of God can manifest the good works of God, and all his good works are signs of God; they are miracles of God. In paraphrase, Jesus questioned the Jews, 'Which one of these works are not good or in other words, "wrong"? Since you have see these works are good, why are you still so mean to me?'

By this question Jesus too implicitly meant that good works could only come from the divine God. If Jesus Christ were not God, he would not have the signs of God on him. If Jesus Christ were not divine, he would not have the power of God, and thus he would not have been able to do the works of God. And if Jesus Christ were not God, the works that he did could not have come from God.

Therefore God's divinity, God's power, and God's work could not be segregated.
This is something that the liberal theologians have never understood since the founding of Tübingen School 160 years ago. These liberals made Jesus a very good person in a measure of goodness and morality that exceeds that of all man that have ever been born on earth, but would not recognise that he is divine.

They liked to say that Jesus is an example to man in morality, exceeding Confucius and Socrates. They said Confucius may be an example to all teachers but Jesus is an example to all man. They based their argument on a quote from Immanuel Kant, "We need to strive for the ultimate good." This had been found earlier in Chinese culture as Confucius said "zhi yu zhi shan" 止于至善 (which means: Rest in the highest good) 2600 years ago. In Greek culture too, there was a phrase coined in Latin, "Samen bolnum" which meant the ultimate goodness.

Kant rejected teleological, ontological, cosmological arguments for God's existence and even the argument that must be created for a purpose. Instead, he proposed from morality that there must be God. He argued that we must have morality before our lives are of some value. He came to this conclusion by asking why would men out of their hearts want to do something good; if there is no God, nobody else could put this desire in men.

From this angle, Kant seemed very creative. However from another angle, this command to do good had already been given by God. With regards to the existence of God, the Bible all along has already stated that '... For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen.' In other words, when we look at nature we see the signs of God. Strictly speaking, the concept of proof is wrong because it is man-centred. In the Reformed understanding we don't talk about proof (which is man-centred); instead, we talk about revelation (which is God-centred). He manifested himself through all creation (the external witness) and gave us conscience (the internal witness), and these witnesses in and out point to his existence. It was this conscience that Kant found to be acceptable proof of God's existence. Kant's system [of theology] was definitely very great, however his fundamental point was wrong. Just as Rev Dr Stephen Chan put it, 'Kantian system is significantly wrong, consistently wrong, and thoroughly wrong.'

However Kant was so sensitive to morality issues that he said further, 'All humanity ought to strive to the ultimate good. But before we reach that point, we need to admit that once upon a time one man from Nazareth has reached that point.' It was as if he admitted that the only man ever reached the ultimate good was Jesus Christ. But he did not dare to admit it clearly, because philosophers looked not so good if he/she believed in religion.

Nonetheless, 50 years after Kant had said this, the Liberals still did not understand where the real Light is. The crux of the matter is, if we say Jesus was the only man who had reached the ultimate good, then we must ask how he did it. And the second question is, if Jesus Christ had reached it 2000 years ago, then the theory of evolution (where everything including morality will become better as time goes) is wrong. Because according to the theory, if Jesus had reached the point of ultimate good, then somebody would have surpassed it. Yet Kant admitted that up to his time, only Jesus has reached it. This means that the theory of evolution is wrong.

Christ's foundation of his morality is his divinity. Because he is God, he is above morality. The Liberals are stuck at this point - they cannot explain how Jesus, as mere human in their point of view, reached the ultimate good. It is also noteworthy that both the Liberals (no religiosity) and the Charismatics (no rationality) never use the word Lord to refer to Jesus Christ!

The Jews still could not understand as we can see from their answer in v33 - they still wanted to stone Jesus. They were effectively saying that it was permissible for Jesus to do good works but it was not permissible to claim to be God. Jesus obviously did not need their permission to do good works - he did them because he is God. In retrospect, it would have been crazy to stone someone because he did good works, and what's more, this person was God! Sinners yearning to kill God - it would have been the most barbaric act ever committed if they had been successful in killing Jesus.

In Mark 10:17 Jesus questioned the young man who asked him about eternal life, 'Why do you call me good?' The Jehovah Witness made use of this verse to argue that Jesus did not confess to be good. However if Lord Jesus is not good, then who is good? The Jehovah Witness is stuck in their own error. Similarly, with regards to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in Genesis, Nietzsche was so blinded that he could not make the distinction between the tree, the knowledge, and the good and evil itself - he made the conclusion from the Genesis account that God does not want man to have knowledge. Nietzsche too was in error.

The Jews too were still trapped in their own error. They could not see that Jesus is God, still separated morality from divinity, and therefore considered it blasphemous for him to claim to be God. In reply (v 34-36) Jesus quizzed them: If God (himself) had called them gods because they had received the Word of God (Ps 82:6), then when One consecrated and sent by God was there, why would they accuse him of blasphemy for saying 'I am the Son of God'?

Jesus further pointed out in vv 37-38 that even if they did not believe that Jesus came from the Father, then they should at least believe the signs (i.e. the good works). The word 'sign' is the origin of the words 'signature' or 'signal'. Signature is the marks of a person. Signal is what makes telecommunication between 2 persons possible. Just as animals like tigers left their footprints on the ground and if a person were to see them he would conclude that there are tigers around, so the signs of God are like God's footprints and a person should make the similar conclusion - God is nearby. The signs of God must have come from God, and since these signs were done by him, then the correct conclusion was that he came from God.

In summary, Christ's morality cannot be segregated from Christ's divinity. But the Israelites just could not understand this. They were so sure that they were right. Many Christians today are like this too, including some in Singapore.

Again the Jews sought to arrest Jesus but he escaped (v 39). This meant that they had no right to kill him because the time had not come. Once again Jesus left them. Only later when his time had come that they could get hold of Jesus.

When Jesus went back to the place where John the Baptist used to baptise people (v40), those who remembered what John the Baptist said believed in Jesus. Although they did not see any miracles, they were so different from those who saw the miracles and did not believe. Why was there such a contrast? It all boils down to what Jesus had been saying - 'My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me' (v27).

Jesus Washes the Disciples' Feet (John 13:1-11)

This is my personal summary of Rev Dr Stephen Tong's sermon on 12 Feb 2012 in STEMI Expository Preaching at True Way Presbyterian Church Singapore. It was preached in Chinese with English translation.

Passage: John 13:1-11

John 12 marks the end of Jesus' words to the Jewish public. It was the end of opportunity for them to hear Jesus. From John 13 onwards, Jesus would speak/preach only to his disciples.

John 13    Jesus' special act of washing the disciples' feet (The Last Supper)
John 14-16 Jesus promised the coming of the Holy Spirit
John 17    Jesus prayed before his final mission
John 18    Jesus was arrested
John 19    Jesus was crucified [and died]
John 20    Jesus resurrected
John 21    Jesus appeared to the disciples and the gospel of John ended.

Jesus last words to the Jewish public was recorded in John 12:50-'And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.' This means that Jesus' words are words of eternal life. This same word, is the Word of God. The commandments [in the same Word], are God's commands. God has sent Jesus to give the Word to the Jews as a command. But the Jews have rebelled against this command and rejected Jesus' words, and as such they will be judged by the same Word because Jesus is the Son of God who has come in the flesh. The same Word that was preached to them will become the standard against which the Jews will be judged.

Such serious word tells us that to 'know God' is to know Jesus Christ as the One whom God has sent, and this is what eternal life is all about. This is later mentioned again in Jesus prayer in John 17:3.

After this word, there is no more word from Jesus [to the Jews], the Jews too did not respond to him.
If we were to have our last opportunity to hear a sermon like the Jews here from Jesus, would we still treat it lightly?

John 13:1a: '... when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father...' Now Jesus knew that the time had come for him to accomplish his mission to die on the cross. When he has finished what he was tasked to do, it was time for him to go back to the Father. Which day would Jesus die on? Jesus must die on Passover because that is the day that the LORD has set for him. What sort of attitude did Jesus respond to this mission? The Bible tells us, 'Be glad and rejoice for this is the day that the Lord has made.' The Passover Lamb must be willing and joyful in going to be sacrificed.

John 13:1b: '... having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end...' That day (of Jesus death on the cross) is a historical point in time. But that date was when Jesus manifested his eternal love for humanity. It was on that day that He would bear the sin of humanity on the cross and fulfill his love for us, which is eternal. Therefore He would like to show his love to the fullest extent to his disciples. This is the only place in the Bible where we can find this kind of translation.

We read next that the devil had already put the seed of evil into the thought of Judas Iscariot. Judas' motivation by now had been 'wrapped' by the influence of another being. From a Christian's point of view, Paul spoke in Phil 2:13 '... for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.' This means that whatever good that we do comes because God has acted in our hearts so that it is possible for us to will and work for his good pleasure. Similarly, the devil too can inspire man to do evil and fulfill his purposes. This implies that man is never a completely active agent/ independent in taking initiative to do something. Our initiative in doing evil comes after we have accepted the suggestion of the devil, being used by him.

When we find ourselves in such a situation, on the surface it may seem that man is passive in the whole process. But before executing that evil deed, man actually plays an active part in accepting the devil's suggestion. However our relationship with God is not the same. It is God who, on the basis of his sovereignty, decides to grant us grace. Before God, we are completely passive. If God does not move us to do good deeds, we will not do what is good. Is there anyone who is willing to obey what God purposes to do? None of us will, except for the Holy Spirit to keep nudging us until one day we say to God that yes we are willing. Our obedience towards God, comes only after the Holy Spirit has normalised our relationship with God.

This is in accordance with what the Bible says that all the good we do comes from the good purpose of God. Therefore we say that to do good we are completely passive, but to do bad we would have played one active part. Why is it so? Can we say that to do good we have an active part to play but to do bad we did not play any part? No. Because in the matter of God's grace, we have no right to take part. However when the devil whispers a  temptation, none of us has the strength to reject him, but we are very willing to work with him instead.

So now we have a question about Judas receiving the devil's thought to betray Jesus. Note that Jesus said to Judas, 'What you are going to do, go and do it' This means that it was Judas himself who planned the betrayal (the evil plan came from himself although it was the devil who [had] put the desire to sin into him). 'When one is tempted, we should not think that the temptation comes from God, for God does not tempt anyone nor is he tempted. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death' (James 1:13-15). Therefore the Bible clearly tells us that God is never the source of evil and neither is God is the creator of evil.

At this moment, Jesus knew 2 things:
1. His time to leave the world had come
2. God the Father has given unto him all things
{Contrast with this: Three and half years before this, the devil tempted Jesus to give all material glory to Jesus. But Jesus was not interested at all in those. He knew he came from God and would go back to Him. This gave Jesus and affirmation and thus he was not afraid at all. He went on to perform the washing of his disciples' feet - which is to illustrate a point he would later make in John 13:13-16).

Jesus cleaned the feet of the disciples (24 in total), which must be the smelliest part of the body, to teach us humility: He came not to be served, but to serve. The climax of these all would be his death on the cross. Note that Jesus was still willing to wash Judas' feet even though He knew that Judas was going to betray him (Jesus did not wait until after Judas had left to begin washing feet). And when Jesus washed his feet, Judas did not feel any reservation.

On the other extreme, Peter's reaction was the strongest: He could not bear Jesus washing his feet. He asked, 'Lord are you really going to wash my feet?' Jesus answered, 'What i do now, you don't understand, but you will understand later' (In the Bible, Jesus was recorded to say these twice). Events were in the progression of time; now Peter would not understand, but later on he would.

But Peter really thought that he was below his Lord's status and could not accept Jesus to wash his feet. To this, Jesus' answer was that Peter would have no share with Jesus (i.e. no share in the kingdom of God). Upon hearing this, Peter was very afraid. To have no part with Jesus [in the kingdom] would have been the scariest thing that Peter could ever imagine. That's why Peter straight away 'jumped' and asked Jesus to wash not only his 2 feet but also his hands. But this would have been ridiculous - an adult asking another adult to wash him.

Jesus answer that a person who has had a bath, does not need to bathe again means that within Him one has already been cleansed. Jesus Christ is the Word of God, the Cleanser. The Word of God cleansed us. God's Word has made us Christians clean (sanctification), so only our actions are not clean; our footsteps are not clean. Many Christians today do not do what they should do, or do what they should not do (both are sins). They hear the Word, but are unable to do according to the Word. They believe the Word, but not do it (Note: Of all disciples, Judas had never been sanctified because his heart had never accepted Jesus. This is why Jesus said in v10 '... you are clean, but not every one of you.')

When Jesus said that one of them would betray him, everybody asked, "Is it me, Lord?" except Judas, who could not call Jesus as Lord (just as the Bible says that no one could call Jesus, Lord unless by the Holy Spirit - ). But if he did not ask, everybody would have concluded right away that he was the one. So he had to use the term 'Rabbi' to ask Jesus. This was told in St Matthew's Passion by J.S.Bach.

Among the 13 people in the room, only Jesus and Judas himself knew about this matter. Why did Jesus keep this knowledge from the rest? Because the time has not yet come. When did Jesus know about this? Since the time He selected Judas. Why was Judas selected in the first place? 1. That the world may know that everyone has the opportunity to repent, i.e. nobody can say that 'God never gave me the chance.' Jesus did not tell other disciples also for this reason, even until the last moment so that Judas still had the chance to repent. 2. That preachers will not fear if they were to be betrayed by their own disciples too.

Praise God for Christ's love. Jesus came to earth and gave us a model for us how we are to serve Him. Brothers and sisters, in our heart, do we hate people who hate us or revile those who betray us? Or instead, do we humbly love others and do not retaliate when others treat us badly?

God's love and human love (Jn. 13:36-38)

This is my personal summary of Rev Dr Stephen Tong's sermon on 1 April 2012 in STEMI Expository Preaching at True Way Presbyterian Church. It was preached in Chinese with English translation.

Passage: John 13:36-38

John 14-16 recorded Jesus’ parting words which focus on the coming of the Holy Spirit. Before end of John 13, there is a new commandment. “A new command I give you, Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”

From the Old Testament, we already learn that the first and greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. The second greatest commandment is to love your neighbour as yourself. Why then is Christ’s commandment to love one another called a new commandment?

The Old Testament puts the obligation and initiative on one to love others. The New Testament does not assume you can love others. You will love others through the way Jesus loves you. You first receive the source of love from Jesus, then you can love others.

Humans are not the source of love, but the Son of God is. If Jesus did not manifest the love of God in this manner, none of us will be able to love others. So this is a new commandment. Our own love and emotinos are created. It is very limited. It has constraint. It is stained by sin and constrained by selfishness.

Nobody loves like Jesus did. He gave His life to save sinners. We all experience love, from our parents, from our friends, our lovers. But are these real love? Augustine wrote about love. He said even sexual love is selfish. When you enjoy love at its height, are you giving or receiving? The expression of human love has is self-centred, is unlike the self-sacrificing love of God. It is very difficult to truly love. Even the love we have towards our spouse might start well in the beginning, but we become bored after some time. After knowing someone for a long time, we start to focus on their weaknesses.

Therefore the command to love one another needs to be renewed. We need to return to this verse, to love as Jesus have loved us.

Simon Peter asked Jesus, “Lord, where are you going?” (v. 36). After such a great teaching on love, he forgot immediately and asked about less important things. This is the problem of our day. We immediately turn our minds to earthly things after being moved by great sermons. A person who jokes immediately after preaching, or a person who is concerned about the performance of his preachign, is not a true preacher. A true preacher is solemn, prays before and after preaching.

After a great moment of gathering, we need to be silent for a moment to reflect our spirituality and our relationship with God. This moment of meditation is very important.

Jesus did not reprimand Peter. He said, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.” (v. 36)

In a few chapters earlier, Jesus said to the Jews “Where I go, you cannot come”. But what is this place? He meant the cross, however He did not explain then. They have no part in Jesus and will die in their sin. However, to Simon Peter, Jesus said, “you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.” There will be a momentary gap, but Peter will recover and will finally follow Christ.

Peter did not ask Jesus to correct him, instead he felt insulted. He asked, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” (v. 37)

He did not reflect upon himself. Often we blame God first as we go through trials. We are paranoid. Many people measure their own obedience as they serve God. They use this way to look down on other people. You think you really love the Lord? When you think so, you are arrogant indeed. None of us love God enough. None of us can love unless He loves us first. He is the one who gives us opportunities to serve Him.

Peter thought he loved the Lord the most. He said he was willing to die for Jesus. Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for Me? Very truly I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will disown Me three times.” (v. 38)

Many people think they are spiritual because they have read a lot. Yet when trials come they discover the exact opposite.

Peter indeed denied Jesus three times. Jesus said the spirit is willing, but the body is weak. “You do not even have the strength to speak the truth for my name sake. You think you will die for me. The most horrifying thing is you are not aware and still boast about it.” The Lord is so sacrificial and full of compassion. We who claim to serve Him are still so calculative.

John 13 ended here. It shows the qualitative difference between God and man. It started with the record that Jesus knew He was going to the Father and having loved His own, He showed them the full extent of His love and He loved them to the end. This is God’s love. At end of the chapter, Peter said he loved Jesus but denied Him three times that same night. This is man’s love. Man’s love is so selfish and so weak. But God’s love is so great, so unfailing.

May we love through Christ. Let us not be deceived. Let us look to the love of Christ.

Glory through sufferings (Jn. 13:31-32)

This is my personal summary of Rev Dr Stephen Tong's sermon on 18 March 2012 in STEMI Expository Preaching at True Way Presbyterian Church. It was preached in Chinese with English translation.

Passage: John 13:31-32

After the last supper, Judas had no more opportunity to hear Jesus’ teaching. Do we have the awareness of the people we meet might never come back, and therefore how we need to use every opportunity we have?

Satan entered into Judas. How could this happen to someone Jesus handpicked as one of His 12 disciples? This tells us that none of us have special privileges. Things that happen to others can happen to us as well. So we need to be watchful. God allowed Judas to betray Jesus, but it was not God’s will, it was Judas’ will. God still kept Judas accountable for his sin. It does not mean that if God allows you to sin, He would not punish you. If God abandon you to your sin, He will punish you.

Jesus said Satan is a liar, the father of all lies. The origin of sin is not God, but the devil. God is the truth and the source of all goodness. He is not responsible for sin. He does not plan for sin. The one who plans to sin has greater guilt. Satan sinned out of himself, in the same manner Judas betrayed Jesus. Judas betrayed Jesus in accordance to his own will, allowed by God.

After Judas was gone, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.” (Jn. 13:31-32) Something similar has been mentioned before (Jn. 12:2-28). What does it mean to glorify God? What does it mean to say God is glorified?

Jesus Himself said, shouldn’t the Son of Man suffer and thus enter into glory? That is glory that comes through sufferings, from thorny crown into eternal glory. Without submission to God’s will, there is no entrance into God’s eternal glory. In the Bible, true glory is related to sufferings. It is something the world cannot accept. The things that are honored in the eyes of men are abominable in the eyes of God. The humiliation of the cross is the glory of God. Christ’s death is very humiliating, is the cruellest thing in the history of mankind.

How can this be glory? Someone understood this and wrote a hymn about it. Fanny Crosby was born in 19th century. She was blind because of wrong diagnosis during her childhood. She lived a long life for 90 years. She did not complain but wrote over 8000 hymns. In one hymn, she expressed her understanding of God’s glory: “In the cross, in the cross, be my glory ever…” She understood that it is through the cross you know the glory of God.

Do we have the glory of God? When you endure suffering in obedience to the will of God, the Spirit of glory is upon you.

The Night Before Betrayal (Jn. 13:21-30)

This is my personal summary of Rev Dr Stephen Tong's sermon on 11 March 2012 in STEMI Expository Preaching at True Way Presbyterian Church. It was preached in Chinese with English translation.

Passage: John 13:21-30

Between AD60 to AD100 all apostles have died. Jesus had prepared for this by extending the apostleship of Christianity for another 30 years through the young disciple John.

John followed Christ very closely. After all disciples had fled, at the crucifixion only John was left. Jesus left the care of His mother to John. Why did Jesus give Mary to John instead of one of His brothers or other disciples? One thing different about John is that he always followed Christ closely. He leaned on Christ on the day before His betrayal because he wanted to hear everything Christ had to say.

John spoke a lot about love. John recorded the testing of Peter, “Do you love Me more than these?” He wrote a lot of miracles and teaching absent in other gospels. In the Old Testament, Daniel was chosen to write about the end days. In the New Testament, John was chosen to write Revelation.

The relationship between Jesus and Peter was not that intimate. Peter asked John to ask Jesus who it was that would betray Him (Jn. 13:24-25). Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. (v.26) John knew it was Judas. At that point, no other disciples knew.

Judas was very deceptive. He worked like a spy and nobody suspected him. He was intelligent but unfortunately his intelligence was not used by God, but for himself.

There are 3 things you do which will certainly end up in failure: (1) if you do everything for money (2) if you serve yourself (3) if you do things to please men.

As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him (v.27) He could not see he was possessed as his mind was only thinking about the money. Christians need to be able to differentiate whether a person is possessed or phychologically disturbed. Confused reasoning does not necessarily imply demon possession. There are 3 traits of someone possessed: (1) confused reasoning (2) out of control emotions (3) passive will.

What does it mean to be confused? It means you cannot tell good from evil, important from unimportant, God’s will from selfish ambition. Your logic is confused. In the midst of this confusion, Satan has opportunity. Secondly, you have such boiling emotion. You love so fervently you become irrational. Here Satan is waiting for you. Lastly, you become apathetic so you just passively follow as Satan take over you. Some people who are heart-broken are not able to think straight, are full of emotions and become passive and allow Satan to do whatever he wants.

Why would Satan enter Judas? Because he loved money so much he could not see properly. His logic was wrong. He did not see who Jesus is. He was satisfied he could sell Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. He was in fact not selling Jesus but was auctioning his own soul.

The Holy Spirit fills anoints and guides a person. No Christian is possessed by the Holy Spirit. Because in possession your will is passive, your state is controlled. But when you are guided, you willingly follow. When you are anointed, you receive the blessings of God and are filled with joy. When Jesus dipped the bread, Judas could have realised he had been exposed but he was ignorant because he was possessed. A person who does not glorify God or give thanks to God will have his thoughts blurred and heart confused, he became a very easy target for Satan to come in.

Did Judas fulfil the will of God? Is salvation come through Judas’ betrayal? Do we thank Judas for selling Jesus so that we have a Saviour? Remember that if Jesus did not come from heaven to earth, who would Judas betray? We have salvation because Jesus willingly came. And remember God does not need salvation and God does not need Judas. We are the one in need of salvation.

Jesus said, “What you are about to do, do it quickly” (v.27). Jesus did not say, “what God wants you to do” but “what you are about to do”. This has very deep theological meaning. It is what Judas want to do, not what God wants him to do. Only Jesus, John and Judas knew. Judas only saw money, not the truth. The night Jesus was betrayed, Judas evil deed was exposed. He was allowed to exercise his freedom.

Therefore, if you do everything for money, if you do everything for yourself or to please people, you will do everything wrong. May God has mercy on us.

May God give us a pure heart that is obedient to His will so that we can see Him. May we not compromise just because we want to please others.

Jesus' Last Words to the Jews (Jn. 12:34-50)

This is my personal summary of Rev Dr Stephen Tong's sermon on 15 January 2012 in STEMI Expository Preaching at True Way Presbyterian Church. It was preached in Chinese with English translation.

Passage: John 12:34-50

“Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him.” (Jn. 12:37)

A preacher’s greatest sadness is that nobody wants to listen. But from God’s perspective this is the reverse. God is the sovereign one who gives opportunity to hear and hardens the heart. It is the Creator of all mankind who says this. As creatures made in the image of God, humans forget they have only the image and are not God.

Here is the conflict of sovereignty. We think we are sovereign we think we can choose God while actually it is God who choose. We live in a society that is man-centered. They think they have abandoned God but the Bible says that it is God that has abandoned them. They think they have the power to rebel against God but it is God who have left them to their own ways. Nothing happens outside of God’s will. He is the Lord of time and space, of humanity and nature, of history and geography. He declares that He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the One who started and finish His works. He is indeed the God of the universe. In His wrath He preserves some people. In His overwhelmeing love He rejects some people. This is frightening. Many people fall in the hands of the God of judgement but are not aware of how horrible that is. Who knows the power of His wrath? We ought to fear God and give glory to Him.

Often we only look at the exterior. We despise the uneducated and the poor. The Lord deliberately came poor and uneducated. The Jews could not recognise who Christ was. When they could not see the arm of the Lord, they could not see God’s message, they thought the work of God was hidden. However, Isaiah said it is in God’s sovereignty that these people did not believe and perish. There are a lot of opportunities for the Jews to listen to Jesus but they became more arrogant and resistant to Him.

Jesus was calm, He did not react but simply explained the truth to them. Jesus warned them, “Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me.” (Jn. 12:44-45)
The work of God is believing in the one He sent. The response to Christ is the greatest demand of God. The Jews did not realise the horrifying consequences of their unbelief.

Jesus said, “I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day. For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.” (Jn. 12:46-50)

Here Jesus addressed the Jews very clearly. This is the last preaching, the last opportunity, the last warning to the Jews. When men are ignorant of this, they think they abandon God but actually they abandon themselves. God removed the lampstand from Jerusalem and Athens, the two great cities at that time. Instead Galilee which was despised became the place where lasting influence came about. The disciples of Christ from Galiless have surpassed tje Greek philosophers. There are more people today with the names of Peter and John than those with the names of Aristotle and Plato.

True wisdom produces holiness, righteousness and is found in the salvation of God (1 Cor. 1:30). All true wisdom is found in the Word of God, which is fully revealed in Christ. Greek seek wisdom and Jews seek miracles but we preach Christ crucified. He was crucified because people judged Him based on what outward appearance. But this Nazarene has the greatest influence in the world. We must see the guidance of God with our eyes of faith.

This is the last time Jesus spoke to the Jews. There was no more opportunity after this. He spoke no more to them when He was on trial because their time was up. How many opportunities have we been given? We have to answer to all that on the last day.

The Glory of Christ (Jn. 12:20-28)

This is my personal summary of Rev Dr Stephen Tong's sermon on 27 November 2011 in STEMI Expository Preaching at True Way Presbyterian Church. It was preached in Chinese with English translation.

Passage: John 12:20-28

Jesus said, “Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.” (Jn. 12:26) Only those who serve Jesus would be honoured by God. If you do not honour Jesus Christ, God would not honour you. Here is where true value lies. If you honour Christ, you honour the value system God has set.

This is the mystery of Christ. The glorification of Jesus Christ came through suffering. He suffered under the will of God and this is His glorious pathway. This is the greatest truth in humanity. Many people want to be honoured and be glorious but very few are willing to suffer. Glory without pain and sufferings are superficial. Isa. 53 portrays Jesus as the suffering son of man. He suffered the most and will be the most glorified. God created man with glory and honour but they are not superficial things men see with physical eyes.

Jesus Christ is the seed that fell to the ground and died. At this point, Jesus said, “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!” (Jn. 12:27-28)

This prayer is related to existential consciousness. It is a reaction towards one’s existence. We often pray to God to deliver us from sickness, from sufferings and agony. We live in space and time and go through difficulties in life in time-space constraint.

Time and space are human life’s two great possesions. Our life is as long as our time. Jesus said by worrying we cannot increase our time by one moment. People tend to look at their possession in material terms and seldom look at it from the perspective of time and space. The Bible teaches that our consciousness of time and wisdom are linked. How we understand the limitation of our time relates to gaining wisdom. “Lord teach us to number our days aright that we might gain a heart of wisdom.” (Ps. 90:12). Much lost opportunity is lost time yet people tend to focus on their material possessions without realising this loss.

Jesus has a great consciousness of his own existence. Religiousity includes the understanding of eternity. We want to break free, we want to surpass. Jesus said, “Father save Me from this hour.” The existentialists use the term ‘anxiety’. It is not worry. Anxiety is more difficult to measure and more unfathomable. In German it is called angst.

Existentialists has angst because they are conscious they exist. They are conscious of their existence but do not understand the meaning of their existence because they see that inexistence will swallow them up. They cannot understand this chasm between existing and not existing.

One can only be swallowed by something greater. If existence is swallowed by non-existence, non-existence is greater than existence. How can that be? Existentialists therefore discuss nothingness as though it is something greater than existence. They discuss nothingness as though it is something concrete. Existentialism discusses how existence is swallowed into inexistence and studies inexistence as the greater existence. How great is that anxiety.

When Jesus prayed “Father save Me from this hour” He is acutely aware of His existence. Then Jesus said, “No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.” Christians should learn to understand that our time and existence are ordained by God. Jesus is conscious that He came to suffer.

Our existence is not merely related to other material things. We receive wisdom when we realise our relationship with God who created us. Jesus is the Word that came into time. The relationship between Jesus and His sufferings cannot be segregated. He came for that very hour. He said, Father glorify Your name.

“Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.” (Jn. 12:28-29)

Why are some prayers not answered? Why did Jesus receive immediate response from heaven? His prayer is true prayer, a prayer that is pleasing to God. How many people really pray for the glory of God? We often just pray for our own needs. Jesus pray for God’s glory. His prayer was answered because it went right into the heart of God.

What does it mean by God’s reply, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” This is the concept of “already and not yet”. God has glorified His name and that refers to Christ’s incarnation. God said He will glorify it again and that refers to Christ’s death. That is the other glory. This is very different from our concept of glory. How can a lowly birth and humiliating death be God’s glory?

When Jesus was born in the manger, the angels sang “Glory to God in the highest, peace of God to those on whom His favour rest.” What sort of glory is that? This is the paradox of the Bible. The mystery of God is hidden in this thing. The highest King has come to the lowest place. This is the most glorious thing.

And God’s name will be glorified again through Christ’s death on the Cross. In Luke 24 Jesus said the Son of God enter into glory through His sufferings. And He is our glory. Through His death we enter into glory. There is no price greater than the blood of Christ which redeems us from sin and gives us eternal life. The church which grows through suffering for Christ is a true church. May we become people who will glorify God.