There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true. —Soren Kierkegaard. "…truth is true even if nobody believes it, and falsehood is false even if everybody believes it. That is why truth does not yield to opinion, fashion, numbers, office, or sincerity–it is simply true and that is the end of it" – Os Guinness, Time for Truth, pg.39. “He that takes truth for his guide, and duty for his end, may safely trust to God’s providence to lead him aright.” – Blaise Pascal. "There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily" – George Washington letter to Edmund Randolph — 1795. We live in a “post-truth” world. According to the dictionary, “post-truth” means, “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” Simply put, we now live in a culture that seems to value experience and emotion more than truth. Truth will never go away no matter how hard one might wish. Going beyond the MSM idealogical opinion/bias and their low information tabloid reality show news with a distractional superficial focus on entertainment, sensationalism, emotionalism and activist reporting – this blogs goal is to, in some small way, put a plug in the broken dam of truth and save as many as possible from the consequences—temporal and eternal. "The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it." – George Orwell “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” ― Soren Kierkegaard
4 Ways Christianity Is Unique from Other Religions Rachel Britton Christianity is the only faith with an empty grave, whose leader came back from the dead and walked and talked with his followers. Without the incarnation of God in the flesh and Jesus Christ’s resurrection from the dead, we would not have Christianity, or our restoration to God and eternal life. Jesus said: “I am the one who brings people back to life, and I am life itself. Those who believe in me will live even if they die” (John 11:25). Continue Reading →
6 Uplifting Prayers for a Scary Medical Diagnosis Bethany Verrett Whenever we go through trials and tribulations, including illness, the Lord promises that He is there, and we know He always hears our prayers. Going to Him to request healing and blessings is something He encourages. Continue Reading →
7 Scriptures to Strengthen Your Mind and Body Mike Leake Things like anxiety, guilt, and bitterness don’t just stay in the realm of “spiritual” problems. They also show themselves in our bodies. Inner turmoil can have outward consequences. That’s not me saying that if you’re sick it must mean that you’ve got something going on spiritually — that’s too simplistic. But I am saying that we are holistic beings. Continue Reading →
Are There Modern-Day Prophets? Britt Mooney Have you ever wondered: do modern-day prophets exist? Some denominations teach that they do. Others are adamant the role was for the ancient world, and not today. What does the Bible teach? Continue Reading →
13 Wise Proverbs to Guide Your Daily Walk Bethany Verrett Using the Proverbs as guiding principles to help with daily life is a good way for a believer to keep the light of the Word guiding their path, but it is no substitute for a real, dynamic, close relationship with the living God. For people who do not yet know Jesus as their Savior, these saying can help them live a better life, but it will not save them from their sins – only faith in Jesus Christ can do that. Continue Reading →
The Roman’s Road to Salvation: A Pathway to God Compiled & Edited by BibleStudyTools Staff The Roman’s Road to Salvation is a systematic approach to understanding the Christian faith, using verses from the Book of Romans in the New Testament. By following this roadmap, individuals can recognize their need for salvation, understand God’s provision through Jesus Christ, and experience the transformative results of accepting this gift. Continue Reading →
For a number of years, my father, a pastor in Brooklyn, New York, volunteered with a second chance program. Young men and women who had early encounters with the legal system were given a chance to have their records expunged in exchange for community service. They were given a second chance for a purpose.God gave both Jonah and the people of Nineveh second chances as well. Most of us are familiar with Jonah’s story. After God told the prophet to go to the city of Nineveh, Jonah fled in the opposite direction. The Lord disciplined the prophet with unusual means, and Jonah spent a few nights in a watery jail cell before he was released on parole (read Jonah 1–2).In chapter 3, we see God return to Jonah a second time with a mission (3:1). God once again told Jonah to go to the city of Nineveh, calling them to repent. Again, Jonah was resistant. Why did he resist? Was it fear? Was it bitterness? As an Israelite who had suffered at the hands of Nineveh, he preferred to avoid this calling.Thankfully, God didn’t leave the outcome in Jonah’s hands. It was God’s message and His heart on display, as He called a second time for Jonah to deliver this message! We learn that the “Ninevites believed God” (v. 5). Their turnaround was so complete that “a fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth” (v. 5). God had saved Jonah for a reason, and this time the prophet obeyed. “When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened” (v. 10).
Go Deeper God has redeemed you for a purpose, too. Have you resisted His call in your life? Have you noticed that His call to service will not go away? Consider what mission God has for you! Extended Reading: Jonah 1-3
Pray with Us Dear God, thank You for the assurance that You redeemed us for a purpose. You called us to Yourself out of our wanderings in hopelessness. Help us to discern and follow Your call on our lives.
Every good parent at some point worries about who her child is spending time with. We know “bad company corrupts good morals” (1 Cor. 15:33, ESV),[1] and so we don’t want our children hanging out with any ne’re-do-wells. The book of Proverbs opens with a father and mother exhorting their child: “My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother.” (Pro 1:8)[2] It ends with the sayings of a King learned by heart at the knees of his mother, and her description of his ideal bride. It is moral instruction, discipline, and exhortation for the way you want your child to go and who you would want her to marry. A conscientious parent hopes his child will marry well and make friends who are a good influence on him.
We see here a connection between wisdom and law, but that they are not identical. Wisdom can be defined as the experienced, discerning, and considered application of God’s law. Wisdom is illustrative, exemplary, and especially exhortative of living out God’s commandments on a practical level. In an imperfect analogy, the Law is the lecture hall and the Proverbs the lab. You learn the principles of chemistry or engineering or botany in the lecture hall, and you put those principles to test in the lab. When we walk into the world of Proverbs, we witness God’s law enacted in the mundane course of life as a son or daughter, and eventually, as we progress, as a full participant, or even a leader, in home, church, and civic life.
Since family is the basic building block of society, as goes the child, so goes the nation. The worst thing for a society is to become a pack of wolves set to devour each other. Hence the shady characters the mother and father in Proverbs 1 warn their son about in verses 8-19. At first, having a pack to run with sounds like a lucrative offer: “Throw in your lot among us; we will all have one purse.” (Pro 1:14, ESV) A pack of wolves is effective at hunting, and the prospects of a full belly are tantalizing for a young and hungry wolf. But a pack of wolves can quickly turn on a member when it becomes wounded and the intended prey has slipped out of their collective jaws. On a practical level, the danger of conspiracy with greedy people is that they overestimate their effectiveness. “Surely in vain the net spread in the sight of any bird,” (Pro 1:17) because the bird spies the scheme. The problem for wicked people is that, as they go from bad to worse, they begin to think nothing can stop them. The moral conviction of Proverbs is that eventually the proud will fall. “These men lie in wait for their own blood; they set an ambush for their own lives.” (Pro 1:18, ESV) Like the people at the tower of Babel, they gather to build a tower to heaven and end scattered by God over the face of the earth.
The moral universe of the Proverbs is the universe over which Christ rules. He judges the nations and holds individual souls accountable. A wise parent wants his child to follow after Christ, to look to him for the way of life, and avoid the way of the death–the way of the devil, the father of lies, who comes only to steal, kill, and destroy (John 8:44; 10:10). Christ’s is the Way that offers prosperity and peace to a nation that heeds it, that avoids the dissolution of Babel, and the trap of those who lie in wait for blood. It is the way of those who are washed in the blood of the Lamb who laid down his life to become Wisdom and Life for us.
[1] Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[2] All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise marked, are from the The Cambridge Paragraph Bible: Of the Authorized English Version. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1873.
Job 19:25 In this week’s studies, we see how the book of Job points us to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Theme
A Living Redeemer
Now I recognize that there are different ways of translating the phrase which says, “Yet in my flesh shall I see God” (v. 26). Some versions read, “Yet without my flesh.” But these fail to make full sense of the passage. What is redeemed if it is not Job’s body? Not the soul or spirit certainly, for these are never forfeited. And not Job’s physical possessions, for the chapter is not even considering them. It is the body that will be redeemed. Consequently, it is in this body and with his own physical eyes that Job expects to see God.
A second duty of the goel was to redeem by power, if this should be necessary. Abraham performed this duty toward his nephew Lot when Lot had been captured by the four kings who made war against the King of Sodom and his allies. Abraham armed his household, pursued the four kings and their prisoners, and then, attacking by night, recovered both the prisoners and spoil. This is what the Lord Jesus Christ is to do, is it not? He will attack in power—we speak rightly of resurrection power—and will break death’s hold. Now we look forward to the redemption of our bodies in that great and final resurrection.
Finally, the goel also had a duty to avenge a death. Imagine that an Israelite has been struck by a sword and is dying. The goel comes and learns who it is who has struck his friend and relative. Immediately he snatches up his own sword and dashes off to avenge the murder. Christ is likewise our avenger. We are dying men, but we have a Redeemer. Thus we read of His future activities and triumph, “For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. . . . O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 15:25-26, 55-57).
As we think about Job’s words in slightly greater detail, however, we discover next that he took confidence, not only in the fact that he had a Redeemer, but that he had a living Redeemer. This is important, because it is obvious that the redeemer must be living to perform his function. If Job had merely been able to say that he had a redeemer, that would be wonderful enough. If he could further say that the Redeemer of whom he is speaking is Christ, that would be even more wonderful. To have known such a one, to have been related to him, to have been able to look back to what he had once done—all this would be both pleasant and comforting.
But so far as the present need was concerned it would be inadequate. He could have said, “I had a Redeemer, and I value that.” But he would have undoubtedly added, “And I wish I had him now.” For a redeemer must be living if he is to buy back the estate, recover the prisoners, and defeat the enemy. But Job does not say that he had a Redeemer. He says that he has a Redeemer and that he is living.
In the same way we too have a living Redeemer, the same Redeemer, who is Jesus. This is the thrust of our testimony on Easter Sunday, and indeed on every other Lord’s Day also. We testify that Jesus rose from the dead and that He ever lives to help all who call upon Him. The evidences for this fact are overwhelming.
Study Questions
What are the two other duties of a kinsman-redeemer?
How does Jesus act as our Redeemer? Describe Jesus’ redeeming work in terms of the inheritance that He brings, and His powerful defeat of death?
In what does Job take confidence concerning his Redeemer?
Application
Prayer: Ask the Lord to give you opportunities to testify to the truth that you serve a living Redeemer.
For Further Study: Download for free and listen to D. A. Carson’s message, “Job and Suffering.” (Discount will be applied at checkout.)
We must give honor to the three persons in the Godhead distinctly, to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, that great and sacred Name into which we were baptized and in which we assemble for religious worship, in communion with the universal church.
I pay my homage to three that testify in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; for these three are one. 1 John 5:7(KJV)
I adore you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, Matthew 11:25(ESV) and the eternal Word, who was in the beginning with God and was God, through him all things were made, and without him was not any thing made that was made; John 1:1-3(ESV) and who in the fullness of time, Galatians 4:4(ESV) became flesh and dwelt among us and showed his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14(ESV)
And since it is the will of God that all men should honor the Son, just as they honor the Father, John 5:23(ESV) I adore him as the radiance of his Father’s glory and the exact imprint of his nature; Hebrews 1:3(ESV) herein joining with the angels of God, who were all bidden to worship him. Hebrews 1:6(ESV)
I pay homage to the exalted Redeemer, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth, Revelation 1:5(ESV) confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:11(ESV)
I also worship the Holy Spirit, the Helper, whom the Son has sent from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, John 15:26(ESV) and who is sent to teach me all things and to bring all things to my remembrance; John 14:26(ESV) who indited the Scriptures, holy men of God writing them as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. 2 Peter 1:21(ESV)
He began to call down curses on himself and he swore to them, I don’t know this man you’re talking about.
Mark 14:71
Mark is careful to point out the contrast between Jesus’ speaking under oath in the inner courtroom and Peter’s oath in the courtyard. Jesus said He was the Messiah, the Son of God, and Peter denied that he knew Jesus at all. That was a solemn and serious oath, and just then, Mark says, the rooster crowed the second time. Peter’s conscience smote him. He knew what he had done, and according to the account here, he broke down and wept. The word for broke down is very strong in Greek. He literally went out and threw himself down on the ground in agony and tears of repentance, and remorse began to flow as he thought of what he had done.
I think we can see why Mark has so carefully weaved this story together for us. Nothing intrigues me more in this account in the gospels than to see the careful way the writers of Scripture choose incidents that belong together and put them side by side. Mark has done that here so that we might see the contrast. Here is a band of priests who hate Jesus. Their hearts are filled with venom and anger and jealousy and bitterness against Him. And all of it comes spilling out in the spitting and buffeting that follow the verdict. Contrasted to this is a man who loves Jesus with all his heart and is determined to defend Him to the end. And yet, in the moment of crisis, he fails Jesus. He denies that he even knows Him.
Why does Mark put these two situations side by side? He does it so that we might understand that both of them manifest the same thing; both show the undependability of human nature–the flesh, as the Bible calls it. These priests were men of the flesh, men who lived according to the ways of the world, men who were seeking for status and prestige and position. Jesus was a threat to their position and awakened their hatred and their anger, which they expressed in this terrible accusation and mockery and violence. That is the flesh at work. Everybody recognizes that hatred and anger and vehemence are wrong. But what Mark wants us to see is that the love of Peter was no better. It too was depending on the flesh, on human abilities and human resources, to carry him through. In the hour of crisis, it was no more effective than the hatred of the priests. Love and loyalty and faithfulness mean nothing when they rest on the shaky foundation of the determination of a human will.
The most hopeful note here is the tears of Peter. The priests didn’t weep. But Peter, when he denied his Lord, threw himself down and wept. Failure is never the end of the story. Peter’s tears speak of another day that is yet to come when the Lord will deliver him and restore him, having learned a sobering and salutary lesson.
Father, there will come times when I will be confronted with failure. I will find myself, like Peter, doing the very thing I didn’t want to do, denying the Lord who bought me. Help me to understand that I must not count upon the power of the flesh to accomplish Your work.
Life Application
When we are faced with the predictable failure of our human nature, do we settle for despair or futility? Where do we go from there?
53They took Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests, elders and teachers of the law came together. 54Peter followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. There he sat with the guards and warmed himself at the fire.
55The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death, but they did not find any. 56Many testified falsely against him, but their statements did not agree.
57Then some stood up and gave this false testimony against him: 58“We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this man-made temple and in three days will build another, not made by man.’ ” 59Yet even then their testimony did not agree.
60Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, “Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?” 61But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?”
62“I am,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
63The high priest tore his clothes. “Why do we need any more witnesses?” he asked. 64“You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?”
They all condemned him as worthy of death. 65Then some began to spit at him; they blindfolded him, struck him with their fists, and said, “Prophesy!” And the guards took him and beat him.
66While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came by. 67When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked closely at him. “You also were with that Nazarene, Jesus,” she said.
68But he denied it. “I don’t know or understand what you’re talking about,” he said, and went out into the entryway.
69When the servant girl saw him there, she said again to those standing around, “This fellow is one of them.” 70Again he denied it. After a little while, those standing near said to Peter, “Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.”
71He began to call down curses on himself, and he swore to them, “I don’t know this man you’re talking about.”
72Immediately the rooster crowed the second time. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows twice you will disown me three times.” And he broke down and wept.
And you know the way where I am going.” Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” (14:4–6)
Since He had already told them that He was returning to the Father (e.g., 7:33; 13:1, 3), Jesus expected the disciples to know the way where He was going. But by this time their minds were so rattled (cf. the discussion of v. 1 above) that they were not sure of anything. Thomas vocalized their perplexity when he said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?” (cf. Peter’s similar question in 13:36). By now they understood that Jesus was going to die. But their knowledge stopped at death; they had no firsthand experience of what lay beyond the grave. Furthermore, Jesus Himself had told them that at this time they could not go where He was going (13:33, 36). If they did not know where the Lord was going, how could they know the way to get there? Jesus’ reply, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me,” is the sixth “I AM” statement in John’s gospel (cf. 6:35; 8:12; 10:7, 9, 11, 14; 11:25; the seventh comes in 15:1, 5). Jesus alone is the way to God (10:7–9; Acts 4:12) because He alone is the truth (John 1:14, 17; 18:37; Rev. 3:7; 19:11) about God and He alone possesses the life of God (John 1:4; 5:26; 11:25; 1 John 1:1; 5:20). The purpose of this gospel is to make those things known, so they are repeated throughout the book so as to lead people to faith and salvation (20:31). The Bible teaches that God may be approached exclusively through His only-begotten Son. Jesus alone is the “door of the sheep” (10:7); all others are “thieves and robbers” (v. 8), and it is only the one who “enters through [Him who] will be saved” (v. 9). The way of salvation is a narrow path entered through a small, narrow gate, and few find it (Matt. 7:13–14; cf. Luke 13:24). “There is salvation in no one else,” Peter boldly affirmed, “for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Thus, it is “he who believes in the Son [who] has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” (John 3:36), and “no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 3:11), because “there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5). The postmodern belief that there are many paths to religious truth is a satanic lie. F. F. Bruce writes,
He [Jesus] is, in fact, the only way by which men and women may come to the Father; there is no other way. If this seems offensively exclusive, let it be borne in mind that the one who makes this claim is the incarnate Word, the revealer of the Father. If God has no avenue of communication with mankind apart from his Word … mankind has no avenue of approach to God apart from that same Word, who became flesh and dwelt among us in order to supply such an avenue of approach. (The Gospel of John [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983], 298)
Jesus alone reveals God (John 1:18; cf. 3:13; 10:30–38; 12:45; 14:9; Col. 1:15, 19; 2:9; Heb. 1:3), and no one who rejects His proclamation of the truth can legitimately claim to know God (John 5:23; 8:42–45; 15:23; Matt. 11:27; 1 John 2:23; 2 John 9). It was because the early Christians taught that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation that Christianity became known as “The Way” (Acts 9:2; 19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:14, 22).
MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2008). John 12–21 (pp. 102–103). Moody Publishers.
The Only Way Home
John 14:6
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
The exclusive claim of the Lord Jesus Christ to be “the way and the truth and the life” is wrapped up in three phrases. He claims to be the way to God, indeed, the only way; he claims to be the truth about God, himself the truth; and he claims to be spiritual life, not merely the way to life. We would think, as we read that phrase, that it has said all that needs to be said. Yet, as we read the Lord’s own words, we find that immediately after saying, “I am the way and the truth and the life,” he says the whole thing over again in different words, lest we misunderstand it. He says, “No one comes to the Father except through me.” If the Lord stated this a second time, lest we misunderstand it, then we should look at it a second time also.
Only through Jesus
Taken together, these phrases mean that Christianity makes an exclusive claim. People sometimes suggest that we are narrow-minded as Christians when we say that Christ is the only way to God, and we have to confess that this is precisely what we are at this point. We are as narrow as the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord said—this is the emphasis of the verse—that he is the only way to God. There is no other way. So while it would be nice for us to equivocate on this point and say, in order to win friends and influence people, that other ways have some value—though we would like to say this, we are nevertheless unable to do so. Rather, we find ourselves affirming with the Lord Jesus Christ and with all the biblical writers that there is no salvation apart from Jesus. Many verses teach it: 1 Corinthians 3:11—“No one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ”; Acts 4:12—“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men, by which we must be saved”; 1 Timothy 2:5—“For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” If you are one who is rejecting all this, if you are one who perhaps is interested in Christianity but not exclusively, if you think that perhaps Jesus Christ is a way to God but not the way to God, I want to stress that, according to his teaching, he is the only way and that any attempt to find another way is folly, is bound to produce despair, and is perverse. The tragedy is that apart from the grace of God folly, despair, and perversity characterize each one of us. We are fools because we seek another way. We despair because there is no other way to be found. We are perverse because God has told us that there is only one way. Therefore, in turning from him to try to find another way we dishonor him.
The Fool Has Said
First, there is the folly of trying to find another way. Why is it folly? It is folly because, if a way to God has been provided, it is nonsense to look for another. Who would seek for a second cure for cancer if a perfect cure had been found? Yet this is the folly of the human heart in spiritual things. Jesus told about it in a parable that concerned a rich man. This man thought the way to life was through material possessions, so he spent a lifetime accumulating worldly goods. He was a farmer. He had produce. His wealth was in the storage of his barn. When the barn became too small for what he was accumulating, he said, “I’ll tear down my old barn and build a bigger one that can hold my possessions.” The Lord’s comment on that man’s life was: “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” (Luke 12:20). It is not the preacher who calls the unbeliever a fool. If that were the case, it would mean little indeed. The unbeliever could simply say to the preacher, “You are the fool for believing as you do.” No, God is the one who calls men fools, fools for refusing to come to him in the way he has provided. If we explore a bit deeper to find out why this is so, we find that it is because we are determined to provide for ourselves. During World War II, my father served as a doctor in the air force in the southern part of the United States. When he was released from military service he and the family began to drive northward to the family home in western Pennsylvania. It was only a few days before Christmas. So it was no surprise that on the way we ran into an early blizzard in the mountains of Tennessee. The storm got worse and worse and eventually halted our progress. At one point, however, before we had stopped for the night and as we were going uphill in a little mountain area with a dangerous precipice at our right, a car up ahead stopped. My father realized that, if the car ahead stopped, he would have to stop and, if he stopped, he would immediately begin to slide over the precipice. So he grabbed a blanket, jumped out of the car, ran around to the back wheels and stuck the blanket under one of them to stop our descent. We were stopped. But there we were, stranded in the blizzard on the mountainside. My father was an Irishman, and at this point two things characterized him: first, pride in his achievement and, second, determination to bring off another. He had saved us from going over the precipice. Now he was going to get us up the mountain. So he began to work, shoveling snow and placing boards and blankets under the tires. He worked for about an hour, but without much success. All the time my two sisters and I, my mother, and my aunt were in the car, getting colder and colder. We were very depressed. Suddenly a truck with wonderful traction came by. This truck moved ahead of us and stopped. It was obvious that the driver knew he could get going again. He got out, came back to my father and said, “I have a chain. Would you like me to hitch onto your car and take you up the mountain?” Do you know what my father said? He said, “No, thanks. We’re doing fine.” And he did do fine! But it was about sixty cold and gloomy minutes later! God says that we are exactly like this spiritually, except for the fact that it does not matter whether we spend an hour, two hours, a year, or a lifetime. We are never going to get ourselves going up the road to salvation. So Jesus says, “Look, I’ve come to provide the way to salvation. I am the way. Don’t be so foolish that you turn your back on me out of pride.”
No Exit
Second, you are not only foolish, you are also on a trip to despair. If Jesus is right when he says, “I am the way … no one comes to the Father except through me,” then no other way can be found. The Father is the source of all spiritual blessings. The way to the Father is through Jesus. If you are trying to find another way, you are never going to get those spiritual blessings. To go in any other way is to embark upon a road that has no exits and no destination. Paul spells it out in the Book of Romans, pointing to the different ways men and women try to reach God. There are three categories. First, there is the way of natural theology. This is the way of the man who goes out into the field at night and says, “I am going to commune with God in nature.” It is the man who says, “I worship God on Sunday afternoon in my golf cart.” Paul says that this is a dead end, because you cannot find God in nature. No man has ever found God in nature. You can find things about God in nature, but these condemn you. Romans says that nature reveals two things about God. It reveals the “Godhead” of God, that is, his existence, and it reveals his “power,” because obviously something or someone of considerable power stands behind what we observe. That is all that can be known of God in nature. So if you think you are going to find God in nature, you are destined to emptiness in your search. You cannot worship an eternal power; you cannot worship a supreme being; you cannot worship a law of nature. Moreover, says Paul, “You don’t even try!” Because when you say to yourself, “I’m going to worship God in nature,” what you are really doing is using nature as an excuse to avoid God. Actually you do not want to be with Christian people, nor do you wish to be under the preaching of the Word. You find it disturbing. What you are really trying to do is to escape from God into nature. If you worship anything at all, it is nature you worship; and the worship of nature is idolatry. Some years ago, after I had given a message along these lines, a woman said, “I found that to be true in my work with the beach crowd in California.” I asked, “What do you mean?” “Well,” she said, “we used to have meetings on the beach, and I used to witness to the surfers. When I would speak to them about God, they would reply that they worshiped God in nature. At first I didn’t know what to say, but after a while I caught on. I learned to ask, ‘And what is God?’ They would reply, ‘My surfboard is my god.’ ” At least that is honest, but it is paganism and idolatry. Second, there are people who try to find God in the way of human morality. They say, “God certainly likes good men and women; therefore, I’ll be good, and I’ll get to him that way.” Paul says that this line will lead you to despair also. Why? We see the answer when we reason as follows. If God loves good people—and it is true that he does—how good do they have to be? The answer is that they have to be absolutely good, perfect, because God can settle for nothing less. But no one is perfect. So Paul says, “When you start like that, when you start thinking that you are going to please God by getting better and better, you fail to see that even if you could achieve the maximum goodness possible to anyone in this world, you would never get to God in that way because it would not be good enough. We have a strange situation in the church today. The church has a message to proclaim; it begins with the total depravity of man. But this is offensive to most people. So the church gets cold feet at this point—ministers do, of course—and it backs off from preaching these things. Ministers say, “We admit that the Bible does say that all are sinners; it does say that all are dead in trespasses and sins; but it does not really mean that. It is hyperbole. What it really means is that we just need a little help. People are really pretty good underneath. So if we just appeal to their natural goodness, they’ll come and be Christians. Besides, they’ll join our churches and give us money.” Does the world congratulate the church for congratulating the world? Not at all! The world knows that this is not true. So you have people like Jean Paul Sartre and other existentialists leaping to their feet to say, “If the church is not going to tell the truth, we are going to tell the truth! We know that when you scratch beneath the veneer of mankind, when you get rid of the social conventions, when you get rid of the desire to be acceptable with other people by matching up to certain preestablished patterns of behavior, what you find beneath the surface is garbage. You find a sewer of corruption.” The existentialist does not have the answer. The despair of the existentialist is proof of what lies at the end of his road. But at least he speaks out; he is not silent. Then, in Romans 2:17–29, Paul says that there is a third way that people try; it is the way of religion, a sort of formalism. This person says, “If I cannot be righteous, at least I can do things that God likes. I’ll be baptized. I’ll be confirmed. I’ll go to communion.” Paul says that this leads to despair also. Why? Because it is based on a false conception of God. It suggests that God will settle for externals. Does he? No! People may settle for externals, but not God; he looks on the heart. God sees that although you can go through the rite of baptism, it does not mean a thing if your heart is not cleansed. He sees that although you may come to communion, it does not mean a thing unless you have first fed on Jesus Christ by faith and have drunk at that stream that he provides.
An Insult to God
To say that one is a fool for looking in another direction than Christ sounds insulting. To say that it leads to despair sounds grim. But there is worse to come. For seeking a way other than Jesus is not only foolish and leads to despair, it is perverse. It is insulting to God. How is it insulting? It is insulting because Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me.” So if you go another way, it is not merely that you are doing something for yourself, and it is certainly not the case that you are doing something praiseworthy. What you are really doing is saying to the Lord Jesus Christ, “Lord Jesus Christ, you are a liar!” Do you think that God is going to be proud of you for trying to find your own way? Do you think that God is going to admire you for that, love you for that, praise you for that? God is going to regard this for what it is, an insult to the Lord Jesus Christ his Son, because that is the equivalent of saying, “You, Lord Jesus Christ, you in whom the Father is well pleased, cannot be trusted.” Furthermore, to seek another way is not only an insult to Christ, it is an insult to the love of God who planned the way of salvation out of his great love for the sinner. What the Lord Jesus Christ did was in fulfillment of the desires of his Father. He said, “I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me) to do your will, O God” (Heb. 10:7). It was God’s will that Jesus Christ, his Son, should die in your place. So it is an insult to God to ignore it. Do you think that it was easy for God to send Jesus Christ to die for you? I am asking you fathers: Would it be easy for you to give up your son or your daughter, to see that son or daughter killed, in order that someone else might be saved? I ask you mothers: Would it be easy for you to have a son or daughter killed in your sight, to turn your back when you could save that son or daughter, in order to have someone else saved? Of course not! You who are brothers: Would you give up a sister? You who are sisters: Would you give up a brother? If it is not easy for you, why should you think that it would be easy for God? Yet that is what God did for you. Do you think it was easy for the Lord Jesus Christ to stand with his disciples on the verge of his crucifixion and say, “I am the way”? He knew what it meant to be the way. It meant that he had to go to the cross; he had to die; he had to suffer; he had to have the Father turn his back on him while he was made sin for us; he had to have the wrath of God poured out upon him. That is what it meant when the Lord Jesus Christ said, “I am the way … no one comes to the Father except through me.” Yet he said it.
Come … Come
So I ask: Is it anything but sinful, obstinate perversity for someone to say, “That is all very nice, but I am going to go another way”? To go another way is to condemn yourself to hell! For there is no other way. “There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5). How foolish it would be, how much despair is involved, how perverse on your part to go away, saying, “Well, that is all very interesting, of course; but I’m going to look a bit farther.” Today is the day of salvation! This may be the last opportunity you will ever have! I cannot promise that you will ever hear the gospel again. I cannot promise that the Holy Spirit will ever speak to your heart again, if he is speaking at this moment. Heed the invitation and come! The Bible says, “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come’ Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life” (Rev. 22:17).
Boice, J. M. (2005). The Gospel of John: an expositional commentary (pp. 1081–1086). Baker Books.
Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life. This is another of the seven great I AM’s of John’s Gospel (for the others see on 6:48; 8:12; 10:9; 10:11; 11:25; and 15:1). In the predicate each of the words way, truth, and life is preceded by the definite article. “I am the way.” Jesus does not merely show the way; he is himself the way. It is true that he teaches the way (Mark 12:14; Luke 20:21), guides us in the way (Luke 1:79), and has dedicated for us a new and living way (Heb. 10:20); but all this is possible only because he is himself the way. Christ is God. Now God is equal to each of his attributes, whereas he “possesses” each attribute in an infinite degree. Hence, not only does God have love (or exercise love), but he is love, nothing but love; he is righteousness, nothing but righteousness, etc. So also Christ is the way: in every act, word, and attitude he is the Mediator between God and his elect. Notice also the pronoun I. In the last analysis we are not saved by a principle or by a force but by a person. In the school the pupil is educated not primarily by blackboards, books, and maps, but by the teacher who makes use of all these means. In the home he is brought up by father and mother. So also the means of access to the Father is Christ himself. We are persons. The God from whom we have been estranged is a personal God. Hence, it is not strange that apart from living fellowship with the person, Jesus Christ, who exists in indissoluble union with the Father, there is no salvation for us (cf. Rom. 5:1, 2). Now Jesus is the way in a twofold sense (cf. also on 10:1, 7, 9). He is the way from God to man—all divine blessings come down from the Father through the Son (Matt. 11:27, 28); he is also the way from man to God. As already indicated, in the present context the emphasis falls on the latter idea. “I am … the truth.” Much of what has been said in connection with “I am the way” applies here also. Jesus is the very embodiment of the truth. He is the truth in person. As such he is the final reality in contrast with the shadows which preceded him (see on 1:14, 17). But in the present context the term the truth seems to have a different shade of meaning. It is that which stands over against the lie. Jesus is the truth because he is the dependable source of redemptive revelation. That this is the sense in which the word is used is clear from verse 7 which teaches that Christ reveals the Father. Cf. Matt. 11:27. But just as the way is a living way, so also the truth is living truth. It is active. It takes hold of us and influences us powerfully. It sanctifies us, guides us, and sets us free (8:32; cf. 17:17). Basically, not it but he is the truth, he himself in person. Pilate asked, “What is truth?” (18:38). Jesus here in 14:6 answers, “I am the truth.” “I am … the life.” Jesus is not referring here to the breath or spirit (πνεῦμα) which animates our body. He is not thinking of the soul (ψυχή) nor of life as outwardly manifested (βίος), but of life as opposed to death (ζωή). All God’s glorious attributes dwell in the Son of God (see on 1:4). And because he has the life within himself (see on 5:26), he is the source and giver of life for his own (see on 3:16; 6:33; 10:28; 11:25). He has the light of life (8:12), the words of life (6:68), and he came that we might have life and abundance (10:10). Just as death spells separation from God, so life implies communion with him (17:3). All three concepts are active and dynamic. The way brings to God; the truth makes men free; the life produces fellowship. How are these three related? As more or less separate, wholly coordinate entities? Or, as forming a single concept: “the true and living way”? It is not necessary to choose either of these alternatives. Truth and life are nouns, not adjectives. Christ is the truth and the life, just as well as he is the way. Nevertheless, the context indicates that the idea of the way predominates. The meaning appears to be: “I am the way because I am the truth and the life.” When Jesus reveals God’s redemptive truth which sets men free from the enslaving power of sin, and when he imparts the seed of life, which produces fellowship with the Father, then and thereby he, as the way (which they themselves, by sovereign grace, have chosen), has brought them to the Father. Hence, Jesus continues: No one comes to the Father but by me. Since men are absolutely dependent upon Christ for their knowledge of redemptive truth and also for the spark that causes that truth to live in their souls (and their souls to become alive to that truth), it follows that no one comes to the Father but through him. With Christ removed there can be no redemptive truth, no everlasting life; hence, no way to the Father. Cf. Acts 4:12. Both the absoluteness of the Christian religion and the urgent necessity of Christian Missions is clearly indicated.
Hendriksen, W., & Kistemaker, S. J. (1953–2001). Exposition of the Gospel According to John (Vol. 2, pp. 267–269). Baker Book House.
For the Lord will not forsake his people for his great name’s sake; because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people. (1 Samuel 12:22)
God’s choice of His people is the reason for His abiding by them and not forsaking them. He chose them for His love, and He loves them for His choice. His own good pleasure is the source of their election, and His election is the reason for the continuance of His pleasure in them. It would dishonor His great name for Him to forsake them, since it would either show that He made an error in His choice or that He was fickle in His love. God’s love has this glory, that it never changes, and this glory He will never tarnish.
By all the memories of the Lord’s former lovingkindnesses let us rest assured that He will not forsake us. He who has gone so far as to make us His people will not undo the creation of His grace. He has not wrought such wonders for us that He might leave us after all. His Son Jesus has died for us, and we may be sure that He has not died in vain. Can He forsake those for whom He shed His blood? Because He has hitherto taken pleasure in choosing and in saving us, it will be His pleasure still to bless us. Our Lord Jesus is no changeable lover. Having loved His own, He loves them to the end.
For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance. (Matthew 13:12)
When the Lord has given to a man much grace, He will give him more. A little faith is a nest egg; more faith will come to it. But then it must not be seeming faith, but real and true. What a necessity is laid upon us to make sure work in religion and not to profess much, and possess nothing! For one of these days the very profession will be taken from us, if that be all we have. The threatening is as true as the promise.
Blessed be the Lord, it is His way when He has once made a beginning to go on bestowing the graces of His Spirit, till He who had but little, and yet truly had that little, is made to have abundance. Oh, for that abundance! Abundance of grace is a thing to be coveted, It would be well to know much but better to love much. It would be delightful to have abundance of skill to serve God but better still to have abundance of faith to trust in the Lord for skill and everything.
Lord, since Thou hast given me a sense of sin, deepen my hatred of evil. Since Thou hast caused me to trust Jesus, raise my faith to full assurance. Since Thou hast made me to love Thee, cause me to be carried away with vehement affection for Thee!
The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion: and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life. (Psalm 128:5)
This is a promise to the God-fearing man who walks in the ways of holiness with earnest heed. He shall have domestic blessedness; his wife and children shall be a source of great home happiness. But then as a member of the church he desires to see the cause prosper, for he is as much concerned for the Lord’s house as for his own. When the Lord builds our house, it is but fitting that we should desire to see the Lord’s house builded. Our goods are not truly good unless we promote by them the good of the Lord’s chosen church.
Yes, you shall get a blessing when you go up to the assemblies of Zion; you shall be instructed, enlivened, and comforted, where prayer and praise ascend and testimony is borne to the great Sacrifice. “The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion.”
Nor shall you alone be profited; the church itself shall prosper; believers shall be multiplied, and their holy work shall be crowned with success. Certain gracious men have this promise fulfilled to them as long as they live. Alas! when they die the cause often flags. Let us be among those who bring good things to Jerusalem all their days. Lord, of Thy mercy make us such! Amen.
When someone encounters Jesus, everything changes. It can be difficult to explain this to other people, especially if they don’t come from a church background, and this can sometimes lead to testimonies which underemphasise things which we fear unbelievers might be put off by. However, there is benefit to ourselves and to others when we rehearse what the Lord God has done in our lives with the details intact and within a doctrinal framework. Mrs Goodal, a Covenanter, wrote down her conversion experience in the form of a signed statement that she had totally committed herself to the Lord Jesus. She recalls her initial disinterest in Him, then her growing realisation of her need of Him, and then how His Word became the basis of her faith and hope, while praising Him in very specific ways for His gracious and glorious work of redemption. In the following updated extract, naming not only some of the Christians who had given her advice, but also the places and dates which stood out in her experience, she remembers her first love.
Where I started
Here, I declare, I do believe my lost estate in Adam. I find myself so polluted in my miserable condition, wherein I find myself all over, in my understanding, and will, and affections, in a state of estrangedness from God. His holy law, which is given to me to be my rule to walk by is my judge — I cannot obey it. I am summoned to the bar of God’s justice, and there I stand sentenced and condemned by God and my own conscience.
This did not appear to me so dangerous a state as indeed it was (though I was born and brought up in the place where I had occasion to have the benefit of the preaching of the gospel in power and purity), until the year 1677, when the Lord revealed my lost state to me.
Then I saw nothing but wrath and displeasure from the Lord, and that which I thought would have (as I thought) given me relief, only increased my sorrow. I found no comfort in the use of any means, either public or private. When I went to the Lord to seek relief, I did not dare say anything but, “Lost, lost! If only there was mercy for a hypocrite!” Tossed about like this, I thought I was a reprobate, destined to damnation, so that I did not need to seek salvation through Jesus Christ, for there was no mercy for me (though I knew He had abundance of mercy for all the sins of the elect).
If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.” Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves. (14:7–11)
To bolster the disciples’ wavering faith, vocalized by Thomas (v. 5), Jesus pointed them back to the truth that He is God incarnate. “If you had known Me,” He chided them (the verbs in v. 7 are plurals, indicating that the Lord was no longer addressing Thomas alone as in v. 6, but all the disciples), “you would have known My Father also.” If the disciples had fully grasped who Jesus was, they would have known the Father as well. The Lord’s statement was nothing less than a claim to full deity and equality with the Father. He is the way to God (v. 6) because He is God. He is not merely a manifestation of God; He is God manifested. That truth, a constant theme in John’s gospel (e.g., 1:1–3, 14, 17, 18; 5:18; 8:58; 10:30–33; 19:7; 20:28–29), is the watershed that divides true from false views of Christ. Many throughout history and today have regarded Jesus as nothing more than a good man; an exemplary, virtuous moral or religious teacher. But that is impossible. No one who claimed to be God incarnate, if his claim were false, could be a good man. If he knew his claim was false, he would be an evil deceiver; if he sincerely believed it was true when it was not, he would be a raving lunatic. But the evidence conclusively shows that Christ was neither a liar nor insane. Rather He was God, exactly as He claimed to be. (For a further defense of this truth, see John MacArthur, John 1–11, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary [Chicago: Moody, 2006], chapters 7, 15, 24.) How each person reacts to Christ’s claim determines his or her eternal destiny (John 8:24). It is possible to interpret the phrase from now on you know Him, and have seen Him as referring to that very moment in the upper room. However Philip’s question in verse 8, suggesting that the disciples still did not understand Jesus’ point, argues against an immediate fulfillment of His words. It was only after Christ’s death, resurrection, ascension, and the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost (John 14:17, 26; 15:26; 16:13) that the disciples would finally understand Jesus’ deity and relationship to the Father (John 20:28; Acts 2:22ff.; 3:12ff.; 4:8–12; 5:29–32). Because that understanding would certainly come in the future, Jesus spoke of it as if it were a present reality. Thomas was silenced by Jesus’ reply to his question, but Philip was still not satisfied. Expressing the disciples’ continuing lack of understanding, Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father.” He was not content with indirect knowledge of God, even that given by Jesus Himself. Instead, he wanted a visible manifestation of the Father’s presence to sustain his faith. Perhaps he had in mind the experiences of Jacob (Gen. 32:30), Samson’s parents (Judg. 13), Moses (Ex. 33:18–23; 34:6–7), the elders of Israel (Ex. 24:9–10), Isaiah (Isa. 6:1–4), and Ezekiel (Ezek. 1:1ff.). Such a theophany, Philip added, would be enough to reassure them (the plural pronoun us suggests that Philip spoke for the others as well). The Lord’s reply, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip?” was a rebuke both to Philip for his faithless request and, by extension, the rest of the disciples for their wavering faith. (The first occurrence of you in the English translation reflects a plural pronoun in the Greek text.) Reiterating the truth of His deity and oneness with the Father (v. 7), Jesus told Philip and the others plainly, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” (cf. v. 20; 1:18; 10:38; 12:45; 15:24; 17:11, 21–23). Christ’s words are tinged with sadness. Such ignorance on the part of unbelievers (cf. John 1:10; 8:19; 16:3) was deplorable, but expected. But the Lord had poured His life into these men. They had lived day in and day out with the “image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15; cf. 2 Cor. 4:4); the one in whom “all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form” (Col. 2:9); the “radiance of [God’s] glory and the exact representation of His nature” (Heb. 1:3). Yet despite being with Him for so long, the disciples still did not fully comprehend the truth about Jesus and His union with the Father. This confusion seems to be related to Jesus’ failure to live up to their messianic expectations. They were still wondering after the resurrection (Acts 1:6). That was both inexcusable for them and disappointing to Jesus. The Lord’s further question in verse 10, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father?” and His command in verse 11, “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me,” suggest the cure for the disciples’ confusion and turmoil. Faith is not only the means of appropriating salvation (Eph. 2:8; cf. Acts 15:9; 20:21; 26:18; Rom. 3:22, 25–28, 30; 4:5; 5:1; Gal. 2:16; 3:7–9, 24, 26; Phil. 3:9; 2 Thess. 2:13; 2 Tim. 3:15), it is also the very essence of sustaining the Christian life (Acts 6:5; 11:24; 2 Cor. 5:7; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 6:16; 1 Thess. 5:8; 1 Tim. 4:12; 6:11; 2 Tim. 2:22; Heb. 13:7). But the Christian faith is neither a blind, irrational, “leap in the dark” nor a vague, mystical faith in faith itself. It rests on the solid ground of overwhelming evidence. Jesus shored up the disciples’ sagging faith by reminding them first of His words, which He did not speak on His own initiative, but through the abiding power of the Father. John the Baptist testified of Christ, “For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God” (John 3:34). Jesus declared in John 7:16, “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me.” In 12:49 He added, “For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak.” So powerful were the Lord’s words that at the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount, “when Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes” (Matt. 7:28–29). Explaining to their superiors why they failed to seize Him, those sent to arrest Jesus said in awe, “Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks” (John 7:46). The powerful, divine words of Jesus Christ, which penetrate the heart and mind, are the answer to the cry of the redeemed, “Increase our faith!” (Luke 17:5; cf. 2 Cor. 10:15). Not only is faith based on the words of Christ, but also on the unprecedented (John 15:24; cf. 9:32; Matt. 9:33; Mark 2:12), undeniable (John 3:2; 7:31; 11:47) miraculous works He performed. Therefore, He challenged the disciples, “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves.” In John 5:36 Jesus declared, “The works which the Father has given Me to accomplish—the very works that I do—testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me,” while in 10:25 He added, “The works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me” (cf. vv. 32, 37–38; Matt. 11:2–5; Acts 5:22–23). His claim to be equal with God (cf. John 5:18) was not only established by His own self-testimony (and the testimony of John the Baptist [5:31–34] and of the Old Testament Scriptures [5:39–46]), but confirmed by the mighty and extensive supernatural works that the Spirit enabled Him to accomplish in the will of the Father (John 5:36–37).
MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2008). John 12–21 (pp. 103–106). Moody Publishers.
How to See God
John 14:7–11
“If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.”
In the fourteenth chapter of John’s Gospel, in the midst of the last discourses, one of Christ’s disciples makes a request with which most Christian people can identify. The disciple was Philip. The request he made was, “Lord, show us the Father.” It was the request to see God. There are times when each of us earnestly wishes that the experience Philip asked of the Lord Jesus Christ could be possible. We know, of course, that God does not possess a tangible form. We even know that this is only what we ought to expect and that it is desirable. But still there are times when God seems so remote, so untouchable, that we earnestly wish we could see him. We would like to gaze upon God and hear his voice in words that actually strike our eardrums. In such moments we believe that if we could have this experience, then we should find it easier to live for God in the midst of this world. And—we must be honest here—we sometimes imagine that God is holding out on us, making it more difficult for us by denying this experience. Have you ever had these thoughts? If you have, then the words of the Lord Jesus Christ to Philip in the upper room should be of great interest to you.
Knowing God
We must notice, however, before we begin to look at Christ’s answer, that Philip’s question arose in the context of Christ’s teaching about knowing God, so that in this case Jesus actually provoked his disciple’s question. A moment before Jesus had taught that he was the sole way to God. “No one comes to the Father except through me,” he said. Then he went on, “If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him” (v. 7). What do you think of that statement? Do you think that it is easily comprehensible? Do you grasp its meaning at once? This statement makes one stop and ponder. However, if it does that for us now, at this point in history, I am convinced that it most certainly had that effect upon the disciples and was therefore spoken by Jesus precisely for that purpose. In other words, it is apparent from the nature of the statement, and the context, that Jesus spoke as he did in order to provoke a discussion on this subject. He was about to leave his disciples. He knew that when he should be taken from them they would be plunged into a dark and melancholy despair. In their despair God would seem extremely remote. Consequently, he introduced the subject in order to teach them that they had already seen God and were therefore to know him from this time forward, whether they realized it or not. “From now on, you do know him and have seen him,” he said. Philip fixed his thoughts upon the idea of seeing, as we often do, and demanded, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us” (v. 8).
Limitations of Seeing
As Philip asked this question he was probably thinking of those Old Testament examples in which a person or group of persons is said to have seen God. Moses was one. He had asked to see God’s glory, and God had replied, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence” (Exod. 33:19). Then the Lord placed Moses within a cleft of rock, covered the space with his hand, and passed by. Elijah had a similar experience when the Lord caused a great wind, an earthquake, and a fire to pass before his prophet, though the Lord was not in the wind, the earthquake, or the fire. He was in the still small voice that Elijah heard afterward (1 Kings 19:11–12). There is also a verse that tells us that Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel “saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement of sapphire, clear as the sky itself” (Exod. 24:10). None of these passages mean that the persons involved actually saw God as he is in himself. God had told Moses, “You cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live” (Exod. 33:20). Still, the experience of the others was something great, and this was good enough for Philip, whatever it was. He therefore asked Jesus, whom he believed could do anything, for a theophany. But how did the Lord reply? Instead of granting the request or even attempting to explain why Philip’s desire was unwise or impossible, Jesus began to teach what it really means to see God, and how to see him. The point with which he began was the limitation of the kind of seeing Philip had in mind. To understand this point we need to see the contrast implied in Christ’s next statement. Philip had said, “Lord, we would know God if we could just see him.” But Jesus says, making the contrast, “It is strange that you say that, Philip. For I have been with you three years. You have seen me throughout that period, and yet you do not know me. Why then do you think that seeing would help you know God?” This is the meaning of the statement, “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time?” (v. 9). Obviously, the kind of seeing that Philip had in mind does not lead to a true knowledge of anyone.
A Right Kind of Seeing
The Lord Jesus Christ did not stress merely the limitations of the kind of seeing Philip envisioned, however. He also talked about the right kind of seeing, a seeing centered entirely in himself. He is the object of it. Jesus continued, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? (v. 9). True, there is a seeing that is inadequate. But, on the other hand, there is a seeing that is altogether right. In this seeing, the sequence is obviously: (1) seeing the Lord Jesus Christ with understanding, (2) coming to know Jesus as a result of that seeing, and (3) coming to know God through knowing Jesus. But what kind of seeing is this? The seeing involved is illustrated by the story of Peter and John’s trip to the tomb of Jesus, recorded just six chapters farther on in John’s Gospel. In that story three different words are used for “seeing,” though each is translated by the identical word “see” in our Bibles. The first is blepō. It is used of John who, having outdistanced Peter in the race to the tomb, stooped down “and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying.” This is the simplest word for “see.” It merely means that the image of the graveclothes within the tomb had impressed itself upon the retina of John’s eyes. In a few moments Peter arrived. Since he was not one to stand around doing nothing, Peter pushed John aside and actually entered the tomb. Here he had opportunity to observe the graveclothes; so, in this case, a different word for “see” is used. The word is theōreō. It means to “puzzle over” or “scrutinize.” In this case, Peter needed to puzzle over the fact that the clothes were there but the body was gone. If the body had been taken away, why were the graveclothes not taken away with it? Or, on the other hand, if the bands had been removed, why were they not scattered about the tomb and the spices spilled? Instead of this, the bands were exactly as they had been when they were wound around the body, and the head cloth was set off by itself just as it had been when it was around the head of the Master. At this point John tells us that he entered, saw what Peter saw, and believed. Only now the word is not theōreō or blepō. It is oraō, which means “to see with understanding.” That is why John says that he “saw and believed.” He saw that the only thing that would account for the arrangement of the graveclothes was a resurrection. That is precisely the word used in John 14, where Jesus says that the one who has “seen” him has “seen” the Father. He means that the one who perceives who he is perceives God. The point can be made in another way also. Notice that Philip had asked to be “shown” the Father. This is the verb deiknumi, which, in effect, calls for a demonstration. Jesus replied that what was needed was not so much a demonstration as an apprehension. It is not a seeing but a perceiving that is important. This has great bearing for us, of course, for if seeing physically is the important thing, we are deprived. Not only can we not see God; we cannot even see Jesus, which was at least Philip’s privilege. Jesus is simply not here. We cannot observe him. On the other hand, if perceiving is the true seeing, then we are not deprived at all, for we can perceive Jesus and, perceiving him, can perceive and know God. Indeed, we can know him as well and in exactly the same way as he was known by these believing contemporaries of the Lord Jesus.
Believing Is Seeing
To speak of the Lord’s “believing contemporaries” leads us to the final section of these verses, for it can hardly escape the notice of any careful reader that the discussion of knowing and seeing, which fills the first half of the paragraph, gives way to a discussion of belief (or faith) in the second. In the first half, the word “know” occurs four times and the words “seen” or “show” five times. In the second half (including verse 12), not one of these three words can be found. But the word “believe,” “believed,” or “believes” is repeated four times over. Why? It is no great mystery. It is merely another example of the New Testament teaching that in spiritual things belief must come first, after which true seeing will follow. Earlier in the Gospel, Jesus had said of the people of his day, “Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders, you will never believe” (4:48). This was a true description of the thinking of vast numbers of men and women in his time, as we pointed out when we studied that verse. It is the old philosophy, “Seeing is believing,” upon which the world operates. But Jesus inverts it. On the occasion on which the words I have just quoted were spoken, Jesus instructed a nobleman, who had come to him for the healing of his child, “You may go. Your son will live” (v. 50), as a result of which the nobleman believed and then saw the thing he had requested. In the same way, in chapter 11, just before he is to raise Lazarus from the dead, Jesus turns to unbelieving Martha and asks, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” (v. 40). If this is only a human matter, the suggestion that we should believe without sight is absurd. Who wants to believe without sight? No one. And no one does. On the other hand, in spiritual matters it is entirely reasonable to do this, because in this case we are dealing not with a mere man but with God. Jesus is God. To believe him is the most logical act in the universe.
Faith’s Object
The matter of seeing God stops with believing on Jesus, but we are not to suppose by this that belief is therefore some subjective, intangible thing, as if we are to work ourselves up to faith by wishful thinking. This is not the biblical idea at all. Consequently, Jesus goes on to talk about belief in two things or, as we might also say, on two levels. The first level is belief in his words; the second is belief in his works. In other words, belief is as objective and tangible as the words and works of Jesus. Jesus does not call for blind faith. He calls for a thinking faith. He here challenges faith by asking us to test his claims on the basis of the things said and the deeds done. Have you tested Christ’s words? In one of his writings Charles Haddon Spurgeon tells of an old unbeliever who was dying. A great Scotch preacher by the name of Innis, came to see him. He inquired of his faith in Christ and was told, “Mr. Innis, I am relying solely on the mercy of God; God is merciful, and he will never condemn a man forever.” When he became worse and was nearer death, Mr. Innis went to him again. This time the man said, “Oh, Mr. Innis, my hope is gone; for I have been thinking that if God is merciful, God is just too; and what if, instead of being merciful to me, he should be just to me? What would then become of me? I must give up my hope in the mere mercy of God; tell me how to be saved.” The minister then told him of Christ’s words and deeds. He told him how Christ had come into the world to save sinners. He told him how he had promised to do this by going to the cross to die in their place, how this had been done, and how Jesus had promised that none of those who had been given to him by the Father should ever be lost. “Ah,” said the infidel, “Mr. Innis, there is something solid in that; I can rest on that. I have found that I cannot rest on anything else.” There is nothing else. Belief is meaningless unless it rests on the words and works of Jesus.
Little Faith
But perhaps even now you feel that your faith is too small and that you will therefore never come to see God. If this is the case, notice that before he moves on to other subjects Jesus stops to say a word just to you. You may not be able to believe on the basis of his teaching alone, he argues. But you can surely believe on the basis of what he has done. “Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves” (v. 11). To believe on the basis of the miracles is not the best kind of faith, but it is true faith regardless. It is better than no faith at all. Better than thinking about faith itself is to think on faith’s object. Some time ago I came upon this illustration from the works of Donald Barnhouse. Barnhouse had been in Palestine and had been taken to the great hall of the Sanhedrin. In that hall there is a window which looks out over the wailing wall, at the base of which stand groups of rabbis, slowly beating their breasts in sorrow for sin while repeating phrases from the Book of Lamentations. As Barnhouse looked he saw that above their heads, along the high expanse of the wall, grew the long trailing plant identified as the hyssop of the Bible. Barnhouse asked about the plant and learned that it has a remarkably shallow root. Often it is not over a half-inch long. But with this root the hyssop clings to the surface of the rock, drawing its sustenance from the air, wind, rain (when there is any), and small particles of nourishment in the rock itself. From that tiny root the plant flourishes, sometimes growing to a length of twelve or fourteen feet. “What a great plant to grow from such a slender root,” thought Barnhouse. What a symbol of the faith God calls for! In itself faith is worthless, just as worthless as the root if it should become unattached. If one grasps the branch and pulls the root away from the rock, the branch will soon die. To be of value the root must cling to the rock. Thus, faith, which is nothing in itself, becomes the key to life when it clings to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Rock of Ages. It is through faith in him that we see God.
Boice, J. M. (2005). The Gospel of John: an expositional commentary (pp. 1087–1092). Baker Books.
Jesus said to him, So long a time have I been with you, and yet you have not learned to recognize me, Philip? Philip had failed to listen carefully to the words spoken to Thomas, to the effect that the Father had become manifest in the Son. Moreover, had not the Master revealed this truth again and again from the very beginning of his ministry? Since his first public appearance more than three years had elapsed: “so long a time.” One may well ask, “Was there any truth which Jesus had emphasized so repeatedly as this one, that he, the Mediator sent by God, had come to speak the words and to perform the works of God; that in these words and works he was revealing the Father; and that this manifestation of the Father in him as Mediator rested upon the eternal, intra-trinitarian relationship between the Father and himself, the only-begotten Son? See the following passages: 1:18; 3:33–36; 5:17, 18, 19–32; 6:29, 38, 57; 7:29; 8:16, 19, 28, 29, 42, 54, 55; 10:15, 30, 33, 37, 38; 12:45; 13:31. Surely Philip and the others have heard some of this teaching! Hence, Jesus administers a tender rebuke when he says, “So long a time have I been with you (note the plural), and yet you (note the singular) have not learned to recognize me?” The plural you refers to all the disciples present in the Upper Room (i.e., the Eleven, Judas having left); the singular you refers to Philip alone. Note also the verb, on which see footnote , and the reference there indicated. The kind of recognition which Jesus has in mind is spiritual in character. It amounts to seeing by faith the Father in the Son; for Jesus continues: He who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, Show us the Father? In the light of the abundant teaching of the Lord on this subject (see on verse 9 above), the remark, “How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’ ” requires no further comment. The three perfects (ἔγνωκας, ἑωρακώς, ἑώρακε; respectively: you have not learned to recognize; he who has seen; he has seen) show that once this spiritual knowledge or vision has been obtained, it has abiding results. The entire passage indicates that redemptive revelation apart from Christ is impossible. In the Son we have God’s final revelation. As true as it is that he who has seen the Son has seen the Father, so true it is that he who has not seen the Son has not seen the Father. What the disciples lacked, however, was not genuine faith as such but genuine faith in full measure. They had seen but, due to their own sinfulness, they had not seen clearly enough.
Hendriksen, W., & Kistemaker, S. J. (1953–2001). Exposition of the Gospel According to John (Vol. 2, pp. 270–271). Baker Book House.
“A government ought to contain in itself every power requisite to the full accomplishment of the objects committed to its care, and to the complete execution of the trusts for which it is responsible, free from every other control but a regard to the public good and to the sense of the people.” —Alexander Hamilton (1788)
Minnesota updates: President Donald Trump and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz spoke by phone on Monday to discuss cooperation on the deteriorating illegal immigrant roundup in that state. Also, Trump announced that Border Czar Tom Homan will take over enforcement in Minnesota and will allow a state-level investigation into the killings of two anti-ICE agitators. Walz says that his state has cooperated in handing over criminal illegals and blamed county- and city-level officials for non-cooperation. Gov. Walz is the leader of the Gopher State, and so far, his “leadership” has entailed encouraging agitators and promising to prosecute ICE agents. The intervention of an anti-ICE agitator that turned fatal over the weekend led to the escape of a criminal illegal sought by ICE. If Walz is serious about cooperation, he will need to force the cities and counties in his state to hand over criminal illegals.
Hotel standoff: On Sunday evening in Minneapolis, a group of anti-ICE agitators surrounded a Home2 Suites by Hilton hotel and smashed windows, destroyed the hotel’s sign façade, graffitied the building with “ICE OUT” and “ICE KILLS” messages, and raised a din of noise. These agitators were members of the Sunrise Movement, a radical leftist outfit that receives funding from nonprofits such as George Soros’s Open Society Foundations, the Ford Foundation, and the MacArthur Foundation. A post on Sunrise’s social media states their objective: “Our strategy to target hotels that are housing ICE agents is WORKING,” adding, “Two hotels in the Twin Cities just decided to pause their operations rather than house ICE agents.” Eventually, heavily armed federal agents arrived and quickly deployed tear gas and flash-bangs to disperse the agitators.
Midterm conventions? Both the Republican and Democrat Parties are pursuing the idea of holding a midterm convention to boost turnout this November. The Republican National Committee approved a rule change on Friday that would enable its first-ever midterm convention. Democrats are quietly floating the same idea, pulling from their own historical playbook, having held such conventions in the 1970s and ‘80s. The RNC is acting in accordance with the president’s suggestion to hold a convention. RNC Chair Joe Gruters proposed that the event would likely be held in August, which is usual for RNC conventions, and that it would be a “Trump-a-palooza” highlighting the president’s accomplishments and congressional candidates. Eighteen House races are expected to be toss-ups this fall, with the Republicans looking to hang on to a razor-thin majority.
Venezuela’s shift: The acting president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, made an appearance on the nation’s state-run TV on Sunday and stated that she has had “enough already of Washington’s orders over politicians in Venezuela.” She called on the Trump administration to allow Venezuela to resolve its internal political differences without U.S. interference. President Trump praised Rodríguez’s leadership just last week, saying she “had done a very good job” of working with the U.S. It’s unclear whether Rodríguez is sending a message to the Trump administration or posing to the cameras to show strength to her own people. Regardless, Rodríguez might want to tread carefully with Nobel Peace Prize recipient María Corina Machado waiting in the wings should Trump decide that Rodríguez is not working out.
NBC discovers that ObamaCare is lousy: Government healthcare has always been a bad idea. It’s obvious in the UK, where wait times are routinely months or years; it’s obvious in Canada, where the Medical Assistance in Dying scheme has become a leading cause of death; and it’s obvious in the U.S. with the (Un)Affordable Care Act. It’s so obvious that even NBC News is now reporting about the system’s failure. One couple, NBC explains, had to switch to a bronze plan under ObamaCare for economic reasons, leaving them with an $18,000 annual deductible despite only a couple of thousand dollars in savings. The average deductible for an individual on the bronze plan, NBC discovered, is $7,500. NBC is quick to blame the expiration of enhanced subsidies in January as the root issue, but all that the expiration exposed is the unaffordable nature of the Democrats’ healthcare scheme.
AAP ignores CDC: The American Academy of Pediatrics, which comprises approximately 67,000 pediatricians, released its vaccine recommendations on Monday, standing by its stance from last year and rejecting the CDC’s changes to the schedule. The AAP is refusing to follow the CDC’s lead on removing hepatitis A and B, COVID-19, influenza, rotavirus, and meningococcal immunizations from its list of 18 recommendations. Dr. Sean O’Leary, a pediatrician who chairs the AAP’s committee on infectious diseases, claims the CDC is not making decisions based on science, but rather ideology, and that the AAP is going to continue to make its recommendations “based on what’s in the best interest of children.” A spokeswoman for HHS countered that the CDC’s positions are informed by a whole scientific panel of public health experts, physicians, and scientists, noting that the AAP “is angry that the CDC eliminated corporate influence in vaccine recommendations.”
Virginia group starts new sanctuary 2A movement: As newly inaugurated “moderate” Democrat Abigail Spanberger continues to push the hardest-left agenda she can think of on the good citizens of the Old Dominion, some are beginning to fight back. The Virginia Citizens Defense League is calling for the “Second Amendment sanctuary movement 2.0,” which would essentially be a reactivation of a movement that swept the Commonwealth in 2019 and 2020 when leftists were pushing gun control laws. At that time, 95% of county leaders in the state pledged not to enforce unconstitutional gun laws. The Lynchburg City Council is set to vote today to reaffirm its Second Amendment sanctuary status in the face of Spanberger’s new spate of gun control laws. VCDL leader Philip Van Cleave says the group is also focused on flipping the control of the Virginia Senate back to Republicans in 2028.
Last Israeli hostage returned: The remains of 24-year-old Ran Gvili were brought into Israel on Monday, marking the return of the last remaining hostage taken into Gaza by Hamas militants during their October 7, 2023, terrorist attack. Gvili was a police officer who was killed on the day of the attack, and his body was taken into Gaza. The Israel Defense Forces stated that Gvili’s remains were identified and confirmed by the National Center of Forensic Medicine, the Israel Police, and the Military Rabbinate, and his family had been notified. Since the ceasefire agreement with Hamas, the IDF carried out a “large-scale operation” to locate Gvili’s body. The return of the last hostage was “an extraordinary achievement,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “We promised — and I promised — to bring everyone back. We brought them all back, down to the very last captive.”
Persecution of Christians rises around the world: According to the Christian organization Open Doors, almost 400 million Christians across the globe face persecution this year. The organization’s 2026 World Watch List notes the top 50 countries, including the likes of Eritrea, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen, where Christians are being threatened with extreme persecution. Nigeria topped the list for the most Christians martyred last year, as the African nation was home to 3,490 of the 4,849 Christians who were killed for their faith in 2025. Syria also rose to the top 10 most dangerous countries for Christians as the Islamic State surged to power. Last June, 22 Christians were attacked and killed in Damascus. American Christians need to pray for their brothers and sisters in the faith across the world who are enduring persecution.
Headlines
Gregory Bovino relieved as Border Patrol commander-at-large (NewsNation)
FBI investigating Minnesota anti-ICE Signal group chats (Fox News)
Federal judge blocks Trump DOJ access to Oregon voter rolls (Fox News)
We know that the anti-ICE clowns have a fairly organized strategy to disrupt lawful enforcement of U.S. immigration law. Their objective is to discredit ICE and the entire Trump administration by provoking the kinds of conflicts that got Renee Good and Alex Pretti killed. People died, these radical leftists rationalize, but at least ICE looked really bad.
Oh, and the guy ICE originally sought — a violent criminal named Jose Huerta-Chuma — escaped capture while the subversives occupied ICE agents.
As the New York Post editorial board put it, “The anti-ICE crew is getting exactly what it wants right now. People looking at a video on TikTok don’t get any of the context: All they’re seeing is a crowd of agents beating a guy onto the ground, with shots then ringing out and him ending up dead. Having Homeland Security double down now is all too likely to produce more such scenes.”
That means Team Trump had better adjust its own strategy. That doesn’t mean pulling out of Minnesota or ceasing to detain and deport illegal alien criminals, but it does mean a shift in how ICE interacts with the agitators, and it also means some significant personnel changes.
It seems that President Donald Trump is working on this, beginning with a shift in tone. “Nobody in the White House, including President Trump, wants to see people getting hurt or killed in America’s streets. This includes Renee Good, Alex Pretti, the brave men and women of federal law enforcement, and the many Americans who have been victimized at the hands of illegal alien criminals,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday. “It is President Trump’s hope and wish and demand for the resistance and chaos to end today.”
Personnel moves came next. “I am sending [Border Czar] Tom Homan to Minnesota tonight,” the president announced on Truth Social yesterday. “He has not been involved in that area, but knows and likes many of the people there. Tom is tough but fair, and will report directly to me.”
Homan is a serious man who has served in immigration enforcement for decades under administrations of both parties. He has also been at the center of a seemingly growing internal dispute with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem over who should be deported. Homan and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Todd Lyons have advocated that the emphasis be put on illegals with criminal records or final deportation orders. Noem and other administration players, by contrast, have favored and pushed a broader approach.
Noem herself has caused optics problems with her irresponsible rhetoric after Pretti’s death. She called him a “domestic terrorist,” which is at best hyperbolic nonsense. That term has a specific definition under federal law, and Pretti doesn’t meet it. Neither did Renee Good, whom Noem hit with the same label. Noem (falsely) added that Pretti was “brandishing” his gun, saying, “This looks like a situation where an individual arrived at the scene to inflict maximum damage on individuals and to kill law enforcement.” None of that is supported by the known facts of the case, and as our Mark Alexander says, it “serves only as an accelerant.”
Noem is a team player and praised Trump’s decision to send Homan. “This is good news for peace, safety, and accountability in Minneapolis,” she said. “I have worked closely with Tom over the last year and he has been a major asset to our team.” Both Noem and Homan directly report to Trump, and Noem had a long meeting with the president on Monday.
That won’t happen — yet. However, Trump ordered Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino out of Minnesota after he essentially said the same things as Noem — that Pretti “wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.”
We certainly can’t count on Democrats like Governor Tim Walz to speak responsibly. He’s busy comparing Minnesota to the story of Anne Frank and the Nazis, for which even the U.S. Holocaust Museum rebuked him. We should be able to count on Team Trump to accurately speak about incredibly tense situations. Doing so would calm Americans, rather than fomenting more division and anger.
Speaking of Walz, he wrote an op-ed in which the first paragraph condemns “the Trump administration’s assault on Minnesota” and “campaign of organized brutality against the people of our state.” He assails the enforcement of immigration law as targeting people who “have done nothing wrong except exist as a person of color.” That’s inflammatory hogwash that inspires the people harassing federal agents in the streets.
On the same day Walz’s incendiary op-ed was published, the president and the governor had what Trump called “a good conversation.” I’m skeptical that a guy who thinks the Trump administration is the reincarnated Nazi regime is interested in cooperating at all, even to meet Trump’s series of very reasonable conditions.
Let’s conclude with a strategic view: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris opened the border, allowing 10-15 million illegals to flood across. Minnesota and several other states and cities, all run by Democrats, are sanctuary jurisdictions, and ICE has to operate in these places because more illegal aliens reside there. Anti-ICE agitators organize, provoke, and film in order to discredit law enforcement. Precious few people appear capable of speaking honestly about the situation or what they (think they) see on video. Everyone is angry and spoiling for a fight.
It turns out that the more access to “information” people have, the more difficult it becomes to restore the Rule of Law.
Michael Swartz: ICE Draws Criticism From Clinton and Obama — Two former presidents trash accepted “norms” so they can offer harsh criticism of Donald Trump and his administration’s policies and tactics.
Douglas Andrews: Carney Caves — The temporarily tough-talking Canadian PM was “aggressively walking back” his earlier remarks about a new trading partnership with Communist China.
Gary Bauer: Deadly Rhetoric — Is there any doubt that our civil liberties will be in jeopardy if Democrats get power again?
Reader Comments
Editor’s Note: Each week we receive hundreds of comments and correspondences — and we read every one of them. Click here for a few thought-provoking comments about specific articles. The views expressed therein don’t necessarily reflect those of The Patriot Post.
Humor: Visit Minnesota: It’s Somalia, but Closer — Want to experience beautiful views, interesting people, and the most prestigious learning centers in the world? Look no further than Minnesota. It’s friendly here.
SHORT CUTS
Non Compos Mentis
“Our city has been invaded by masked gunmen kidnapping family members and friends and neighbors of ours to send them to concentration camps. … I’m not saying they’re putting people in ovens yet, but these are concentration camps.” —Minneapolis book store owner Jamie Schwesnedl
“We have got children in Minnesota hiding in their houses, afraid to go outside. Many of us grew up reading that story of Anne Frank. Somebody’s going to write that children’s story about Minnesota.” —Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz
The Fix Is In
“After previously calling ICE ‘Gestapo,’ Gov. Tim Walz just compared removals pursuant to federal law to capturing people to carry out genocide. … Walz is using this reckless rhetoric as signs appeared in Minneapolis over the weekend calling for people to ‘Kill Nazis.’” —law professor Jonathan Turley
Braying Jennies
“I am absolutely heartbroken, horrified, and appalled that federal agents murdered another member of our community.” —Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN)
“These [ICE] agents are barely trained. They’re supposedly getting trained for 47 days because they wanted to have 47 after the president. That’s crazy. … They walking around like they’re hooded thugs.” —Democrat strategist Donna Brazile
Laying the Groundwork
“Even if there is an investigation that ultimately proves that at the time of the shooting it was legally justified, I don’t think that even matters at this point because there is so much outrage.” —Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara
Reality Check
“Nobody in the White House, including President Trump, wants to see people getting hurt or killed in America’s streets. This includes Renee Good, Alex Pretti, the brave men and women of federal law enforcement, and the many Americans who have been victimized at the hands of illegal alien criminals.” —White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt
For the Record
“For Kristi Noem to brand the protesters shot by ICE in Minneapolis as ‘domestic terrorists’ is just hyperbolic nonsense. And her comment about the latest shooting, ‘This looks like a situation where an individual arrived at the scene to inflict maximum damage on individuals and to kill law enforcement,’ is completely baseless and serves only as an accelerant.” —Patriot Post Publisher Mark Alexander
Stranger Than Fiction
“I can think of no better excuse for New Yorkers to stay home, take a long nap, or take advantage of our public library’s offer of free access to Heated Rivalry.” —New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani peddling a gay romance novel
“The Democratic Coalition of Satan Worshippers thanks Gov. Tim Walz for not standing in the way of spreading Satanism in the State Capitol Building. Satan has a special place for you.” —a display in the Minnesota State Capitol
Sexism Bait
“So many of the best films I saw this year were made by women. You just see the barriers at every level because so many were not recognized at awards time.” —actress Natalie Portman
ON THIS DAY in 1880, Thomas Edison received a patent for his invention “to produce electric lamps giving light by incandescence.” The incandescent lamp brought electricity into widespread use.
As the Middle East braces for war with Iran, a war in Syria is raging. In Israel, the body of the last Israeli hostage was finally recovered. Protests continue in and around Minneapolis after the latest deadly shooting by federal officers there. On this day in 1945 soviet troops liberated the Nazi death camp in Auschwitz where more than one million people died, most of them Jews. January 27th is now observed worldwide as Holocaust Remembrance Day. About 1 in 5 Americans faces a cancer diagnosis at some point in their lives. Oncologist Dr. Sue Hwang author of “From Both Sides of the Curtain” discusses what she learned about the disease.
Watch live as U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks on the economy and energy in Iowa, as part of his strategy to engage with voters ahead of November’s midterm elections. #Trump #TrumpRally #TrumpSpeech
Watch live from Oswiecim as the annual ceremony is held at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum on Holocaust Remembrance Day. The day is marked every year on 27 January, the day in 1945 the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp was liberated. Altogether, the Nazis murdered 6 million Jews — or two-thirds of all of Europe’s Jews — in the Holocaust at Auschwitz and other camps
Bill O’Reilly, right, joins Leland Vittert on NewsNation
Journalist Bill O’Reilly is giving explosive comments on what he calls “the most important part” of the mayhem in Minnesota, saying a Connecticut-born tech billionaire living in China is working with Beijing communists “to destroy” the U.S. government.
Appearing with Leland Vittert on NewsNation, the former Fox News anchor said: “Here’s the most important part of this whole thing, UNREPORTED!”
“There is a man in Shanghai, China, an American citizen, his name is Neville Roy Singham. He works with the Beijing government.
“He is funneling millions of dollars into the United States of America through 501s, like Party for Socialism and Liberation, Democratic Socialists of America, Minnesota Immigration Rights Action Committee.”
O’Reilly continued: “He is funneling money here to these radical organizations who are then agitating professional people, communists mostly – because Singham’s a communist – to go in and foster rebellion.”
“You heard that story reported? That is absolutely true. The man has been investigated by the FBI in the past.”
“This isn’t some organic thing. This is a foreign power, Beijing using this American citizen who lives openly in Shanghai in luxury, knowing that this man is funneling tens of millions, probably more into this country to try to destroy the government.”
“What the deuce is that?!” Where are you New York Times?! That’s the second part of the story. There’s a local federal story and there’s the international story. And I’ve had it! You don’t like what I’m saying? BLANK you! Because I’m telling you the truth!”
Bill O’Reilly just EXPOSED what he says is the most important detail of the Minnesota saga…and proves that the media is refusing to report it.
Last June, O’Reilly said Chinese espionage in America “increased by approximately 1,000% during the Biden administration, citing evidence including Chinese property purchases, spy balloons and recent arrests of individuals involved in suspicious activities,” according to NewsNation.
Earlier this month, U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., said Singham “is a corrupt billionaire with direct ties to the CCP as a unregistered foreign agent, and financial ties to countless NGO’s linked to nationwide No Kings protests, violent ICE riots, even Charlie Kirk’s assassination, and is responsible for sowing discord among Americans with only the Chinese benefitting. Billionaires have to play by the same rules as everyone else.”
My motion to subpoena Neville Singham PASSED unanimously, supported by both Democrats and Republicans.
Neville Singham is a corrupt billionaire with direct ties to the CCP as a unregistered foreign agent, and financial ties to countless NGO’s linked to nationwide No Kings… pic.twitter.com/Q3u3EPyAs1
In September, Luna and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer urged Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent “to immediately freeze all of his assets. We will no longer allow billionaires to bankroll anti-American political movements on behalf of foreign governments.”
On Monday night, O’Reilly said what is happening in Minnesota is an “insurrection,” and demanded why the FBI and its director, Kash Patel, have not prosecuted agitators under federal law.
“Where are they? Where is Kash Patel?!” O’Reilly wondered. “You can debate video tape all day long. You can say whatever you want to say, but there has to be an overriding authority in this state and there isn’t.”
Do you agree with Bill O’Reilly on this issue?
Yes
No
I’m not sure
“Did you see Leland – because you’ve been studying it like I have – one Minneapolis police officer protecting ICE against the demonstrators? Did you see one?”
Vittert replied, “No, but that’s not the FBI’s job to investigate …”
“No. The answer is no,” said O’Reilly. “You didn’t see one because there wasn’t one there. And this is a public safety issue with dead people. No local or state cops. None! By order of the governor and the mayor. That is insane!”
Vittert responded: “That may be insane, Bill, but you want Kash Patel to investigate the governor because he didn’t order the police to protect ICE?”
“You bet I do! O’Reilly exclaimed. “If the FBI comes in and finds that the agents, the federal agents, one ICE, one Border Patrol, were derelict in their duties or used malice, I want those people indicted. Clear? Are we clear?”
“But on the same token, you’ve got elected officials that could be charged with rebellion and insurrection under the U.S. Code 2383. This is a rebellion. That is why the people are dead.”
Bill O’Reilly is on a WARPATH tonight and he’s taking no prisoners.
You can literally feel his indignation right until the very last word.
O’Reilly is not only calling out Walz and Frey for REFUSING to protect ICE in Minnesota, but also demanding why the FBI and Kash Patel… pic.twitter.com/1SpQ3XtUcs
Content created by the WND News Center is available for re-publication without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@wndnewscenter.org.
As a pastor, I try to keep my eye on Jesus, my nose in the Bible, and my ear to the ground. I try to pay attention to the cultural, social, and political trends that shape people’s thinking and lives. I will often address those things from the pulpit through a biblical lens to help equip my congregation. We need to be wise about the times—and that will only happen if we know our Bibles and have the discernment of the Holy Spirit.
As I’ve paid attention to recent events in our culture and the world, the trend is clear that antisemitism is on the rise.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reports anti-semitic incidents have increased 344% over the last 5 years and 893% over the last decade. Those statistics do not include those who are simply opposed to the Israeli government or its policies. Simply being opposed to some policies of the Israeli government does not make you anti-Semitic any more than being opposed to some of the policies of the United States would make you unpatriotic. However, to harm Jews, to wish them harm, or to constantly blame the Jews for all the problems in the world is not only anti-semitic, it is delusional and demonic.
The Catholic Church and its allied denominations in Jerusalem just declared war on Christian Zionism. In a statement released just a few days ago on January 17th, the patriarchs and heads of churches in the Holy Land, led by the Roman Catholic hierarchy, along with Eastern Catholic, Orthodox, and other traditional church leaders, condemned Christian support for Israel as “a damaging theology that misleads the public and harms Christian unity.” That alone is a troubling statement.
In addition, I am also very troubled by some comments by Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson over the past few months. As influencers with millions of followers, they are persuading people to believe some things about Israel and the Jewish people that I believe are damaging to our nation and dividing conservative circles—even dividing Christians.
This was evidenced for me by some of the slanderous emails that I’ve received, as well as the outrageous and inaccurate comments posted on our social media, about our recent service with a panel of experts, titled “The Rise of Antisemitism in Christian and Conservative Circles.”
Candace herself, two days before the service, posted my Instagram announcement on her podcast, mocking myself and our guests. By the way, Candace, if you’re going to mock us, you should get the name of our church right! It’s Cornerstone Chapel, not Cornerstone Church. We’re not affiliated with John Hagee. That’s a separate church.
Of course, Satan wants to blame the Jews. That is his MO. In Revelation 12:10, he is referred to as the “accuser of the brethren.” In John 8:44, Jesus called him a “liar” and “the father of lies.”
In Revelation 12:13, the Bible says, “Now the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, and he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child.” The dragon in this verse is Satan, the woman is Israel, and the male child that Israel gave birth to was the ultimate Messiah who would come for the redemption of the whole world.
This redemptive plan of God was put in place to rescue the whole world. This plan came through a Jewish nation that gave birth to a Jewish Messiah, Jesus Christ. And so, of course, Satan will do all he can to attack all things related to the Jews—and he is using people and organizations in that effort.
If your allegiance is to a person like Candace, Tucker, or myself for that matter more than it is to Jesus, then you will always be open to deception and misinformation. Follow Jesus, read the Bible, and pray for discernment.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – Doomsday clock is now 85 seconds to midnight, and it is the closest it has ever been, President and CEO of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Alexandra Bell said on Tuesday.
Despite the consensus narrative, what we are currently experiencing globally is not “de?dollarization,” but a broad loss of confidence in developed economies’ fiat currencies and sovereign debt as a reserve asset for central banks and institutions. This fundamental loss of confidence in the solvency of developed economies’ sovereign issuers is boosting demand for gold.
However, the latest data shows no crossover or fiat alternative substitution. The US dollar’s central role in the fiat system remains intact.
Gold over debt: the key shift
MMT supporters state that monetary sovereign nations can issue all the debt they want without inflationary and confidence risk. However, monetary sovereignty is not a given; it is not perennial and governments face three limitations when it comes to issuing debt. Domestic and global confidence in sovereign issuers begins to decline once they surpass those limits.
The three limits for governments are:
1. the economic limit, when more government debt leads to stagnation and productivity growth decline;
2. the fiscal limit, when interest expenses and debt burdens soar despite central bank easing and rising tax receipts;
3. and the inflationary limit, when the loss of the purchasing power of currencies becomes large and persistent, eroding citizens’ standards of living.
Over the last few years, the most important trend in global reserves has been the rotation from government bonds of advanced economies toward gold, not “out of dollars,” as some media highlights, and even less so into other fiat currencies.
Truth2Freedom's Blog 