John 2021

John 21:15 So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said^ to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?" He said^ to Him, "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You." He said^ to him, "Tend My lambs." These verses lose a lot during the English translations. A normal reading of verses 15-17 show us that maybe Yeshua is giving Peter a chance to proclaim his love for Yeshua three times to offset his denial of Yeshua three times. If you remember, the last time we are told about Peter gathering around coals was when he did his denial of Yeshua. But there is more to this scene than just that. The English language is a beggar for words in many instances. We have only one word to describe the word "love." The Greek language has three words for the one term that we have. First there is the Greek word "eros." This seems to be the only type of love Hollywood knows. It is where we get our word "erotic" and it refers to sexual love. The world tends to confusing copulation, immorality, lust, and sex for actual love. This is the weakest term for what we call "love." The second most powerful term for "love" in the Greek language is the word "phileo." At best, it stands for affections and emotions in human relationships. You could say it stands for "brotherly love." It is where we get the name for the city of Philadelphia. It is often called "the city of brotherly love," although one would be hard-pressed to see evidence of that by visiting there today. However, that nickname comes from that Greek word. The third term for "love" in the Greek language is the word "agapao." This is the most powerful of the three terms and it means "unconditional love." It is the word applied to the way the Almighty feels for His children. It is the word used to describe how the Almighty so "loved" the world in John 3:16. This is the highest, truest, and most powerful form of love and it means that you are willing to die for that person or persons. The words used in verses 15-17 are very important. In verse 15, Yeshua says "Do you agapao (have unconditional love for and are willing to die for) me?" And Peters answer is "Yes Lord, I phileo (have brotherly love) for you." Peter actually didn't answer the question. Perhaps Peter was hesitant to shout out how he will never be the one to deny Yeshua again. He has already shown that he is capable of failure. He might be thinking of how he has failed at commitment at this time. Yeshua was actually asking Peter, "Do you love "agapao" me? because that is what is commanded in Torah (Luke 10:27). If so, then Peter is told to feed His sheep. This is the description given to how David took care of Israel (Psalm 78:70-72). John 21:16 He said^ to him again a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me?" He said^ to Him, "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You." He said^ to him, "Shepherd My sheep." Yeshua asks him again, "Peter, do you really love me?" Peter answers again, "Yes Lord, I have a very strong affection for you." Once again, he doesn't answer the question. Yeshua is trying to lift Simon Pater to a higher level, but Peter will have no part of it. Yeshua then tells him, "Poimaino (be a supervisor and tend over) my older sheep." He says to feed the lambs in the previous verse and to discipline the older sheep in this verse. We tend to want to discipline the lambs and feed the older sheep. But Yeshua tells Peter to do it the other way around. The reason being is that the lambs will follow the older sheep.

This chapter focuses on the resurrection of Messiah. This fact in history is important because of the fact that since He resurrected, we know that His people will also be resurrected on the Day of Yahweh. Paul was emphatic about this. 1 Cor. 15:12-17 Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; 14and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. 15Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we witnessed against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. 16For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; 17and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. The resurrection of His people, Israel, is clearly taught in the Tanakh. Job 19:25-27 “And as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, And at the last He will take His stand on the earth. 26“Even after my skin is destroyed, Yet from my flesh I shall see God; 27Whom I myself shall behold, And whom my eyes shall see and not another. My heart faints within me. 1 Sam. 2:6 “The LORD kills and makes alive; He brings down to Sheol and raises up. Psalm 49:15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol; For He will receive me. Selah. Psalm 56:13 For Thou hast delivered my soul from death, Indeed my feet from stumbling, So that I may walk before God In the light of the living. Dan 12:1-3 “Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued. 2“And many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt. 3“And those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. Isa. 26:19 Your dead will live; Their corpses will rise. You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy, For your dew is as the dew of the dawn, And the earth will give birth to the departed spirits. The reason for Paul's excitement over the resurrection of Yeshua is that he then knew the resurrection of Israel to be true. It is the reason we have hope for the future in the this dark world. We should praise the name of the Father because He resurrected His Son. It means that we too, will one day be resurrected.

John 19:36 For these things came to pass, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, "NOT A BONE OF HIM SHALL BE BROKEN." The fact that they did not break His legs was a fulfillment of Psalm 34:19-20 Many are the afflictions of the righteous; But the LORD delivers him out of them all. 20He keeps all his bones; Not one of them is broken. This is also fulfilling the requirements of the Passover lamb, the bones of which were not to be broken. Ex. 12:46 “It is to be eaten in a single house; you are not to bring forth any of the flesh outside of the house, nor are you to break any bone of it. John 19:37 And again another Scripture says, "THEY SHALL LOOK ON HIM WHOM THEY PIERCED." The piercing of His body is in fulfillment of Zech. 12:10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him, like the bitter weeping over a first-born.

John 18:14 Now Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it was expedient for one man to die on behalf of the people. Caiaphas was the one who convinced the religious leaders that Yeshua must die in order for them to maintain their power structure. It was actually just a handful of powerful men that plotted the torture and death of Messiah. The Jewish people throughout the ages have been wrongfully accused of being "Christ-killers." The Jews have been blamed for the crimes of Annas, Caiaphas, and Pilate and that has brought an abundance of anti-semitism throughout the ages. That is like me suffering for the crimes of Charles Manson and Ted Bundy. But the Jewish people themselves were not any more responsible for the death of Yeshua than the Gentiles were.

John 17:15 "I do not ask Thee to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. Yeshua does not want His people out of this world. He prays that we are kept from the evil one, or Satan (1 John 5:18). John 17:16 "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. We are aliens to this world because we are citizens of the kingdom of heaven. Philippians 3:20-21 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; 21who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself. John 17:17 "Sanctify them in the truth; Thy word is truth. Sanctify means "to set apart." We are set-apart from the world by being obedient to His Words. We are not sanctified merely by hearing or saying His Words. We are sanctified from the world by being obedient to the Truth. Romans 2:13 for not the hearers of the Law are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified. James 1:22-25 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. 23For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; 24for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. 25But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in what he does.

John 16:2 "They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God. Yeshua is telling them that they are going to be kicked out of the local Baptist church of that day for obeying the Torah. Those who kick them out will think they are doing what Elohim wants them to do. He says they will be despised by others and even killed by those who think this is what Elohim wants. Yeshua does not paint a false rosy picture of the price of following His example. He tells them how it is really going to be. Paul tells us that those who are against Torah were seeking to establish their own form of righteousness. Romans 10:1-4 Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. 2For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. 3For not knowing about God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. 4For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. John 16:3 "And these things they will do, because they have not known the Father, or Me. They do these things because they do not know the Father or Yeshua. We know that they do not know Him because they do not keep His Torah.

What does it mean to bear fruit? This is in reference to being obedient to Torah. Prov. 1:29-31 Because they hated knowledge, And did not choose the fear of the LORD. 30“They would not accept my counsel, They spurned all my reproof. 31“So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way, And be satiated with their own devices. Isa. 3:10-11 Say to the righteous that it will go well with them, For they will eat the fruit of their actions. 11Woe to the wicked! It will go badly with him, For what he deserves will be done to him. Psalm 92:12-15 The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree, He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon. 13Planted in the house of the LORD, They will flourish in the courts of our God. 14They will still yield fruit in old age; They shall be full of sap and very green, 15To declare that the LORD is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. Matt. 3:8-10 “Therefore bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance; 9and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you, that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. 10“And the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Every branch that does not bear fruit, He takes away. Isa. 27:11 When its limbs are dry, they are broken off; Women come and make a fire with them. For they are not a people of discernment, Therefore their Maker will not have compassion on them. And their Creator will not be gracious to them. Ezek. 15:1-7 Then the word of the LORD came to me saying, 2“Son of man, how is the wood of the vine better than any wood of a branch which is among the trees of the forest? 3“Can wood be taken from it to make anything, or can men take a peg from it on which to hang any vessel? 4“If it has been put into the fire for fuel, and the fire has consumed both of its ends, and its middle part has been charred, is it then useful for anything? 5“Behold, while it is intact, it is not made into anything. How much less, when the fire has consumed it and it is charred, can it still be made into anything! 6“Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, ‘As the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so have I given up the inhabitants of Jerusalem; 7and I set My face against them. Though they have come out of the fire, yet the fire will consume them. Then you will know that I am the LORD, when I set My face against them. "Every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit." This also comes from the Tanakh.

John 14:11 "Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me; otherwise believe on account of the works themselves. Yeshua says to entrust in Him for what they have seen if not for what He has said. What does He mean to "believe on account of the works themselves?" He explains further. John 14:12 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father. Whoever entrusts in Yeshua, He should do the same works that Yeshua does. The Greek word for "works" is ergon:G2041. The popular teaching on this passage is that Yeshua is referencing His miracles. But that is not what Yeshua is referring to. The Greek word for "works" is G2041. ergon, from an obs. word erg (to do work); work:-- action(1), behavior(1), deed(13), deeds(52), doing(1), effectual(m)(1), labor(1), result(m)(1), task(1), what he has done*(m)(1), work(34), works(62). The term "works" is a reference to obedience to the commandments. Eph. 2:8-10 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9not as a result of works, that no one should boast. 10For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. 2 Cor. 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed; Rev. 22:12 “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done. Therefore, if you look at the two verses together where "works" is actually a reference to "deeds of following Torah," then this takes on a different meaning (v. 11-12). Yeshua says that if we do not believe that He is in the Father and the Father is in Him, then believe because of His obedience to His Father's Torah. Then He goes on to say that if we entrust in Him, we will be obedient to Torah just as He is obedient to Torah. Then He says that our obedience to Torah will be even greater because He goes to the Father. And when He goes to the Father, He will send the Spirit of the Father to dwell in them to enable them to be even greater in obedience.

John 12:31 "Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world shall be cast out. The "ruler of this world" who will be cast out is Satan. John 14:30 “I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me; John 16:11 and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. If Satan was cast out, why is he still in this world? This is likely a reference to Satan who will be cast out of heaven. Rev. 12:7-9 And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. And the dragon and his angels waged war, 8and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. 9And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

John 11:32 Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died." Mary knows that Yeshua could have healed Lazarus. But she does not yet realize that Lazarus' death is not the end. Yeshua was showing the people that He IS the resurrection and life. Yeshua wants us to know this one fact. When we have a loved one who dies, they are not "dead" in the sense that we tend to look at it. They are merely asleep. When He returns He will wake them up with a shout. John 11:33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her, also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit, and was troubled, John 11:34 and said, "Where have you laid him?" They said^ to Him, "Lord, come and see." John 11:35 Jesus wept. Why did Yeshua weep when He knew He was going to wake up Lazarus? He was empathizing with those He loved and those who loved Lazarus. It says that Yeshua "was deeply moved in the spirit and was troubled." When loved ones are weeping, probably hysterically, it is more than difficult not to weep with them.