LHC Midday Word

Friday, 22 October 2021

The Gospel according to JOHN - Chapter Eighteen

Jesus arrested

1 When he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side there was a garden, and he and his disciples went into it.

2 Now Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples. 3 So Judas came to the garden, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and the Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons.

4 Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, ‘Who is it you want?’

5 ‘Jesus of Nazareth,’ they replied.

‘I am he,’ Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.) 6 When Jesus said, ‘I am he,’ they drew back and fell to the ground.

7 Again he asked them, ‘Who is it you want?’

‘Jesus of Nazareth,’ they said.

8 Jesus answered, ‘I told you that I am he. If you are looking for me, then let these men go.’ 9 This happened so that the words he had spoken would be fulfilled: ‘I have not lost one of those you gave me.’

10 Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.)

11 Jesus commanded Peter, ‘Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?’

12 Then the detachment of soldiers with its commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus. They bound him 13 and brought him first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. 14 Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jewish leaders that it would be good if one man died for the people.

Peter’s first denial

15 Simon Peter and another disciple were following Jesus. Because this disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the high priest’s courtyard, 16 but Peter had to wait outside at the door. The other disciple, who was known to the high priest, came back, spoke to the servant-girl on duty there and brought Peter in.

17 ‘You aren’t one of this man’s disciples too, are you?’ she asked Peter.

He replied, ‘I am not.’

18 It was cold, and the servants and officials stood round a fire they had made to keep warm. Peter also was standing with them, warming himself.

The high priest questions Jesus

19 Meanwhile, the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.

20 ‘I have spoken openly to the world,’ Jesus replied. ‘I always taught in synagogues or at the temple, where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret. 21 Why question me? Ask those who heard me. Surely they know what I said.’

22 When Jesus said this, one of the officials near by slapped him in the face. ‘Is this the way you answer the high priest?’ he demanded.

23 ‘If I said something wrong,’ Jesus replied, ‘testify as to what is wrong. But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me?’ 24 Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest

Peter’s second and third denials

25 Meanwhile, Simon Peter was still standing there warming himself. So they asked him, ‘You aren’t one of his disciples too, are you?’

He denied it, saying, ‘I am not.’

26 One of the high priest’s servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, challenged him, ‘Didn’t I see you with him in the garden?’ 27 Again Peter denied it, and at that moment a cock began to crow.

Jesus before Pilate

28 Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness they did not enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. 29 So Pilate came out to them and asked, ‘What charges are you bringing against this man?’

30 ‘If he were not a criminal,’ they replied, ‘we would not have handed him over to you.’

31 Pilate said, ‘Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.’

‘But we have no right to execute anyone,’ they objected. 32 This took place to fulfil what Jesus had said about the kind of death he was going to die.

33 Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’

34 ‘Is that your own idea,’ Jesus asked, ‘or did others talk to you about me?’

35 ‘Am I a Jew?’ Pilate replied. ‘Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?’

36 Jesus said, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.’

37 ‘You are a king, then!’ said Pilate.

Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.’

38 ‘What is truth?’ retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, ‘I find no basis for a charge against him. 39 But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release “the king of the Jews”?’

40 They shouted back, ‘No, not him! Give us Barabbas!’ Now Barabbas had taken part in an uprising.

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Word by Word Meditations

by Fred Ursell

John 18: “ground” (v.6)

John was present and graphically describes what happened when Jesus was arrested. The Lord asks “the detachment of soldiers … ‘who is it you want?’ ‘Jesus of Nazareth’, they replied” (vv.3-5). What occurred next is hugely significant. “When Jesus said ‘I am he’ they drew back and fell to the ground ” (v.6).

A whole group of soldiers recoiled and collapsed? In this Gospel God’s name (I am) carries an enormous weight. Several “I am” sayings by Jesus implicitly – if not explicitly - underscore his hidden identity. ‘Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, hail the incarnate Deity!’ Fall down before him!

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READINGS

The Gospel according to JOHN

- Chapter 18 -

Read by David Suchet

The Gospel according to John

Read by Sir David Suchet

https://youtu.be/PKiAXVxOm6o

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OVERVIEWS

THE Gospel according to JOHN

Chapter 1 to 12

- Overview -

The Bible Project

https://youtu.be/G-2e9mMf7E8

THE Gospel according to JOHN

Chapter 13 to 12

- Overview -

The Bible Project

https://youtu.be/RUfh_wOsauk

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STUDY - LINKS

The Gospel according to

JOHN

by Tim Mackie

(The Bible Project)

https://youtu.be/QHmGcmmnSI4

https://youtu.be/ttawDNQV7Bw

The Gospel according to JOHN

Part 1

David Pawson

https://youtu.be/gO9mdZIJYbU

The Gospel according to JOHN

Part 2

David Pawson

https://youtu.be/G2R7ljD_I7k

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JOHN 18 - 1 to 11

“I AM”

Timothy Keller

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FILM

The Gospel according to JOHN

“The Life of Jesus”

Official Full movie

https://youtu.be/2mgUPt2KI08

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Thursday, 21 October 2021

The Gospel according to JOHN - Chapter Seventeen

Jesus prays to be glorified

1After Jesus said this, he looked towards heaven and prayed:

‘Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4 I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

Jesus prays for his disciples

6 ‘I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8 For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.

9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. 11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.

13 ‘I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

Jesus prays for all believers

20 ‘My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one – 23 I in them and you in me – so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

24 ‘Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

25 ‘Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.’

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Word by Word Meditations

by Fred Ursell

John 17: “sanctify” (v.17)

This prayer of Jesus occupies all 26 verses of the entire chapter, and it’s dynamite! All too often his closest followers were found lacking, but, even after some 3 years of frequent disappointments, his concerns and efforts for them remain undiminished. “Sanctify them” is his cry – i.e. make them holy, different from the world they are no longer a genuine part of. How? He continues, “… by the truth; your word is truth” (v.17). That will do the trick; it’s got transforming power to change them “… and those who will believe in me through their message” (v.20). He prayed for you and me too!

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READINGS

The Gospel according to JOHN

- Chapter 17-

Read by David Suchet -

The Gospel according to John

Read by Sir David Suchet

https://youtu.be/PKiAXVxOm6o

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OVERVIEWS

THE Gospel according to JOHN

Chapter 1 to 12

- Overview -

The Bible Project

https://youtu.be/G-2e9mMf7E8

THE Gospel according to JOHN

Chapter 13 to 12

- Overview -

The Bible Project

https://youtu.be/RUfh_wOsauk

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STUDY - LINKS

The Gospel according to

JOHN

by Tim Mackie

(The Bible Project)

https://youtu.be/QHmGcmmnSI4

https://youtu.be/ttawDNQV7Bw

The Gospel according to JOHN

Part 1

David Pawson

https://youtu.be/gO9mdZIJYbU

The Gospel according to JOHN

Part 2

David Pawson

https://youtu.be/G2R7ljD_I7k

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JOHN 17 - 13 to 19

Timothy Keller

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FILM

The Gospel according to JOHN

“The Life of Jesus”

Official Full movie

https://youtu.be/2mgUPt2KI08

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Wednesday, 20 October 2021

The Gospel according to JOHN - Chapter Sixteen

1 ‘All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. 2 They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. 3 They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. 4 I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you,

5 but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, “Where are you going?” 6 Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things. 7 But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because people do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

12 ‘I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.’

The disciples’ grief will turn to joy

16 Jesus went on to say, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.’

17 At this, some of his disciples said to one another, ‘What does he mean by saying, “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,” and “Because I am going to the Father”?’ 18 They kept asking, ‘What does he mean by “a little while”? We don’t understand what he is saying.’

19 Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, ‘Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me”?

20 Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. 21 A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. 22 So with you: now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. 23 In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 24 Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.

25 ‘Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father. 26 In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. 27 No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. 28 I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.’

29 Then Jesus’ disciples said, ‘Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. 30 Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.’

31 ‘Do you now believe?’ Jesus replied. 32 ‘A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.

33 ‘I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.’

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Word by Word Meditations

by Fred Ursell

John 16: “Counsellor” (v.7)

The Greek word ‘parakletos’ appears for the fourth time in quick succession; it’s referring to the Holy Spirit.

[A] In 14 v.16 he’ll be “another Counsellor” to function in Jesus’ place after the ascension;

[B] in 14 v.26 he will “teach” and “remind”;

[C] in 15 v.26 he will “testify” about Christ;

[D] here in 16 v.8 we are told he will “convict the world of … sin and righteousness and judgement.” Jesus paints a picture of our companion helper in our work for God.

The only other NT usage is in 1 John 2 v.1, “we have an advocate with the Father – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.” We have, haven’t we? Keep in touch!

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READINGS

The Gospel according to JOHN

- Chapter 16 -

Read by David Suchet