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I'm studying John 5 atm and it is STAGGERING.
I can now GENUINELY grasp just HOW Jesus is equal to God IN the works He does, AND what it means for Him to be our JUDGE & INTERCESSOR BOTH.
His work is GIVING LIFE and JUDGING SOULS. ⭐He does that which it is IMPOSSIBLE for any creature TO do, OR to even be honored with; therefore He MUST be God by merit OF His honors & works!
⭐"amen amen I say to you" = grave subject matter, which is DIVINELY REVEALED & UNCONTESTABLY TRUE= we could not know it on our own, but now we know it beyond all doubt.
⭐Christ ONLY DOES WHAT GOD DOES, and IN THE SAME MANNER-- the same authority, liberty, & wisdom.
⭐THE SON IS TO THE CHURCH WHAT THE FATHER IS TO THE WORLD. Hence all the Genesis parallels in Johns gospel. Christ creates & sustains the NEW EARTH = KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. This is also why He is the NEW ADAM & Mary is the NEW EVE.
God shows Jesus what He does to rule Heaven, so that Christ can DUPLICATE THAT WORK of CREATION & PROVIDENCE IN THE CHURCH= THE "WORLD TO COME"!! Like a teaching father, God SHOWS in order to BE LOVINGLY IMITATED. THAT SUCH ACTION IS CHRIST'S ENTIRE LIFE. What He is shown in order to do, He does, and NOTHING ELSE.
⭐Christ's miracles are such because they have DIVINE POWER= on its own, nature could never accomplish such works by ANY means, AND DIVINE AUTHORITY= Christ can and does change BOTH NATURAL LAW AND RELIGIOUS LAW to accomplish them, something ONLY GOD CAN DO.
⭐Marveling at Christ's miracles honors Him, even by an unbeliever-- BUT only in BELIEVING IN HIM can we BENEFIT from those miracles, OR have Him work them in OUR lives!!
⭐GOD ALONE HAS THE AUTHORITY TO JUDGE AND EXECUTE JUDGMENT. NO CREATED THING CAN. Similarly, ALL POWER TO GIVE LIFE & RAISE THE DEAD IS DIVINELY GIVEN, AND ALL KNOWLEDGE OF IT IS BY DIVINE REVELATION!!! Concerning both those points, Christ can "keep alive or slay" whom He wills SOLELY BECAUSE HE HAS THE DIVINE WISDOM & SOVEREIGNTY TO DO SO. He works according to the Father's Will, which is All Good, so Christ's discretion to heal or let die is ALWAYS VALID AND JUST. HE IS THE WORD OF LIFE ITSELF; NO CREATED THING CAN DECIDE WHAT HE "SHOULD" DO WITH THAT LIFE. All life and all goodness is at His free disposal. All created things DEPEND ON HIM FOR EXISTENCE; GOD ALONE IS SELF-EXISTENT.
⭐THE WORLD OF THE CHURCH IS THEREFORE DEPENDENT ON CHRIST FOR ALL ITS SPIRITUAL SUSTENANCE. THIS IS WHAT HE MEANT ABOUT BEING BORN AGAIN OF THE SPIRIT, AND OF DYING / RESURRECTING VIA THE CROSS!!!! Nature fails to accomplish either BECAUSE THE CHURCH IS A NEW NATURE, A NEW CREATION THROUGH CHRIST.
⭐CHRIST RESURRECTS THROUGH HIS WORD. HE SPOKE TO EVERYONE HE BROUGHT FROM DEATH TO LIFE!!!! THIS IS WHY THE GOSPEL, AND PREACHING IT TO ALL, IS SO VITAL-- IT IS THE WORD OF GOD!!!
⭐That is so, so important. All our lives, we can hear people read the Gospel, but do we HEAR THE WORD OF CHRIST? Do we hear HIM, speaking to us? Or do we just hear empty letters being recited at us? When grace allows us to HEAR JESUS SPEAKING, I believe it is THEN that our dead souls begin to breathe.
On the last day, it is the VOICE OF JESUS that will resurrect ALL THE DEAD. It is irresistible.
⭐(Jn 5:30) Jesus always judges rightly & properly because He judges AS HE HEARS HIS FATHER JUDGE; Christ seeks GOD'S WILL, not His own! So He cannot be accused of frivolity in healing one man but not another; He acts according to OBEDIENT LOVE, not opinion or feeling. We can rest secure in His discretion, even when He does not heal us as we ask-- remember Gethsemane!
⭐Just like school, to "know" His Word is not empty memorization of verses, nor is it a general familiarity with the subject matter &/or stories due to hearing them in church for years. No-- to KNOW it is to DRINK IT IN, to absorb and ponder and chew on it, to effectively "write it on our hearts." We need to be intimately familiar with His Words, like we are with a favorite poem, or the voice of a loved one. Just like hearing "I love you" never gets old, so must it be with our hearing the Gospel-- God's love letter to us.
⭐HEARING IN AND OF ITSELF is NOT passive, either, in this regard. You can "hear" music playing in the background, but if you're not actually PAYING ATTENTION to it, you might not even remember it after. You heard music, yes, but you didn't hear a SONG. If you can't sing it back, what did you actually Hear? Your ears, although functional, were closed. So too we must be ATTENTIVE to God's Word through Christ-- do you hear the Word, or just words? Do you hear a voice, or His Voice? Are the ears of your heart open, where you can sing it back to Him?
⭐Matthew Henry puts this beautifully: "Christ's design is to bring us to God and, as He is the first original of all grace, so is He the last object of all faith. Christ is our way; God is our rest."
GOODNESS= PLEASING TO GOD & OF BENEFIT TO OTHERS.
Last night I got LAW VS GRACE. matthew Henry commentary.
But on Thursday I somehow ABSOLUTELY UNDERSTOOD the terror of sin and exactly how NECESSARY the Atonement was. I prayed the divine mercy chaplet TREMBLING.
But... I "forgot" it now. I must revisit what I read. John's gospel & the Catechism mainly. But pray & REMEMBER. It's there, just hidden.
Also the Grail is the ROBE????
I can now GENUINELY grasp just HOW Jesus is equal to God IN the works He does, AND what it means for Him to be our JUDGE & INTERCESSOR BOTH.
His work is GIVING LIFE and JUDGING SOULS. ⭐He does that which it is IMPOSSIBLE for any creature TO do, OR to even be honored with; therefore He MUST be God by merit OF His honors & works!
⭐"amen amen I say to you" = grave subject matter, which is DIVINELY REVEALED & UNCONTESTABLY TRUE= we could not know it on our own, but now we know it beyond all doubt.
⭐Christ ONLY DOES WHAT GOD DOES, and IN THE SAME MANNER-- the same authority, liberty, & wisdom.
⭐THE SON IS TO THE CHURCH WHAT THE FATHER IS TO THE WORLD. Hence all the Genesis parallels in Johns gospel. Christ creates & sustains the NEW EARTH = KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. This is also why He is the NEW ADAM & Mary is the NEW EVE.
God shows Jesus what He does to rule Heaven, so that Christ can DUPLICATE THAT WORK of CREATION & PROVIDENCE IN THE CHURCH= THE "WORLD TO COME"!! Like a teaching father, God SHOWS in order to BE LOVINGLY IMITATED. THAT SUCH ACTION IS CHRIST'S ENTIRE LIFE. What He is shown in order to do, He does, and NOTHING ELSE.
⭐Christ's miracles are such because they have DIVINE POWER= on its own, nature could never accomplish such works by ANY means, AND DIVINE AUTHORITY= Christ can and does change BOTH NATURAL LAW AND RELIGIOUS LAW to accomplish them, something ONLY GOD CAN DO.
⭐Marveling at Christ's miracles honors Him, even by an unbeliever-- BUT only in BELIEVING IN HIM can we BENEFIT from those miracles, OR have Him work them in OUR lives!!
⭐GOD ALONE HAS THE AUTHORITY TO JUDGE AND EXECUTE JUDGMENT. NO CREATED THING CAN. Similarly, ALL POWER TO GIVE LIFE & RAISE THE DEAD IS DIVINELY GIVEN, AND ALL KNOWLEDGE OF IT IS BY DIVINE REVELATION!!! Concerning both those points, Christ can "keep alive or slay" whom He wills SOLELY BECAUSE HE HAS THE DIVINE WISDOM & SOVEREIGNTY TO DO SO. He works according to the Father's Will, which is All Good, so Christ's discretion to heal or let die is ALWAYS VALID AND JUST. HE IS THE WORD OF LIFE ITSELF; NO CREATED THING CAN DECIDE WHAT HE "SHOULD" DO WITH THAT LIFE. All life and all goodness is at His free disposal. All created things DEPEND ON HIM FOR EXISTENCE; GOD ALONE IS SELF-EXISTENT.
⭐THE WORLD OF THE CHURCH IS THEREFORE DEPENDENT ON CHRIST FOR ALL ITS SPIRITUAL SUSTENANCE. THIS IS WHAT HE MEANT ABOUT BEING BORN AGAIN OF THE SPIRIT, AND OF DYING / RESURRECTING VIA THE CROSS!!!! Nature fails to accomplish either BECAUSE THE CHURCH IS A NEW NATURE, A NEW CREATION THROUGH CHRIST.
⭐CHRIST RESURRECTS THROUGH HIS WORD. HE SPOKE TO EVERYONE HE BROUGHT FROM DEATH TO LIFE!!!! THIS IS WHY THE GOSPEL, AND PREACHING IT TO ALL, IS SO VITAL-- IT IS THE WORD OF GOD!!!
⭐That is so, so important. All our lives, we can hear people read the Gospel, but do we HEAR THE WORD OF CHRIST? Do we hear HIM, speaking to us? Or do we just hear empty letters being recited at us? When grace allows us to HEAR JESUS SPEAKING, I believe it is THEN that our dead souls begin to breathe.
On the last day, it is the VOICE OF JESUS that will resurrect ALL THE DEAD. It is irresistible.
⭐(Jn 5:30) Jesus always judges rightly & properly because He judges AS HE HEARS HIS FATHER JUDGE; Christ seeks GOD'S WILL, not His own! So He cannot be accused of frivolity in healing one man but not another; He acts according to OBEDIENT LOVE, not opinion or feeling. We can rest secure in His discretion, even when He does not heal us as we ask-- remember Gethsemane!
⭐Just like school, to "know" His Word is not empty memorization of verses, nor is it a general familiarity with the subject matter &/or stories due to hearing them in church for years. No-- to KNOW it is to DRINK IT IN, to absorb and ponder and chew on it, to effectively "write it on our hearts." We need to be intimately familiar with His Words, like we are with a favorite poem, or the voice of a loved one. Just like hearing "I love you" never gets old, so must it be with our hearing the Gospel-- God's love letter to us.
⭐HEARING IN AND OF ITSELF is NOT passive, either, in this regard. You can "hear" music playing in the background, but if you're not actually PAYING ATTENTION to it, you might not even remember it after. You heard music, yes, but you didn't hear a SONG. If you can't sing it back, what did you actually Hear? Your ears, although functional, were closed. So too we must be ATTENTIVE to God's Word through Christ-- do you hear the Word, or just words? Do you hear a voice, or His Voice? Are the ears of your heart open, where you can sing it back to Him?
⭐Matthew Henry puts this beautifully: "Christ's design is to bring us to God and, as He is the first original of all grace, so is He the last object of all faith. Christ is our way; God is our rest."
GOODNESS= PLEASING TO GOD & OF BENEFIT TO OTHERS.
Last night I got LAW VS GRACE. matthew Henry commentary.
But on Thursday I somehow ABSOLUTELY UNDERSTOOD the terror of sin and exactly how NECESSARY the Atonement was. I prayed the divine mercy chaplet TREMBLING.
But... I "forgot" it now. I must revisit what I read. John's gospel & the Catechism mainly. But pray & REMEMBER. It's there, just hidden.
Also the Grail is the ROBE????
