John 12

In John 12, we see that we are coming to the end of Jesus' life. There are many more lessons to be learned and we are just passed the half way mark in the Gospel of John. Now John really begins to tie the prophecies to the Messiah--to Jesus. Chapter 12 begins the last week of Jesus life.

Jesus begins to tell his followers that the time is near. He tells them of the type of death he will face...even though they aren't sure of what He is talking about. They still don't understand that the Messiah is delivering a Heavenly Kingdom, not an earthly one.

Something important I've learned:

It's hard for me to look at this chapter and pick out one important thing that I've learned. I guess the thing that strikes me the most is the prophesies that were fulfilled in Jesus. That is a part of the apologetics that I've been working on. It's really too much for this post and was a sermon that I preached back in June. More on that another time.

The verse I liked best:

Verse 16--At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him.

This reminds me that our own minds often miss what is right before our eyes. It was only after the Holy Spirit came into them that they were able to remember and make the connection between what happened and the Old Testament prophesies.

A question to consider:

Verses 42 -43 say--Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved praise from men more than praise from God.

Are there times that we are more interested in what people will think about us that we are about what God thinks? Are we more interested in the praise of men than the praise of God?

John