I'm on vacation this week and therefore doing some of my Scriptural reading and reflection privately. But here's an entry I wrote from this date in 2004.
August 10, 2004
Scripture verses that caught my attention today—John 12:44-50 44 Then Jesus cried aloud: “Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in him who sent me. 45 And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. 46 I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness. 47 I do not judge anyone who hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. 48 The one who rejects me and does not receive my word has a judge; on the last day the word that I have spoken will serve as judge, 49 for I have not spoken on my own, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment about what to say and what to speak. 50 And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I speak, therefore, I speak just as the Father has told me.”
Observation: The Gospel according to Jesus in the Gospel of John is very enlightening. One of the things I learned about the Gospel of John some time ago is that it tends to be more of a present gospel than the others. Jesus is concerned that people have an abundant life now, perhaps almost as much so as later. In chapter 3 we read that God so “loved” the world. His perspective hasn’t changed. Those who believe in Jesus do not live in darkness, even now. Jesus, in this passage, isn’t presented as a judge but rather, his words will serve as judge. Yet God’s commandment is “eternal life.” And earlier (chapter 10) we read that no one will be able to snatch Jesus’ “sheep” out of his hand.
Application: There are definitely Scripture passages that speak of the last judgment and specifically warn of the perils of not being in the kingdom of God. Some of these passages allude to an eternal time of torture (gnashing of teeth, unquenchable fires, etc.) and others, for example in some of the Matthew passages, present a vision of either being in the kingdom of God or being pretty much annihilated after being thrown into either a fiery furnace or outer darkness. But the over-all point of John’s gospel is that God loved the world and sent his Son to save the world, and that some of that saving activity is a current event in the form of recognizing Jesus for who he really is and, in turn, experiencing a present form of abundant life that transcends the need or desire for earthly riches, physical health, or other popular notions of life being like a bowl of cherries. Perhaps the Bible speaks so little and yet with such variety about hell because hell was never meant to be the main point. God’s commandment is for abundant and eternal life…presumably in God’s presence—both here and now and then and there.
Prayer—Dear Lord, help me to recognize the abundant and eternal life that you already provide. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Scripture readings today included Jeremiah 5-6 and John 12
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