Come Follow Me LDS- John 7-10 Part 2

A Light, A Blind Man & A Shepherd'
- The Tree of Life As The Light Of Christ
- Who's your daddy?
- The Jews are 'blind'
- We are shepherds

 

 

Come Follow Me New Testament

LDS Mormon John Bible

 

in this episode we're talking about a

light a blind man and a shepherd here we

go okay in this episode we are going to

continue in John chapter 8 remember that

this is where the woman was just taken

in adultery it's a scene that is

happening in the temple and now Jesus

continues to teach about primarily who

he is and the example that he starts off

with here is the following he says here

in verse 12 then spake Jesus again unto

them saying I am the light of the world

he that followeth me shall not walk in

darkness but shall have the light of

Life a couple of things here first of

all John is the only one of the four

authors of the Gospels that gives this

example of Jesus being the light in any

form here he is the light of the world

what does that mean we oftentimes think

as we go through the New Testament and

we read about the life of Jesus that

he's coming out and these are new

teachings for up for the people that are

listening and there's no real reference

going on obviously all of us would

understand if someone talked about

someone being the light that they

clarify things that they could guide you

with a light instead of being in

darkness those are concepts that are

obvious and simple and very true but

there is a much richer meaning to what

Jesus is trying to say here and again

keep in mind that the circumstances here

are that they are in a large apostasy

and that their doctrine has changed over

the centuries and they have lost what is

the idea of the real true Messiah of the

Son of God coming down and taking on the

sins of the world and so he's coming not

just to teach them something new but

he's coming here to restore the truth

truths that have been lost and there are

echoes of these teachings inside of

Jerusalem and in the land of Judea in

all of Palestine and beyond and some of

these groups of Jews have held on to a

lot of these truths and others like what

they could call the Jews more often than

not the ones that are in power have

pushed them aside and kept a tradition

where the law of Moses has become King

and not what the law of Moses looks

forward to and not just the law of Moses

but as with King Noah and his priests

with Abinadi that it is a they do not

follow the law of Moses because

obviously it has no end it has nowhere

to go it has nothing to look forward to

and they have corrupted the law and

oppressed the people through additional

rules that come more from the traditions

of their fathers and not things that

look forward to the savior of the world

and so as he comes into this environment

he is restoring what used to be taught

and it has radically changed so we get

this idea that that you know the Jews

are there looking for this Messiah and

that they just happen to believe that

it's not Jesus but that it's somebody

like him that isn't true they're looking

for something completely different they

are not looking for the Son of God they

are not looking for Jehovah who is a

representative of the father to come

down and take on the sins of the world

and so as Jesus comes in to proclaim

who he is and as the authors of the

Gospels are testifying about who he is

they oftentimes will look back to the

prophets that have all testified about

Jesus Christ about Christ's coming and

taking on the sins of the world and make

references to the fulfillment of these

prophecies and that Jesus is this

individual that all of these prophets

have talked about and that's why in the

story of the woman taken in adultery

I believe it's so crucial that we

understand what John appears to be

framing here that he is the brazen

serpent it's not enough to be the

Messiah he is the brazen serpent who is

that that is the healer that is the one

who took on the sins of the world so

that we could be healed that is not a

part of what the Jews here believed

those in power belief now some may

believe this so there may be some that

are hanging on to those types of

traditions we know that the community of

Qumran they seat the Essenes were that

were there they were looking forward to

a different type of prophet he

Melchizedek that is a king of peace a

second Melchizedek who would be what

Jesus Christ was fulfilling so they had

traditions even though they may not have

been the ones that recognized Jesus as

this Messiah but they had traditions and

writings where they believed that a

different type of Messiah was coming

something different from what let's call

it the mainstream or the establishment

of the Jewish community of those in

power believed and there were numerous

different sects of Jews that had

different traditions and so think about

the time of Lehi this is the major

upheaval that happened when what I

believe happened is that they had lost

the doctrine of Christ at this time and

so as they lose this and the society

devolves down into a law of Moses type

of a

and the Melchizedek Priesthood is

removed and the idea that the Messiah is

the savior of the world is removed then

you have these splinter groups that come

apart because they're killing all the

prophets remember they tried to kill

Lehi and what was Lehi sin his sin was

blasphemy his sin was blasphemy because

he was preaching about Christ he was

preaching that Jehovah was the son of

God and would come down in the flesh and

take on the sins of the world that's why

they were trying to kill him in

Jerusalem and that's the excuse more

than likely that laman and lemuel were

gonna use or were using to kill their

own father blasphemy that was the issue

and so you have these groups that

splinter off there were there's writings

talking about 80-thousand priests that

left and went for Arabia and went to

fight for the Babylonians in fact

against Jerusalem there's all these

groups of Lehi would not have been the

only one of course we know the mule ik

heights came over later on and that they

came from King Zedekiah and in his

lineage and so there are all these

different groups we don't know how many

of them were left behind when the

Babylonians took all the Jews many of

the Jews who were the Jews took them to

them to Babylon and then when they were

returned by the king of Persia later on

Cyrus what was already there who was

already there who was in the desert who

was in the wilderness

what mixture of tradition and religion

and doctrine was already in place and so

Jesus as he is speaking to everybody and

saying who he is and the gospel were

authored a show who he is they're not

just giving new doctrine they are

referring back to a previous time when

the prophets especially Isaiah

we're talking about a the Messiah

who would be the son of God

that's crucial to understand that he is

the son of God and so we talk about the

light one thing you may have heard about

is that during the Feast of Tabernacles

which is happening right now there were

four massive candelabras that would give

light throughout all of the city of

Jerusalem and beyond they were huge and

they each carried four bowls of oil and

they were you know big enough that you

had to climb up ladders just to be able

to get up and put the oil into the bowls

to light these massive lamps right and

so he's talking about how he is the

light of the world at night you would

have men that would dance all night with

torches giving off light but there's

something else to consider here about

him being the light and let's look at a

couple of temple texts which are the

songs and in the Psalms we see here

Psalm 27:1 the Lord is my light and my

salvation remember it's a temple text

Psalm 43 3 send out thy light and thy

truth let them lead me lead them where

lead them to the temple lead them to the

holy of holies it is likely that apart

from just one menorah that would have

been outside the veil that inside the

holy of holies was another large menorah

that was lit and this represented the

Tree of Life and the Tree of Life is

home well it's primarily Christ it would

be in a way Christ and his mother Mary

that's a concept we have gone over

before but this is Christ is the Tree of

Life and so what he says he is the light

of the world there is an understanding

for those that would have known about

the old traditions the old understanding

before the apostasy of the doctrine of

Christ what he was talking about and

John does this throughout his gospel

remember John was a priest he worked in

the temple through most of his adult

life more than likely

and so he makes even more than the other

authors of the scriptures and the other

authors of the Gospels he is really

focused in on temple imagery and so here

he shows Christ talking about how he is

the light of the world that would guide

and lead everybody eventually through

that ascension through the temple to the

Holy of Holies and the Pharisees might

even guess what he's saying here because

in the next verse they say thou barest

record of thy self thy record is not

true and Jesus answered and said unto

them though I bear record of myself yet

my record is true for I know whence I

came and whither I go and then he says

here because you need a second witness

to confirm something right in their law

he says down in 16 and yet if I judge my

judgment is true for I am NOT alone but

I and the father that sent me so he is

adding the father's testimony to his now

do the Jews believe in a heavenly father

and a son this is really key to

understanding what Jesus is doing here

the answer is no right they do not

believe in this anymore

this would have been part of the

previous doctrine of the doctrine of

Christ it's crucial to understand that

he is the son of God this is wiped out

it's gone and so he's coming down here

and saying there's me I am the son of

God and there is my father obviously if

I'm the son of God I need a father and

we see that even more so here as he

says the Pharisees come back to him and

say where is thy father and Jesus

answered you neither know me nor my

father if he had known me you should

have known my father also and these

words spake Jesus in the Treasury kind

of an interesting place here Treasuries

in the in the in the temple

understanding again of the spiritual

economy

that is that they are discussing here

and so then the Pharisees press him even

further and they say who art thou and

Jesus saith unto them even the same that

I said unto you from the beginning this

is interesting is he talking about from

the beginning of their conversation from

the beginning of his teaching or is he

talking about

as John opens up his gospel in the

beginning was the word is he talking

about in the beginning or from the

beginning is he talking about the Son of

God on his throne in the Holy of Holies

that's who I am

I don't know but possibly here knowing

that this is John as the author and then

in verse 28 he goes and gives a

reference to the brazen serpent and that

what they're going to do to him when

they crucify him and he says when ye

have lifted up the Son of man then shall

ye know that I am he and that I do

nothing of myself but as my father hath

taught me I speak these things now he

may say here if you'll notice in this

verse he says then shall ye know that I

am he the he at the end here is in

italics in the King James Version of the

Bible

whenever you see italics those are words

that are inserted they're assumed taking

it from either the Hebrew or the Greek

here the Greek and here you could assume

that there's a he but it could just be

then shall you know that I am in other

words I am that I am that he's making

this claim about being Jehovah in the

Son of God and so this discussion about

a father begins and so then the

Pharisees come back and they say we be

Abraham's seed and we were never in

bondage to any man shall say style ye

shall be made free of course they're

there in bondage to the Romans here but

regardless he says that they are

Abraham's seed and Jesus answered them

verily verily I say unto you whosoever

committeth sin is the servant of sin and

then Jesus says to him I know that ye

are Abraham's seed but ye seek to kill

me because my word hath no place in you

I speak that which I have seen with my

father and he do that which he have seen

with your father they answered and said

unto Him Abraham is our Father and Jesus

saith unto them if you were Abraham's

children you would do the works of

Abraham so when he refers to the father

of the Pharisees he's referring to

someone else which is Satan he's

referring to the father of lies is their

father because that's who they follow

and if you recall as they refer to being

the children of Abraham remember John

the Baptist would say to those that came

out the Pharisees and others that came

out to hear him preach that the stones

that were around him that he could make

them as much the children of Abraham

this is the same idea here it's just

like a bin and I when he talks about God

being the father and the son he's

talking about Jehovah he's talking about

Jesus Christ and he specifically gives

this the same exact example that Jesus

is giving here that those that believe

on the son that that is how he the son

then is their father because they are

his seed so this is kind of like an

example of someone being a father who

the people follow so if you follow the

son and you do the works of the son then

you then the Son Jesus is your father in

that sense and Jesus is saying the same

thing here and so you have this whole

discussion about the father and the son

this is such a crucial doctrine of

understanding that we have in the church

that even most of Christianity does not

have that these are separate beings

there is a father and there is a son and

here the Jews do not believe this and so

as he claims to be Jehovah he is not

claiming to be the father but he has

come in the name of the Father to do the

works of the father and so a massive

difference of doctrine between what

Jesus is teaching them and restoring to

them and what the Jews

we believe here in Jerusalem and finally

here Jesus says to them verily verily I

say unto you before Abraham was I am

in other words before Abraham we it was

and then he gives the name of God the

name that you cannot mention I am that I

am right and they pick up stones there

would have been this is what during a

time when there was a lot of

refurbishing going on in the temple

there probably were stones around in the

temple but John again here ends this

chapter with Jesus just fourth right

coming out and saying I am Jehovah and

then we move over to chapter 9 here and

John gives the story of Jesus healing a

blind man this is pretty interesting he

says here in verse 1 and as Jesus passed

by he saw a man which was blind from his

birth and his disciples asked him saying

master who did sin this man or his

parents that he was born blind this was

a common understanding at the time that

if you had physical ailments is because

you or your parents had sinned and Jesus

answered neither hath this man sinned

nor his parents but that the works of

God should be made manifest in him it's

an interesting concept why are there

people born with deficiencies why are

there people born with handicaps why are

there people born into poverty why are

there people born in difficult

adversarial situations and others are

not if this goes right to the heart of

what may be the largest argument of

atheism

and yet Jesus here says specifically so

that the works of God should be made

manifest in him well what are the works

of God who does the works of God well we

do as agents and so in the spiritual

economy you have to have people at

different levels in different ways in a

different hierarchy of poverty a

different hierarchy of intellect a

different hierarchy of spirituality a

different hierarchy of health you

because if you don't there is no way for

any of us to grow right so someone may

be at a high level of intellect and

economy financial economy but they may

be at a lower very low level spiritually

or they may be a very low level with our

health everybody has got to have

challenges in a certain way number one

for us to struggle and grow and learn

and to be humble right we're given

weaknesses so that we can be humble and

the other reason is for those that

may be at a higher level in that

specific way that they can reach out and

offer and be agents of God to help you

that person grow and to lift them up

with them you have to have that

different levels of different things all

the time this idea of having a flat

hierarchy in everything is not the plan

of God it doesn't work that way not

until there is a perfection of utopia so

to speak but if we're trying to flatten

out everything forcefully without going

through what we all need to go through

individually to lift everybody up and to

be lifted up from by others until we're

able to do that you've got to have

people in different situations

fairness is not the plan of God fairness

doesn't work it it robs all of us from

humility and it robs all of us from

being able to offer charity to others

that is not the plan of God and here

Jesus gives this example that we should

all follow he says I must work the works

of him that sent me so we're all

supposed to be doing this

lifting somebody else up trying to heal

others whatever their ailment might be

and then he goes back to the lighter he

says as long as I am in the world I am

the light of the world so it's leading

everybody forward to that celestial room

to leading everybody forward to the holy

of holies and when he had thus spoken he

spat on the ground and made clay of the

spittle and he anointed the eyes of the

blind man with the clay and said unto

him go wash in the pool of Siloam which

is by interpretation sent he went his

way therefore and washed and came seeing

and so they all come to him and they say

how are your eyes opened how did this

happen they want to prevent a problem

here another miracle that has been

brought to Jerusalem they've got a

problem the Pharisees and the Jews

have got a problem here and he says in

verse 11 a man that is called Jesus made

clay and anointed mine eyes and said

unto me go to the pool of Siloam and

wash and I went and washed and I

received sight and of course it's the

Sabbath which is always an issue we're

not gonna cover that here and then they

asked him this is again another issue of

collectivism of shame and of influence

of negative influence they asked him

what sayest thou of him so there's

definitely pressure here you can imagine

the tone of their voice of this

Inquisition that is happening with this

this now previous blind man and what

they are trying to extract from him what

sayeth thou of him

that he hath opened vine eyes he said he

is a prophet so the blind man is

testifying of Christ here but the Jews

did not believe concerning him that he

had been blind and received his sight

until they called the parents of him

that had received his sight and they

asked them saying is this your son who

ye say was born blind how then doth he

now see and his parents answer and they

say he has always been blind but they

don't say by what means he was cured and

they're not willing for fear of being

cast out probably in a sense being

excommunicated is what they're looking

at to be cast out from the synagogue

they're afraid to answer and testify of

what has happened here but the blind man

does and he stands up for him he stands

up for Christ and he is cast out so in

other words he's I think what they're

saying here is he is basically

excommunicated and then interestingly

enough as the blind man sticks up for

Jesus the Pharisees say to him thou art

his disciple but we are Moses disciples

and we've talked about this often here

this rivalry that is happening here and

understand this is what it is it's not

that you know as we think about it kind

of like how can you have a rivalry

between Jesus and Moses it's not their

rivalry it's the Jews rivalry right they

do not believe in the Son of God they

believe in Moses as the lawgiver and

that the law supersedes everything

whereas Jesus is here saying no the law

looks forward to a higher law and looks

forward to me so that is the rivalry the

law of Moses the lower law the ironic

law and the higher law which the lower

law is supposed to be looking forward to

you can't get rid of the lower law it

has to always be there it is about what

we do to reach up to God right but we

have to understand that we're reaching

towards something

if we're going through obedience and

Commandments and prayer and all these

things that are a part of the lower law

that we exert to be closer to God but we

don't understand that there is a

reaching from him down to us that we can

believe in and that we can lean on

through the sacrifice then that lower

law is completely dead it means nothing

it doesn't matter that we even have it

it just becomes a bunch of rules and

that's what has happened here in the

time of Christ the other thing to think

of is this blind man is a metaphor for

the circumstances that they all find

themselves in here they're all blind

most of them are blind certainly the

Jews in power are blind and Christ is

coming as the light of the world right

opening everything up to bring everybody

back to get through the Ascension of the

temple to the Holy of Holies to the

celestial kingdom to understand the

fullness of actually what ironically

Abraham the Abrahamic covenant would

offer everybody and here they're saying

they are the sons of Abraham and yet

think of the whole idea of the Abrahamic

covenant of being sealed together

with everyone that is a Melchizedek law

that is something that where you need

the Son of God to effectuate and the

irony is they're claiming to be sons of

Abraham and yet they are not claiming

his works that is his teachings his

doctrine which is about the sealing of

the family and of the son of God being

the central part of that doctrine and so

the blind man in a sense represents the

Jews here that are blind remember that

it's Isaiah if you go back to the words

of Isaiah he talks about those that

don't have clean lips and that they will

not understand and they

not see well that's what the

circumstances are with the Jews when you

kick out the doctrine of Christ you get

rid of that then you are confused you

are in darkness you do not see and you

do not understand and that's what has

happened here that's where they're at

and so the blind man here is someone who

is born into blindness just as most of

these Jews have been born into blindness

spiritual blindness but Jesus is here

with a blind man he heals him directly

but the healing would also happen

spiritually with everyone all of the

Jews here if they would just stop and

understand and listen and accept him and

the doctrine that he is teaching but

they won't they prefer to remain

blind they do not see that he is the

light of the world they won't look to

him as the light so that they can see

and so they remain blind it is the same

idea that we get in the next chapter in

chapter 10 where we get the title of

this week's come follow me which is I am

The Good Shepherd again here the idea of

the Shepherd is something that we would

basically understand

yeah it's someone who guides someone and

leads them well this is the same idea

the Shepherd is an understanding of the

priesthood in a sense and here the

priesthood has been completely changed

you have Herod of the time of Jesus's

birth that actually went in and put his

own high priests in you have these high

priests that went out and helped stone

stone and kill the Apostles that's who

these high priests are remember that

Saul before he's Paul is organizing with

the high priests in the Sadducees to go

in stone Stephen and they help they help

kill Peter and so that's who these high

priests are these are the Shepherds and

so not only is Jesus there's the

Shepherd that we should follow

the reason he's The Good Shepherd is

because for centuries they have been

guided by bad Shepherds that have come

in and changed the doctrine and led

people astray and kept them in the dark

kept them blind and so Jesus is

restoring that guidance he's restoring

the light he's restoring the idea that

he is the one that he will lead us back

to salvation through the doctrine of

Christ and through the higher law and so

John brings in this temple imagery again

it is the light in the Holy of Holies

that we're supposed to follow and it is

the Shepherd that will guide us and

bring us through to the Holy of Holies

or back to our Heavenly Father Jesus

goes and refers to these other Shepherds

that have been around here for centuries

he says all that ever came before me are

thieves and robbers but the Sheep did

not hear them I am the door By Me If any

man enter in so think of baptism was the

gate he shall be saved and shall go in

and out and find pasture and the thief

cometh not but for to steal and from

other writings we know that the

priests although there were many priests

that did convert to Christianity the

priests that were around there were

especially the high priests they

actually stole from the other priests

this was very much about power very much

about greed in the priesthood at this

time he says I am cometh that they may

have life and that they might have it

more abundantly in verse 11 then he says

Here I am The Good Shepherd the Good

Shepherd giveth his life for the Sheep

so it's the exact opposite of the

environment that he has entered into we

think about others that might be good

Shepherds to us that are good examples

to us that would emulate Christ or that

are willing to sacrifice

for those that they love that is the

path that leads us back to the light are

we willing to be good shepherds as well

are we willing to sacrifice to be an

example are we willing to sacrifice to

lift others up that aren't as fortunate

perhaps that don't have the same

knowledge that don't have the same

experience that haven't been introduced

to the gospel that need our help so as

as Christ is the light and as Christ is

the Good Shepherd we also should be a

light and we also should be a guide for

those that are around us I'll talk to

you next time