The KJV translation uses the word abide instead of the word remain. Below is a beloved hymn, sung mostoften to the tune “Eventide”.
Psalm 35:19 Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me: neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause. 20 For they speak not peace: but they devise deceitful matters against them that are quiet in the land.
Another Comforter: αλλον παρακλητον ( allon parakleton) meaning one of the same kind as Jesus.
Some Muslims say the Bible has been altered and should have read perikleton rather than parakleton, claming the Bible has been falsified to fit Jewish and Christian beliefs and only the Quran is true.
This requires many steps of faith on account of the Muslims. 1. Jesus, Mary and Moses were really Muslims and spoke of Muhammad. 2. The New Testament is falsified. 3. Ignore the Dead Sea Scrolls, and 4. When Jesus speaks of the Spirit of Truth he really means Muhammad, not the Holy Spirit as He says in verse 26.
As a Christian I am free to take God’s Word for what it says.
We are now at A.D. 30.
Spikenard is still available ( and still expensive)
The most important week in history is about to begin.
This raises one question:
Passover A.D. 30 was the most important in world history, so let us find out the exact date. To find out we must know about
The Jewish calendar is luni-solar. Leap months occur in year 3,6,8,11,14,17 and 19 to make Passover occur early spring. The keys on a piano can help memorize which year has a leap month. (The Muslim calendar on the other hand is strictly lunar, so the month of Ramadan occur 11 days earlier every year, making 103 Muslim years every century).
We must synchronize time with a total solar eclipse, which gives the perfect time for starting a Jewish new month. There was a perfect Solar eclipse in 2006.
There is a second source for solar eclipse calculations
The eclipse had its maximum 11 37 A.M. Nov 24 A.D. 29 over Jerusalem (solar time)
But there is one more twist in the calculations:
Now back to the biblical narrative:
Prophecy from Psalm 118:25 Save now, I beseech thee, O Lord: O Lord, I beseech thee, send now prosperity. 26 Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord: we have blessed you out of the house of the Lord, and from Zechariah 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.
The sign was not that he rode on a donkey. Lots of people rode on donkeys. No the sign was that the donkey colt was unbroken, and that was the sign.
Isaiah 53:1-5 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? 2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
Is 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. 9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. 10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.
A map of Jerusalem today.
An areal view with the temple mound . The pool of Siloam is between point A and B
Here the formerly blind man says “I am.” The context determines if it refers to the eternal “I am” or just means ” I am”.
“Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me….
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see.”
The verses 7:53 to 8:11 are not in the earliest manuscripts, but have been added later, maybe as late as around 1100 A.D. The stylistic differences hint at not being written by the apostle John. They did however exist as a separate document from the first century, and were added to complete Jesus dialogue at the feast of Tabernacles. The verses could have been placed elsewhere, since they break up Jesus dialogue at the Temple. However, they were at some time accepted as inspired and are included in most manuscripts (Textus Receptus).
“Go and sin no more”, Jesus last words to the woman, after not condemning her for her past but looking to the future.
Technically it was Jesus’ half brothers, since Jesus was adopted by Joseph.
From Leviticus 12:3 And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. It was an absolute command, and had to be performed on the eighth day, even if that was a Sabbath.
Five thousand men, not counting women and children.
Twelve baskets left over after all were satisfied!
The Sea of Galilee (Lake Tiberias) is about 8 miles wide at its widest point.
“I am, not fear ye”
Some comments on “eat of my flesh and drink of my blood.” Jesus explained that the Word was his flesh, but he didn’t explain what the blood meant. The disciples knew from Genesis 9:4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. 5 And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man. 6 Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
Jesus was clearly pointing to the future complete atonement on the Cross, but this was before the Cross, so how were they to get it? It did not make sense until fifty days after his death, burial and resurrection when the Holy Spirit came “like a mighty wind”.
Then it became clear that His flesh symbolizes the word of God and his blood symbolizes His sacrifice on the cross and saving us from all our sin.
Richard Blanchard (1925-2004)
It would have been much easier to follow the Jordan River up to Galilee.
There are two possible routes, both cumbersome.
Nobody draws water in the middle of the day unless they have to.
Jesus spoke in Aramaic, which makes the statement “I am” even stronger. Jesus claimed he is God.
As opposed to the previous “I am” Jesus said “I am” at many other occasions. These are normal I ams, and does not in any way imply divinity or eternity.
The last word is “cosmos”. Jesus really is the savior of the universe.
Alone in the world the New World Translation (Jehova’s Witnesses) claims that “the word was a god”. But then again, JW do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as one person of the triune God.
Tekna – teachable ones, not just sons
Verse 16 is very interesting. The second half reads in Greek “και χαριν αντι χαριτος” which literally translates “and grace instead of grace” King James translation reads “and grace for grace, which lost a lot in the translation. The first “grace” is in the accusative, the second in the genitive. A better translation would be ” and proactive, dynamic grace instead of grace more like mercy. The Old Testament concept of grace is more like mercy, the New Testament concept of grace is best expressed in Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Isaiah 40:3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Notice the world “sin” is singular.
There are many songs on “the Lamb of God”
Here is an example of the importance that the sin is in singular.
Len Bilén's blog, a blog about faith, politics and the environment. 