To Believe in Jesus – Part 30

 

ཡོ་ཧ་ནན། 4:34-35

34དེ་ནས་སྐྱབས་མགོན་ཡེ་ཤུས་འདི་སྐད༌དུ། ང་རང་མངགས་མཁན་གྱི་དགོངས་པ་བཞིན་དུ་བྱེད་པ་དང་ཁོང་གི་ཆོས་དོན་སྒྲུབ་པ་དེ་ནི་བདག་གི་ཁ་ཟས་ཡིན། 35ཁྱོད་ཅག་གི་ཁ་དཔེ༌ལ། ཞིང་འབྲེག་པའི་དུས་ལ་ད་དུང་ཟླ་བ་བཞི་ཡོད་ཅེས་ཟེར་བ་མིན༌ནམ། འོན་ཀྱང་བདག་གིས་ཁྱོད་རྣམས་ལ་འདི་སྐད་སྨྲ༌སྟེ། ཁྱོད་ཅག་གིས་ཞིང་ལ་ལྟོས༌དང༌། ལོ་ཏོག་སྨིན་པར་གྱུར་པས་ཞིང་འབྲེག་རན༌ཏེ།

 

John 4:34-35

34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.

 

Again Jesus was addressing His disciples a message that was very difficult for them to understand. This conversation Jesus had with His disciples showed us something important the disciples were not prepared for at that moment and at that time in history

 

Harvest

 

Apparently Jesus was referring to harvesting of believers, people of faith, and especially those waiting for the Messiah! This is the time in history the Messiah appeared to atone for human sin and to restore Man to eternal life with God.

It is interesting to note that after Jesus’ resurrection He spend about 40 days with this same group of disciples teaching and explaining the kingdom of God again and repeated what He taught them till they finally understood!

When the same disciples witness the death of Jesus on the cross they were discouraged and even when they saw the resurrected Christ they were perplexed.

So Jesus had to explain everything to His disciples again and we also need to constantly and repeatedly seek to understand God’s plan and purpose to save us.

 

The atonement work of Christ is difficult for us to understand and it happened in God’s appointed time! And the mass harvesting of souls for the kingdom of God cannot happen without the atonement work of Christ!

 

We all struggles with the same difficulties these disciples went through and praise the Lord all these were recorded for our learning. There is that difficulties to connect what they witness on the physical realm to fulfillment of scripture in particular those prophesy of redemption and restoration that would be identified as “harvest“.

So in Jesus’ conversation with the disciples there is that clear position on “harvest” and because that situation happened with the Samaritans who claimed to be related to Jacob, we need to look carefully what is written in Isaiah 11:11

 

ཡེ་ཤ་ཡཱ། 11:11

ཡང་ཉིན་དེར་དཀོན་མཆོག་ཡ་ཝཱེས་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ཕྱག་གིས་ཁོང་གི་འབངས་མིའི་ནང་གི་ལྷག་མ་སྟེ། ཨ་སུར་དང་ཨེ་ཅིབ། ཕཱད་རུའུ་སི་དང་གུ་ཤ། ཨེ་ལཱམ་དང་ཤིན་ཨར། ཧ་མཱད་དང་རྒྱ་མཚོའི་གླིང་བཅས་སུ་ཡོད་པ་རྣམས་ཕྱོགས་གཅིག་ཏུ་བསྡུ་བ་དང་།

 

Isaiah 11:11

In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea.

 

Isaiah prophesy here was not refereeing to the returning Jews from the Babylon Exile because those who return from Babylon were exiled from the southern kingdom of Judah only.

Hundreds of years before the Babylon Exile, Israel was already split into two kingdoms due to civil war after Solomon. The northern kingdom was commonly referred to as Ephraim.

The northern kingdom of Ephraim was conquered by the Assyrian and those Israelites were deported and scattered to the various other nations and territories that lost their land to Assyria as well.

There have been a lot of discussions about the “Ten Lost Tribe”. The mentioned of Assyria clearly points to the devastation and exile of the northern kingdom of Ephraim and Isaiah’s prophesy points to the restoration of the “Ten Lost Tribe”.

There are increasing evident today that Samaritans were Israelites from the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh exiled by the Assyrian after Israel split into two kingdoms. Although not every Samaritan is descendant of Joseph but the historical link is impossible to dismiss.

Furthermore from the time of exile till the time of Jesus, the many generations of mixed marriages had made the relationship between Samaritans and Israel complicated.

Nevertheless we must not ignore what that woman at the well said to Jesus –

 

ཡོ་ཧ་ནན། 4:11-12

11ཡང་བུད་མེད་ན༌རེ། ཇོ་བོ་ལགས། ཁྲོན་པ་འདི་གཏིང་ཟབ་ཅིང་ཁྱེད་ལ་ཆུ་བཅུ་བྱེད་ཀྱི་ཡོ་བྱད་ཀྱང་མེད་པས་ཚེ་སྲོག་དང་ལྡན་པའི་ཆུ་དེ་གང་ནས་ལེན༌ནམ། 12ངེད་ཅག་གི་མེས་པོ་ཡ་ཀོབ་ཀྱིས་ཁྲོན་པ་འདི་ངེད་རྣམས་ལ་གནང༌ཞིང༌། ཁོང་དང་རང་གི་བུ་རྣམས་དང་གཞན་ཡང་ཕྱུགས་ཟོག་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱིས་ཀྱང་ཁྲོན་པའི་ཆུ་འདི་འཐུངས་པ་ཡིན། འོན་ཀྱང་ཁྱེད་ནི་ཡ་ཀོབ་ལས་ཀྱང་ཆེན་པོ་ཞིག་ཡིན་ནམ་ཞེས་སྨྲས་སོ།།

 

John 4:11-12

11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.”

 

She identifies herself as a decedent of Jacob and Jesus did not dispute that!

Does that mean Jesus acknowledged her claim of relationship to Jacob?

And it is here in this incident in John 4 that Jesus speaks of “harvest” to His disciples!

So what we are reading here in John 4 is the beginning of fulfillment of scripture of God’s restoration of His lost sheep, not just the southern kingdom of Judah but also of the “Ten Lost Tribe” of the northern kingdom. And Jesus’ “harvest” would extend to the Gentiles as well.

The apostle Paul also speaks of God’s timing for redemption and restoration –

 

ག་ལད་ཡཱ་པ། 4:4-7

འོན༌ཀྱང༌། དུས་ལོངས༌པའི་ཚེ། དཀོན་མཆོག་གིས་རང་ཉིད་ཀྱི་སྲས་འཇིག་རྟེན་དུ་མངགས༌ཤིང༌། བུ་མོ་ཞིག་གི་མངལ་ལས་འཁྲུངས་པ་དང་། བཀའ་ཁྲིམས་ཀྱི་ལུགས་སྲོལ་འོག་ཏུ་འཁྲུངས་པའང་ཡིན་ཏེ། 5བཀའ་ཁྲིམས་ཀྱི་དབང་འོག་ཏུ་ཡོད་པ་རྣམས་བླུས་ནས། བདག་ཅག་ཁོང་གི་བུ་དང་བུ་མོར་མཛད་པའི༌ཕྱིར་རོ།། 6ཁྱོད་ཅག་ནི་དཀོན་མཆོག་གི་བུ་དང་བུ་མོ་ཡིན༌པས། དཀོན་མཆོག་གིས་རང་གི་སྲས་ཀྱི་ཐུགས་ཉིད་དེ་ཁྱོད་རྣམས་ཀྱི་སེམས་སུ་མངགས༌ཤིང༌། ཨབ་བཱ་ལགས། ཡབ་ལགས་ཞེས་འབོད་པར་བསྐུལ་ལོ།། 7དེའི༌ཕྱིར། དུས་དེ་ནས༌བཟུང༌། ཁྱོད་ཅག་ནི་གཡོག་པོ་མ་ཡིན་པར་དཀོན་མཆོག་གི་བུ་དང་བུ་མོ་ཡིན། དེ་ལྟར་ལགས༌ན། ཁྱོད་ཅག་ནི་དཀོན་མཆོག་གི་རྐྱེན་གྱིས་ཕ་ཤུལ་འཛིན་མཁན་ཡང་ཡིན༌ནོ།།

 

Galatians 4:4-7

4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

 

We should know this redemption Paul talks about could only happen because of the atonement work of Christ! The death and resurrection of Jesus made it possible for us to “receive adoption as sons“. This is part of the “harvest” for the kingdom of God.

This “harvest” started some 2000 years ago and is till happening today and it will continue till Jesus returns and we are part of it.

 

To be continue …

 

David Z

To Believe in Jesus – Part 29

 

ཡོ་ཧ་ནན། 4:34

དེ་ནས་སྐྱབས་མགོན་ཡེ་ཤུས་འདི་སྐད༌དུ། ང་རང་མངགས་མཁན་གྱི་དགོངས་པ་བཞིན་དུ་བྱེད་པ་དང་ཁོང་གི་ཆོས་དོན་སྒྲུབ་པ་དེ་ནི་བདག་གི་ཁ་ཟས་ཡིན།

John 4:34

Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

 

Here in John 4, Jesus used the occasion of that incident meeting the woman at the well and His disciples who went to get food to teach an important lesson about doing the will of God.

 

As necessary as food is to human so is doing the will of God for us who trust and believe in Jesus.

 

Jesus did not speak a negative message about the disciples who went to get food while He was reaching out to the Samaritan woman but instead appeal to their understanding to prioritize the eternity value of doing the will of God.

Perhaps the disciples had difficulties understanding Jesus at that time and so do we. As we seek to grow in the Lord in faith we do struggle in trying to understand the will of God from time to time.

Later in John 6, the same message was spoken again and with more details –

 

ཡོ་ཧ་ནན། 6:35-40

35དེ་ནས་སྐྱབས་མགོན་ཡེ་ཤུས་འདི་སྐད༌དུ། བདག་ནི་ཚེ་སྲོག་གི་བག་ལེབ་ཡིན༌ཏེ། ངའི་གམ་དུ་ཡོང་བ་རྣམས་ལ་བཀྲེས་ལྟོགས་མི་འབྱུང༌ཞིང༌། ཡང་ང་རང་ལ་དད་པ་བྱེད་མཁན་རྣམས་ནམ་ཡང་སྐོམ་མི་སྲིད། 36འོན་ཀྱང་བདག་གིས་སྨྲས་པ་བཞིན་ཁྱོད་རྣམས་ཀྱིས་ང་རང་མཐོང་ནའང་དད་པ་མི་བྱེད་དོ།། 37དེ་ཡང་ཡབ་ཀྱིས་ང་རང་ལ་བསྩལ་བའི་མི་ཐམས་ཅད་བདག་གི་དྲུང་དུ་ཡོང་ངེས༌ཤིང༌། བདག་གི་གམ་དུ་ཡོང་བའི་མི་སུ་ཡིན་ཡང་བདག་གིས་ནམ་ཡང་འདོར་མི་སྲིད་དོ།། 38རྒྱུ་མཚན་ནི་ང་རང་ནམ་མཁའི་ཞིང་ཁམས་ནས་ཡོང་དོན་ནི་རང་གི་བསམ་དོན་བཞིན་བསྒྲུབ་པའི་ཕྱིར་འོངས་པ་མིན༌ཏེ། ང་རང་མངགས་མཁན་གྱི་དགོངས་པ་བཞིན་དུ་བསྒྲུབ་པའི་ཕྱིར་ཡོང༌བ་ཡིན། 39ང་རང་མངགས་མཁན་ཁོང་གི་དགོངས་པ་ནི་ཁོང་གིས་བདག་ལ་གནང་བ་ཐམས་ཅད་ལས་བདག་གིས་གཅིག་ཀྱང་མི་སྟོར༌བར། མཐའ་མའི་ཉིན་མོ་ལ་དེ་རྣམས་སླར་གསོན་དུ་འཇུག་པ་དེ་ཡིན་ནོ།། 40རྒྱུ་མཚན་ནི་སྲས་དེ་ཉིད་མཇལ་ནས་དད་པ་བྱེད་མཁན་ཐམས་ཅད་ལ་མཐའ་མེད་པའི་ཚེ་སྲོག་འཐོབ་པ༌དང༌། མཐའ་མའི་ཉིན་མོར་ཡང་བདག་གིས་དེ་རྣམས་སླར་གསོན་དུ་འཇུག་དགོས་པ་ནི་བདག་གི་ཡབ་ཀྱི་དགོངས་པའང་ཡིན་ཞེས་གསུངས༌སོ།།

John 6:35-40

35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

 

Here in John 6, Jesus identified Himself as “the bread of life“! There is that definite clear link between food for human survival and the eternity of life which can only be provided by the one true living God.

The multitudes came to Jesus for provision – they needed food for survival. Jesus did not despised them for seeking Him because they were hungry and needed food but took the opportunity to encourage them to set priority for things of eternal value.

And what was it of eternal value?

 

To believe in Jesus the Messiah chosen of God and the provision of eternal life through Jesus! 

 

Putting together what happened in John 4 and John 6, we can see a clear indication that the will of God in these contexts refers to redemption and restoration of Man from sin and death, and to bring Man back to peace with God with promise eternal life.

The Old Testament prophets who called for repentance and to turn away from sin, the purpose was to teach the truth that we need to seek God and fullness of life in the eternal presence of God.

Sin separated Man from the gift of eternal life provided by God and Jesus came to do God’s will to restore us to the fullness of life in God.

Salvation belongs to God and only the one true living God can redeem us from sin and death.

 

To believe in Jesus is to believe in the will of God for redemption and restoration of Man from sin and death.

To believe in Jesus is to seek peace and restoration in God.

 

The public ministry of Jesus was mobile. Jesus and His disciples moved from place to place and their main itinerary was preaching about the kingdom of God and calling for people to repent as condition to enter the kingdom of God. So as they moved from place to place, getting food was part of their necessary check-list, and it is interesting that Jesus would use food as object lesson to teach people to seek eternal life in God.

There were occasion Jesus feed the multitudes by multiplying food! But the main purpose was the proclaiming of the kingdom of God that those who hear may find redemption in the Messiah and to enter fullness of life in God.

Jesus is able to provide us full and complete redemption and restoration because Jesus did completely fulfill and accomplish the will of God. The death and resurrection of Christ is the ultimate fulfillment of God’s will to redeem Man from sin and death!

As Jesus came to do the will of God and accomplish it, we are called to do the will of God as well.

To do the will of God take priority because such act of obedience leads us to eternity with God –

 

ཡོ་ཧ་ནན་དང་པོ། 2:17

འཇིག་རྟེན་འདི་དང་འཇིག་རྟེན་གྱི་འདོད་ཆགས་ཐམས་ཅད་འཇིག་པར་འགྱུར༌མོད། འོན་ཀྱང་དཀོན་མཆོག་གི་ཐུགས་དགོངས་བཞིན་སྒྲུབ་མཁན་ནི་གཏན་དུ་གནས་པར་འགྱུར་རོ།།

1 John 2:17

And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

 

To be continue …

 

David Z