Listen to the audio above while following along in the transcript below, which is also available for download at www.biblestudyministriesinc.com
As we come to look in the word, I would like to share a passage from Isaiah 29, and it’s not on the sheet, verses 11&12, “The vision shall be like the words of a sealed book, which when they gave it to the one who literate saying, ‘Please read this,” he will say, ‘I cannot read it, for it’s sealed.’ Then the book will be given to one who is illiterate saying, ‘Please read this,’ and he will say, ‘I cannot read.’” The interesting thing of that prophesy is that the illiterate has an excuse; he says, “I can’t read.” So, they gave it to one who could read, and he said, “I can’t read because it’s sealed.” So, whether you are literate or illiterate, you need a revelation from the Lord. It’s a sealed book, and Jesus is worthy to open the seal. So, let’s pray to the Lord.
Father, thank You that nothing depends on our intellect or understanding, but it all depends on Your unveiling Jesus to our hearts. We need a revelation, and Lord, we thank You that You have promised to give that. So, this morning we wait upon You and ask You to unveil Jesus according to our capacities, our needs, our hunger. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Okay, welcome again. We are in our meditation in John 12, but I never get tired of reminding you the theme of the gospel of John. John 20:31, “These have been written so that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, and the Son of God, and that believing, you may have life in His name.” The Holy Spirit guided John to write this gospel so that we would know the Lord, so we would trust the Lord, and so we would enjoy the Lord. In our meditation we’ve come to John 12, and it’s a transition chapter. From John’s point of view, the public ministry of Christ has come to an end, and He’s about to begin a private ministry to those that He calls “His own”. Basically, now there are exceptions, the ministry that Christ had on the earth, His public ministry, was a ministry of rejection, primarily. John 1:11, “He came to His own, and His own received Him not.” The three and a half year ministry in the main was a ministry of rejection.
Why did they reject Christ? They have their own reasons, but the Lord gives us the real reason. John 15:22, “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sinned, but now they have no excuse for their sin.” That’s one reason they hated Him, because He exposed them; He showed them what kind of sinners they really were, and they hated Him because they didn’t want to be exposed. The second reason they rejected Him, on the level of earth, John 11:47&48, “If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” The Lord Jesus, for them, was competition, and they wanted power, and they wanted to rule, and they wanted to have their sheep, and they wanted the following. From the religious point of view, the reason that they said they rejected Him was because He was a blasphemer and He had the demon in Him, and He was leading an insurrection, but the real reason was that He exposed their sin, and He took away their control. Anyway, John 10 closes the door on His public ministry, and it’s a transition. It’s not only a summary of the old, but He’s preparing us now for this new.
In our discussion, we’ve come to the end of John 12. I told you that the heart of His private ministry is in the chapters that follow John 12, chapters 13-17. We’re going to look at that as the full explanation of the exchanged life; that’s what those chapters are all about. At the end of chapter 12 He prepares us for that amazing message. John 12 ends with the exchanged life lived by Jesus; He lived as God intended man to live. Jesus claimed in John 12:27&28, “Now, My soul has become troubled; what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour,’ but for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name.” There were two lives: His life and the exchanged life, the life of His Father. He rejected one, and He chose the other. John 12:28, “A voice came out of heaven, ‘I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.”
When we closed the last session, I was in the process of showing you that they rejected Christ in spite of all of His claims that He lived an exchanged life, and even the Father’s endorsement of that by a voice from heaven. John 12:37, “Though He had performed so many signs, yet they were not believing in Him.” John 12:35&36 is where we left off last time, “So, Jesus said to them, ‘For a little while longer the light is among you; walk while you have the light, so that darkness does not overtake you.’” We closed with a great warning; they were rejecting the light; they were rejecting Messiah. We shared Proverbs 29:1, “A man who hardens his neck after much reproof will suddenly be broken beyond remedy.” God is patient, but He’s not omni-patient. He’s long suffering, but there comes a time when His patience comes to an end. Isaiah 55:6, “Seek the Lord while He may be found.”
We ended up and came as far a John 12:38, “This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah, the prophet, when he spoke, ‘Lord, who has believed our report, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?’” We stopped last time with Isaiah, and now we’re going to begin, as we close chapter 12, with the prophesy of Isaiah.
I want to make a couple of comments about Isaiah, the man, and show you how the Holy Spirit has put so much into this prophesy of Isaiah. John quotes this prophet because he’s going to say, “You need to know who you are rejecting, when you reject Jesus.” Isaiah spoke of Him, and now the spotlight is going to go to Isaiah’s prophesy of Christ. John’s mention of Isaiah settles even some technical issues, and so I’d like to sort of stand back and look at Isaiah and a couple of observations that John 12 clears up that wouldn’t have been cleared up otherwise.
My first observation has to do with the two quotes John makes from Isaiah. In John 12:38 he quotes Isaiah 53 and in verse 40 he quotes Isaiah 6. In other words, he quoted Isaiah from the beginning of the book, and he quoted Isaiah from the end of the book. As far trusted chronology goes, Isaiah lived about seven hundred and fifty years before the Lord Jesus, and like other prophets, he not only addressed the people that were in front of him in terms of their situation, but he often looked forward, and he predicted things, sometimes by a vision, sometimes by a dream and sometimes by dictation, and sometimes just by intuition as he spoke in their heart.
Most Bible students are familiar with the prophets predicting the future. For example, Daniel; he spelled out the kingdoms of the world: Babylon, the Medes, the Persians, the Greeks, Rome, and so on. Ezekiel lived way back, but he spoke about the millennium, and it hasn’t even come yet; that’s still to come. Isaiah, also, spoke about the future; he spoke about the cross in Isaiah 53, and in chapter 66 he speaks about the millennium.
About the beginning of the eighteenth century, certain unbelievers who called themselves Bible scholars, began to say a lot about the Bible and about Bible prophesy, and they began to deny the fact that God would give a prophet something about the future, and they became known as critics. From our point of view, they were destructive critics. They began to destroy; they thought they were smarter than God. They actually attacked everything that looked like a miracle or looked spiritual, and so on. They were very, very liberal.
Anyway, they looked at the book of Isaiah, and they saw a great division. It just so happens that there are as many chapters in Isaiah as there are books in the Bible, and they’re divided up almost the same way. The first thirty-nine chapters are Old Testament, they say, that the next twenty-seven are the New Testament. That aside, the first thirty-nine chapters are written from the history of Isaiah. If you read any place in chapters 1-39, Isaiah is going to say, “And then I went, and I brought my son, and I talked to this king, and I talked to that king,” and it’s almost an autobiography. Isaiah is there, and he’s alive, and he’s living. When you come to chapters 40-66 there’s not a word about Isaiah’s history, not a word about his testimony, talking to this king or talking to that person or experiencing walking here or there. There’s nothing; it’s almost all Isaiah quoting God talking. Because of that difference, because chapters 1-39 pictures the autobiography of Isaiah, and the rest of the book doesn’t even mention it, the sceptics who think they are smarter than God say, “There has to be at least two Isaiah’s; there’s not just one Isaiah. Did Isaiah write the whole book. It’s not logical that he did because they are different styles; the first is different than the second, and Isaiah couldn’t have written it.”
We know Isaiah 6:1, “In the year of King Uziah’s death, I saw the Lord on a throne, lofty and exalted, and the train of His robe filled the temple.” So, they say that Isaiah was alive there because he was alive when Uziah died. According to the scholars, that was 739 BC, but Isaiah was there with Uzziah. But listen to Isaiah 44:28, “It is I who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd; he will perform all My desires.’” He calls Cyrus by name; Isaiah mentioned the name “Cyrus”. Cyrus didn’t live for another two hundred years after Isaiah, and now he’s calling his name. He was that Persian king that gave the decree that God’s people could go back to the land after the captivity. So, these scholars, these so-called smart people, said, “If Isaiah was alive when Uzziah died, then how could he be alive unless he was three hundred years old, to name Cyrus? It has to be a different Isaiah; two different Isaiah’s.” Of course, for Christians, we don’t have a problem with that. Isaiah 46;9, “I’m God and there’s no other. I’m God and there’s no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning.” He, of course, could name Cyrus before he was born, and he told Isaiah to write that name down. Isaiah 45:1, “Thus says the Lord to Cyrus, his anointed whom I’ve taken by the right hand to subdue nations before him and loose the loins of kings, and open doors before him, so that the gates will not be shut.” So, they say that there are two Isaiah’s, and one was younger and then an older one wrote later on.
The reason I bring that up is John 12 in three words destroys that destructive criticism. In John 12:39, “For this reason, they could not believe. Isaiah said again…” In verse 40 he quotes the first part of Isaiah and then in verse 38 he quotes the second part, and it’s the same Isaiah, “Isaiah said again…” So, there’s not two Isaiah’s. John 12 in three words wipes out that destructive critic.
Are you familiar with the Dead Sea scrolls? Those scrolls have part of every book in the Old Testament, except Esther, but those Dead Sea scrolls have the entire book of Isaiah; the whole book is in those Dead Sea scrolls. Twenty-one scrolls are in the book of Isaiah, and they were all sewn together. If you can picture a scroll, if you rolled out Isaiah, it would roll out to twenty-four feet long. The reason I’m calling attention to this is that they had to sew them together. It was on animal skin, and they sewed it together. It was interesting that they sewed chapter 39 to chapter forty; they sewed it right where these destructive critics say that there are two Isaiah’s. All of that is just for the sake of interest. This prophesy you are going to see is pointing to Christ; Christ is the One who knows the end from the beginning.
Let me read another of John’s quote, John 12:39&40, “For this reason, they could not believe, for Isaiah said again, ‘He has blinded their eyes and he’s hardened their heart, so that they would not see with their eyes, or perceive with their heart, and be converted and I heal them.’” Now, here is the Isaiah quote, Isaiah 6:10, “Render the hearts of this people insensitive, and their ears dull, and their eyes dim; otherwise, that they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and return and be healed. To find the fulfillment of that in Jesus’ day, what revelation of Christ is brought to light because of that prophesy? Listen to John 12:41, “These things Isaiah said,” and he’s quoting that Isaiah said, “because he saw His glory, and he spoke of Him.” Isaiah 6, are you familiar with that vision? According to John, Isaiah was seeing Jesus; he spoke of Him.
Here’s a vision, Isaiah 6:1, “In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted with the train of His robe filling the temple.” And you remember the six winged seraphim that were calling back and forth in verse 3, “One called out to another and said, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.’” What a vision! Isaiah said that the entire temple filled with smoke and the foundation shook at the sound of His voice. At the time of this vision, Isaiah said, “He felt like a leper, a moral leper in midst of a leper colony.” Isaiah 6:5, “I said, ‘Woe is me; I’m ruined. I’m a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts.’” That’s Jesus, “My eyes have seen the King,” King Jesus, “the Lord of Hosts,” that’s Jesus. Notice that the word “LORD” is in all capital letters which means that’s the word that we call “Jehovah”.
Do you get the impact of what John is saying in John 12:41? “These things Isaiah said because he saw His glory and spoke of Him.” Who was the King Isaiah saw sitting on a throne? It was Jesus. Who was the One Isaiah called “the Lord of Hosts”? It was Jesus. Who was the One that the seraphim were veiling their faces and saying, “Holy, holy, holy”? It was the Lord Jesus. Isaiah said, “His glory filled the earth.” Who was that? It was the Lord Jesus. John 12:41, “He spoke of Him.” Because of John 12 we learn that Isaiah’s vision in chapter 6 was the Lord Jesus. They are rejecting Jesus. John is quoting Isaiah to say, “Do you know who you are rejecting? Are you familiar with this One that you are not believing in? This is the One Isaiah saw.”
Don’t forget we’re one week from the cross, and when we turn the page, we’ll be one day from the cross. Who is the One who is going to the cross; who is the grain of wheat? It’s not a victim, it’s not a prisoner, it’s not some helpless captive. John 10:17&18, “For this reason, the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life, so that I may take it again. No one takes it away from Me. I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.” Isaiah quotes Isaiah 40 to show, “Do you know who you are rejecting, the One who sees the end from the beginning, the Lord of Host, the King of Glory? That’s who they are rejecting.” John takes pains to remind us that the One who has set His face as a flint to go to Jerusalem and to die in our place is no other than Jesus, the Lord of Host, the King of Glory, the Holy One from whom the Highest created being hide their faces and cry, “Holy, holy, holy.” His glory fills the earth. John’s selection of passage from Isaiah is really to call attention to who Jesus is.
Let me give a third illustration from the prophet Isaiah. John 12:38, “This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet which he spoke, ‘Lord, who has believed our report, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?’” I’d like to focus on that little expression “the arm of the Lord”, “To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” Many of the commentators take that to be a word picture, the arm of the Lord picturing the power of the Lord, the strength of the Lord, “Only the arm of the Lord could do that.” Many times we read that in the Bible, the arm of the Lord or the right hand of the Lord. Moses used that many times in His writings about the power of the Lord. The historical books, Samuel and Kings talk about the power of the Lord as His arm and His strength. Listen to 2 Kings 17:36, “But the Lord who brought you up from the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm, Him you shall fear, to Him you shall bow yourself down.” So, the word “arm”, especially in the Psalms, over and over again is just the power of God. Psalm 89:10, “You scattered Your enemies with Your mighty arm.” It just talks about power.
But when Isaiah uses the word “arm of the Lord”, that expression, he’s not talking about the power of God. It includes that, but that’s not what Isaiah has in mind. For him, the arm of the Lord was a Messianic title; it was a title of a Person. Jesus is the arm of the Lord. Isaiah 51:9&11, “Awake, awake; put on strength, oh arm of the Lord; awake as in the days of old, the generations of long ago. Was it not You who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who make the depths of the sea a pathway for the redeemed to cross over?” It’s a Person, and Isaiah 51, “You are the One that dried up the sea.” Isaiah 59:16, “He saw there was no man, and was astonished that there was no one to intercede; then, His own arm brought salvation to him; His righteousness upheld Him.”
Isaiah 52:10, “The Lord has bared His holy arm in the sight of the nations, that all the ends of the earth may see the salvation of God.” When I saw that verse, that God bared His holy arm, in my mind I thought, “Well, when He created the heavens and the earth, the Bible says that’s the work of His fingers, the work of His hand.” And I thought, “Well, to make creation, that’s the work of His fingers, but to save man, he had to roll up His sleeves; He had to make bare His arm, and show His muscle.” That’s how I looked at that, but Isaiah 53:1, “Who had believed our message? To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed.” He’s talking about Jesus and making bare His arm is revealing Him; it’s not rolling up His sleeve. It’s showing who He is, and whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed. And you know it’s a Person because that’s Isaiah 53:1, and that’s followed by the pronouns “he”, “He was a plant out of dry ground, He was despised and rejected, He bore our griefs and our sorrow, He was pierced through for our transgression and iniquities, He was led as a lamb to the slaughter.” The arm of the Lord is a Person.
John quotes Isaiah, not just to show there’s one Isaiah, but to show that Jesus is the One that sees the end from the beginning. John quotes Isaiah to show that He’s the One Isaiah saw, the King of Glory, the Lord of Host, whose glory fills the world, the earth, “Holy, holy, holy.” Jesus is the arm of the Lord, and to whom has He been revealed? They aren’t seeing Him; they’re rejecting Him, and John quotes Isaiah to say, “You better think twice about who you are rejecting. Do you know who this Jesus is? He stands before you weak and humble, and He looks weak, and He’s not in His exalted position, but you better know who He is.” Isaiah 33:2, I love this verse, “Oh Lord, be gracious unto us; we’ve waited for Thee; be Thou their arm, every morning our salvation.” The arm of the Lord is a Person, and I want the arm of the Lord every morning, every day. Alright, that’s why he’s quoting Isaiah.
I want to return now to John 12 and show how these final verses prepare us for the section that’s coming. I can’t begin, and I’m going to try and it’s not going to work, how important these next five chapters are, chapters 13-17, the full explanation of the exchanged life. He is hours from His death, and He is pouring Himself empty to them because this is on His heart, and before He goes, He wants them to know.
I’m going to read the seven verses beginning at John 12:44, “And Jesus cried out and said, ‘He who believes in Me does not believe in Me, but in Him who sent Me. He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me. I’ve come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness. If anyone hears My saying and does not keep them, I do not judge him, for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. He who rejects Me does not receive My sayings as One who judges Him. The word I spoke is what will judge Him at the last day, for I did not speak on My own initiative, as the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment of what to say and what to speak. I know His commandment is eternal life; therefore, the things I speak, I speak just as the Father told Me.”
I want us to try to identify with this scene. Jesus has just completed three and half years of public ministry, and people were rejecting Him. He’s wrapping that up now, and He’s getting ready to pour out His heart, His intimacy, to those He calls His own. We can’t read this la, la, la. He’s about to die, be raised from the dead, and ascend to His holy Father, God. He’s got so much to share; these are the words of a dying man, and before he dies He says, “You’ve got to know this; I’ve got to tell you this.” And even then, John 16:12, “He said, ‘I have many more things to say to you; you cannot bear them now.’” He pours out everything in John 13-17. These are the last words of a dying lover, but not technically. Technically, the last words, and we’ll look at that, are on the cross, but this is His heart pouring out.
Last words are precious. The last words my sister said to me before she died, I had a choice, I could go to Arizona to visit her on her death bed, or I could go to a conference that had been already prepared, and I gave her the option. She said, she called me “Butch”, she said, “Butch, choose life; go to the conference.” Those are last words, precious last words. I can’t forget that.
Are you familiar with Susanna Wesley? Her last words, “When I’m gone, children, sing praise to God.” Those were her last words. Last words are precious. The songwriter, Frances Havergal, these were her last words recorded, “Called, held and kept,” and then she said, “I can go home on that,” and she died. Such a precious, precious thing are last words! John Newton, they were actually writing, and the guy who was taking notes said, “Now that you’re in the land of the living, what shall we say?” And here were his last words, “I am not in the land of the living; I’m in the land of the dying. I soon shall be in the land of the living,” and then he died. Last words! Jesus is giving His last words. Stephen, the martyr, his last words, “Lord, don’t hold this sin against them.” Last words are precious. When we enter into this I want you to not only see it as doctrine and teaching, but as a lover pouring out his final words to those He called His own, and I think the more we can enter into that part, the more we’ll enjoy what He said.
Let me mention some experiences that Christians have. This is all preparation for what is coming. In grace in nature God works in seasons, it seems like. He did many seasons in my life, and I think in yours, too. Many of the seasons are marked by Christian experiences. I’m going to give a couple and they come out of my own life; it’s a different experience and then another experience and then another experience, and so on. Each one is followed by another.
I remember when God brought me to the place where I said, “Total surrender,” and I just said, “I’m done, and I’m giving Him everything.” I lived on that for a while. That was a big change in my life, total surrender to the Lord. But as I went on, the Lord began to teach me things. I was struggling, even though I was surrendered, with indwelling corruption. I couldn’t stop sinning. I remember when the Lord broke through and showed me the way of victory. If you listen to my old tapes, you’ll find that victory section, and I was preaching on how you can have victory over sin. Then, God dawned on my heart something new, Galatians 5:1, “It was for freedom Christ has set you free.” All of a sudden freedom became the new thing, and I was just free in the Lord, and telling others they could be free, and how you can be free, and all of the rest in freedom. Then, Hebrews 4:10, “The one who has entered His rest has himself rested from his works, as God did from His.” I entered something called “rest”, rest in the Lord. Once again, if you went through my tapes you would find a section on rest, and wherever I looked it was rest, rest, rest in the Lord, rest in the Lord. So, there was surrender, and there was victory and there was freedom and there is rest, and just when I thought I had arrived and there was nothing else, He broke on my heart worship. Oh, my, it changed my life.
What I’m trying to say is that there are experiences, and that’s followed by another. It’s in random order and it’s not in any particular order. It seems like all these experiences are connected by childlike faith because of Hebrews 11:6, “Without faith it is impossible to please Him.” So, you rest by faith, and you’re free by faith, and you conquer by faith, and so on. I’m sure there are other experiences that you could think of that I haven’t mentioned. There’s restoration, there’s chastening, there’s unity, there’s ministry and stewardship, and there’s others that are big. But here’s the question, is there an experience that God has for the Christian that not only overlaps these others, they all seem to overlap, that not only overlaps but embraces all the others, the one experience that we can say, “If we have this experience, we’re done; there’s not another one. That’s it; you’ve arrived.”? Now, you haven’t arrived as far as the depth, because every experience has no bottom. You’ll never arrive until you get to heaven, but is there an experience after which that’s it and you can’t add to this? I can say, “I’ve arrived in Europe,” but having arrived, does that mean I’ve seen everything Europe has to offer? Probably not.
I’m suggesting there is an experience, short of glory, that embraces rest and victory and freedom and worship; it embraces all of those. But if you have this experience, nothing will follow, and it’s the exchanged life; that’s the end. That embraces all the others. It’s not like one stops and another begins. It’s more like the brook is going into the stream and is flowing into the river, and where does one end and the other begin? They’re all one, but when this experience, this final experience, this crowning experience beyond which there is nothing else short of heaven, short of glory comes, that’s what Jesus says as He pours out His heart. He says, “Before I die, I want to tell you about the greatest experience that is possible in the Christian life, and I want to explain it in detail.” That’s what these chapters are about. He was my substitute when He died on the cross for me, and now He wants to be my substitute and live in my place. Romans 5:10, “While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” Hours before He dies, He said, “I’ve just got to tell My kids, I’ve got to tell My children about this amazing experience.”
Alright, back to John 12. It’s now the close of His ministry, and He’s preparing us for this tremendous section that is coming, and He ends with the testimony that He has lived the life that God intended everyone to live, and before He explains it, it’s for me and it’s for you and it’s for every Christian, He testifies and He said, “I have lived this life, and this is the life I’m calling you to live.” John 12:44, “Jesus cried out, ‘He who believes in Me does not believe in Me, but in Him who sent Me.” That’s the exchanged life. “He who sees Me, sees the One who sent Me.” He ended in John 12:49&50, “I do nothing on My own initiative. I didn’t speak; the words I gave are from My Father.” He’s hinted at it before, and He’s going to state it clearly, “The life I lived and the way I lived it is the life I’m wanting you to live, and I’m going to explain it.” John 6:57, “As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so He who eats Me, He will also live because of Me.” Before He ascended to heaven, He declared in John 20:21-22, “When He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side, and the disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord. And Jesus said to them, ‘Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.’” It’s the same way, same life.
We’re going to take a little turn as I come to close this lesson from the notes that you have. I’m going to depart from those and I had a different ending planned, but I feel like I want to get closer to John 13, so we’re going to go this way. I want to focus on a truth that I believe was beating hot on the heart of the Lord Jesus as He approached these final hours. The exchanged life, as we call it, is not optional. It’s the only plan. There’s not plan B or C; there’s only this, and that’s it. It was necessary for Him to come this way. John 3:16, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him would not perish, but have everlasting life.” It was necessary for Him to come that way, and for the same reason it’s necessary because of His love. “God so loved the world…,” and now He’s going to say, “What applied to Me now applies to you. God still loves the world, but now it’s a new channel, and it’s going to be you.” His love demands it.
Why is that so important? We didn’t say that His mercy demanded it, or His justice demanded it. Why is the love of God so vitally connected with this life called the exchanged life? Listen to John 13:1, “Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of the world to the Father, having loved His own that were in the world, He loved them to the end.” The Greek is, “to the utmost.” Remember that Jesus is God, 100% God. We saw that in the beginning of the book of John, “The word was God and the word was made flesh.” He never stopped being God, but He lived as God intended man to live on the earth, the exchanged life. Now He’s going to return to His holy Father God. The life He demonstrated He’s about to explain. I hope you understand when I say that, when we get to the explanation, you’ll understand it more. It takes God to be a man. It takes God to be a Christian. It takes God to be the husband God has called you to be. It takes God to be the wife God has called you to be. It takes God to be the parent or the grandparent or the great-grandparent that God has called you to be. It takes God to be the brother or sister in Christ that God has called you to be. It takes God to be the servant that God has called you to be. All of this is in connection with the exchanged life.
This section opens with the love of God, “God so loved the world…,” and He loved, according to John 13:1 how it begins, and John 17 is how it ends. How does it begin? It begins with, “He loved them to the utmost.” How does it end? John 17:23, “I in them and you in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so the world may know that You sent Me and loved them, even as You loved Me.” Try to digest that. John 17:26, “I’ve made known Your name to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them and I in them.” When we go through this section we’re going to see a lot about love. God begins, and He loved them to the utmost, and He ends with He loves you as much as He loves Jesus.
Jesus is God, and we know this about God, that if He’s God, He’s infinite. Only God can be infinite. Infinite means there are no limits, no bounds. There’s no end, and you can go on and on and on and on. All of His attributes are not infinite. Like I said, patience can’t be infinite, or He’d never judge. God created the universe in six days. Did He run out of power? After that, every six days He could have made another universe, every six days from then to now, and never created or never repeated a law, a color, a shape, a size, an element. He’s infinite; it doesn’t stop. We say about an athlete that he gave his best, he gave his all. Or we say of an artist, “That’s his best work; he couldn’t go beyond that; he gave his all.” Can that apply to an infinite God? Is there ever a time where an infinite God could say, “I’ve come to the end, and I can’t do any more.”? He’s infinite. The answer is twice. He came to the end of His wisdom, and we’ll see that when we get to Gethsemane; it’s not possible and there is no other possibility. We’ll see that when we get there, but now He loved to the utmost. We’re about to discuss the explanation of the exchanged life, and I don’t want us to read this la, la, la. This is not a philosophy of a Christian life and how to live a Christian life. This is the revelation of an infinite God who came to the end of His infinity. The infinite God in His infinite wisdom… I’m talking crazy because I’m trying to have you understand something that’s beyond comprehension.
Is there a time when God thought and thought and thought and said, “I can’t think anymore; that’s it,” and He came up with salvation, and He said, “That it; that’s My final thought. There’s no more; it’s that.”? Is there an attribute of God where He said, “In order to make that thought real, I have to love.” So, He loved and He loved and He loved. An infinite God, can He love anymore? He said, “I’ve come to the end; I can’t love anymore.” What I’m about to show you, Jesus said, has worn out infinity. This is big; this is huge. “I can’t love you anymore.” God loves you as much as He loves His Son. He can’t go beyond that; that’s it. He loves me as much as He loves His Son. I say, “God can’t sin.” That’s true, and God can’t love me any more than He loves me this moment. He can’t; He’s come to the end. He gave Himself empty. He poured out Himself, and there’s no more. He can’t go beyond that. The One who John says Isaiah said, knows the end from the beginning, the One who is the Lord of Hosts, the King of Glory, the One who is the arm of the Lord, the One who is the word made flesh, the One who lived an exchanged life, the One who wants you to live that exchanged life, God exhausted His infinite wisdom and God exhausted His infinite love, and said, “This is what I came up with, and there’s nothing else.” Let me explain that to you. That’s where we are. Let’s pray.
Father, thank You for Your precious word, not what we think it might mean. Inspire our hearts to believe everything that You have inspired Your word to mean. It’s a revelation and it’s from You. Give us eyes to see. We know whether we’re literate or illiterate, we can’t understand the veil, the book, but You can take the veil away. Take the veil away from our eyes as we prepare to look at this tremendous section and pick up where Jesus left off. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.