Henry: Welcome To Immerse: The Daily Bible Reading Experience.
Day 70
it was now winter and Jesus was in Jerusalem at the time of Hanukkah,
the Festival of Dedication.
He was in the temple walking through the section known as Solomon's Colonate.
The people surrounded him and asked, how long are you going to keep us in suspense?
If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.
Jesus replied, I have already told you.
And you don't Believe me, the proof is the work I do in my father's
name, but you don't believe me because you are not my sheep.
My sheep listen to my voice.
I know them and they follow me.
I give them eternal life and they will never perish.
No one can snatch them away from me, for my father has given them to me, and
he is more powerful than anyone else.
No one can snatch them from the father's hand.
The father and I are one.
Once again, the people picked up stones to kill him.
Jesus said, at my father's direction, I have done many good works for
which one are you going to stone me?
They replied, we're stoning you.
Not for any good work, but for blasphemy.
You, a mere man claimed to be God.
Jesus replied.
It is written in your own scriptures that God said to certain leaders of the
people, I say, you are Gods, and you know that the scriptures cannot be altered.
So if those people who received God's message were called Gods,
why do you call it blasphemy?
When I say I am the son of God, after all, the Father set me
apart and sent me into the world.
Don't believe me unless I carry out my father's work.
But if I do his work, believe in the evidence of the
miraculous works I have done.
Even if you don't believe me, then you will know and understand that
the father is in me, and I am in the Father Once again, they tried to arrest
him, but he got away and left them.
He went beyond the Jordan River, near the place where John was
first baptizing and stayed there a while, and many followed him.
John didn't perform miraculous signs.
They were marked to one another, but everything he said
about this man has come true.
And many who were there believed in Jesus.
A man named Lazarus was sick.
He lived in Bethany with his sisters, Mary and Martha.
This is the Mary who later poured the expensive perfume on the Lord's
feet and wiped them with her hair.
Her brother Lazarus was sick.
So the two sisters sent a message to Jesus telling him, Lord,
your dear friend is very sick.
But when Jesus heard about it, he said, Lazarus sickness will not end in death.
No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God
will receive glory from this.
So although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, he stayed where
he was for the next two days.
Finally, he said to his disciples, let's go back to Judea.
But his disciples objected.
Rabbi, they said only a few days ago that people in Judea were trying to stone you.
Are you going there again?
Jesus replied, there are 12 hours of daylight every day during the day.
People can walk safely.
They can see because they have the light of this world.
But at night there is danger of stumbling because they have no light.
Then he said, our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but
now I will go and wake him up.
The disciples said, Lord, if he is sleeping, he will soon get better.
They thought Jesus meant Lazarus was simply sleeping, but
Jesus meant Lazarus had died.
So he told them plainly, Lazarus is dead, and for your sakes,
I'm glad I wasn't there for now.
You will really believe.
Come let's go see him.
Thomas nicknamed the twin, said to his fellow disciples,
let's go to and die with Jesus.
When Jesus arrived at Bethany, he was told that Lazarus had already
been in his grave for four days.
Bethany was only a few miles down the road from Jerusalem and many
of the people had come to console Martha and Mary in their loss.
When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him.
But Mary stayed in the house.
Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if only you had been here, my
brother would not have died.
But even now, I know that God will give you whatever you ask.
Jesus told her, your brother will rise again.
Yes.
Martha said, he will rise when everyone else rises.
At the last day, Jesus told her, I am the resurrection and the life.
Anyone who believes in me will live even after dying.
Dying.
Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never, ever die.
Do you believe this Martha?
Yes, Lord.
She told him, I have always believed you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one
who has come into the world from God.
Then she returned to Mary.
She called Mary aside from the mourners and told her, the teacher
is here and wants to see you.
So Mary immediately went to him.
Jesus had stayed outside the village at the place where Martha met him.
When the people who were at the house consoling Mary saw her leave so hastily,
they assumed she was going to Lazarus grave to weep, so they followed her there.
When Mary arrived and saw Jesus, she fell at his feet and said,
Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.
When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with
her, A deep anger welled up within him, and he was deeply troubled.
Where have you put him?
He asked them.
They told him, Lord, come and see.
Then Jesus wept.
The people who were standing nearby said, see how much he loved him?
But some said, this man healed a blind man.
Couldn't he have kept Lazarus from dying?
Jesus was still angry as he arrived at the tomb.
A cave with a stone rolled across its entrance.
Roll the stone aside.
Jesus told them, but Martha, the dead man's sister protested Lord,
he has been dead for four days.
The smell will be terrible.
Jesus responded.
Didn't I tell you that you would see God's glory if you believe?
So they rolled the stone aside.
Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, father, thank you for hearing me.
You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all
these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me.
Then Jesus shouted, Lazarus come out and the dead man came out.
His hands and feet bound in grave clothes.
His face wrapped in a head cloth.
Jesus told them, unwrap him and let him go.
Many of the people who were with Mary believed in Jesus when they saw this
happen, but some went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.
Then the leading priests and Pharisees called the high counsel together.
What are we going to do?
They asked each other.
This man certainly performs many miraculous signs.
If we allow him to go on like this soon, everyone will believe in him.
Then the Roman army will come and destroy both our temple and our nation.
Caiaphas who was high priest at that time said, you don't
know what you're talking about.
You don't realize that it's better for you.
That one man should die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed.
He did not say this on his own as high priest at that time.
He was led to prophesy that Jesus would die for the entire nation, and
not only for that nation, but to bring together and unite all the children
of God scattered around the world.
So from that time on, the Jewish leaders began to plot Jesus' death.
As a result, Jesus stopped his public ministry among the
people and left Jerusalem.
He went to a place near the wilderness to the village of Ephraim and
stayed there with his disciples.
It was now almost time for the Jewish Passover celebration, and many people
from all over the country arrived in Jerusalem several days early so they
could go through the purification ceremony before Passover began, they
kept looking for Jesus, but as they stood around in the temple, they said
to each other, what do you think?
He won't come for Passover, will he?
Meanwhile, the leading priests and Pharisees had publicly ordered that anyone
seeing Jesus must report it immediately so they could arrest him Six days before
the Passover celebration began, Jesus arrived in Bethany, the home of Lazarus,
the man he had raised from the dead.
A dinner was prepared in Jesus' honor.
Martha served, and Lazarus was among those who ate with him.
Then Mary took a 12 ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence
of Nard, and she anointed Jesus' feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair.
The house was filled with the fragrance, but Judas Ascat, the disciple who
would soon betray him, said that perfume was worth a year's wages.
It should have been sold, and the money given to the poor.
Not that he cared for the poor.
He was a thief, and since he was in charge of the disciple's money,
he often stole some for himself.
Jesus replied, leave her alone.
She did this in preparation for my burial.
You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.
When all of the people heard of Jesus' arrival, they flocked to see
him and also to see Lazarus, the man Jesus had raised from the dead.
Then the leading priests decided to kill Lazarus too, for it was because of him
that many of the people had deserted them and believed in Jesus the next day.
The news that Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem, swept through the city.
A large crowd of Passover visitors took palm branches and
went down the road to meet him.
They shouted, praise God, blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hail to the king of Israel.
Jesus found a young donkey and wrote on it, fulfilling the prophecy that said,
don't be afraid people of Jerusalem.
Look, your king is coming riding on a donkey's, colt.
His disciples didn't understand at the time that this was a fulfillment
of prophecy, but after Jesus entered into his glory, they remembered what
had happened and realized that these things had been written about him.
Many in the crowd had seen Jesus call Lazarus from the tomb,
raising him from the dead, and they were telling others about it.
That was the reason so many went out to meet him because they had
heard about this miraculous sign.
Then the Pharisees said to each other, there's nothing we can do.
Look, everyone has gone after him.
Some Greeks who had come to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration
paid a visit to Philip, who was from Beth Sayda in Galilee.
They said, sir, we want to meet Jesus.
Philip told Andrew about it, and they went together to ask Jesus.
Jesus replied.
Now the time has come for the son of man to enter into his glory.
I tell you the truth.
Unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone,
but its death will produce many new kernels, a plentiful harvest of new lives.
Those who love their life in this world will lose it.
Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity.
Anyone who wants to serve me must follow me because my servants
must be where I am and the Father will honor anyone who serves me.
Now, my soul is deeply troubled.
Should I pray, father, save me from this hour, but this is the very reason I came.
Father, bring glory to your name.
Then a voice spoke from heaven saying.
I have already brought glory to my name and I will do so again.
When the crowd heard the voice, some thought it was thunder while
others declared an angel had spoken to him, then Jesus told them the
voice was for your benefit, not mine.
The time for judging this world has come.
When Satan, the ruler of this world, will be cast out and when I am lifted up from
the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.
He said this to indicate how he was going to die.
The crowd responded.
We understood from scripture that the Messiah would live forever.
How can you say the son of man will die?
Just who is this son of man?
Anyway.
Jesus replied, my light will shine for you just a little longer.
Walk in the light while you can, so the darkness will not overtake you.
Those who walk in the darkness cannot see where they're going.
Put your trust in the light.
While there is still time, then you'll become children of the light.
After saying these things, Jesus went away and was hidden from them.
But despite all the miraculous signs Jesus had done, most of the
people still did not believe in him.
This is exactly what Isaiah the prophet had predicted.
Lord, who has believed our message?
To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm?
But the people couldn't believe for.
As Isaiah also said, the Lord has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts so
that their eyes cannot see, and their hearts cannot understand, and they
cannot turn to me and have me heal them.
Isaiah was referring to Jesus when he said this because he saw the future
and spoke of the Messiah's glory.
Many people did believe in him, however, including some of the Jewish leaders,
but they wouldn't admit it for fear that the Pharisees would expel them
from the synagogue for they loved human praise more than the praise of God.
Jesus shouted to the crowds, if you trust me, you are trusting not only me, but
also God who sent me for when you see me, you are seeing the one who sent me.
I have come as a light to shine in this dark world so that all who put their trust
in me will no longer remain in the dark.
I will not judge those who hear me, but don't obey me.
For I have come to save the world and not to judge it, but all who reject me
and my message will be judged on the day of judgment by the truth, I have spoken.
I don't speak on my own authority.
The father who sent me has commanded me what to say and how to say it, and I
know his commands lead to eternal life.
So I say whatever the father tells me to say, I.
This concludes today's immerse reading experience.
Thank you for joining us.