1/23/14- The Importance of Belief

31The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. 32He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. 33Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. 34For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for Godⁱ gives the Spirit without limit. 35The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. 36Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.

Thoughts: The Greek is hard to translate smoothly here, but the message is very important. It says something important about Jesus.  Jesus is the One who comes from heaven.  His teaching is therefore more important than someone who merely is from earth and has not seen the truth from heaven's perspective.  It is almost like he is asking the question, "Would you rather believe someone from heaven or from earth?"  The other things this says about Jesus is that He has the Holy Spirit fully (without limit) in Him and that He is the Son of God who is loved and been given authority.
    This also says something about what our responsibility to this truth is.  We are to 1) accept what Jesus says, and 2) certify (literally "seal") it as truthful, and 3) Tell it to others.  We do not need to keep this important truth to ourselves.  Verse 36 reminds us how important this decision is.  We downplay this decision as if believing in Jesus is only a way to improve our lives.  But it is a a matter of whether we will see life or not according to this verse and many others (look even in this chapter at 3:16-18).  The wrath of God remains on us until we believe and then it is taken away.  Just as a sacrifice takes away guilt and wrath- so Jesus' sacrifice takes away guilt and wrath.  Wrath is something we would just rather drop.  We would like to blind ourselves to this important concept perhaps because we would like God to not care what we do- especially when we do wrong.  But part of being a God of love is to care that we not ignore our Creator or live contrary to our design or His love.  We take our decision for or against Christ too lightly, and we ignore the wrath of God to our own detriment.  

Prayer: Lord, give me ears to hear and a heart to respond to your testimony found in the person of Jesus Christ. 

(Lightning and 100 foot statue of Jesus over Rio de Janeiro January 16.  The town below went black and flooded)