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WEEK FIVE

Day Two

DAILY SCRIPTURE

John 12:46-47

LEADER GUIDE QUESTIONS

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Know: Read John Chapter 12:13-50

Note: Mark keywords, including pronouns and phrases. (king, sign, hour, Son of Man, believe, judge, Light, eternal life, world)

Ask questions: (Use tools such as interlinear bibles to search the original meaning of words- free tool here) For example:

• Who is the king?

• What is he king of?

• When did this event occur?

• Where was Jesus seated?

• Why is Jesus troubled?

• How is Jesus recognized?

Observation: Read Samuel 7, Psalm 89

What: What does today’s study reveal to you about the nature of God? What truth do I need to apply to my life today?

The Brazen Altar

“For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren.” Hebrews 2:11

The word “altar” means “lifted up,” “high,” and “ascending”. The Brazen Altar was for the burning of the sacrifice. The priests would lay the sacrifice upon the altar in exchange for the people's sin.  Jesus was lifted up on the Cross- His altar. Since then, He has ascended up and is high above all. (Acts 2:30-36). In Greek, altar means “slaughter place.” Calvary was a slaughter place. Christ was led as a Lamb to the slaughter to become sin in our place. He traded places with us to give us His righteousness. He became our one and final sacrifice. 

 “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21

 “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” John 12:32

The Triumphal Entry, which begins the journey back to the Bosom of the Father (this time, with the sheep gathered in the arms of the Son), is an account found in all four Gospels.

When Jesus rode in on a donkey, it was in fulfillment of a prophecy declared by the prophet, Zachariah :

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your King is coming to you;
He is just and having salvation,
Lowly and riding on a donkey,
A colt, the foal of a donkey. ( Zachariah 9:9)

The people shouted Hosannah! ( which means, “Save, please!) Believing the Messiah would come to conquer the world. The Gospel of Mark recorded the people crying, “Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosannah in the highest.”

Though the people did not understand what they were saying, they were, as part of creation, fulfilling the prophecy of the old. Hundreds of years after the Mosaic law was given, God made a special covenant with King David, which came alongside the Covenant of Moses but was very different from the old.

In response to David’s desire to build a house for God, God promised to build a dynasty for David; to bless David’s line and give him a future heir to a throne that would last forever.

At the start of the New Testament, Matthew begins Jesus’ genealogy as the son of Abraham and also the son of David. (Luke mentions Jesus as the son of David as well). In Luke 1, when the angel Gabriel visits Mary, he references the Davidic covenant and shows how Jesus will fulfill each of the four promises to David:

“But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.  You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” (Luke 1:30-33)

The four promises are thus:

1. He will be great.

2. He will be called the Son of the Most High God.

3. God will give him the throne of His father, David.

4. He will reign forever, and His kingdom will never end.

In the first promise, God said, “And I have been with you wherever you have gone, and have cut off all your enemies from before you, and have made you a great name, like the name of the great men who are on the earth.” (2 Sam. 7:9). In response to David’s desire to build a house for God, God makes a grant covenant with David that is unconditional.

The second promise, “He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men.” (2 Sam. 13-14) God is referring to David’s living son, Solomon, and to a future heir, Jesus. Hebrews 1:5 confirms that this is so in quoting this passage in reference to Jesus. (For to which of the angels did He ever say: “You are My Son, Today I have begotten You”? And again: “I will be to Him a Father, And He shall be to Me a Son”) The last part of 2 Samuel, “ I will chasten him…etc.” refers to Solomon and not Jesus, as Jesus did no wrong.

The third promise, “since the time that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel, and have caused you to rest from all your enemies. Also the Lord tells you that He will make you a house.” (2 Sam. 7:11) In ancient writings, when the people spoke of “the house of David,” it meant his family line and successors to the throne.

The last promise, “And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.” (2 Sam 7:16). After David died, the nation of Isreal declined and eventually split in two. God raised prophets up to appeal to the people and to declare the restoration of David’s house as a reminder of His promise (ex. Amos 9). None of those prophets spoke of the restoration of the Mosaic covenant but rather the promise of a better covenant to replace the old.

When blind Bartimaeus cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" (Mark 10:47), he declared his faith in Jesus as the one who fulfills the covenant promise given to David.

Many times throughout the New Testament, Jesus is also called the Son of God, referring to being a part of the Triune God and as a reference back to God’s promise to David, “I will be his father, and he will be my son.” When Jesus was referred to as the “Son of God,” the authors were saying that He was the one who fulfilled the promise God made with David of the eternal kingdom.

When Jesus mentions the kingdom, he refers to God’s promise to David. We think in terms of natural, but God was referring to a supernatural kingdom- it is the kingdom of the Spirit. When the people cried, “Hosannah!” they thought Jesus would sit on a natural throne, resurrecting King David’s natural kingdom. They did not understand that it was a spiritual kingdom.

*Note: palm trees are a symbol of triumph: victory over death. Palm trees grow in the desert and overcome the climate found there. Deborah sat under a palm tree as a judge in Isreal and received strategy to overcome her enemies. (TPT)

”The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain…And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” John 12: 23-24, 32

Just as one seed can produce a harvest, one drop of Jesus’ blood would produce a spiritual harvest. The Greek men seeking to ask Jesus questions approached Phillip (a Greek), but instead of allowing them to speak to him, He mentions this seed as a parable to his disciples. Jesus meant that “in just a little while, the Greeks (or the world) will see Me through you. To believe in me, through me, you will also die but resurrect to a new life that will bring in the world's harvest.”

Some old manuscripts read, “Father, bring glory to your name with the glory that I had with you before the world was created.” Thus, Jesus was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning—face-to-face with Elohim.

“If I be lifted up.” The word “peoples” is not in the original manuscript. This is not saying that if we worship Him, He would draw people to Him. This verse means that Jesus drew all judgment to Himself when He died for our sins. The Judge became the payment for the guilty. Jesus would also judge the system of the world. The treasonous system of darkness would be judged and overthrown in Jesus’ death, and He would give His people the authority to pass judgment and keep it overthrown.

Unbelief

“Looking to Jesus, the founder, and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2

A life of surrender makes us a “grain of wheat,” and an understanding of authority makes us the gatekeepers of this promise from Jesus. When we believe in Jesus, we receive His gift of eternal life and are empowered by His authority to cast down strongholds of belief systems and illegal acts of darkness. We become kings and queens of a spiritual kingdom that is eternal.

Jesus is the only one who did not have a problem with unbelief. He functioned in perfect faith because He believed His Father and knew who He was and what He was sent to do. 

Whenever Jesus performed miracles, He was revealing the Gospel. Jesus can do anything. With Jesus, all things are possible to those who believe that He can!

The mustard seed of faith is the Word of God. Jesus is the Word. Everyone who believes in Christ for salvation has the seed of potential deposited within their spirits for God’s life to work in and through them. We are joined with Christ, one with Him. In Christ and through Christ, we have His faith working in us. Do you believe that He believes? 

Unbelief is simply putting faith in reverse. It is a belief that your need is greater than God’s supply. However, faith believes God’s supply is greater than the need. Unbelief believes that your weakness is greater than the strength God provides. It is a belief that sickness is more powerful than Jesus’ sacrifice; it is a belief that opposes the truth of God’s promises.

Beholding Jesus allows us to keep Him the object of our faith. When we look to ourselves or our great needs, we look away from Jesus, and that unbelief causes us to quit believing. When we don’t quit, we move toward faith even amid doubt.