Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                  Chapter Two

                                                                                                                                       Verses 24-25 continued

God could not allow the Devil and evil to persist in His universe forever. Had He done so, there could have been many future Lucifers who would rebel against Him and cause war forever. God had to directly wage war against the Devil and all evil for the purpose of purging it all from His creations so that He could recreate the earth and Heaven to be wholly righteous. II Peter 3:9-13. The Bible (KJB) consistently describes God's fiery wrath against evil for its destruction, and as being for the purpose of dissolving human systems infected by evil in order to separate their good natures from their evil natures so that God can recreate their good natures and forever purge their evil natures. I Corinthians 3:11-15; Psalm 75:3; Matthew 13:36-43; Luke 3:6-9; Luke 3:16-17. The Old Testament burnt offerings symbolized this type of God's salvation. Genesis 8:20-21.

Matthew 25:41 relates that God casts only the cursed into the everlasting lake of fire. God never cursed Adam and Eve or any of their living descendants whom He creates and loves. Genesis 3:14-21. God made Eve "the mother of all living," without any curse. Luke 20:38. Matthew 25:31-46 happens to be about Christ's final Judgment in the end of the world. Every human has a "sheep" within them that symbolizes their good, living nature, and every human has a "goat" within them that symbolizes their evil nature. Christ will separate the "sheep" from the "goats" which means He will dissolve every human system still on the earth and under the earth in the regions of death in order to separate the living natures of humans for Him to recreate from their evil natures which He will cast into the lake of fire. I Corinthians 3:11-15; John 5:28-29; Psalm 75:3; II Peter 3:9-13; Revelation 5:11-14; Revelation 20:5; Revelation 20:11-15; Revelation 21:1-5; Revelation 22:11-12.

God created an intelligent human race with free will to prove that all humans will eventually choose to return to the faith that He put into them when He created them. God will prove that His Love is Almighty and real. The Devil seeks to utterly destroy the living nature of humans to prove that God's Love is weak which will give the Devil the opportunity to murder God. If God had not come as a human to earth to save humanity, the Devil would have succeeded. When the Devil influenced Job's wife to tell Job, "curse God and die," the Devil meant that Job should turn his good and living nature completely over to evil. Job 2:9. The Devil seeks to do the same to every living human, but Christ took all the spiritual deaths of every human, which are totally evil, upon Himself on a cruel cross to suffer their spiritual deaths in their place so that He could liberate every living human from eternal, spiritual death. God saves some living humans by His grace, and all others in a great worship service as recorded in Revelation 5:11-14. John 5:24; Hebrews 2:9-18; Colossians 1:15-23; John 5:28-29; Isaiah 45:21-24; Matthew 13:36-43. God's enemies are the Devil and all evil, not living humans. John 12:31-32; John 16:11; I John 3:8.

Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                  Chapter Two

                                                                                                                                       Verses 24-25 continued

Verse 25 pertains to God's reason for creating humans, and His infinite knowledge of every human. God knows every living human much better than they even know themselves. Romans 11:33.

God created living humans in His image, and He allowed them to fall into sin and become infected with evil, spiritual death in order to test His Almighty Love which had fallen into doubt among His creations because of the rebellion of Lucifer. Genesis 4:1-7; John 20:24-25. God had to directly deal with the Devil, sin and evil. God could ban the Devil and evil from His creations, but He could not ban the doubt. Had God banned the doubt in a deterministic way, that would leave the value of His Love unproven. God had to devise a plan whereby He could persuade an intelligent creation to freely choose to believe in the Almighty Power of His Love of their own free will which would prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that His Love is real. Determinism leaves everything empty and in doubt. Freely chosen love makes everything real and valuable. The lives of children raised in communist orphanages in a mechanical way were completely ruined. Children raised by good parents who freely love them usually turn out to be good and happy people.

The Devil's goal was to annul a part of God's creations; that is, to reduce it to absolute nothingness which is death itself. Job 1:7-12. (The book of Job, being the first written book in the Bible (KJB), relates the nature of the war between God and the Devil and the purposes and goals of both God and the Devil). Had the Devil succeeded in his desire to annul a part of God's creations, he would have proven that God's Love for His creations is weak; that is, that God's Love is not Almighty. Had the Devil proven that God is weak, then Jesus would never have risen from the dead, and the Devil would have succeeded in his desire to murder God and take His place. Isaiah 14:12-17. God had to allow the Devil to do his absolute worst to humanity in order to prove that the forces of evil can never destroy God's Love for humanity or humanity's freely chosen love for Him. The Devil's temptation of Jesus in the desert demonstrates that the Devil thinks that God is weak. Job 1:7-12; Matthew 4:1-11. But Christ suffered the eternal deaths to which the Devil desired to subject all living humans on Himself on a cruel cross, along with all the sin and evil that causes eternal death, and rose from the dead victorious over eternal death and Hell. Revelation 1:17-18; John 12:31-32; Hebrews 2:9-15; I John 3:8. God's enemies are the Devil and all evil, not living humans whom He creates and loves.

God won the battle with Lucifer in Heaven, stripped his system of all the good ideas that God had put into him when He created him, and He exiled his empty, negative consciousness to earth as Satan, but God had not yet won the war. Ezekiel 28:17-19. Satan took on a negative consciousness which is the same kind of consciousness that the devils in the bottomless pit possess. Luke 8:30-31. But God won His war with the Devil when Jesus bore all of the sins and evil of the entire human race on Himself on a cruel cross, purged it all and spiritual death from His creations, and He rose from the dead victorious over all sin, evil, and spiritual death. Revelation 1:17-18.

When Jesus gained His victory over all sin, evil, spiritual death, and Hell itself, that means He can do whatever He wants to do with them. Because He has an Infinite Intellect and an Almighty Love for all of His creations, God has devised a plan that will cause all living humans confined to the regions of death to repent and believe in Him of their own free will so that He can resurrect them and recreate them to live forever on His recreated earth. Revelation 5:11-14; Revelation 20:5. God can never lose anything He has ever created and loves. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Romans 11:36; Romans 8:18-23; Colossians 1:15-23; Revelation 21:1-5; Revelation 22:10-12; John 5:28-29; Psalm 86:9. How can God enjoy pleasure from His living humans if most of them are being tortured forever in an eternal lake of fire? Revelation 4:11. God casts only the purged, spiritual dead into the lake of fire. Psalm 75:3; II Peter 3:9-13; I Corinthians 3:11-15; Revelation 20:11-15.

Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                   Chapter Two

                                                                                                                                         Verses 24-25

At this Passover in the beginning of Jesus' ministry, He did not openly proclaim Himself to be the Son of God and Savior of the world. Jesus knows the hearts of all humans. I Samuel 16:7. Jesus knows that humans can choose to be good because of the goodness He puts into them when He creates them, and Jesus also knows that all humans are sinful, and some are downright evil, because of the spiritual death that the Devil injects into the inner beings of all humans. Genesis 1:31; Genesis 2:17. Spiritual death had to have come from the Devil, never from God. Jesus knew that the evil nature of His enemies would cause them to have Him crucified to early in His ministry. Jesus needed a three and a half years of a ministry of miracles and compassion toward a fallen race to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that He was and is God in human form and Savior of the world. John 10:36-38; Matthew 26:62-65.

Toward the end of His ministry, Jesus openly revealed Himself to be the Son of God and Savior of the world. John 18:19-21. In their heart of hearts, the Pharisees and Sadducees, and even the Romans, knew who Jesus was when they crucified Him, but their stubborn, proud and evil natures allied them to the Devil's attempt to murder God. Matthew 27:54; Mark 11:27-33. All of Jesus' disciples fled except Peter, and he denied Him. Matthew 26:56; Matthew 26:69-75. The sins and the evil of the entire human race nailed Jesus to the cross in its allied attempt with the Devil to get rid of God. Acts 4:25-28. Yet, Jesus cried from the cross, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Luke 23:34. Jesus prayed for the entire human race, and since His Father could never fail to give Jesus that for which He prayed, then God must forgive and save every living human that He created, some by His grace and all others from the regions of the dead when they repent and believe in a great worship service as recorded in Revelation 5:11-14. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Luke 20:38.

The Holy Spirit brings all humans who hear or read the gospel under the conviction that they are sinners in need of Christ the Savior of the world. John 16:7-11. The Holy Spirit preaches to the hearts of humans who never hear or read the gospel. John 1:9; Colossians 1:23. Those who repent and believe while still alive in the flesh immediately become saved forever by the grace of God. John 5:24. The Holy Spirit has the power to save every human who has never read or heard the gospel even though they may have a very vague understanding of that which they believe. Those who refuse to believe do so because they allow their evil natures to cause them to stubbornly reject God's Love and His compassion for them. Some of these types can become so hardhearted that they no longer listen at all to the plea of the Holy Spirit that they repent and believe. Nevertheless, Christ will reveal Himself to them as they languish in the horrors of the regions of death, and because they will observe His Majesty and His Almighty Love for them as the Lamb of God, they will all choose to repent and believe because God will revive their latent faith that He put into their living souls and spirits when He created them. Revelation 5:11-14; Genesis 1:27; Romans 12:3; Luke 20:38; Isaiah 45:21-24. Christ will resurrect all repentant living humans from the regions of death and recreate them to live on His recreated earth. Revelation 20:5; Revelation 21:1-5; John 5:28-29. Christ will recreate all these living humans to be meek and righteous. Matthew 5:5; Revelation 21:5. God's Will will be done on earth to the same extent that His Will will be done in Heaven. Matthew 6:10. God will recover and recreate all living humans that He creates and loves to live forever in His recreated Heaven or on His recreated earth. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Romans 11:36; II Peter 3:9-13; Luke 20:38; I Corinthians 15:22; Revelation 21:1-5; I Corinthians 15:26.

Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                  Chapter Two

                                                                                                                                        Verse 23

At this Passover, Jesus performed many miracles, and many believed in Him because of them. But most of these believers were probably secret believers who refrained from joining the Church when it became manifested. Acts 2:1-4. These who truly believed were saved by grace, but because they kept it to themselves, Christ will be ashamed of them in the day of His final Judgment. Jesus mentioned these types of believers in the context of preaching the gospel. Mark 8:34-38.

Jesus' doctrine of salvation by grace raises many questions. Many contend that carnal believers and backsliders either lose their salvation by grace, or they were never saved by grace in the first place. Those who hold these views contend that true believers will always become sanctified by the Holy Spirit to the extent that they will lead clean and pure lives dedicated to the service of God. But the word grace means "God's unmerited favor." God saves solely by His grace through faith completely apart from any good works that any person may do. Good works cannot save by grace nor can they keep one saved by grace. Romans 4:1-8; Ephesians 2:8-9. The truth of the matter is that God saves every believer in Christ while they are still in the flesh by His grace for His own reasons and purposes which no human has the right to question. Matthew 21:31-32. Jesus said nothing about sanctified harlots and publicans. Jesus who can still the raging wind and waves certainly has all power over all sin and evil. Mark 4:35-41. The Bible (KJB) relates that God delivered Lot and two of his daughters from His destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah because he had a righteous soul even though he and his daughters never recovered from their sinful depravity. II Peter 2:6-9. However, believers saved by grace who lead sinful lives will not get away with it. God will severely punish His children who deliberately persist in practicing sin and evil. Hebrews 12:5-8. But God will completely cleanse and sanctify His Church when He Raptures it. Ephesians 5:25-27.

Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                 Chapter Two

                                                                                                                                         Verses 18-22

Some of the Jews who were the enemies of Jesus demanded that Jesus give them some kind of sign that He was sent from God. Jesus' answer to them in verse 19 had a double meaning as many other scriptures do. John, and Jesus' other disciples, believed that Jesus prophesied about His resurrection, but only after His resurrection. At that time, Jesus' perfect body contained all of the Holy Spirit so He was the Temple of the Lord. The Holy Spirit would raise Jesus from the dead. John 3:34; I Peter 3:18.

Since the enemies of Jesus Christ could never destroy His perfect body, then Jesus had to have meant by His phrase in verse 19, "Destroy this Temple" that the Jews would in part be responsible for the destruction of their Temple by the Romans in 70 A.D. The Jews who rebelled against the Romans in 70 A.D. went against God's Will because God had allowed their nation to be occupied by the Romans. God's purpose in this was to humble the Jews to Him because they tended to be so proud of their own righteousness and to make possible the proclamation of His gospel by believers to the whole world.

Under the influence of the Devil, two witnesses lied about Jesus at His trial and claimed that He said that He would destroy the Temple, but Jesus clearly meant that the Jews themselves would take part in the destruction of their own Temple. Matthew 26:59-61. Jesus did say that He would raise the Temple in three days by which He meant both the Temple of His body and the actual third Temple in Jerusalem. The Jews will not rebuild the third Temple. Jesus Himself will. Several prophecies in the Old Testament attest to the fact that Jesus will rebuild the third Temple in Jerusalem. Zechariah 6:9-13; Amos 9:11.

Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                     Chapter Two

                                                                                                                                       Verses 13-17

Jesus went to the Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Passover. Jesus made a whip out of cords, and He drove all of the merchants out of His Father's Temple. Whether Jesus cast out the merchants and thieves once or twice is relatively unimportant. God reserves His House strictly for the spiritual purpose of worship and prayer, not for the worldly purpose of making money. Sadly, some ministers even to this day have made a lot of money from preaching. Ministers of churches should make no more than the average income of the members of their churches.

Jesus also prophesied at this time that "all nations" will come to God's Temple for prayer and worship. Mark 11:17. Jesus' prophecy agreed with one of Isaiah's prophesies that following a general resurrection in the end of the world that "all flesh" will come to Jerusalem to worship God. Isaiah 66:22-24. Isaiah also prophesied that "all the ends of the earth" will be saved in the end of the world. Isaiah 45:20-25; Numbers 21:8-9; Revelation 5:11-14; Psalm 107:10-15; Psalm 86:9. Jesus prophesied that He will resurrect "all that are in the graves." This can only be a general resurrection in the end of the world because He raises only His saints saved by grace in His resurrections of the Old Testament saints, the New Testament saints, and the Tribulation saints. John 5:28-29. The phrases "all nations" and "all flesh" can only mean every living human who ever lived. Since Christ created "all things," and He must "make all things new," then Christ must resurrect all living humans from the regions of the dead and recreate them so that they can come to His Temple in Jerusalem to worship Him in the end of the world. Revelation 20:5; Revelation 21:1-5; Colossians 1:15-20.

Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                  Chapter Two

                                                                                                                                            Verses 1-12 continued

In verses 9-10, the ruler of the feast called in the bridegroom and commended him for saving the best wine until near the end of the feast. Usually, the bridegroom served the good wine first and the worst wine until near the end of the feast. The fact that the good wine was served last at this marriage feast symbolizes that the old wine of the Old Testament was not good enough to save by God's grace. Those saved by grace need the new wine of the New Testament in order to become saved by God's grace. Luke 22:20.

In verse 11, Jesus "manifested forth His glory" when He began His public ministry at this marriage ceremony. Jesus continues His public ministry through the work of His Holy Spirit in the world, and He will not end His public ministry until He becomes the Bridegroom who marries His Church in the end of the world. Romans 7:4; Revelation 19:7-9; John 3:29.

According to verse 12, Jesus resided in Capernaum at this time. According to Matthew 4:12-17, Jesus had moved from Nazareth to Capernaum and began His public ministry by preaching the gospel there after He left the marriage ceremony in Cana. Matthew 4:17.