Episodes

  • Jesus - A Glimpse Of God Part 20

    Jesus - A Glimpse Of God Part 20
    Mar 25 2026
    Teaching the disciples 2 Welcome back to our series, AGOG - A Glimpse of God. We are on Day 20 of our adventure, looking together at the life of the most amazing person in human history - Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Today we look briefly again at Jesus teaching his disciples! Matthew 16:13-20 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will have been and will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will have been and will be loosed in heaven.” Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah. Here we have a climax of the Gospels! Jesus has asked his disciples who they think he is. The disciples start out by saying who others thought he was. John the Baptist some say, yet others say Elijah or one of the prophets. In Matthew's account of this conversation, they also say Jesus was Jeremiah! So let us have a look at a couple of those. Firstly, John the Baptist! Some people were saying that Jesus was John the Baptist risen from the dead. Or perhaps he is Jeremiah raised from the dead! Of course, there is some similarity between the two men. Jeremiah was the 'weeping prophet', and Jesus was the 'man of sorrows'. Jeremiah called the people to true repentance from the heart, and as we know Jesus did. Both men were misunderstood and rejected by their own people. Both Jeremiah and Jesus condemned the false religious leaders and the hypocritical worship in the temple and were persecuted by those in authority. But that's where the similarity ends! Now we come to a climax of the Gospels. Confession of who Jesus is Jesus asks His disciples: "That's who others say that I am. But what about you? You have been with me for a while now, who do you say that I am?" Peter rushed to answer "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!" Peter is emerging as a spokesperson for the disciples. Finally the eyes of the disciples are beginning to open to who Jesus truly is! Unlike a few days ago while crossing the Sea of Galilee, when they were whinging about a lack of bread while forgetting that Jesus had twice created bread out of nothing! Jesus then imparts a blessing on Peter! "You are Peter, and I can guarantee that on this rock I will build my church." It was revealed to Peter by God the Father. It is a play on words as the name of Peter means 'rock'! Peter is not the rock on which the church will be built but rather what he confessed when he said Jesus was the Christ Messiah! On this confession by Peter about who Jesus really is, the disciples or apostles would be the foundation of the church! Death or satan would not be able to stop and overcome the Church - the Church would be living and dynamic! Jesus then goes further and says to all the disciples, not just Peter, that the keys to the kingdom will be given. Here Jesus is giving authority to all the disciples to establish His church and be its leaders! Jesus who holds the keys of David (Isaiah 22:22 & Revelation 3:7) gives his own key to the disciples. Binding means to legislate and demonstrate. Loosing means to reprimand and excommunicate where necessary. The disciples have received from Jesus the authority to determine true doctrine, punish false teachers and unrepentant sinners! They were to exercise complete authority in the church. They were also to go about and tell people the good news of Jesus and what that means for people! Why did Jesus tell the disciples to keep quiet about Him? Now Jesus warns the disciples to keep quiet about him for now. Why did Jesus do that? There are various reasons. These disciples still had much to learn about him and what it meant to follow him. Additionally, the Jewish people were expecting a victorious Messiah who would free them from their slavery under the Romans (Isaiah 11v1-5). However, they had forgotten that their Messiah must suffer and die (Isaiah 53:1-12; Luke 24:26). The Jewish people also thought that the Messiah would set up an earthly kingdom, but Jesus came to set up an everlasting spiritual kingdom (Isaiah 9:7; Daniel 7:13-14; Luke 1:33; Revelation 11:15). If the disciples had gone from this place immediately proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah, people would have tried to force Jesus to be the Messiah they wanted him to be and make him their king. Rather than letting Jesus be the Messiah he was to be, who the Servant ...
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    6 mins
  • Job - Why God? - Part 4

    Job - Why God? - Part 4
    Mar 24 2026
    Study 4 : Job 16 - 19 Job continues to struggle, In these chapters Job says some truly astonishing things that we may otherwise overlook. To give you an idea of what is to come these are: in chapters 16 and 17 he reckons that he has been attacked by God, which leads to him saying that he has been abused by God; and then after a further statement from Bildad in chapter 18, which implies that he, Job, must be a wicked man, Job says in chapter 19 that although God is against him he has a strong hope that he will be able to state his case before the heavenly court and he hopes to be supported by an effective advocate. Who exactly that advocate will be is not clear to him – though perhaps it is to us! First, the relatively easy passage, Job 16:1–5, where Job is asking himself how he would do if he was trying to comfort a friend who was suffering as he is suffering. Here it is. If someone else is suffering it is so easy to stack up a heap of conventional phrases such as ‘you will soon feel better’ even when we know that our friend is dying, or, when we visit someone in hospital ‘cheer up, I’ve brought you some grapes’ which we then proceed to eat while our friend cannot face food of any sort, and so on. Question: how do you do as a comforter? How would you rate yourself? Answer: up to you, of course. Paul never actually lists comforting as a gift. He does tell the Christians in Corinth that we should all be good at comforting because we claim as our Father God the ‘Father of compassion and God of all comfort’, but I do think some people are given a very real gift to say the right and helpful thing more than others do when faced with suffering. Some people are more adept at saying the wrong thing, than the right and helpful thing when someone is having a very hard time. If you are a gifted comforter make sure you use your gift as much as possible. Now we come to the difficult passage 16:6 – 17. Job says his God is his enemy, his attacker and that there is such a thing as divine violence and abuse. Here it is. Is it really so, or is Job just lashing out with words in his frustration and bitterness at what has happened to him, and his, for no reason he can begin to understand. I have been fortunate enough to live a peaceful life without any major traumas but many of you listening or reading this may well be shut in, unable to get out much because of some major trauma in your life or struggling in other ways, so I must be careful what I say from a position of inexperience. There are other statements like this in scripture. The Psalmist says ‘Your arrows have pierced me, 
 and your hand has come down on me’, but then goes on to say ‘because of my sin’. Lamentations chapter 3 talks at length of the violence of God but the writer cannot believe that will go on for ever because ‘of his unfailing love’ and traces the problem back to sin. Job never does that. There will eventually be comfort for Job when we get to the last chapter of the book. But there was no comfort for The Jewish members of God’s ancient people who died in the holocaust less than 100 years ago. There are, I think, 3 lessons here. In extremes of anguish we may, and even perhaps should, shout at God without losing our faith and our standing before him;God is with us, as he was with Job, and will be in the succeeding chapters, whatever may happen;Usually, but not always, there is light at the end of the tunnel. We are always subject to the NCL, the normal chaos of living. That is the way God created the world. We are in that world and therefore have to accept that world the way he designed it – even when we do not understand the design principles. Jesus taught us to think of God as our loving heavenly Father, contrasting sharply with the most obvious OT picture of a creator/ruler/judge, even though there God is also a covenant God of steadfast love and faithfulness. Job evidently thought mainly of the creator/ruler/judge God and could not resolve the apparent conflict between that God and the covenant God. Neither will we ever be able to do so. We have to live with that conflict, holding to both images, not despairing because we cannot resolve the paradox, continuing to honour and trust the Lord and drawing strength from both Biblical pictures. Only that way will we be able to live with the complexities of life that we cannot fully understand or resolve. Job is very ready to give up. He says this in the vivid pictures of chapter 17. Next Bildad speaks up in chapter 18. He makes a fundamental mistake. He thinks the line between good and evil passes between people with some on one side some on the other. But in the real world it is not so. The line between good and evil runs through all of us; some of you, some of me, is on one side, some on the other. We are, like all the human race, made in the image of God, but on the other hand have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But Bildad...
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    20 mins
  • Jesus - A Glimpse Of God Part 19

    Jesus - A Glimpse Of God Part 19
    Mar 24 2026
    Jesus Teaches His Disciples 1 Welcome back to our series, AGOG – A Glimpse of God. We are on Day 19 of our adventure, looking together at the life of the most amazing person in human history - Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Mark 8:13-26 He got into a boat again and crossed to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. The disciples had forgotten to take any bread along and had only one loaf with them in the boat. Jesus warned them, “Be careful! Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod!” They had been discussing with one another that they didn’t have any bread. Jesus knew what they were saying and asked them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you don’t have any bread? Don’t you understand yet? Don’t you catch on? Are your minds closed? Are you blind and deaf? Don’t you remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets did you fill with leftover pieces?” They told him, “Twelve.” “When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many large baskets did you fill with leftover pieces?” They answered him, “Seven.” He asked them, “Don’t you catch on yet?” As they came to Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man to Jesus. They begged Jesus to touch him. Jesus took the blind man’s hand and led him out of the village. He spit into the man’s eyes and placed his hands on him. Jesus asked him, “Can you see anything?” The man looked up and said, “I see people. They look like trees walking around.” Then Jesus placed his hands on the man’s eyes a second time, and the man saw clearly. His sight was normal again. He could see everything clearly even at a distance. Jesus told him when he sent him home, “Don’t go into the village.” Jesus and His disciples have now crossed the Sea of Galilee. Jesus on the journey across the sea had warned them about the yeast of the Pharisees, Sadducees and King Herod. Why does Jesus include King Herod? Jesus mentioned King Herod because he was a fickle ruler who was mean and treacherous. Herod would do everything to compromise with others for his own benefit alone. Both groups had wanted further signs from Jesus! The Pharisees and Sadducees as we saw yesterday! Herod we discover later from Luke 23, had longed for Jesus to give him a further sign! The yeast talked about by Jesus was their hypocrisy and evil. This was seen in evidence in our last study where they asked Jesus for a sign. Yeast in the New Testament is often used to illustrate evil. A little evil can spread a long way, much like yeast can in bread. Just as false teaching can decimate a church. Jesus was also warning his disciples to be convinced of the signs they had already seen, without coveting yet more signs! The disciples however, were discussing between themselves the problem of not having enough food. They were thinking that the yeast Jesus was talking about was yeast which went into bread. Jesus knew what they were talking about. They had obviously forgotten that they had witnessed the great feeding of the masses, and that Jesus had the power to feed them. No wonder Jesus seems exasperated with them and rebukes them! It is as if he is saying to them “Look,guys! Don’t you realise who I am yet? Even though we have been together for a while now! Two times you have been with me and collected the leftovers after we fed the crowds together!” Oh the disciples had seen and heard but they still were lacking spiritual discernment and were spiritually blind and deaf. Their hearts were still hardened towards him in that aspect for now. It was also an act of ingratitude towards Jesus, that having twice seen bread created from nothing, they were now showing anxiety about not having enough bread. Then as if to exacerbate the point, Mark puts here a little story that isn’t in the other gospels. When they get to Bethsaida, a blind man is bought to Jesus. First Jesus heals his eyes in part. The man looks and sees people walking as if they were trees, so there is no clarity yet with his vision – but at least he can see in part! Then a second time, Jesus heals the man’s eyes fully and his sight is restored. Jesus didn’t want to be seen as only a healer and miracle worker, so he tells the man not to say anything. Mark is making the point that the disciples at this time were like that blind man. They were like the man at the first stage of his healing. They couldn’t see the spiritual truths and lacked understanding. To the disciples at this time, Jesus was still only a miracle worker, wise man, prophet and healer. It would not be until later that they would fully see! What about you? Again, I ask, who do you say Jesus is? What are you waiting for? Jesus is offering you free eternal salvation, by grace alone through faith alone! The choice is yours! Jesus loves you and because He loves you, He will not force you to love Him in return! But His love is compelling and He is calling you to come and take up ...
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    6 mins
  • Job - Why God? - Part 3

    Job - Why God? - Part 3
    Mar 23 2026
    Study 3 : Job 12 - 14 Job states his case. Chapter 12 - after all his ‘friends’ have stated their cases and he has answered them Job makes a major statement in these 3 chapters of how he views the situation. Much of what he says could be regarded as very pessimistic as he expresses his, quite natural, unhappiness at what has happened to him and his family. But I think we are expected to learn several things from his experiences and what he says, so we will try to make the most of it! To repeat yet again what was said in the introduction to the first study: behind all the arguments of the 3 friends is what we are calling a CEP, a cause-effect principle, operating in moral theology. They are all, his friends and Job, saying that everything that happens to a person has a moral cause hidden behind it. In essence: good things happen to good people; bad things happen to bad people. From that starting point his ‘friends’ have deduced that however much Job may protest otherwise he is not a good person because bad things have happened to him! This theology is still around both inside and outside the church. It appears every time someone says “he didn’t deserve that!” or “God’s not fair!”. In these chapters Job begins to understand and to argue that the world does not work that way. Life is just not as simple as that. Question: Here is a question about those verses. What does Job really mean by what he says here? How would you describe his attitude expressed in these words? Answer: Job is being very sarcastic. You have to be quite a clever person to be as sarcastic as this! He is clearly quite fed up with the way his so-called friends are treating him. He knows, as we know from having read the first 2 chapters of this book, that he is not guilty of serious sin; his experiences are not a reflection of who he is or what he has done; he is not being punished in any way for misdeeds he may have committed. What has happened is part of the NCL, the normal chaos of life. Job is still being sarcastic through the rest of the chapter – the animals are wise, wiser than his friends, God treats the high and mighty, people like his friends, just the same as everyone else, nations rise and fall as God decrees. And we suddenly realise that, in being sarcastic, Job has actually moved forward to understand that life is chaotic, the NCL does happen, that is the way the world works. The next step that he takes in the next chapter is to start arguing that he wants to appear before God in a court of law to argue his case. Job 13:1–19. Job is starting to be a great deal more positive. I am no expert on the stages of grief but I think this might be regarded as a good sign – he is starting to think more forcefully and in it all he is still declaring his faith. He said ‘though he slay me, yet will I hope in him’. Well done Job – that sounds good. He continues in much the same way in the remainder of the chapter – Job 13:20-28. But it proves to be a false dawn. In the next few verses, 14:1–6, he slides back into despair. He wants God to leave him alone. But then, equally suddenly, he thinks of a metaphor for his existence in 14: 7 – 9. READ. If a tree is cut down it is not finished – it will send out new buds, it will sprout again. It won’t grow to be the same tree it might have been before, but it will grow, more plant like, less tree like, but still alive and still valuable. There is something we call hope. And yet again he changes direction in 14: 10 – 22. READ. He goes backwards and forwards. Humans die and that is the end of them unlike a tree. But perhaps that is a good thing because his sin, supposing that that is the problem after all, will be covered over. No – perhaps it isn’t because the Lord God destroys hope the way a stream in flood wll destroy the surrounding ground. Make up your mind, Job. Which way is it? It would be easy to get fed up with Job in his swinging backwards and forwards, his pessimism and his optimism, his inability to make up his mind about the future – is there hope, somewhere in the future, or is his future, our future, as black as he thinks in his down moments. What positive, helpful, ideas can we get from this tossing and turning of Job. They are not immediately obvious but I think there are three. The first is this. Job is becoming furious with his 3 friends because they have gone on blundering along with so many words using OK phrases as bandages to wrap around his wounds without healing them at all. Paul said the gift of prophecy is ‘to speak to people for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort’. It is all too easy to major on the first 2 of those and forget about the comfort bit. Not everyone is able to say the right words to offer real comfort to the suffering or struggling. It is a real gift for those who can. These 3 guys did not have it. Question: what about you? Do you have this gift? Answer: up to you, of course. If you do have...
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    21 mins
  • Jesus - A Glimpse Of God Part 18

    Jesus - A Glimpse Of God Part 18
    Mar 23 2026

    18. Jesus Teaches Religious Leaders 2

    Welcome back to our series, AGOG – A Glimpse of God. We are on Day 18 of our adventure, looking together at the life of the most amazing person in human history - Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

    Mark 8:11-21 The Pharisees went to Jesus and began to argue with him. They tested him by demanding that he perform a miraculous sign from heaven. With a deep sigh he asked, "Why do these people demand a sign? I can guarantee this truth: If these people are given a sign, it will be far different than what they want!" Then he left them there.

    Jesus faced constant opposition from the religious leaders. Normally there wasn't much love lost between Pharisees and Sadducees! They had mutual contempt and hatred for each other. But because both groups felt threatened by Jesus, they engaged in acts of unity against Jesus.

    These religious leaders came to Jesus spoiling for an argument. They were unable to object any longer against the faultless teaching of Jesus, so they changed tactics. They came with a cunning scheme to test and tempt Jesus which was to ask for him to give and provide them with a miraculous sign from Heaven. However, they asked for a sign not because they wanted to see if Jesus was the Messiah. They had already decided that he wasn't. Their request was insincere, as they were actually wanting evidence that Jesus was not the Messiah.

    Oh they had heard about and seen Jesus performing miracles. Things such as: feeding the multitudes, healing people and raising Lazarus from the dead. But these miracles to their minds was insufficient evidence that Jesus was God's Son - the anointed Messiah. We know from other parts of the Gospel, they thought Jesus did those things by the power of satan. These leaders wanted special proof that Jesus was who He claimed to be, that He was indeed the anointed one sent from God and not sent by satan.

    Jesus groans deeply when faced with these ungrateful religious leaders. These men were not seeking to glorify God but to glorify themselves and fill their own vanity. This caused Jesus' great vexation, frustration and grief. Jesus was guided by the Holy Spirit and had great zeal to do the work His Father had sent Him to do. Jesus' frustration was because of the stubborn obstinacy of those who were the religious leaders to believe He was sent from God as the Messiah.

    Also Jesus didn't want to give complete evidence that He was the Son of God the Messiah. Here Jesus does however reinforce his faith in His Father to bring him back from the dead. In Matthew's account of this incident, Jesus recalls Jonah, saying that just as Jonah was in the great fish for 3 days, so would the Christ be killed and be in the grave for 3 days and then rise again by the power of God. If Jesus had given complete evidence, then there would be no room for faith. Faith only exists where the object of faith is beyond the finite knowledge of humanity. Jesus wanted to find out who had faith and who did not.

    In both the accounts by Matthew and Luke, Jesus reminded these religious leaders, that they could tell what the weather was going to be like, by looking at the sky and the direction of the wind. In other words, they had already had all the signs and miracles, but they refused to believe them! They were unable to see the forest for the trees! Their hearts were closed to the anointed Christ hence why in Luke's account of this event, Jesus calls the religious leaders hypocrites! They were hypocrites, because even if Jesus did give them a miraculous sign, they still would not believe that Jesus was sent from God as the anointed Messiah. No matter what signs Jesus gave, the religious leadership would never believe Jesus as their Christ.

    What about you? Again, I ask, who do you say Jesus is? What are you waiting for? Are you like the Pharisees and Sadducees demanding a sign or are you prepared to take by faith, what Jesus Christ offers you! He is offering you free eternal salvation, by grace alone through faith alone! The choice is yours! Jesus loves you and because He loves you, He will not force you to love Him in return! But His love is compelling and He is calling you to come and take up His free offer of eternal life! It is not too late! Today can be the day of your salvation and new life! Are you going to acknowledge Him as your saviour or are you going to merely put him aside as a miracle worker or man of wisdom?

    Come back tomorrow for Day 19 of our series AGOG, as we continue to look together at that extraordinary man, Jesus Christ, through the Gospel accounts! See you soon!

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    7 mins
  • Job - Why God? - Part 2

    Job - Why God? - Part 2
    Mar 22 2026
    Study 2 : Job 3, 4, 6, 8 Job finds his voice; he and his friends argue. The pattern of the book is simple. Within the frame given by the prose of the first two and the last chapters and following an opening speech from Job there are 3 cycles of speeches: Eliphaz, Job, Bildad, Job, Zophar, Job and round twice more. That should be 3x6 = 18 speeches but the last speech of Zophar is lost, perhaps deliberately to show the answers are incomplete. The next chapter after these cycles of speeches (28) is a poem to Wisdom. That is followed by a speech of Job and a lengthy rant by a 4th guy, Elihu. Only then do we hear from the Lord God himself, pointing out how Job has failed to understand what has happened and to learn from it. Then, finally, there is an epilogue, probably drawn from the old tale, which is used to teach one final fundamental lesson about life. The poetic dialogue begins after those first 2 chapters of prose we thought about last time. Job expresses his total horror at what has happened to him in chapter 3; his first friend, Eliphaz, tries to analyze what has happened to him; Job replies and then a second friend Bildad speaks, expressing his view of Job’s problems more openly and clearly than Eliphaz did. I will read chapter 3, then a little of what Eliphaz said in chapter 4, and part of Job’s reply, then we will skip to what Bildad says in chapter 8 and Job’s reply. Here is Job’s lament in chapter 3: 1 - 19. Note how striking the poetry is. All that is very understandable. There is next to no sign in the Old Testament that they had any idea of a life after death except a descent to Sheol for an experience they knew nothing about. The NT is very different. There we find statements like “longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up in life” in 2 Cor 5: 4. Question: why the difference between the OT ideas and those of the NT? What should our reaction be? Answer: of course this all hinges on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. “Death is swallowed up in victory” as Paul says. We know that we should never share these negative attitudes of Job whatever happens to us in this life. At this point I will skip to the next chapter because the last few verses of that chapter do not add much to the argument of the book. I will be doing this through these studies, picking out the most interesting and important bits of the book. That isn’t to say that it is not worth reading it all. It is. Here then is Job 4:1–9. Eliphaz asks a very sharp and important question to all those of us who make a Christian profession. “Should not your piety be your confidence and your blameless ways your hope.” In other words he is asking whether Job was righteous just because it was the best thing to be from his point of view. Are we Christians because this is the best option – we can live more comfortable lives as Christians, or as sometime Christians (when it suits us) - we can keep the family happy – it sounds good in the community – we want to go to heaven when we die? Question: are you a Christian for these or any other selfish ‘you based’ reasons. Answer: the answer is yours, obviously. We should be Christian - we should be following Jesus -because we feel compelled to do so by who he is and what he has done for us, oblivious to our own immediate comforts. 200 years ago those who went on mission to the west coast of Africa lived on average for only a few months before they caught one of the lethal diseases of that area to which they had no natural immunity. They did not consider themselves, their own comforts and even their own lives, as of any significant account in the service of the King. Neither should we. Eliphaz continues in 4: 12 – 21. In a very striking passage he says he has had a dream which introduces the idea that will persist throughout all the speeches of all Job’s four friends (if friends they can be called) that Job must have done some thing very wicked for all this to have happened to him. Part of Job’s reply is in chapter 6: 2 - 4, 14 – 17, 21 – 30. That brings a reply from his second friend Bildad in chapter 8. It is now clear that the friends, and even Job himself, are working from the assumption that bad things only happen to bad people. Therefore Job must be in so much trouble because he is a bad person, having undisclosed sin in his life, which he is hiding from them and even from himself. We know what they don’t know, that that is not the case. Job has experienced all his troubles only as a result of what the author has described as a discussion in the heavenly counsel. Or in other words he is experiencing what I called the NCL, the normal chaos of life. We have to accept that sometimes things just happen for no reason that we can discern. Sometimes things happen because of other people – it was the Sabeans and the Chaldeans that stole all Job’s huge herds of oxen, donkeys and camels. But ...
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    21 mins
  • Jesus - A Glimpse Of God Part 17

    Jesus - A Glimpse Of God Part 17
    Mar 22 2026
    17. Teaching the religious leaders 1 Welcome back to our series, AGOG - A Glimpse of God. We are on Day 17 of our adventure, looking together at the life of the most amazing person in human history - Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Today we look briefly at Jesus teaching the religious leaders! Cleansing the temple (John 2:13-25) The Jewish Passover was near, so Jesus went to Jerusalem. He found those who were selling cattle, sheep, and pigeons in the temple courtyard. He also found moneychangers sitting there. He made a whip from small ropes and threw everyone with their sheep and cattle out of the temple courtyard. He dumped the moneychangers' coins and knocked over their tables. He told those who sold pigeons, "Pick up this stuff, and get it out of here! Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!" His disciples remembered that Scripture said, "Devotion for your house will consume me." The Jews reacted by asking Jesus, "What miracle can you show us to justify what you're doing?" Jesus replied, "Tear down this temple, and I'll rebuild it in three days." The Jews said, "It took forty-six years to build this temple. Do you really think you're going to rebuild it in three days?" But the temple Jesus spoke about was his own body. After he came back to life, his disciples remembered that he had said this. So they believed the Scripture and this statement that Jesus had made. While Jesus was in Jerusalem at the Passover festival, many people believed in him because they saw the miracles that he performed. Jesus, however, was wary of these believers. He understood people and didn't need anyone to tell him about human nature. He knew what people were really like. Jesus cleansed the temple twice! Our example here occurred about a year after His baptism and the second cleansing, occurred two years later. In the cleansing of the Temple, we see Jesus' indignation rise. The Temple was central to Jewish worship. This is not Jesus, meek and mild! This is Jesus the indignant and upset! Jesus is in Jerusalem with His disciples to celebrate the festival of Passover. When he arrived at the Temple, Jesus saw in the courtyard, traders selling sacrificial animals. He also saw money changers who were there exchanging normal money for the special currency used to pay the Temple tax. So Jesus with righteous anger and indignation drove them out with a whip and upturning the tables. He was indignant that they were doing business and profiteering in the courtyard of His Father's house, the Temple. By cleansing the temple of such business, Jesus was making claim to being the Messiah, long foretold in the Old Testament. His disciples knew this to be a sign of Jesus being that Saviour Messiah figure. Psalm 69:9 predicted a zeal to protect the honour of God's Temple. By behaving like this, Jesus was concerned for God's honour alone, for the Temple was for prayer and worship - not for the trading of merchandise, profiteering and banking. The religious leaders also knew it as a sign, hence they asked for a sign and a miracle to prove that Jesus did indeed have the authority to justify his actions. If Jesus did not give them a sign, He would merely be a lawbreaker, troublemaker and rabble-rouser. So Jesus offers them a sign "tear down this temple, and I'll rebuild it in three days." Of course the religious leaders misunderstood Jesus' meaning. The temple was still not complete, so how could he tear it down? What Jesus actually meant is revealed by John, after the event! The temple Jesus was talking about was his own body. Throughout his public ministry, Jesus always had his crucifixion and his resurrection as his goal! The sign Jesus would give to the religious authorities was his own resurrection, 3 days after his death! The resurrection which would be the final proof of Jesus being the Messiah they were waiting for! However, his own disciples were confused at this point and it was only after his resurrection that they would understand fully. It was then that they truly believe that Jesus was who He had always said He was. That Jesus was indeed the Son of God come to rescue the world from sin, death and decay. Many people believed in Jesus because of his miracles but their faith was shallow. The remembered him as a great miracle worker, a leader and king - but certainly not their saviour and Messiah. Jesus didn't lean on them for support because He knew how fickle they could be. Jesus put his full trust on God the Father for support, because He knew how reliable and trustworthy He was! Who do you say Jesus is? What are you waiting for? But further, what are you going to do with this Jesus? Are you going to acknowledge Him as your saviour or are you going to merely put him aside as a miracle worker or man of wisdom? It is not too late! Today can be the day of your salvation and new life! Come back tomorrow for Day 18 of our series AGOG, as we continue to look together at that extraordinary man, Jesus Christ, ...
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    7 mins
  • Job - Why God? - Part 1

    Job - Why God? - Part 1
    Mar 21 2026
    Study 1 : Job 1 - 2 Terrible disasters hit Job. The book of Job is totally fascinating – but difficult. It is deeply concerned with the question of wisdom – how does one live well – but we will leave consideration of that to later in our studies when the question rises to the surface. In particular the book deals with the questions that arise when disaster strikes. There are no clear answers to the questions it poses. Instead there are lengthy dialogues between Job and his three friends, then between him and a rather brash young fellow and only finally with God. We are left to think and puzzle over what is said and draw our own conclusions rather than treating it as an authoritative text that tells us things we should believe or do. One commentator says “we need to be transparent about the hazards of being human and teach the full witness of Scripture, which is messy, complex and, ultimately, wonderfully true.” That is nowhere more the case than in the book of Job. This is an attempt to teach that full witness as we are given it in this book. Job Chapter 1 What a situation! Before looking at it in any detail here is an overview of what is to come. The book tackles two major questions in particular: Question 1: why is it not true that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people. A Psalmist realised that when he said “For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. They are free from common human burdens; they are not plagued by human ills. This is what the wicked are like –
 always free of care, they go on amassing wealth. Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure
 and have washed my hands in innocence” Then the major question 2) is: how can it be that our world, and our life in it, is subject to so much chaos. It also raises two other questions that follow from those two: 3) how can we live wisely in this difficult environment and 4) how can we trust in the reliability of God if he presides over such an erratic world. We will not get complete and totally satisfactory answers to those questions but we will be forced to think through our attitudes towards them and come to a deeper appreciation of this world we live in and the God who created and now controls it. Question 1 revolves round one false idea that was common in those days and is still very common today. That is that everything that happens to us has a moral cause behind it leading to the effect we see. We will call this a CEP – cause/effect principle. It suggests that if I am good only good things will happen to me; if I am bad then bad things will happen to me. That leads to commonly heard statements like “he didn’t deserve that”, implying that something terrible has happened to an essentially good person and that it shouldn’t have done. The CEP does, of course, operate in the physical world: if you put salt in water you get salt water; if you kick the table leg you will get a bruised toe. The book of Job teaches us that a principle like that does not operate in the moral and ethical world. Question 2 revolves around what we will call the NCL – normal chaos of life. Many Christians would query use of the word chaos in relation to the way the world works but it does seem to be the right word to use in this book. We will question the use of it more closely in study 9. As we shall see the book of Job teaches us that life is not well ordered. It hasn’t been since the Creation. However difficult it may be to accept that God did not create a neat and well ordered world but one that appears to us to be a thoroughly erratic one that is what he did and we have to live in it. To move on to the detail of chapter 1, here it is. Job was probably a real person who gave rise to many stories. He lived in the Middle East, but not in Israel, sometime about the same time as Abraham. The book was written by an Israelite much later, probably about 700 BC possibly using an old beginning and the end as a frame into which he put the lengthy poetical dialogue which is the main part of the book. The obvious intention was to do something to answer some of the questions raised by the old tale. We will look at selected sections of the book, not all of it, which can be thought a bit repetitive. The Satan of this chapter is not the devil of later books of the Bible. He is a member of the Angelic Council (1: 6). He is the Accuser, the prosecuting counsel before the Lord, a sort of Attorney-General so we are straight into a courtroom type of thinking. We shall soon find that much of the book is concerned with Job wanting a judicial review of his case. He wants to be able to argue his case before the Lord. Chapter 2 The challenge and counter-challenge between the Lord and the Satan in these first 2 chapters are curious to our eyes. The point in that culture is that if Job does not love God for his own sake, but for what he can get out of ...
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    18 mins