Acts: The Spirit-Empowered Spread of God's Word

The book of Acts is about the supernatural spread of God's Word beginning in Jerusalem (with the Jewish people) and spreading to the ends of the earth (to all types of non-Jewish people). And while the book of Acts is primarily descriptive (and therefore not necessarily prescribing how the church should function today), it does provide a picture of what a community of Christ-followers can look like and accomplish when empowered by God's Spirit! So what does a Spirit-empowered group of Christ-followers look like? Let's find out.

#1 A COMMUNITY THAT RELIES COMPLETELY ON JESUS
By definition, a Spirit-empowered group of Christ-followers is completely reliant on Jesus. In fact, the book of Acts gives the impression that Jesus is controlling the success of His plan through His Spirit (and sometimes 'angels FROM the Lord') from His seat at the right hand of the Father. Where do we see this? The Lord Jesus is the one "adding to their numbers daily" (2:47) as "His hand is with His followers" (11:21). The angels FROM the Lord are the ones who (among other things) open up the jail to rescue God's people (5:19; see also 8:26; 10:3, 7, 22; 11:13; 12:7-11, 23; 27:23). The Spirit of the Lord is providing guidance to His people (16:7). The Spirit of the Lord is making people receptive to the gospel message (16:14). Clearly Jesus is present among His followers through His Spirit. Why should we believe anything has changed since then? And so it only makes sense that God's people would fervently rely on Jesus (even today)!

What else characterizes a group of Spirit-empowered Christ-followers?

#2 A COMMUNITY THAT BRINGS THE GOSPEL TO OTHERS
The book of Acts is also a story about the successful spread of the WORD of the Lord (that is, the gospel message). Check out how many times the WORD (gr: both rama and logos) is referenced (2:41; 4:4, 29, 31; 5:20; 6:2, 4, 7; 8:4, 14, 25; 10:36, 44; 11:1, 19; 12:24; 13:5, 7, 44, 46, 48, 49; 14:3, 25; 15:7, 35, 36; 16:6, 32; 17:11, 13; 18:11; 19:10, 20). In fact, Isaiah 55:10-11 seems to form the backdrop for this successful spread of the WORD of the Lord. How so? God's WORD goes out and does not return empty (or void) but rather accomplishes God's purposes (this is especially evident on Paul's first missionary journey!).

This is what we see in the book of Acts: God desires His WORD to spread to the ends of the earth and this is precisely what happens. But notice something important. God doesn't accomplish this with a magic wand. NO. He uses His people to spread the WORD of the Lord! In fact, after Stephen's stoning (Acts 7-8), it's almost as though God FORCES his people to GO and spread the WORD. And so we see that this Spirit-empowered community of Christ-followers proactively spreads the WORD of the Lord by courageously engaging outsiders because they know that God is in control and that His WORD-decrees will never fail. This is what authentic faith looks like!

What else characterizes a group of Spirit-empowered Christ-followers?

#3 A COMMUNITY THAT PREACHES THE COMPLETE GOSPEL
We find the church in the book of Acts preaching a complete gospel. What do I mean by this? Well, today it seems like ‘the forgiveness of sin’ gets all the emphasis in the gospel message. But according to the book of Acts, this is only half of the equation. While the gospel message in the book of Acts clearly includes ‘the forgiveness of sin’ (2:38; 5:31; 13:38; 26:18), the kingdom of God (that is, God’s transforming rule in this world) is also vital to the message (1:3; 8:12; 19:8; 28:23; 28:31).

So why does this matter? Simple. The ‘forgiveness of sin’ is what we need to ENTER the kingdom of God BUT God wants more for us that this! God wants us to live transformed lives as His kingdom people! And understanding the ‘kingdom of God’ helps us know how to LIVE this way. And so a Spirit-empowered group of Christ-followers will not just teach ‘the forgiveness of sin.’ NO. That risks leading to ‘easy believe-ism’ and ‘cheap grace.’ A Spirit-empowered group of Christ-followers will preach a complete gospel by emphasizing BOTH forgiveness and sanctification (that is, kingdom living). After all, the end-goal of the gospel is NOT the forgiveness of sin (which is nothing more than a fire insurance policy)…it is kingdom living (that is, sanctification or being set apart for God’s pleasure and purposes).

What else characterizes a group of Spirit-empowered Christ-followers?

#4 A COMMUNITY THAT ABANDONS ALL TO SPREAD THE GOSPEL 
The early church was characterized by total abandonment to Jesus' cause. How so? They were constantly looking out for the needs and well-being of others. This is why they shared their possessions with each other ‘as any had need’ (2:45; 4:34)! And so when someone had a need, the community would chip in by selling their possessions until the need was met. Sure this is descriptive (and therefore NOT prescriptive) BUT this is the type of thing that happens in a Spirit-empowered community! Why would we NOT want our churches today to show this same level of concern for others? 

What else characterizes a group of Spirit-empowered Christ-followers?

#5 A COMMUNITY THAT DESIRES TO REACH ALL PEOPLE
The early church was about the business of reaching ALL types of people. The movement of Jesus began in a familiar location, Jerusalem. But then it spread to a whole bunch of unclean, sketchy people: an Ethiopian eunuch in Samaria (Acts 8), a Gentile centurion (Acts 10-11), and then all the way to Rome. This might not sound like a big deal BUT devout Jewish people at this time did not associate with these types of people. But the early church followed God’s leading and reached out to ALL people without prejudice. This allowed for God’s plan from the Old Testament to continue to advance beginning with the reuniting of the divided kingdom (Judea-Samaria) and ending with the blessings of God spreading to ALL nations. What does this teach us? When God’s people are selective in who they are willing to reach, the spread of God’s Word is stalled (or at least slowed down). We need to move the gospel outside of our Jerusalem (usually a church building or Christian fellowship) and bring the hope of the gospel to ALL types of people!

May the church today be characterized as a group of Spirit-empowered Christ-followers!

Luke: God's Plan and Money

Money. Fame. Power. These are some of the highest values in our culture today. If you don't believe me then just look at who we treat as our modern day heroes: Hollywood stars, CEO's, professional athletes. What do these people have in common? You guessed it! Success. Status. Gold toilet seats.

Many have claimed that this obsession with success and status has eroded the value that we place on our teachers, pastors, police workers, firefighters and even JESUS. Why? Low Pay. Low Notoriety. Low Status. Who wants to settle for these? Because of this, many have tried to increase Jesus' status by airbrushing Him with a new, Hollywood image. "Believe in Jesus and He'll fill up your storehouses with rich material blessings." "Follow Jesus and you'll have your best life now." "Aaron Rogers follows Jesus and so why don't you?" But Luke will have none of this. In fact, in his gospel, Luke presents money, fame, and power as some of Jesus' primary nemeses. Let's take a look...

JESUS CAME TO SAVE ALL PEOPLE
While the Gospel of Luke shares many of the same themes as the other three gospels (conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders, Jesus as the Son FROM God, and 'the first shall be last' nature of Jesus' kingdom), Luke makes his own unique contribution. More than any other gospel, Luke sets out to demonstrate that Jesus and His kingdom are available to ALL people (not just Israel). This is made most obvious by the fact that Luke's genealogy emphasizes Jesus' connection with ALL humanity as the son of Adam.

But also, Luke's geographic structure of his gospel (that continues through the book of Acts) makes it clear that Jesus and His kingdom are available to ALL people. The story of Jesus begins in Galilee and journeys to Jerusalem where Jesus ultimately dies and is raised from the dead. And then in the book of Acts (the sequel to Luke's gospel), the Word of God travels from Jerusalem to Judea/Samaria until it reaches the ends of the earth.

And as the Word of God travels, it reaches ALL types of people. The Word of God first comes to a Jewish priest (Zechariah), then to a woman (Mary), then to a group of lowly shepherds, an Ethiopian eunuch from Samaria (see Isaiah 56:3-8 for the significance of eunuchs in God's plan) and finally unclean Gentiles. What is Luke trying to communicate? Jesus and His kingdom are NOT limited to the Jewish religious establishment. NO. They are available to ALL people: Jew, Gentile, the blind, the sick, the unclean, the rich, and the poor. This is why Jesus quotes from the Old Testament at the beginning of His ministry:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

This quote from Isaiah 61 demonstrates that Jesus is continuing God's plan from the Old Testament, a plan which sets out to reach and rescue ALL people.

JESUS CAME TO CONTINUE GOD'S OLD TESTAMENT PLAN
But rescuing ALL people requires resurrecting God's covenant promises (the promises thought to have died with the exile). And Luke makes it obvious that Jesus came to restart God's plan. How? He casts the story of John's birth in the context of Abraham. Both Abraham and Zechariah (John's father) were righteous (Gen. 15:6; Lk 1:6), blameless (Gen. 17:1; Lk. 1:6), advanced in years (Gen. 18:11; Lk 1:7), and had barren wives (Gen. 11:30; Lk 1:7). And then Luke shows how Jesus' birth (1:28-32) fulfills the Davidic covenant as depicted in Isaiah 9. Jesus is the Son of the Most High (Lk 1:32; Is. 9:6) who will reign forever (Lk 1:33; Is 9:7) on the throne of David (Lk 1:32; Is 9:7). Luke is trying to show that the covenants of old are back in action. They have been revived! God's rescue plan is on the move again! And so Luke strategically records the things that "must happen" (gr: dei) for God's plan to reach its final fulfillment (2:49; 4:43; 9:22; 13:33; 17:25; 21:9; 22:37; 24:7, 26; 24:44).

THE BIG OBSTACLE: MONEY
But God's rescue plan is not without its obstacles. If you read closely, you'll notice that the greatest obstacle (according to Luke) to people embracing Jesus is MONEY! Judas betrayed Jesus because of MONEY (Luke 22:3-6). The Pharisees refused to embrace Jesus' teaching because they loved MONEY (Luke 16:14). The rich young ruler refused to follow Jesus because of MONEY (Luke 18:18-30). MONEY served as an obstacle to God fulfilling His plan in the Old Testament and it is creating a stumbling block to Jesus in the New Testament! This is why Jesus emphasizes: you can't serve both God and money (Lk 16:13)! This is why the poor are blessed (Lk 6:20)...without the obstacle of MONEY, it is easier for them to embrace Jesus' kingdom blessings!

THE BOTTOM LINE
Now many people try to explain away the power and influence of money in their lives. I hear people say all the time, "Remember it's not money that is the root of all evil; it is the LOVE of money." I have a feeling that many people who make this statement actually LOVE money but just won't admit it. This, of course, is based off of Jesus' own litmus test in Luke 18:18-30: "If you're not willing to sell all you own for God then you're not completely in love with God...you're also in love with MONEY, STATUS, and POWER." As you can see, Jesus sets the bar high when it comes to MONEY. Based on His standard, ALL of us actually LOVE money to some degree! So how much do you love money? Are you more in LOVE with God or more in love with MONEY, STATUS, and POWER? How can you begin to value God more and MONEY, STATUS, and POWER less? That is Luke's question to you!

The Book of Psalms & the Torah

"We go to a Bible-based church." You've probably heard this statement before if you've hung out much in Christian circles. But what does it mean exactly? Does it mean that the church is centered around Bible studies and other similar types of Bible education opportunities? Or that the church holds to a conservative statement of faith that is grounded in the Bible alone? Or that the church is committed to living out the mission and precepts of the Bible? Or that the sermons on Sunday morning are expository (and NOT topical) in nature? To be honest, different people mean different things by this statement. And so the statement ends up becoming nothing more than a familiar Christian cliche devoid of much meaning.

But the Psalms make it clear that God does, in fact, desire His people to be TORAH-centered and His churches to be TORAH-based. The word TORAH literally means "teaching." And so the TORAH is simply referring to the teachings of the Bible (and sometimes it is limited to the teachings of the first FIVE books of the Old Testament). But God doesn't just want us to UNDERSTAND the TORAH. NO. He also wants us to OBEY the Torah. In fact, we show our delight in God's TORAH when we delight in doing God's WORK. But what does delighting in God's WORK look like (as presented in the Psalms)? Let's find out...

ANSWER #1: DESIRING TO RETURN GOODNESS BACK TO GOD
Did you know that the Book of Psalms has a repeated CHORUS? It does. And if you know anything about a CHORUS in a song, you know that it summarizes what the other lyrics in the song are trying to communicate. This is true also in the Bible. The book of Judges repeats the CHORUS, "And they did evil in the eyes of the Lord." The Song of Songs repeats the CHORUS, "Do not awaken love before it so desires." These CHORUSES give us hints as to the main message the author is wanting to communicate throughout the entire book.

So what is the CHORUS of the Psalms? "BLESSED be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting." This chorus is repeated FOUR times and comes at the end of each of the major divisions in the Psalms (41:13; 72:18-19; 89:52; 106:48). So what does this CHORUS mean? "BLESSED be the Lord" is an expression of our DESIRE to return BLESSING back to God. But don't be confused. It is NOT an expression of human PRIDE claiming that God needs us for Him to be blessed! NO. God is not dependent on us! But out of an overabundance of caution that the statement "BLESSED be the Lord" might be misunderstood in this pride-laden way, the NIV translates the phrase as "PRAISE be to God." But the two statements mean different things! We PRAISE God when we call to awareness God's greatness through our WORDS. On the other hand, BLESSING God is much more ACTIVE than this because it involves ACTIONS.

So how do we ACTIVELY show our DESIRE to BLESS God?

ANSWER #2: OBEYING GOD'S TORAH
The FOUR choruses divide the book of Psalms into FIVE separate sub-books (Pss. 2-41; 42-72; 73-89; 90-106; 107-145 with Ps. 1 and Pss. 146-150 serving as the introduction and conclusion, respectively). But is there significance in dividing the entire book into FIVE sub-books? YES. The TORAH (in the most limited sense of the term) consists of FIVE books (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). And so the editor of the Psalms is trying to emphasize the centrality of the TORAH in the book of Psalms. And if you combine the editor's structuring of the book of Psalms (around the FIVE books of the TORAH) with the repeated CHORUS ("BLESSED be the Lord") you begin to see the main message of the Psalms: God is BLESSED when we OBEY the TORAH!

But what is at the HEART of OBEYING the Torah?

ANSWER #3: TRUSTING in God alone.
When we dig deeper into the content of the Psalms, we see a clear progression of thought from beginning to end. In the first two sub-books (Pss. 2-72), God's PROTECTION to David is celebrated. This PROTECTION is grounded in the covenant promise that God made with David that He would PROTECT David's dynasty and that a king from David's line would never cease to sit on the throne over God's kingdom (2 Sam. 7). And so in Psalms 2-72, words are repeated that communicate God's PROTECTION: refuge, salvation, redeemer, shield, deliverer, and vindicate.

But then in Psalms 73-89 (sub-book THREE), Israel's sin and God's judgment are lamented. The kings from David's dynasty prove to be rebellious (more times than not) and this instigates God's discipline and judgment. Psalms 73-89 mirror the unfaithfulness of Israel and God's response as documented in the historical books (Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles). And so words associated with Israel's UNFAITHFULNESS and God's JUDGMENT are prevalent in this section: fear, anger, judgment, iniquities, silence, wrath, troubles, rebellion, and sin. And then in Psalm 89, the Davidic covenant and dynasty come to their final demise and God's people are taken into exile. The Davidic dynasty had failed because of human rebellion!

But God still stands true to His promises! And so in light of God's faithfulness, the exiles raise the question, "How long O Lord?" and the Psalmist provokes God's people to place their trust NOT in human institutions (like the Davidic dynasty) but in God ALONE. And so we see in the final TWO sub-books that reliance and praise to God alone are prompted. And so words associated with DEPENDENCE and CELEBRATION are prevalent in this section: wait on the Lord, trust, praise, worship, thanks, joy, bless the Lord, and hope in the Lord.

THE BOTTOM LINE
And so God's people learned the hard way that trusting in humans as king (hb: malak) leads to lament while trusting in God as King leads to celebration. In fact, the flow of the psalms bears this fact out: The psalms of lament are concentrated in the first three sub-books of the Psalms while the psalms of praise and celebration are concentrated in the last two sub-books of the Psalms.

God wants our lives to be a celebration! But this will only happen when we make God King over our lives and delight in doing His WORK. And so as you grow in your DESIRE for God, OBEDIENCE to God, and TRUST in God may you find delight in doing God's WORK. And as a result may you experience God's GOODNESS. This, after all, is what being TORAH-based and TORAH-centered is all about!

John and the New Exodus

Last time we learned that John casts Jesus' life in the context of the CREATION account of Genesis. According to John, Jesus existed IN THE BEGINNING as the creative WORD. And so now Jesus is bringing a new BEGINNING to creation as demonstrated by the SEVEN signs He performed using the same creative WORDS as in Genesis. In fact, He performs his SIXTH sign using MUD (along with WORDS) as a symbolic act to call to remembrance God's creation of the woman from the MUD on the SIXTH day of creation. Clearly John wants us to know that Jesus was sent to RECREATE and reverse the Genesis curse. But John also wants us to know something else! Let's see what that is...

JESUS AND MOSES
John not only parallels Jesus' life to the Genesis account, he also parallels Jesus' life to that of Moses. Jesus was SENT by God (3:34; 4:34; 5:23-24, 36-38; 6:29, 38-39, 44, 57; 7:16, 18, 28, 29, 33 etc. with Exodus 3:12-15), Jesus performs SIGNS (2:11, 18, 23; 3:2; 4:48, 54; 6:2, 14, 26, 30 etc. with Exodus 3:12; 4:8ff), Jesus was LIFTED UP (just like the serpent in Numbers 21 with 3:14; 8:28; 12:32, 34), Jesus brings people living WATER (John 4:1-45 with Exodus 17:6), Jesus FEEDS the 5,000 (6:1-15 with Exodus 16), Jesus miraculously CROSSES the sea with his disciples (6:16-21 with Exodus 14), Jesus is the pillar of LIGHT to follow (8:12 with Exodus 13:21-22), Jesus is the manna BREAD from heaven (6:32-33, 41-58 with Exodus 16), and Jesus is 'I AM' (6:20 with Exodus 3:14). All of these images call to mind the book of Exodus and more generally the life of Moses!

JESUS AND THE FEASTS
Jesus also speaks about Himself in the Gospel of John using the backdrop of various Jewish Feast Days. And so Jesus calls Himself the "Bread of Life" and the "Bread from Heaven" during the Passover Feast. So how do Passover and these titles correspond to each other? Well, here is what Exodus 12:14-15, 17 says about the Passover in the Bible:

This day [Passover] shall be for you a MEMORIAL day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. Seven days you shall eat Unleavened bread...for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt.

The bread obviously serves as a REMINDER or memorial of the EXODUS and the rapidity with which the people had to be ready to leave Egypt. They did not have time for the bread to rise with leaven and therefore were instructed to make unleavened bread. But the feast also REMINDED the people of God's provision of MANNA after they left Egypt. By doing this, God sustained their very LIVES!

Jesus also calls Himself the LIGHT of the world during the Feast of Tabernacles. In John 8:12 Jesus specifically says, "I am the LIGHT of the world. Whoever FOLLOWS me will not WALK in DARKNESS, but will have the LIGHT of life." And we learn in Leviticus 23:42-43 that the Feast of Tabernacles REMINDED people of God's provision during the EXODUS:

You shall dwell in booths for seven days...that your generation may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt.

During Israel's time in the wilderness, God provided shelter and direction. He led His people with a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day. The fire served as a LIGHT to guide the people. God sustained His people's LIVES by doing this!

Jesus also calls Himself the "Door" and the "Good Shepherd" during the Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah). While this feast is recorded in the history of the inter-testamental period, it is not recorded in the Jewish Scriptures (the Tanakh). But clearly this Feast celebrated the reconsecration of the Temple after Judas Maccabeus forced the withdrawal of the Seleucid forces from Jerusalem (who had desecrated the Temple by sacrificing unclean animals on the altar). Many probably believed that Judas was THE Messiah! But as it turned out, he wasn't. He died like everyone else and failed to completely free the Jewish people from their oppressors. It is tentatively against this backdrop that Jesus affirms His identity as the TRUE Messiah, the 'Good Shepherd', and the 'Door'. Jesus is not like Judas Maccabeus. NO. He is the TRUE Messiah who will TRULY lead His people out of slavery and into a new LIFE in GOOD pastures.

This is where Jesus' final affirmations about Himself come into play. Jesus is the 'resurrection and the LIFE', 'the way, the truth, and the LIFE', and the 'true vine'. What do these titles imply? In Jesus, people will truly find new LIFE. Jesus will bring His people to the Promised Land (figuratively speaking)! Judas Maccabeus couldn't bring people to a new LIFE or the Promised Land, but Jesus can! And Jesus will bring people to the Promised Land and accomplish this new LIFE through His resurrection and the sending of the Holy Spirit (God's very presence in people's lives!).

THE BOTTOM LINE
So what does this tell us about what it means to follow Jesus (according to Jesus)? Well, the book of John flows from CREATION (the Word) to the EXODUS (Moses) to the RECREATION (the Spirit). Jesus was sent to HEAL by RECREATING a broken world! Jesus was sent to bring about a new EXODUS by rescuing people out of DARKNESS and bringing them into the LIGHT! Jesus was sent to bring LIFE to His people!

But then Jesus tells His followers in John 20:21, "As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." And so, HEALING people and bringing LIFE to people are at the CORE of following Jesus! And so I leave you with this question: What might 'being sent to HEAL and bring LIFE to others' look like in your everyday life? Do you bring LIFE to people through your words and actions or DEATH and discouragement? Have you tried to bring LIFE to your friends' spiritual needs by introducing them to Jesus?

John and The New Creation

The book of John ends with Jesus saying to Peter, "Follow me." While this statement seems simple enough, people have put their own spin on its meaning throughout church history. So can we know what is at the CORE of following Jesus (according to Jesus)? John gives us some answers in his gospel. Let's take a look.

THE NUMBER SEVEN
One of the key features in John's gospel is that it is structured around the number SEVEN. There are SEVEN "I AM" statements: The bread of life (6:35, 48), the light of the world (8:12; 9:5), the door (10:7), the good shepherd (10:11-14),  the resurrection and the life (11:25), the way, the truth, and the life (14:6), and the true vine (15:1, 5).

Jesus performs SEVEN signs: water to wine (2:1-11), healing of the royal official's son (4:46-54), healing the paralytic (5:1-18), feeding the 5,000 (6:5-14), crossing the rough water in a boat (6:16-24), healing the blind man (9:1-7), and resurrecting Lazarus (11:1-45).

Some have even observed that Jesus was the SEVENTH resurrection in the Bible and that the resurrections from the Old Testament and the New Testament parallel each other! Take a look for yourself:

The Old Testament || The WIDOW'S son by Elijah (1 Kings 17:17-24), The WEALTHY Shunammite's son by Elisha (2 Kings 4), The corpse touched by Elisha's dead body in his TOMB (2 Kings 13:20-21). The New Testament || The WIDOW'S son by Jesus (Luke 7:11-15), The WEALTHY ruler's daughter by Jesus (Mark 5:21-43), Lazarus called out of his TOMB by Jesus (John 11), Jesus' RESURRECTION. 

The validity of this observation would, of course, depend on John being familiar with the writings of both Mark and Luke who record the other two New Testament resurrection accounts.

THE CREATION THEME
So why is the number SEVEN such a big deal in John's gospel? Well, the opening chapter provides the answer.

IN THE BEGINNING was the WORD and the WORD was with God, and the WORD was God...Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the LIGHT of all mankind. The LIGHT shines in the DARKNESS, and the DARKNESS has not overcome it. (John 1:1-4)

This passage (coupled with John's obsession with the number SEVEN) makes it clear that John is trying to identify Jesus' life with the CREATION account in the book of Genesis ("In the beginning God created..."). Just like God created light out of the darkness so too did Jesus bring LIGHT into the DARKNESS. Also, Jesus uses WORDS (just like Yahweh did in CREATION!) to perform each of the SEVEN signs (mentioned above).

And so when Jesus turns the water into wine, He doesn't use a magic wand (or a staff like Moses or a cloak like Elisha) to perform the SIGN. NO. He simply TELLS the servants what to do and something supernatural happens. Likewise, He TELLS the royal official "Go, your son will live"; He CALLS Lazarus out of the tomb; He BLESSES God when multiplying the fish and the bread; He TELLS the paralytic, "Get up, take up your mat and walk"; He uses the WORDS "I AM, do not be afraid" to reassure his disciples and bring them to safety across the rough waters; and He uses the WORDS "Go wash in the pool of Siloam" to heal the blind man. By doing this, Jesus is not only reminding us that God originally CREATED through His divine WORD ("And God said..."), He is also making the claim that God is now RECREATING through His divine WORD (that is, through Himself!...the Son FROM God!).

Of course with the healing of the blind man, Jesus doesn't just use WORDS...He also uses MUD. So why did Jesus use MUD for his SIXTH sign if He could have just as simply healed the blind man with his WORDS? Might this be a symbolic act by Jesus? And might Jesus be intentionally casting his miraculous SIGNS in the context of the creation story of Genesis where humans were created out of the MUD on the SIXTH day? Or are all of these parallels just coincidences?

THE BOTTOM LINE
It seems clear to me that John is identifying Jesus and His life with the CREATION account in Genesis. But is John making this connection just to show people that Jesus is GOD IN THE FLESH or is John ALSO trying to make a more practical (less apologetic) point? Certainly, John's gospel affirms Jesus' DEITY and EQUALITY with God. And this would certainly address some of the heresies (like early forms of gnosticism...google this!) possibly present at the time of John's writing. However, I believe that John's PRIMARY intention for writing his gospel is more practical (and less academic). I believe John is trying to help people understand HOW to FOLLOW JESUS.

So how does this CREATION theme factor into what John thinks is at the CORE of following Jesus (according to Jesus)? Well, there are other themes in the Gospel of John that need to be unearthed before we answer this question...so stay tuned!