John 4

John 4: Men Worship the Father

                Jesus goes to Galilee, and on His journey He passed through Samaria, in a small city near Samaria named Sychar. This was also near a parcel of land that Joseph received from his father. In this area was Jacob’s well and sitting near the well was a Samarian woman…

Jesus: “…Give me to drink.” (John 4:7)

Samaritan woman: “… How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.” (John 4:9)

Jesus: “…If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith unto thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked him, and he would have given thee living water.” (John 4:10)

Samaritan woman: “…Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?” (John 4:11)

Jesus: “Art thou greater than our father Jacob…? …Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:12-14)

Samaritan woman: “…Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not…” (John 4:15)

Jesus then asks the woman to go and comeback with her husband, the woman tells Jesus that she doesn’t have a husband and Jesus points out that she has actually had five husbands and the man she is currently with was not her husband. The woman perceives Jesus to be a prophet.

Jesus goes on to explain that man must worship the Father, because the people now do not know what the worship; “Ye worship ye know not what…” (John 4:22) But Jesus goes on to explain that the true worshippers shall come and worship the “…Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.” (John 4:23)

Jesus goes on to explain; “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth.” (John 4:24) But is God a Spirit? No. God has a body of flesh and bones, because we were created in His image; “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…” (Genesis 1:26) God is like us, because we are His children. The only difference is that He is God and has a PERFECT BODY, a GLORIFIED BODY of FLESH AND BONES.

In the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible it clears up what centuries of corruption and error on the part of historians and translators of the Bible had made; “For unto such hat God promised his Spirit. And they, who worship him, must worship in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24; Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible)

So instead of saying ‘God is a Spirit’, it was actually meant to read ‘God has promised us His Spirit’. It is easy to see how over thousands of years, the Bible could have been changed by corrupt men or by simple error when translating or making hand written copies of the Bible.

The Samaritan woman then said to Jesus:  “The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.” (John 4:25) Jesus responds to her: “… I that speak unto thee am he.” (John 4:26)

The Apostles came to Jesus and marveled that He would speak to such a woman, the woman left her waterpot and went her way into the city to tell them of her experience. Soon, she brought a multitude of people who desired to know if Jesus was truly the Christ. Shortly before the group of people came to Jesus, His Apostles desired that He would eat, but Jesus refused and said; “

…I have meat to eat that ye know not of…My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.” (John 4:32,34)

Jesus then looks at the Apostles and tells them; “…behold…Lift us your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that repeat may rejoice together” (John 4:35-36)

Many of the Samaritans that had gathered believed on the words of Jesus, and the people sought that Jesus could stay with them a while, and Jesus stayed for two days. After the two days had come to an end, Jesus departed for Galilee. When He arrived, the Galilaeans received Him, because they had seen and heard of all the miracles He performed in Jerusalem. Jesus went to Cana of Galilee, where He made the water into wine and was able to heal the son of a noble man in Capernaum, who was sick.

Jesus taught that some people; “…Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.” (John 4:48)

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John 2

John 2: Water into Wine

                There was a marriage in Cana of Galilee, and the Mother of Jesus was there, Jesus and His Apostles were also there. Some of the guests complain that there is no wine to drink and Mary tells them that they don’t have any more wine. Jesus tells His mother that He is still there and can help out. So, Mary tells the servants to follow any direction given by Jesus.

Jesus commands that all the water pots to be filled with water (all six at the party), and Jesus converted them into wine! But no ordinary wine, Good wine! From this miracle, which is explained as one of His first, the apostles believed on Him. Jesus leaves the party and heads to Capernaum where He goes to the Temple to find money changers…

Jesus was VERY displeased to find that His Father’s house had been turned into a den of thieves; He “…overthrew the tables; And said unto them… make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.” (John 2:15-16) Those gathered ask Him what sign He would give that they might believe Him and He said; “…Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” (John 2:19) The Jews were skeptical and said; “…Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?” (John 2:20) But, Jesus did not speak of the Temple they were standing in, but His own Temple, His body.

Jesus continued throughout the land and performed many miracles, but did not entrust Himself to many people, for “…he knew what was in man.” (John 2:25) In other words, Jesus was careful, because he knew that man could attempt to deceive Him, before His work was over.

Jeremiah 35-36

Jeremiah 35-36

Chapter 35: Blessings for Obedience

The Lord commands Jeremiah to go and test the obedience of the Rechabites by essentially tempting them with wine. However after having wine placed before them they tell Jeremiah and those that are with him; “…We will drink no wine: for… our father commanded us… Ye shall drink no wine…” (Jeremiah 35:6) So even after being tempted they resisted and obeyed the commandment of the Lord. This is something we should learn from… even after temptation and perhaps peer pressure or pressure from the world to do something that goes against God’s commandments… WE CAN HAVE THE STRENGTH TO SAY NO!

The Lord commends and blesses the Rechabites, who obey the Lord by staying sober and not partaking of any wine.  Their obedience is contrasted with Judah and Jerusalem.

Chapter 36: Roll or Book

Word comes to Jeremiah in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim. Using Baruch as his scribe, Jeremiah writes down his prophecies. Baruch reads them publicly upon a fast day in the temple, where the princes hear him, and decide to tell the king of what they are preaching while at the same time advising both Jeremiah and Baruch to hide. Jehoiakim has the roll thrown into the fire, and orders Jeremiah and Baruch to be seized. The Lord conceals them and then later commands Jeremiah to rewrite the roll, and denounces the burning of the roll.

 

Numbers 5-6

Numbers 5-6

Chapter 5: Sinners

Everyone who is a Leper is considered unclean and must be “put out” of the camp. This includes male and female, so that they might not “defile” the camp or the rest of the congregation of Israel. If a man or woman is to sin, they must confess of their sins and make a restitution of that sin.

If a woman was unfaithful to her husband or had been presumed to have been unfaithful to her husband, she was to be brought before a priest. The priest will charge her by oath and by that he can decide whether this was true, through the Jealous Offering, which is like a trial.

Chapter 6: No Wine of Strong Drink

The Law of the Nazarite is set forth. Those who want to live the law, must separate themselves unto the Lord. They are not to drink wine or strong drink. Those who live this law and take the vow to live the law, by separating themselves unto the Lord must shave their heads if they become defiled.