Opened Scriptures Bible Studies

Unique Aspects of John's Gospel. We briefly looked at some of the special features of the first 3 gospels of the New Testament. The first 3 gospels include the signs and the sayings of Jesus.  Now we will look at some unique parts of John's gospel.  In a general sense, the first 3 gospels tell us what Jesus said and did but John's gospel is distinctly different. John was used of God to tell us who Jesus Christ is.  Also, remember that the Apostle John witnessed the life, teachings and miracles of Christ that the other gospel writers witnessed.  However, John chose to be very selective in the material that he recorded for us so that we would not miss his main focus of showing who Christ is. John uses the phrase "son of God" in reference to Jesus Christ 10 times, more than any other gospel. This is a key to knowing what John is telling us about Christ.  There are no Parables in John's Gospel. John 6:63  It is the spirit that quickeneth...

We took time in our last post to study Luke 24:13-35 and his account of two disciples seeing the resurrected Lord on the road to Emmaus.  Luke tells us what was going on, right before Jesus appeared to the disciples in the next paragraph we read from John's gospel. This gives us some valuable context for John's record.  On the same day that others saw Him, Jesus appeared to His disciples.  John 20:19  Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.  The words "the same day", connect this post resurrection appearance of Jesus, to the women who came from the tomb and saw Him (Matthew 28:9). It also connects with His appearance to the two disciples going to Emmaus (Luke 24). At this point the doors were kept shut in the place where the disciples met. John tells us that they were afraid of the Je...

{Please remember that I published archive indexes to help you find topics that we have studied over four years of ministry with the blog.  The index for years 2019 to 2021 was posted September 7, 2022. The index for 2022 was posted January 24, 2023.}   As we study through the gospel of John, and the resurrection of Jesus, we will occasionally turn to the other gospel accounts, because they tell us things that John did not record. Before we get to the next post resurrection appearance of Jesus that John records, we must look into Luke's gospel.  Luke recorded an appearance of Jesus Christ that occurred right before the next appearance of the risen Lord, that John recorded.  Two disciples of Jesus on the road to Emmaus. Luke 24:13-14  And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs.  14)  And they talked together of all these things which had happened.  Two of Jesus' dis...

Haggai's prophecies came at a time of spiritual decline.  Haggai 1:1  In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, saying,  Haggai is a post exilic prophet, meaning that he prophesied when the Jews returned to Jerusalem, after being captives in Babylonia for 70 years. Zechariah and Malachi are the other two post exilic prophets.  Haggai preached 4 sermons over a period of about 4 months. His book is only 38 total verses and he mentioned the divine names LORD and LORD of hosts, 30 times. Thus, this is a God centric book of prophecy. This means that Haggai was a contemporary of Ezra and Nehemiah. At this point in time, work on the temple of Jehovah had stopped for 14 years. But, that was about to change! God never overlooks sin and He will judge it if we do not confess a...

A grief stricken Mary returned to an empty tomb. John 20:11-13  But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre,  12)  And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.  13)  And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.  Mary Magdalene came again to the tomb. She was overcome with deep grief and pain thinking that her Lord's body had been stolen or removed.  She had wanted to anoint Jesus' body with the traditional spices and ointments, to honor Him in death.  Her heart was broken and her vision was obscured by tears continuously flowing from her eyes.  Mary had not remembered the words spoken by Jesus that He would die, be buried and rise again. She came to the tomb and looked in again.  This time, Ma...