John Archives - Paula Wiseman

The Promise of a Prophet

“The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear.” Deuteronomy 18:15

God will raise up a Prophet. Those words come in the middle of Deuteronomy as Moses recounts the exodus to a new generation of Israel poised to enter the Promised Land. Throughout the account and through the rest of the Old Testament, over and over we see the exodus as proof of God’s power and prerogative. He keeps the promises He makes and nothing will prevent those things from coming to pass.

Including this promise about a Prophet.

A few verses later, God says, “I will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him.” Deuteronomy 18:18-19.

Those words sound a lot like “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:18

The Prophet God promised in Moses’s day came on a Christmas morning years and years later.

We are entering a season of good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. Perhaps as we interact with people, we can follow Moses’s example. Think about the promises has God kept in your life. Maybe you’ll find yourself in a conversation something like this…

When Jesus was born, that fulfilled a promise God made hundreds of years before. But God has also been faithful in keeping promises in my life. (Here’s where you mention them.) The most important promise is the one that if I trusted Jesus’s payment for the things I’ve done wrong, I can live forever in heaven with Him.

Share those good tidings! I’ll be praying for opportunities and open doors for you.

Next week we’ll see how the angels did it.

What Nicodemus Teaches Me about Being Born Again

By Paula

Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” John 3:4

For a few weeks now we’ve been looking at the words of unbelievers and learning some valuable lessons from them. Today we’ll look at one of the more famous unbelievers, or pre-believers more accurately, in Scripture. A guy named Nicodemus.

His nighttime conversation with Jesus has been dissected and analyzed by scholars, theologians and the rest of us since it was recorded, yet it still yields fresh insights. Hopefully, we can gain a few today.

You’re no doubt familiar with the conversation. Nicodemus begins, “Teacher we know you are from God.” But Jesus cuts to the chase. “You can’t enter the kingdom of God without being born again.”

Born again. How ridiculous.

Isn’t that essentially what Nicodemus says? “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

Aside from the theological discussion about our sin nature and its needful regeneration, this discussion touches on some points that we as believers still struggle with at times.

Being born again implies not only starting over, but giving up reputation, position, advantage, and progress. It is going back to square one, erasing all our hard work.

Being born again also means we have nothing, no resources, nothing to contribute, nothing to fall back on, and nothing to hide behind. It is an exposure of our helplessness.

Jesus doubled down on this idea later in the gospels. In Mark 10:15, He says, “Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.”

Nicodemus voices our resistance to that exposure and that surrender.

Let’s confess we sometimes operate under the notion that we will eventually reach a point where we don’t need God’s help so much. We figure someday we will have enough practice or experience to handle things, the way our kids eventually learn to feed themselves and tie their own shoes. Yes, we grow in knowledge and understanding. Our relationship with Jesus strengthens and deepens. However, we never reach independence. Being part of the kingdom of God necessitates our admission that we are powerless, that we have no agency and that we are helpless.

Nicodemus didn’t like it when Christ confronted him with that. We don’t care for it much either. But Nicodemus’s protests remind us how much we need Jesus and the power of the gospel to transform us, and not just at the moment of salvation.

And They Went Back Home

By Paula

Then the disciples went back to their homes. John 20:10

This is a stunning statement. Not on its face, but because of where it appears in the narrative. The disciples are Peter and John. They have just been to the tomb and found it empty.

And they went back home.

They saw with their own eyes physical evidence that what Jesus told them was true. He did, in fact, rise from the dead on the third day. They investigated the scene and everything made sense. They confirmed it and were confident in their conclusions.

And they went back home.

Even the shepherds who saw the newborn Jesus marveled at what they had seen and told everybody. Peter and John went home. That conveys that the experience was less thrilling than a basketball game, closer maybe to a fast food dinner.

Maybe it’s just not recorded that Peter and John were so overwhelmed by the experience they had to go lie down or something. Or maybe John didn’t want to focus too much attention on himself.

Or maybe John recorded exactly what happened, and immediately after verifying the tomb was empty … they just went back home.

Here’s the thing. We are even less impressed than Peter and John. We have the very words of God Himself, but it’s often a chore to read and study. We have access to the Maker of Heaven and Earth, but carving out time for prayer is tough. We are called to meet Him but worship is boring.

Every single day we are confronted with evidence of a risen savior at work in our lives. We benefit from His grace and presence and blessings and promises, but our days are mundane and lifeless. Maybe we’re so familiar with the story it doesn’t even register anymore. Maybe we don’t grasp what we’ve been saved from. Maybe we don’t realize why we needed salvation in the first place. Maybe we’re introverts.

Or maybe we’ve read on to Acts 4 where Peter and John are imprisoned and beaten for proclaiming that Jesus Christ raised from the dead to prove our sins could be forgiven and eternal life was possible, and we decided to keep quiet.

And just go back home.

Let These Words Sink Down into Your Ears

By Paula

“Let these WORDS sink down into your ears, for the Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men.” But they did not understand this saying, and it was hidden from them so that they did not perceive it; and they were afraid to ask Him about this saying. Luke 9:44-45

Before His death, Jesus spoke very frankly with His disciples about the coming events. He was going to be betrayed, handed over, crucified, but He would rise again after three days. Everyone who heard Him understood the WORDS He was saying, but none of them grasped the reality of them. Even as the events were unfolding before them, the disciples struggled with how things were playing out. Instead of clinging to their faith in Christ, in who He is and what they had already witnessed from Him, that faith gave way to fear for their very lives. They heard the hatred in the mob’s cries and the religious leaders’ hypocritical disdain. They saw the brutality and the scorn of the Romans. That very natural fear led to doubts about this man they had given up everything to follow. Had they misunderstood? Was this the way it was supposed to be?

Surely, some of the longest hours in their lives were those between the Upper Room to the empty tomb.

The Resurrection changed all that. The doubts and fears gave way to the boldness and fire at Pentecost and beyond. The WORDS that Jesus said became real. Things that they struggled to grasp in those hours in between made sense at last in ways that were beyond their imagination.

Even now, with the Holy Spirit living in us, with the completed canon of Scripture readily available to us and with 2000 years of church history to draw upon, we have the same trouble grasping the WORDS of Jesus.

Toward the end of His earthly ministry, He said, “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.” (Matthew 24:9) And we struggle to understand why culture is so hostile to our values.

For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. (Matthew 24:7) And yet we trust treaties and military buildups to protect us and depend on science and technology to fix everything else.

And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. (Matthew 24:12) We’re still shocked at scandals that reveal the depth of our self-absorption and misogyny.

Jesus told us these things would happen, and now we are living in the in-between time like the disciples in those hours between crucifixion and resurrection. We wrestle with questions – Why doesn’t God do something? Is He even paying attention? Why is everything a struggle?

But when He comes again, and He will just as surely as He resurrected, everything will make sense. The questions and the frustrations will melt into worship and affirmation that He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. His words will be fulfilled in ways outside the bounds of our imagination.

“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

Peace. He has overcome. We’ll know exactly what those WORDS mean. Just a little longer.

Telling FAQs

By Paula

And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe. John 19:35

What do you tell?
What you have seen, experienced.

What do you include?
The truth.

How do you tell it?
Confidently, because you know it is true.

Why do you tell it?
So that someone else may believe.

So, do we hesitate to tell about Jesus
Because we HAVEN’T seen or experienced. or
Because we DON’T know it’s the truth, or
Because we DON’T want others to believe, or

Is it some other reason?

Do You Believe This?

By Paula

Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?” John 11:25-26

Martha was grieving.
Her brother was dead.
Maybe unexpectedly. Maybe young.
And Jesus had arrived too late.

Or so it seemed.

Jesus is never too late.
He isn’t limited by our timetable.
Or our expectations.

Martha was looking for a miracle-worker.
She had miracle-worker level faith in Jesus.
He challenged her to go farther, deeper.

What He had done for Lazarus and for her and for Mary and anyone else who believes was a miracle so far beyond healing or raising someone from the dead.

Do you believe this?

Martha did.

The Promise of a Prophet

What Nicodemus Teaches Me about Being Born Again

And They Went Back Home

Let These Words Sink Down into Your Ears

Telling FAQs

Do You Believe This?

Encounters Series

Covenant of Trust Series

Foundations Series