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Questions 2 Day 4 All Roads: Digging Deeper

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Digging Deeper Days

Finding the original intent of Scripture and making good application to our everyday lives as we become equipped to correctly handle the Word of Truth!

Yesterday’s Journey Study connects with today’s!
Check out All Roads!

The Questions

1)  How is Jesus the way?

2) How is Jesus the truth?

3) How is Jesus the life?

John 14:1-7

“Don’t let your heart be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am you may be also. 4 You know the way to where I am going.” 5 “Lord,” Thomas said, “we don’t know where you’re going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you know me, you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

Original Intent

1) How is Jesus the way?
The disciples to whom Jesus is speaking in this passage had grown up learning the Old Testament Law; it was as familiar to them as the back of their hands and formed the rhythm of their everyday lives. God gave the Law so His people would understand that He is holy while they were not. He knew He would give Himself as the perfect fulfillment of every aspect of the Law, but until that day, the Law was a constant reminder that people were separated from God’s holiness because of their sinfulness. This passage in John is where Jesus begins explaining that this whole fulfillment of the Law thing is about to go down differently than any of them imagined. Jesus’ words were fairly confusing for these men, which is what Thomas expresses with his question in verse 5. Jesus wanted His disciples to understand that no one could be righteous on their own, He alone could give them access to God because of His own righteousness. Jesus was the only way the disciples could enjoy eternity with God, and it had nothing to do with keeping the Law, because none of them could do that perfectly. In order for the disciples to access this righteousness and be able to bring others into God’s kingdom, they first had to understand that Christ alone was the only way. Jesus’ word choices were always purposeful and often had historical meaning. When He said “I am the way”, the statement “I am” traces all the way back to Exodus 3:14, when God is speaking to Moses and says, “tell the Israelites that I AM has sent you”. Jesus is stating He is the very same God Almighty who spoke to Moses and He alone is the way to attain righteousness.

2) How is Jesus the truth?
Jesus is the complete fulfillment of the Old Testament Law. He did not come to abolish the Law, but to perfectly fulfill it on our behalf. The Law was necessary to show us how far away from holy we are. It showed us what Holy looks like. In Jesus, the fullness of truth was fleshed out as He lived on earth. While this might seem obvious to us, having the fullness of truth dwell in a flesh and blood human being was a big change for the disciples. The Law was complex, with rules for pretty much every aspect of life. There were certain procedures and strict requirements for everything from food preparation, eating, cleaning themselves, to conducting business and atoning for their sins. It must have been exhausting! The role of the religious leaders of the day were supposed to help the everyday folks understand and live according to the Law. In a way, they were the biblical equivalent of Google or Siri. If people had a question or a sin they needed help with, they’d go ask the local priest or rabbi for instruction or clarity. When Jesus said, “I am the Truth”, all that confusion was instantly erased. No one else was needed to interpret what they could see and hear for themselves. Here was a man who walked with them, talked with them, and ate with them; Jesus put God’s truth on display for them in real life because He was God!

3) How is Jesus the life?
John 1:3-4 tells us not only was life created through Jesus, but that “in Him (Jesus) was life”. This “life” is nothing less than eternal life, lived out in fullness with Christ Himself. Jesus spells it out a bit more clearly in John 11:25-26 when He says, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me, even if he dies, will live”. (Notice how Jesus once again uses “I am” to indicate His sovereignty.) For Jesus’ disciples, this teaching must have been mind-blowing. All the teaching, training, and rule-following they had grown up with was now being replaced, not with more rules or a different law, but perfectly fulfilled in a flesh and blood, fully divine person. With His one statement, “I am the way, the truth and the life”, Jesus wholly fulfilled hundreds and hundreds of years of impossible-to-keep regulations and rules no human could ever keep. The time for fulfillment had come, Jesus made it clear that working for your own righteousness is fruitless, instead, I AM is all you need!

Everyday Application

1) How is Jesus the way?
These few verses make more sense to us today than they did to Jesus’ disciples because we know the rest of the story. Jesus died for our sins, offering His righteousness for our sinfulness, and then was resurrected to new life as He forever conquered our sin and the grave. Just like the disciples, we need to be reminded there is only one way to have a relationship with God, and Jesus is that way. Jesus said, “I am THE way”, not A way or one of the ways, but THE way. The Bible is full of confirmation of this simple truth. Jesus is the way because He is God. John 1:1 tells us, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God”. Jesus is the Word; He IS God. This God died for our sins. Romans 5:8 says, “…while we were still sinners, Christ died for us”. Matthew 28:5-6 confidently reports Christ was resurrected from the dead. “Don’t be afraid, because I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here. For he has risen, just as He said.” If this seems simple, it’s because it is! Jesus made it very clear and amazingly simple, we are the ones who mess it up and make it way more complicated by adding other things, when the way is simply Jesus, nothing else is needed.

2) How is Jesus the truth?
Truth according to Merriam Webster’s Dictionary means “the body of real things, events or facts, the state of being the case, a transcendent fundamental or spiritual reality”. While I encourage us to use Bible dictionaries to define biblical words according to their original language, I share Webster’s definition of truth because many in our society have attempted to redefine “truth”. Truth cannot be changed. It is, and always will be, unchangeable; just like Jesus. Truth is not determined by what we think, what the news tells us, or what our neighbors want us to believe. We hear things like “truth is relative” or “you choose your truth and I’ll choose mine”, but this isn’t how truth works! Not to sound like a broken record, but Jesus says, “I am THE truth”. THE is a highly important word in this verse! Jesus is THE Truth, because He doesn’t change, He never has and never will. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever”. (Hebrew 13:8) While it can leave us feeling uncomfortable knowing that real truth is unchanging, leaving no room to make up our own version of truth, John 8:32 counters our fear by telling us we can personally know Truth (Jesus) and be set free through knowing Him! Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you continue in My word, you really are My disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John affirms again in John 1:17, “…grace and truth came through Jesus”.

3) How is Jesus the life?
Life is more than simply being alive. I don’t know I can fully explain what I mean by that statement in the limited space here, but our physical life, the act of our heart beating and lungs breathing is not true life. Those things just mean our bodies are functioning. Life, real honest-to-goodness life is something more, something different. This abundance of life is only discovered within the very life of Christ. Living without Jesus is simply going through the motions of existence; it’s pointless and empty. John 10:10 tells us Jesus came “so that we might have life and have it in abundance”! Yes, eternal life is a real thing, and yes, Jesus is the only way to access it, but isn’t there more? While we are here on earth, in these bodies, shouldn’t we live, I mean really live life to its fullest? What good is being alive if we fail to live fully thriving in the life of Jesus Christ? Trusting in Jesus gives us His life. In His power, we have access to living a life flooded with meaning and purpose. Alternatively, it can be a life we simply survive if we refuse to surrender to Him. We each have a choice every single day while on earth. What will you choose? Life, abundant and full, or just existing? On that day when life on earth ends, we don’t need to stop living. No! This is when all who have trusted Christ, truly experience real living in the presence of our God and Savior for all of eternity. This is the kind of living Jesus means when He says He is life!

What do YOU think?! Share Here!
Missing the connection to our other Journey Study?
Catch up with All Roads!

Digging Deeper is for Everyone!

1) Take this passage (or any other passage).
2) Read it, and the verses around it,
several times
3) Write down your questions
as you think of them.
4) Ask specific culture related questions and be ready to dig around for your answers. Google them, use www.studylight.org, or look them up in a study Bible and read the footnotes (click on the little letters next to a word and it will show you
other related verses!). (www.esvbible.org)
5) Check your applications with other trusted Christians that you are in community with and embrace the fullness of God
in your everyday!

Digging Deeper Community

Share What You’ve Learned!
Pray Together!
Join us in the GT Facebook Community!

Our Current Study Theme!

This is Questions 2 Week One!
Don’t miss out on the discussion!
Sign up to receive every GT Journey Study!

Why Dig Deeper?

Finding the original meaning is a huge deal when we study Scripture and can make all the difference in our understanding as we apply God’s truths to our everyday lives.

In our modern-day relationships, we want people to understand our original intention as we communicate; how much more so between God and humanity?!

Here’s a little bit more on why we take Digging Deeper so seriously.

Study Tools

We love getting help while we study and www.studylight.org is one of many excellent resources, providing the original Hebrew (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament) with an English translation.

Want to know more about a specific word in a verse? Click on “Strong’s Interlinear Bible” then click the word you’d like to study. Discover “origin”, “definition” and hear the original pronunciation – That Is Awesome!

Want more background? Click “Study Tools”, then pick a few commentaries to read their scholarly approach, keeping in mind that just because a commentary says it, doesn’t mean it’s true. (just like the internet :-))

Memorize It!

Download this week’s verse and make it your phone’s lockscreen!
Tap and hold on your mobile device to save.

Follow Day 2 Trust Through Tears: Digging Deeper

Leave a Comment

Digging Deeper Days

Finding the original intent of Scripture and making good application to our everyday lives as we become equipped to correctly handle the Word of Truth!

Yesterday’s Journey Study connects with today’s!
Check out Trust Through Tears!

The Questions

1) What is the “business” God has given for us to do?

2) How do we better understand God as a Groom through this passage?

3) How does God’s eternal character comfort His Bride, the Church, in verses 14-15?

John 9:1-7

As He (Jesus) was passing by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” Jesus answered. “This came about so that God’s works might be displayed in him. 4 We must do the works of him who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 After he said these things he spit on the ground, made some mud from the saliva, and spread the mud on his eyes. 7 “Go,” he told him, “wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So he left, washed, and came back seeing.

Original Intent

1) Why does Jesus connect the man’s blindness to God’s glory and Jesus’ work? (verses 3-4)
It was a common belief among Jews that sickness was a consequence inflicted by God as a result of sinfulness. This came from the incorrect interpretation of an Old Testament passage, “
Do not bow in worship to them (false gods), and do not serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me.” (Exodus 20:5) Each time this warning is recorded in Scripture, it’s tied to keeping the Ten Commandments. God is reminding Israel He cannot overlook sin because He is just. Hearts that rebel against the Lord God will be punished, and that legacy will often live on their children and grandchildren. The original passages are very clearly focused on the heart condition resulting in sinfulness, but over time, and the sway of legalism from the Pharisees, Jews stretched the consequence to mean a physical illness instead of an idolatrous heart. It’s easier to blame something physical on sin than be prompted to examine our hearts before a holy God, isn’t it? Just as in the Old Testament, Jesus is still seeking after true heart humility and this man’s blindness from birth was
neither random nor an accident. It wasn’t “by chance” Jesus met this beggar at a divinely appointed time on the roadside that Sabbath so his blindness would be the gateway for God’s glory to be revealed through
Jesus’ work.

2) What is meant by connecting “work” to “night” and “day”? (verse 4)
It’s the small words in the Bible that often mean the most. If you want to dig deeper and grow in what the Holy Spirit will teach you, pay attention to the little words of Scripture. On the heels of Jesus correcting the disciples’ theology (their understanding of God) on the blind man, Jesus takes the opportunity to teach His disciples about purpose and mission. He begins by using the little pronoun “we”.  “
We must do the works of Him who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work.” (verse 4) God Almighty, humbled in the flesh, standing before human disciples, just invited (again) ordinary people to do His divine work with Him. How unspeakable! Jesus did not come to earth to sit idly by, learn carpentry from His human father, Joseph, make good friends, and be an upstanding citizen in the ancient middle east. He came with a purpose, and He “must” accomplish it. That Greek word for must, another small word, means “bound or lashed to”. Christ was “lashed to” His purposeful work to follow the mission of the triune God. While Jesus walked the earth, there was intentional work to accomplish. When He ascended to Heaven, He continues His work of interceding on behalf of us to the Father, but our work also continues on earth through the power of the Holy Spirit. Ah, the beautiful “we”. Every believer “lashed to” the work being done in unity with the Father, Son, and Spirit. Work now, while it is light, while it is still called “today”. (Hebrews 3:13-15) For a time will come, when the Light given by the Holy Spirit will be gone as Believers are taken to be with the Lord forever, and the time to do Kingdom Work on earth will end as Jesus returns in judgement. (Philippians 2:9-12)
3) What does Jesus mean by being the light of the world as long as He was in the world? (verse 5)
As John writes in His gospel, Jesus is the “Light of men” and He was revealed as He entered the world. (John 1:4-9) In Revelation, the same author, John, describes the vision of “New Jerusalem”, which is the eternal home for all who believe in Jesus, as not needing any planetary light source. “The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God illuminates it, and its lamp is the Lamb.” (Revelation 21:22) Jesus IS the light. When He walked the earth, He was on mission to accomplish the very specific work of the divine godhead to rescue mankind. This covered every moment and every action of Jesus. His mission was interwoven into every aspect of His life from the mundane to the magnificent. When He ascended back to Heaven, He made it clear to the disciples the “we” work was intended to continue. “
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you.(…)” (Matthew 28:19-20) While Jesus was still with His disciples He gave them a heads up that though He was leaving, He would send His own Spirit to dwell within them. Through the Spirit’s power, they would continue the work He had called them into. (Acts 1:8) Also while Jesus was on earth, He taught that we also were the “light of the world”because His light is within us. (Matthew 5:14-16)

Everyday Application

1) Why does Jesus connect the man’s blindness to God’s glory and Jesus’ work? (verses 3-4)
It’s an interesting trifecta, isn’t it? One no sane human being would ever devise. We run from suffering. We plead against loss whether it’s financial, emotional, or physical. But, where we see ruin, deep sorrow, and grief curtained in black darkness, the Lord of Light and Life sees a gateway for His glory to be revealed through the work of Christ! Our sin-wrecked hearts are destined to send each of us to an eternity apart from Love and Hope with God, but God took the suffering from our sin and magnificently gave Jesus and His work on the cross as a means to bring about His glory of saving us. What is more glorious than taking what is worthless and esteeming it to the highest place of honor?! One man’s story from ancient Israel can become our anthem in everyday life. Whether it’s losing your patience with your unruly toddler, the emotional gut-punch from your teenager, the sickening grief that comes from watching a loved one die painfully, the heart-wrenching agony of knowing the one you loved walked out on you, or something else entirely, the triad remains and hope is alive. Our suffering opens the door for Jesus to do His work, and God’s glory will be the telltale trademark of our redemption stories. The question we need to ask is, will we surrender to His hand, or will we drag ourselves, and our pain, away in agonizing anger or self-demise, rejecting the Lord of Life and Love.

2) What is meant by connecting “work” to “night” and “day”? (verse 4)
How often do you wake up, do your morning thing, and remember that everything stretching out before you on is an opportunity to work with the God of the Universe?! Not everyday?! Me either! As our awareness of this reality grows, however, the quicker we are to view everything we do in life as kingdom work. This drastically shifts our perspective and gives us new meaning, purpose, and real depth to even the most mundane aspects of our lives. (1 Corinthians 10:31) Jesus said we must work while it is day. Today. This moment, and the next. The one when you are in conflict with your spouse. The hot minute when you want to scream at your toddler. The “fat minute” when your teenager acts like a teenager. The moment when your heart screams over injustice committed against you or your head hangs in shameful regret. These are all moments that fill “the day”. There is work to do here and now. There is “We” work that “must” be done. These are the opportunities to surrender to the work the Holy Spirit is actively doing in us, as we submit our will to His, and allow His work to flow through us to advance the Kingdom one moment at a time. Are you ready to work alongside the God of your heart? He’s inviting you in!


3) What does Jesus mean by being the light of the world as long as He was in the world? (verse 5)
There will come a day when the time for work will be done. The opportunity to choose to surrender one’s will and self to Jesus will close. Work for the Kingdom will cease, and Christ will summon everyone to His judgement seat where only those whose names are found written in the Lamb’s book of life will be given full access to dwell with God forever. (Revelation 20:15) Everyone else will be turned away to the “lake of fire” and eternal separation from God’s love. This should urge us forward with passion to work for advancing God’s kingdom now! Paul fervently wrote to the church in Rome, urging them to “love one another” because “…it is already the hour for you to wake up from sleep, because now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is nearly over, and the day is near; so let us discard the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.” (Romans 13:11-12) How will you choose to surrender more to God’s will today than you did yesterday? Love well, Sisters, the day’s end is near!


What do YOU think?! Share Here!
Missing the connection to our other Journey Study?
Catch up withTrust Through Tears!

Digging Deeper is for Everyone!

1) Take this passage (or any other passage).
2) Read it, and the verses around it,
several times
3) Write down your questions
as you think of them.
4) Ask specific culture related questions and be ready to dig around for your answers. Google them, use www.studylight.org, or look them up in a study Bible and read the footnotes (click on the little letters next to a word and it will show you
other related verses!). (www.esvbible.org)
5) Check your applications with other trusted Christians that you are in community with and embrace the fullness of God
in your everyday!

Digging Deeper Community

Share What You’ve Learned!
Pray Together!
Join us in the GT Facebook Community!

Our Current Study Theme!

This is Follow Week One!
Don’t miss out on the discussion!
Sign up to receive every GT Journey Study!

Why Dig Deeper?

Finding the original meaning is a huge deal when we study Scripture and can make all the difference in our understanding as we apply God’s truths to our everyday lives.

In our modern-day relationships, we want people to understand our original intention as we communicate; how much more so between God and humanity?!

Here’s a little bit more on why we take Digging Deeper so seriously.

Study Tools

We love getting help while we study and www.studylight.org is one of many excellent resources, providing the original Hebrew (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament) with an English translation.

Want to know more about a specific word in a verse? Click on “Strong’s Interlinear Bible” then click the word you’d like to study. Discover “origin”, “definition” and hear the original pronunciation – That Is Awesome!

Want more background? Click “Study Tools”, then pick a few commentaries to read their scholarly approach, keeping in mind that just because a commentary says it, doesn’t mean it’s true. (just like the internet :-))

Memorize It!

Download this week’s verse and make it your phone’s lockscreen!
Tap and hold on your mobile device to save.