Introduction: In a discussion with a church member on a topic about
which we disagreed, she suddenly said to me, “My father
was the president of a conference.” It was not until later
that I understood this odd and off-topic statement. She was
telling me that her opinion was important (and perhaps
right) because she was the daughter of an important man in
the church. Do we think we are right in our religious views
because of our parents or our associates? In a recent study,
the Samaritan woman at the well asked Jesus if He was more
important than Jacob. This week Jewish leaders ask Jesus if
He is more important than Abraham. What is the significance
of these relationships? Are the views of those who went
before us of value? Let’s plunge into our study of the Bible
and look at the witness of important people in the Bible!
I. Abraham
A. Read John 8:48. Assume you are in an debate with
someone and they assert that you are the essence
of evil and have bad genes. How would you respond?
B. Read John 8:49-50. How does Jesus answer this
charge against Him? (He denies that He is
possessed by evil, and then asserts that His
actions show this. Finally, Jesus makes the
response of a logician. Calling Me bad names is
simply an attack on Me, it is not a logical
argument. God will judge.)
C. Read John 8:51-53. Consider this new attack on
Jesus. Is it logical? (Part of it is. How can
Jesus say that if someone follows Him he will not
die, yet Abraham and all the prophets who
previously lived died? Jesus must be claiming to
be greater than Abraham and the prophets.)
1. If you were Jesus how would you answer this
charge?
D. Read John 8:54-56. How do you understand Jesus’
response? (He is saying that He is greater. He
personally knows God. Abraham looked forward to
the day that Jesus would come!)
1. What does it mean that Abraham “saw” Jesus
coming to earth? (Read Genesis 12:3. God
revealed to Abraham that Jesus would come.
This is a claim to be the Messiah, One
endorsed by Abraham!)
E. Read John 8:57. Does this suggest that Jesus looks
old for His age?
1. How would you view Jesus’ answer about His
relationship to God if you were one of the
Jews speaking to Him?
F. Read John 8:58-59. When you tell people that you
are older than they are, do they throw rocks at
you? What is going on here? (Jesus’ statement that
He is “I Am” brought to their minds Exodus 3:14.
Jesus explicitly claims to be God.)
G. Let’s consider the relationship claims being made.
The Jews in John 8:53 call Abraham their “father,”
and they ask Jesus who He claims to be. He
responds that He is God, the one promised to
Abraham. How should the Jews have reacted? What
should be our response? (We have two choices.
Either we believe Jesus’ claim, or we know that He
is crazy. I don’t see any other choices.)
II. Thomas
A. Read John 20:24-25. Why would Thomas have this
attitude? Did he think his fellow disciples were
all liars? Did he think that Jesus’ promise that
He would rise from the dead was a lie? (I don’t
think Thomas believed they were all liars.
Instead, I think Thomas, just like all of us, was
filled with pride. His pride was injured and he
was deeply disappointed that Jesus appeared to
others, but not to him.)
B. Read John 20:26-28. Assuming pride is Thomas’s
problem, what do you think about Jesus’ response?
(What a comfort! Jesus goes the additional mile to
convince Thomas. He does not say, “Get over your
pride.”)
C. Read John 20:29. Is this a rebuke?
D. What should we now think about Jesus saying that
He is “I Am?” Do we have sufficient grounds to
believe, rather than conclude Jesus was crazy?
(Thomas gives us rather specific proof. Not only
that Jesus is alive, but this is evidence that
Jesus was crucified. Plus we see that Thomas is a
reluctant believer.)
III. Mary
A. Read John 12:1-3. What is significant about
Lazarus eating with the group? (He is the formerly
dead guy. Jesus raised him to life.)
B. Read John 11:20-21. Recall that we previously
discussed this story in this series of lessons.
Why did Mary not come out to see Jesus? Why only
Martha?(Mary is mad at Jesus. He let Lazarus die.)
C. Read John 11:32-33. What do you think Mary thought
Jesus should say in response to her charge? (Mary
is weeping. I don’t think she is clearly thinking
this through. She just knows that Jesus let her
down.)
D. Re-read John 12:3. What does this tell us about
the change in Mary’s attitude? (Lazarus has been
raised to life by Jesus and Mary’s life has been
restored to what it was before.)
1. We started out talking about relationships.
How important is Mary’s relationship to
Lazarus as we consider her witness regarding
Jesus? (If Lazarus’s resurrection was a fraud,
if it never happened, Mary would retain her
former attitude of anger towards Jesus. This,
is a powerful witness that the resurrection of
Lazarus is real. Mary is now overflowing with
love towards Jesus.)
IV. Pilate
A. Pilate was the Governor, the representative of
Rome. Part of his job was, like a modern judge, to
hear cases. The Jewish Sanhedrin previously passed
judgment on Jesus and pronounced the death
penalty. However, the Sanhedrin lacked authority
to execute its judgment. Thus, Jesus was taken to
Pilate. Read John 18:28-29. What kind of a mood
would you be in if you were Pilate? (We are told
this was “early morning,” and the Jewish leaders
would not come into Pilate’s headquarters, so he
has to go out to them. Being an important man, I
would be annoyed.)
B. Read John 18:30. Is Pilate’s mood improving? (I
would be furious. The Jewish leaders are telling
Pilate not to do his job.)
C. Read John 18:33-34. Pilate ignores the Jewish
leaders and begins his own questioning in his
headquarters. Are things going better for Pilate?
Is he being shown respect by Jesus? (It just gets
worse. Jesus is now questioning Pilate.)
D. We are not going to review the entire trial before
Pilate. Read John 19:4-6 and John 19:11-12 to find
Pilate’s view of the charges against Jesus. How do
you think Pilate came to this view? (If you were a
judge who is used to seeing guilty people, and you
have been insulted by what is going on, what would
be your reaction? (What do I care? Execute this
disrespectful man. But that is not how Pilate
viewed this. Something has happened in his
conversation with Jesus to cause Pilate to seek
“to release Him.”)
1. Why is Pilate’s opinion so important? (Pilate
is unbiased in this controversy. He finds
that Jesus is not seeking an earthly kingdom,
this is a religious dispute – and Jesus is
innocent.)
E. Read John 19:19-22. Do you think that Pilate
believed that Jesus was the “King” of the Jewish
religion? (He could not have thought that Jesus
was a “King” who would challenge Rome, or Pilate
would have failed to do his job. Pilate’s
insistence on writing that Jesus was “King of the
Jews” means that he thought Jesus’ religious claim
was believable.)
V. John
A. Read John 21:24. Does John believe that Jesus is
God? (Yes. John tells us that we should believe
him because he has a reputation for being honest.)
B. Read John 20:30-31. What is John’s goal in writing
his book? (To convince us to believe that “Jesus
is the Christ” so that we “may have life in His
name.”)
C. Friend, do you believe? Eternal life stands before
you. Why not right now accept that Jesus is God
come to earth? You will have no more important
decision than this.
VI. Next week: Fulfilling Old Testament Prophecies.
Copr. 2024, Bruce N. Cameron, J.D. Scripture quotations are
from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard
Version ), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing
ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All
rights reserved. Suggested answers are found within
parentheses. If you normally receive this lesson by e-mail,
but it is lost one week, you can find it by clicking on this
link: http://www.GoBible.org. Pray for the guidance of the
Holy Spirit as you study.
