(11) John

Life:

His name was John. The Hebrew translation is Yochanan which means "God gives grace".

He had a brother named James and together they are known as the sons of Thunder. There is some speculation that he may have been a cousin of Jesus but that can not be confirmed. His father's name was Zebedee and his mother's name was Salome. John, James, Zebedee, Andrew and Peter were all co-workers in the same fishing area (Luke 5:10, Mark 1:20). And since it says they had hired help apparently their work was prosperous. Later on his life though he may have stayed in the city of Jerusalem due to the fact that he was charged by Jesus to look after his mother (John 19:25-27). He replaced Jesus in the family. His brother James was the first of the Apostles to die of martyrdom around 42 AD. Peter was arrested around the same time. These two events meant John would have to watch Mary all by himself.

Beliefs:

Nothing is really said about his belief but being associated with Andrew who followed John the Baptist it's a small doubt he was hearing some stories from Andrew about the coming Messiah.

Attitudes:

John had a little bit of an ego problem. There are a couple of passages that shows he would ask to get special treatment simply because of who he was or what he was associated with. Mark 9:38 and Mark 10:35-41

• 9:38, "Teacher," said John, "we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us."
• 10:35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. "Teacher," they said, "we want you to do for us whatever we ask."
• 36 "What do you want me to do for you?" he asked.
• 37 They replied, "Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory."
• 38 "You don't know what you are asking," Jesus said. "Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?"
• 39 "We can," they answered. Jesus said to them, "You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with,
• 40 but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared."
• 41 When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John.

These bold statements show how much ego he had. To actually ask the Christ to be able to take such an important chair in heaven shows a lot of chutzpah to say the least. Not many other quotes from John or other major stories about him are recorded. He has a few appearances in Acts but all of them are with Peter. After the 8th chapter of Acts we do not hear about him ever again by any other writer except once by Paul in Galatians. This date was probably around 35 AD.

His Life Changing Experience:

When Jesus took three people with Him to a high mountain, He chose Peter, James and John; a loud mouth and two sons of thunder. When they got to the top of the mountain Jesus' appearance changed right before their eyes. Jesus was met in the air with Elijah and Moses. They all three were terrified and fell down before Him. Jesus told them not to be afraid and NOT TO TELL ANYONE. Again He took with him a loud mouth and two sons of thunder (noise makers) and told them not to tell anyone. How hard it must have been for these three to keep their mouth shut. From here on out until the Resurrection John is mentioned more and he picks up a nickname: the Disciple whom Jesus loved.

His importance:

Now of course this next part of the story will be a little fabricated because no one knows exactly what John went through in his last few years but the implications were fabulous. Most scholars would say that John was last of the Apostles to die. Most would say that he died an old man around 90. Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD by the Romans. John went on to Ephesus to live and where tradition says he would die after his imprisonment. Scripture says he was on the island of Patmos, a prison, when he got his Revelation and his Gospel visions to write. But consider this: most people think that since John lived the longest and died of natural causes that God must have loved him more than the rest. Now it does say that he was the disciple whom Jesus loved. But John lived until he was at least 90...in prison, with hard labor, alone. All the other Apostles that he knew had died long ago. Not only died but got to die for Jesus' name. He had no one left to help him. One can envisioned him crying out to God, "why can't I die for you?", "why am I left here alone?". Where was John's glory? He took care of Mary for Jesus. He was the closest to Jesus. All the others got to travel and spread the news, dying for the greatest cause of mankind. But John? He died alone. No glory in this life. No doubt Jesus loved John the most. No doubt he left John here not to receive glory upon the earth but maybe John did get that seat next to Christ like he asked for. John's glory was not here on earth. His was to be one of the greatest in heaven. All because he was the most faithful companion out of all them (John 19:25-27). John was a man revolutionized by God's love.

(10) Timothy

Life:

His name was Timothy which is Hebrew. The Greek translation is Timotheos and means "honoring God".

 

He was from a place called Lystra, which was in what we know as Turkey. This is where his mentor of faith, Paul, first meets him. This meeting may perhaps may have set his life in motion and caused him more suffering, yet more honor, than anything else in his life. Timothy's family is mentioned in the New Testament. It is said that he had a mother and grandmother of Jewish faith and his father was Greek. Nothing else is known about his father. Many think he was dead by the time he met Paul. This is probably why Paul took him under his wing so easily.

Beliefs:

Apparently Timothy in his younger days followed in his father's culture because it is said that he was uncircumcised and if he followed Jewish custom this would have happened in the 8th day of his life. But it seems as though he started to follow his Jewish roots as he was grew a little older. The women in his family influenced him from birth. Paul circumcised him personally. Which is another reason to believe that his father had died.

Attitudes:

Here is where Timothy's story comes in to play. He was young, compared to Paul (1 Timothy 4:12). When Paul calls him this it is around 64 AD and this had been 20 years after Paul had picked him up as a companion. He was respected in his community. He was compassionate (Philippians 2:20-22) and committed to his work (Hebrews 13:23-24). But he was timid at times and showed some fear for Paul had to remind him not to be like that (2 Timothy 1:6-7). The question is why was he in fear. This fear may have been a cause of his sickness that Paul mentions (1 Timothy 5:23). Somewhere along his life he had developed an attitude that needed strengthening. And in the end he made it. Timothy may have been the last face of a companion that Paul saw before his execution. Timothy may have stayed with him until the end.

 

His Life Changing Experience:

Back in Lystra, when Timothy was still with his grandmother and mother, he may have seen something that scared his young mind. In Acts 16 Paul meets up with Timothy and takes him under his wing. But it's probably not the first time Timothy saw Paul. In Acts 14 Paul goes to Lystra and preaches but some of the Jewish faith (Timothy's own people) found Paul and stoned him so much that they thought he was dead. This could be anywhere from 5-10 years earlier than when Paul takes Timothy as his student and son in the faith. Timothy may have seen this stoning with his own eyes. Paul was stoned for his faith and now wants Timothy to travel with him, and at such a young age, 20 years earlier than when Paul actually calls him young. Maybe his sickness and his timidity started here when he witnessed what his future may have to be if he followed this man. This may have haunted him his whole life.

 

His Importance:

Timothy at the first stage of his life was a man with a shadow. He had a history darkened by one event. Later in life he becomes an emissary, an apostle if you will (1 Thessalonians 2:6). He becomes a church leader, the lead pastor, but not the preacher (1 Timothy 1:3-4). And because of his calling, Paul tells the NT Church what to look for in leaders. Some historians have him living from 17-80 AD. If that is the case, then he met Paul when he was around 25 but may have witnessed the stoning at the age of 15. History and the Roman Catholic Church will name him the 1st Bishop of Ephesus. Tradition says he was trying to break up a pagan ritual where they stopped him, dragged him through the street and, yes, stoned him to death, making him a martyr and instead of a man with a shadow he became a man with a reason!

(9) Peter

Life:
His Hebrew name was Shim'om Bar Yochanan, which means Simon son of John in English, or if we want to get modern, Simon Johnson. Jesus changed Shim'on's name to Kefa. This is translated into Greek as Cephus and in Latin as Petros. This is where we get Peter. All of those names mean "rock".

He was born in the town of Bethsaida, lived in a town called Capernaum, but worked in an area called Galilee. Which is odd because he may have known Jesus for 25-30 years living so close to him. He had a brother named Andrew. He was married (Mark 1:29-31). But she is never mentioned, so we do not know if she was still alive or not. His occupation was a fisherman. And that of which he may have been quite successful since he had his own employees (Luke 5:2-10). He was not highly educated. (Acts 4:13) This will cause many to believe that he did not write the 1st book of Peter due to the sophistication of the writing. Technically they are probably correct. It was hand written by Silas (1 Peter 5:12) but it was dictated by Peter, which should be sufficient enough.

Beliefs:
He was not a follower of Christ at first. He was one of the few that had been listening to John the Baptist occasionally (John 1:35-42) but he wasn't easily convinced. It took a lot of events to seriously change his mind. Since he had heard John the Baptist, he knew of what the Messiah was going to be but he probably never knew it would happen in his life time.

Attitudes:
The first thing we see from Peter is that he was outspoken. This comes across every time we read about him (Mark 8:29-33). At times he sounded like a smart mouth who needed to be put in his place. He acted on impulse. This caused him to be very inconsistent with his thoughts and actions. Just when you think he understood the meaning of his life he does something stupid and it leaves you wondering why he did what he did. (Mark 8:27-33, 14:27-31).


His Life Changing Experience:

Peter's brother was Andrew and was apparently a follower of John the Baptist. Andrew had been listening to John who had this important message: the Messiah is coming. Andrew knew of the Messiah's coming and was waiting. Peter had other things to do like run his business. Even when Christ was told about to Peter by Andrew we can see he still didn't believe until this life changing experience. Christ once told Peter after a bad night of fishing to go back out and try again. Peter, even though knew this was Jesus who Andrew had told him about, didn't want to do it. Most people think he was just obeying the Christ. But listen to what you read in Luke 5:3-9

• 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
• 4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch."
• 5 Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets."
• 6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.
• 7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
• 8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!"
• 9 For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken,

If Peter was just following the Master's command and believed, then why would he fall at the knees of Jesus after the catch? It is not until he sees this miracle that he starts to believe. Verse 5 shows the smart mouth side of him. He's not saying, "because I believe I will do it". He is saying in a sarcastic response, "Because you o' mighty one (yeah right) tell me to then by all means let's do it". He was astonished at what he saw. And then he fell to his knees and realized who was in his presence. But even then he will revert to his old self time and time again.

His Importance:

Peter will become the leader of the group. He at first becomes part of Jesus' small group (the 12). He will become part of Jesus' inner circle (the three: James, John and Peter). And he will become the Rock that Jesus restores and calls on to be the leader of his church. Historically the Roman Catholic Church will bestow upon him the title of the first Pope. He was a man who no one expected to be the man he ended up being. Simon, the smart mouth fisherman from Galilee becomes the Rock, messenger of the Almighty God.

(8) The End of the Beginning, Genesis 46-50

We have seen the beginnings. Throughout Genesis we have read about the perfect become imperfect due to man's ambitions, obsessions, unfaithfulness and pride. But through all of the shortcomings of man we also see that one thing hasn't changed from the beginning; God is faithful and His promises are always fulfilled. Sometimes they aren't done in our timing or our liking, i.e., Isaac didn't want to be sacrificed, Jacob didn't want to be picked, the whole lifespan of Josephs' younger years. But in the end, it all works out for the good for those who love Him. That is why Paul wrote a little passage in the book of Romans 2000 years later:

• 28 and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and who have been called according to His purpose.

The question remains though, if He calls you will you answer like Abraham or run like Jacob?

(7) To Forgive, Divine, Genesis 37-45

The rights of the first born included things like headship of the tribe or family and a double portion of the inheritance. But it was a common practice for a father to give that right to the firstborn of the wife he loved more. Joseph happened to be the former. His brothers resented that because Joseph was number 11 in line. But if you read about his brothers they forfeited their inheritance rights by their own actions. Reuben committed incest. Simeon and Levi committed murder. And in short, the rest plotted against Joseph which showed their hearts were not what God wanted to use. For the time being Joseph would be the deliverer of his people.

We also read that Jacob is the man of God who is ready to be used. The final sign of this was the changing of his name to Israel. The word "Israel" means "protected by God". This was a covenant. The name change is a permanent sign by God. Jacob will no longer try and make a deal with God. he knows he will be protected. There are no more ifs.

Joseph probably had the most to complain about more than any other character in the Bible, possibly enough to even be compared to Job. But he never lost his focus. He never lost his relationship with God. And that is odd knowing how wishy-washy his father was with the relationship with God. Somehow Jacob must have installed Abraham's and Isaac's beliefs on him. God never forgot about Joseph either. He made him prosper even in the "pit" of his life. If we hold on to this truth, Never will I leave you, then life can be what we want it to be. The problem is we don't acknowledge God in many situations except the hardships. He is knocking on the door but it is up to us to let him in.

After 22 years of separation and a lot of time to let his anger burn against his brothers, we never hear of such an emotion coming from Joseph. Even when he had the opportunity to get revenge, his compassion showed in the end. Many time we can't do that. His brothers tried to kill him and he forgave them. but we can't even forgive if someone says one harsh word that doesn't even mean anything in the end.

To forgive is divine, but it should also be human.

(6) Wrestling With God, Genesis 25-34

The life of Jacob is probably misunderstood by most people. When we think of Jacob we remember the saying, "The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob". So we think Jacob was a man of God and lived his life according to God's Word. But did he? Let's examine periods of his life and make a conclusion.

1. Born with a twin brother, but when Jacob came out he was grasping on to Esau's heel. This was a prophecy about how these two brother's would struggle with each other their whole lives. Even in the womb Jacob and Esau struggled with each other.
2. Jacob's name means "deceiver". What a horrible name to give to your child, but apparently it will fit his life very well.
3. When the boys were becoming of age, Esau came in to get food since he was hungry from his work. Jacob deceived his brother into forfeiting his birth rite. And when it came time to get his inheritance he deceived his own blind father by pretending to be Esau. Would a man of God use deceit like this just for an inheritance?
4. When Jacob went to go work for his uncle and to find a wife he tried to deceived his uncle as well. It failed this time but he still tried to use his skill as a liar.

There are other passages that can be used to see the true character of Jacob, but when it comes down to it, Jacob had no idea who God really was. Jacob was a man who knew what he wanted, but it was not God. God uses him however to start the nation of Israel.

When Jacob meets his wives he is well into his 70's. He agrees to work for her love for 7 years but is tricked by his uncle into working 7 more. By this time he is an older man but God still had not unleashed His plan completely to Jacob. Sometime God does not move because it is not the right time yet. Or it is because we have chosen to move in another direction away from God. Jacob was good at fleeing. He fled Esau after tricking him. He fled his uncle after obtaining his wives. But most of his life he fled from God. Each time he fled he needed to reconcile with the one he fled from. But to reconcile a man so stubborn, a man needs to be broken.

When we read the story about Jacob wrestling with God it's hard to understand why God couldn't overpower him. This is a translation problem. When we read this we are probably thinking more on the lines of physically overpowering him. But, it is probably more on the lines of breaking Jacob's stubborn will. We know Jacob now as being bull-headed, deceiving, and out-spoken. Apparently he had not learned that God should be in control. So God gave him something to remind him for the rest of his life, a torn hip socket. God will get through to us one way or another. The question is will we let Him do it the easy way or the hard way?

Often in life we think that our struggle is with a situation or another person when it is ultimately with God. The only time our struggles end is when we completely surrender to God. Jacob's name was changed to Israel, which means protected by God. Jacob should no longer live like a man of deception but live like a man who is protected by God.

It took him his whole life but when he finally recognized his struggle was with God, he changed. The promise of Israel and a Messiah was now finally ready to move ahead. Great things can happen when we let God do what He can do without our stubbornness getting in the way.

(5) A State of Confusion, Genesis 11:1-32

After Noah was chosen to recreate civilization with a second chance one would think that humans would remember what the wrath of God meant if you did not follow His instructions. But unfortunately for the human race stupidity comes naturally and we still follow our own desires. The 11th chapter of Genesis is another lesson on human stupidity. The true meaning behind this lesson is how God told man not to settle into one place. If you read chapter 9 you will see that God gave strict orders of how man was supposed to fill the earth. Staying in one place was no a choice. But man took it anyway.

• 1 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.
• 2 As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.
• 3 They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.
• 4 Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth."
• 5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building.
• 6 The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.
• 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other."
• 8 So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city.
• 9 That is why it was called Babel —because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

Man did not listen to the instruction of God so He confused our languages. If you read into it, not only did He confuse our language, He scattered the human race Himself. How did man get everywhere even on remote islands and three major landmasses? God did it. Not evolution. This passage tells us of the original sin of Adam and Eve, following our own desires, trying to become like God. Remember that is how the serpent tricked Adam and Eve. He said they would be like God. Here we have the same sin, and the same penalty---separation. This time from each other.

In this short lesson we actually learn even more about ourselves. Over the thousands of years that have passed since this event, many false interpretations have come out of it. Here are two of them:

1. Since Ham was cursed and his descendants became the African races and the Bible says they would become slaves to their brothers then it gives the "Europeans" the right to own slaves
2. Since God separated the "races" here that means He didn't want any intermixing of races.

These two misinterpretations are the main reasons why we racism today. Unfortunately we are taught, programmed and/or raised with some of these feelings. Slavery is not an institution created nor condoned by God. Racism is a form of murder. If this is not believable then you need to read Matthew 5:21-26. Murder is any feeling of hatred towards your brother. The other misconception about interracial couples starts off false because it is not about race. It is about language. The only thing God says not intermarry with is another religion! Plus different languages does not mean a different race. If that was true then German is a race. English is a race. French is a race. Or Swahili is a race. Bantu is a race. White is NOT a race. Black is NOT a race. Only different amounts of melanin. If this was the true case then anyone of German decent marrying anyone of English decent must be committing sins. No. Human stupidity.