First Step Leader Guide part 1 (revise)

LEADER’S DISCUSSION GUIDE

BOOK 1 : DAY 1 -10

1. Have a non-judgmental attitude.

a. In the course of discussion, some members may give answers that you, as the leader, know are wrong.

b. Don’t pounce on the answer or reprimand them – they will not want to continue participating.

c. Value the insight you are gaining into their true thoughts, that they are able to share what they think openly rather than parroting “right answers” to you.

d. Accept the answer by saying something like, “That’s an interesting point of view. What do the rest of you think?”

2. Encourage participation.

a. Some members are rowdy and assertive. Welcome their contribution but remind them to give others a chance to speak.

b. Other members are shy and quiet. Encourage them to share, but if they really don’t want to, don’t force them.

c. Try to give every member a chance to say something.

3. When summarising or concluding, highlight good answers that have been contributed and add in in sights from the leaders’ guide that the members may have missed.

Lesson Objective:

To guide the members to see that Jesus has prepared a place for us in heaven as we believe in Him.

Scripture Reading:

John 14:1-6, John 14:5, 6 & 14.

1. Answer for Question 1

Jesus promised me:

a. That there is room for me in His Father’s house (that is, God’s dwelling-place, Heaven).

b. That He is going to prepare a place for me there.

c. That He will come back and take me there, so that I can be with Him.

This promise gives me confidence that because I believe in Jesus and I belong to Him, I will surely be able to go to Heaven.

Notes:

- This confidence is not in ourselves; it is not because we are good or have done anything to earn our place in Heaven.

- This confidence is in Jesus and His Word; it is because He is good, and on the Cross, He has done everything needed to secure our place in Heaven.

- The best thing about Heaven is that God is there and we will be in a perfect relationship with Him. That relationship actually begins right now, the moment we choose to believe in Jesus and accept Him as our Lord and Saviour. Knowing God and Jesus

in our lives right now gives us confidence that that relationship will continue and extend beyond death into Heaven.

2. Answer for Question 2

Jesus is claiming to be the only way to God the Father; the embodiment or personification of absolute truth;

and the source of real, genuine, abundant, spiritual life.

Notes:

- In our pluralistic society, some of your members may find it difficult to accept that Jesus is the only way. Why can’t other religions also lead us to God? Don’t they teach us to do good?

• An illustration to help them understand this is that of a maze.

• In a maze, there is only one correct path to the centre (just like Jesus is the only way to the Father).

• Sometimes, other paths may go in the same direction as the correct path (just like other religions also teach us to do good).

• However, at one point or another those paths diverge from the correct path, and so they will not lead us to the centre of the maze (just like other religions teach us to earn our salvation, when the truth is that no amount of effort can cancel out our sin and therefore salvation must be a free gift of God’s grace).

- We tend to think of truth as statements or propositions: “The sky is blue,” “The sun rises in the east,” and so on.

• This verse tells us that the absolute or ultimate truth of existence is not a statement or a proposition; it is a person – Jesus Christ.

• There are two words for ‘life’ in Greek – bios and zoe.

• Bios is biological life – if your heart is beating, your lungs are breathing, etc., you have this sort of life.

• Zoe is spiritual life – if you are in a living relationship with God, connected to Him, then His life flows into you and you have this sort of life.

• In this verse (John 14:6), the word used is zoe. If you know Jesus, if you have Him and He has you, then you have this life, you are alive spiritually.

3. Answer for Question 3

Jesus said that:

a. There are many rooms in Heaven.

b. He has prepared a place for me in Heaven.

c. Heaven is where He is, and He will take me there to be with Him.

I know that I will go to heaven when I die because:

a. I believe what Jesus has said above.

b. I know the way to Heaven (that is, Jesus) – see John 14:4.

Lesson Objective:

To guide the members to understand that we are saved in God’s hands, and He will keep us until the end.

Scripture Reading: John 10:25-30

1. Answer for Question 1

To be Jesus’ sheep means:

a. I believe in Jesus.

b. I belong to Jesus.

c. I’m under Jesus’ protection.

d. I follow and obey Jesus.

e. I’m part of His flock (the Church)

I know I’m Jesus’ sheep because:

a. I believe in Him (John 10:26).

b. I listen to His voice (John 10:27a).

c. He knows me (John 10:27b).

d. I follow Him (John 10:27c).

e. He gives me eternal life (John 10:28a).

f. He promised that no one could take me away from Him (John 10:28b).

Since the questions for today’s devotion are quite simple and easy, you may have time to run the following activity:

Activity

- Materials: 5 blindfolds

- Ask for 10 volunteers from your members (if you have a small group, you can ask for fewer volunteers; if so, you can prepare fewer blindfolds as well).

- Divide the 10 volunteers into pairs and blindfold one of them.

- Have all the members and the five seeing volunteers stand in a large circle (or if your meeting-place is a small room, move the furniture to the perimeter if possible and have them stand around the perimeter of the room as well), leaving the five blindfolded volun teers in the circle.

- Get the five seeing volunteers to take off their left shoes and place them in the middle of the circle or the middle of the room.

- Task: The blindfolded volunteers have to retrieve their partner’s shoe based on their partner’s instructions shouted to them from the perimeter of the circle or the room. Other members can shout or make noise to interfere.

- Debrief:

- For seeing volunteers, how did you feel? Was the task easy or difficult? Why?

- What about blindfolded volunteers? How did you feel? Was the task easy or difficult? Why?

- Answers:

- Some volunteers may have found the task easy, while others may have found it difficult.

- For those who found it easy, it could be because they know each other well and can easily distinguish each other’s voices; it could be because the seeing volunteer has a very distinct voice (very loud, very high-pitched, very low-pitched, etc.); it could be because the blindfolded volunteer has exceptional hearing and/or the ability to filter out irrelevant noise.

- For those who found it difficult, it could be because

they don’t know each other well; it could be because the others were making too much noise; etc.

- Discussion: What does this activity teach us about how we, as Jesus’ sheep, can listen to His voice and follow Him?

- The better we know Jesus, the clearer we will be able to hear Him.

- There will be other voices (our own desires, the mes sages of the world, the temptations of the devil) which compete with Jesus’ voice, just like how the voices and noises of the non-volunteers disturbed and distracted the blindfolded volunteers.

- To learn to hear Jesus’ voice better, we need to put aside distractions and spend one-to-one time with Him, focusing on Him; we need to practise the disciplines of silence and solitude.

- Jesus’ voice may not come in the form of audible sound like in this activity. He may speak to us through the beauty of nature; by feelings and promptings in our hearts; through the words of those around us, such as our parents, teachers, or peers; and most importantly, through the Bible.

- Reading and studying the Bible is the most important way to learn to listen to Jesus’ voice.

- As we take in God’s Word, we get to know His consistent character and nature better and better, and will be better able to discern what He wants to say to us.

- Also, the Bible is the standard by which other means of hearing Jesus’ voice should be judged. So, for example, if you feel that you should do something, or your friends are encouraging you to do something, but

the Bible says you shouldn’t do it, go with what the Bible says.

2. Answer for Question 2

The two levels of security are:

a. He himself gives us eternal life, and no one can take us away from Him.

b. God has given us to Him, and because God is maximally great, no one can snatch us away from Him, either. Here is another activity that you could run if you have time: Add-on Activity

- Divide your members into pairs.

- Task: One person is to grip something small (like a marble, an eraser, a keychain, etc.) in his hand, while the other person tries to pry his fingers open and extract the object. Give them one or two minutes, then instruct them to switch roles.

- Debrief: Was it easy or difficult to get the object out of your partner’s hand? Why?

- Answer: The stronger the other person’s grip is, the harder it is to pry their hand open and get the object out of their grasp.

- Ask: How strong is God’s grip?

- Infinitely strong! Impossible to pry open.

- And that is why we can be sure that we are safe in His hands. Nothing and no one can take us away from Him.

3. Answer for Question 3

This gives me confidence that, as illustrated in the activity above, nothing can snatch me out of His hand.

Lesson Objective:

To guide the members to understand that when we are born again in Christ, He has changed us from within and placed us in His family.

Scripture Reading:

Titus 3:1-8, John 3:1-15 and 2 Corinthians 5:21.

1. Answer for Question 1

“Saved by God’s mercy” (v.5) means:

a. I deserve to be punished because of my sins (see the list of sins in v.3).

b. Because my sins are an offence against God who is infinite, the consequent punishment is also infinite (that is, eternal death or hell).

c. But God’s mercy means I don’t receive this extremely bad thing which I deserve.

d. Mercy cannot be earned or deserved (see v.5 – “not because of righteous things we had done…”).

i. We already deserve punishment, and no quality nor quantity of good deeds can undo that.

ii. Illustration: Imagine that I’m a great doctor. As a doctor, I save many lives every day. Considering the number of years I’ve been practising, I’ve saved hundreds of lives. One day, though, I murder someone. I get caught by the police and put into jail. When it’s my turn to stand before the judge, I say, “Judge, I’ve saved hundreds of lives, and I only murdered one person. The lives I have saved outweighs the life that I took, so you should let me go free.” Can the judge let me go free? (Wait a few seconds for the boys to answer).

iii. The answer, of course, is “No!” In the same way that many lives saved cannot outweigh one murder, our many good deeds cannot cancel out our sins. We still deserve punishment for them.

iv. Jesus took that punishment in our place when He died on the Cross, and that is how God’s mercy comes to us – we deserve punishment, but because of Jesus, we are spared.

e. So, because of God’s mercy, I escape, I’m delivered, and I’m rescued from that eternal punishment.

“Reborn by the washing and renewal by the Holy Spirit” (v.5) means:

a. The moment I chose to believe in Jesus as my Lord and my Saviour, I was born again (see John 3:1-15).

i. It is when we believe in Jesus that eternal life begins and we receive this life from Him (John 3:15).

ii. When we are first born, we are biologically alive (remember the Greek word bios we talked about in Day 2 of our devotions?).

iii. That bios life comes from our parents – they are physically alive, and they pass on that life to us

(“flesh gives birth to flesh” – John 3:6a)

iv. When we believe in Jesus, though, that’s when the Holy Spirit comes and stays in us, making us spiritually alive, giving us zoe life (“the Spirit gives birth to spirit” – John 3:6b)

v. When the Holy Spirit first gave us this new

spiritual life, that’s when we were reborn!

b. Just like a new-born baby needs to grow physically, our new zoe life needs to grow spiritually.

i. That spiritual growth is a process of becoming more and more like Jesus – this is called sanctification”.

ii. This process is what is referred to as “the washing and renewal by the Holy Spirit” (v.5).

“Justified by His grace” (v.7) means:

a. We are made right with God.

b. Once we believe in Jesus, His life is imparted to us and our sin is imparted to Him. When God looks at us, He no longer sees us as sinful. Instead, He sees the righteousness of Jesus in us (see 2 Corinthians 5:21). This is called justification.

c. Justification is by grace, meaning there is nothing we can do to earn it or deserve it. It is a free gift that God offers us because He loves us.

d. So there are three aspects of salvation or being saved: Justification, sanctification, and glorification. See the table below:

A one-time event that happens when we believe in Jesus.

Past tense – “You have been saved.”

We begin a right relationship with God.

Freedom from the penalty of sin.

A process that we undergo throughout our lives.

Present tense – “You are being saved.”

We are transformed to become more and more like Christ.

Freedom from the power of sin.

A one-time event that happens when we get to heaven.

Future tense – “You will be saved.”

We are made perfect.

Freedom from the presence of sin.

Restored to Power (pages 8-9)

Titus 3:5a – “He saved us… because of His mercy. Titus 3:7a –…having been justified by His grace…”

Titus 3:5b – “…the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.”

Titus 3:8 – “…be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good.”

2. Answer for Question 2

Titus 3:7b – “

the hope of eternal life.”

When we believed in Christ, God adopted us as His children, giving us a new status as His heirs (Titus 3:7).

Your members may give various answers about what this new status means for them personally. For example:

a. It means that I am loved as a child of God.

b. It means that I am honoured as a child of the King of Kings.

c. It means I have a place in God’s family.

d. It means I have eternal life.

e. It means I have a place in heaven.

f. It means that even when bad things happen, I can trust and hope in Him.

g. Many more.

3. Answer for Question 3

Some good things I can do to show that I am now a believer in Jesus Christ include:

a. Attending Church service, youth fellowship meetings, and Boy’s Brigade parades and activities.

b. Serving and helping in the above by leading in praise and worship, facilitating games, sharing from the Word, leading a small group, playing music, assisting with the audio-visual equipment, etc.

…having

c. Proclaiming my faith publicly by going for the next step of getting baptised.

d. Telling my friends and family that I believe in Jesus, as well as how and why I came to believe in Him.

e. Spending time with God every day, reading the Bible, praying, and growing in my relationship with Him.

f. Carrying out my responsibilities as a student, a leader, a son or daughter, and so on to the best of my ability.

g. Being kind to others, lending a helping hand and a listening ear.

h. And others.

Lesson Objective:

To guide the members to understand why Jesus is so special.

Scripture Reading:

John 1:1-14, John 10:30, Genesis 1:3, Exodus 25:8-9 and John 14:6.

1. Answer for Question 1

John 1:1-4 says that the Word:

a. Was there in the beginning – He already existed, even before the universe was created.

b. Was with God, meaning He is separate from God and distinct from God.

c. Was God, meaning He is equal to God or the same as God.

- Ask the members: “‘The Word’ is Jesus. How is it possible for Jesus to be different from God and yet the same as God at the same time?’ (Give some time for one or two members to attempt an answer.)

- Answer:

• This leads us to the Christian belief in the Trinity.

• God has revealed Himself to us in the Bible and in human history as a Trinity – one God in three persons. This is a mystery and we can’t fully understand it, but basically, the Father is God, and Jesus (“the Word”) is also God, and the Holy Spirit is also God, and they are different from each other. However, they are not three gods, but one God. [This is mostly copied from Day 2 of ‘Love is a Four-Letter Word.’]

• While we can’t fully understand it, perhaps this illustration may be helpful.

- [The illustration below is mostly copied from Day 9 of ‘Love is a Four-Letter Word’.]

• Imagine with me a two-dimensional world. (You can use a piece of mahjong paper, a whiteboard, or the surface of a table to represent this world).

• In this two-dimensional Flatland, there lives Mr Square, Mr Circle, and Ms Triangle (if you are using large piece of paper or a whiteboard, draw the shapes as you speak).

• Because their world is two-dimensional, it’s flat. For them the only dimensions are width and length, there is no height or depth.

• Ask: “Now imagine this cylinder (have a cylindrical water bottle or a can of Coke ready to help your members visualise it) wants to reveal itself to the people in the two-dimensional world. How would it appear to them?”

• Answers: If the cylinder reveals a cross-section of itself, it will appear as a circle. If it reveals a longitudinal section of itself, it will appear as a rectangle. If it reveals an oblique section of itself (think of chopping a sausage diagonally across) it will appear as an oval.

• Now, for Mr Square, Mr Circle, and Ms Triangle, one person is one shape. But now, they meet this Circle, who is the Cylinder; this Rectangle, who is also the Cylinder; and this Oval, who is also the Cylinder; but there is only one Cylinder, not three!

• Can you imagine how confused the poor Flatlanders must feel?

- Similarly, if we try to think of God as a being of great er dimensions than us, we can see that our confusion and inability to understand the Trinity is similar to the two-dimensional Flatlanders’ confusion and inability to understand the three-dimensional Cylinder.

• The Circle is not the Rectangle, the Rectangle is not the Oval, and the Oval is not the Circle. They are all different shapes. Similarly, the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Spirit, and the Spirit is not the Father. They are all different persons.

• And yet, as far as the Flatlanders are concerned, within the limits of their two-dimensional world, those shapes are all they can perceive of the Cylinder. Therefore, it is accurate to say that for them, the Circle is the Cylinder, the Rectangle is the Cylinder, and the Oval is the Cylinder. Similarly, Christians believe that the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Spirit is also God.

• Finally, in spite of the above, there is only one Cylinder, not three cylinders. Similarly, Christians believe in only one God, not three gods.

- Hopefully, this helps us understand why John 1:1 says that “the Word (Jesus) was with God, and the Word was God.”

d. Also, the universe (all of creation) was created through the Word.

i. See Genesis 1:3 – “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.”

ii. God spoke light into existence; He created light by the power of His creative Word.

iii. Thus, the Word is the source of existence for the universe and everything in it.

iv. We use words to communicate. Jesus, the Word of God, perfectly communicates who God is.

v. And God has always existed and has always been com municating. Thus, Jesus, the Word, is co-eternal with Him – “He was with God in the beginning” (John 1:2).

e. In the Word was life (zoe).

i. So not only is the Word the source of existence, He is also the source of life to every living creature – unicellular and multicellular, vertebrate and invertebrate, cold-blooded and warm-blooded.

f. In the Word was the light of men.

i. Light enables us to see and gain knowledge. The Word is the source of all wisdom and knowledge that human beings may seek.

ii. Light has moral implications of holiness and purity. The Word is the source of moral goodness, the ground or basis for objective moral values in our world.

iii. Light reveals truth. The Word is the source of rational thought, through which we are able to understand and grasp truths about ourselves, our world, and our Creator.

iv. Light reveals beauty. The Word enables us to perceive and appreciate everything that is good and beautiful in our world.

2. Answer for Question 2

John 1:12 contains an invitation to receive Jesus and believe in His name.

- The promise is that if we do so, we will then become children of God.

- We can claim this promise by choosing to receive Jesus as Lord and Saviour believing in Him for our salvation, and then remembering the promise and holding on to it when doubts and troubles come.

a. There may be times when, for example, you do something wrong. You are only human, after all.

b. After doing it, you may feel really guilty about it.

c. You may even find yourself wondering whether you’re really a Christian, if you can do such things; or how God could really love you, when you keep messing up like this.

d. So at times like that, remember this verse. Do you believe in Jesus? Have you received Him into your heart and life as your Lord and Saviour? If your answer to these questions is, “Yes,” then this verse

says that you are a child of God! Hold on to that and

stand firm on it no matter what may happen or how you may feel.

3. Answer for Question 3

The Word is Jesus.

a. “The Word became flesh” – Jesus, who is fully God, entered our world as a human being.

i. God is a spiritual being – He does not have a body, hands, feet, etc.

ii. But when Jesus entered our world, He came as one of us.

iii. He was born a baby, just like we were.

iv. He had bones, muscles, skin, and organs just like us.

v. The Word – the creative force which gave existence to the universe; the source of life for every living creature; the source of the light of wisdom, holiness, truth, and beauty; God Himself – took on human flesh!

b. “Made his dwelling among us” – Jesus didn’t stay in a luxurious palace, high above the rest of humanity at the pinnacles of power. Neither did He stay in a hermitage, far away from human habitations, deep in the inaccessible and remote areas of the wilderness.

i. Instead, He lived among us. He lived a normal life. He grew up like any normal child. He had to learn his ABC’s (or Aleph Beth Gimels, since He was a Jew and would have to learn Hebrew, not English.) He had to go to school. He had to eat three meals a day, listen to his parents, and do house chores.

ii. He did not come only for the rich and powerful, for the elite and privileged. He came for all of us, including the poorest of the poor and the weakest of the weak; the invisible, the voiceless, the outcast, and the marginalised.

iii. The word “dwelling” is skenoo in Greek, meaning “pitched a tent” or “tabernacled”.

iv. This word reminds us of the tabernacle which God instructed Moses to make after He imparted the Law to Moses at Mount Sinai (see Exodus 25:8-9).

v. The tabernacle was the place where God’s glory dwelt in the midst of His people and the place where they went to worship, and meet with Him.

vi. Today, Jesus is our tabernacle. He lives within our hearts, and He is the meeting-place between God and men (John 14:6).

Lesson Objective:

To help the members understand why Christians consider themselves responsible for Jesus’ death.

Scripture Reading:

Mark 15:1-20; Isaiah 53:6; Matthew 15:1-20; Acts 4:1, 5, & 6; John 11:45-53; Hebrews 10:12; Matthew 5:27-28; James 4:17 and Romans 6:23.

1. Answer for Question 1

Those who participated in Jesus’ death include:

a. The chief priests

b. The elders

c. The teachers of the law

d. The Sanhedrin

e. Pilate

f. The crowd

g. The Roman soldiers

They wanted Jesus dead because:

a. The chief priests were jealous and envious of His popularity and His ability to influence the people (see Mark 15:9-10).

b. The elders and teachers of the Law wanted Jesus dead because He challenged and overturned their traditions and interpretations of the Law (see, for example, Matthew 15:1-20).

c. The Sanhedrin wanted Jesus dead because (a), (b), and (c) comprise the majority of them. Other groups in the Sanhedrin not mentioned in this passage include the Sadducees (Acts 4:1), rulers (Acts 4:5), and the high priest’s family (Acts 4:6). Another reason why they wanted

Jesus dead, apart from (a)’s jealousy and envy and (c)’s perception that Jesus violated their traditions and interpretations of the Law, was the fear that Jesus would upset the political status quo and spark a rebellion against the Roman empire, which would have led to war, bloodshed, and greater oppression under their Roman overlords (see John 11:45-53).

d. Pilate didn’t want Jesus dead and actually wanted to release Him, but he gave in to the pressure of the crowd (Mark 15:15)

e. The crowd was instigated by the chief priests (Mark 15:11).

f. The Roman soldiers were obeying orders and probably thought that they were mocking and executing a rebel leader.

2. Answer for Question 2

This question elicits a personal opinion, and there is no clear-cut right or wrong answer. Each of the listed agents bears some responsibility for Jesus’ death. Listen to the answers your members share and accept those with a valid rationale.

a. The ones most immediately and directly responsible are the Roman soldiers who nailed Jesus to the Cross.

b. However, they were acting under the orders of Pilate. As he is the governor of Judea, it can be argued that he bears greater responsibility. If he truly felt that it was not right to execute Jesus, he could have stopped it, but he was afraid that the people might revolt.

c. The crowd shouted for Jesus’ blood. They caused Pilate to decide as he did, and therefore they too share the

blame for Jesus’ death.

d. The crowd was instigated by the chief priests and the Sanhedrin, and they were the ones who had plotted to put Jesus to death and then implemented their plan to do so. Therefore, they bear a large share of the blame for Jesus’ death.

e. Barabbas is perhaps the person who bears the least responsibility for Jesus’ death. He was simply there as a prisoner and had the good fortune to be released instead of Jesus. He had no choice and no say in the matter at all.

f. It might be hard for your members to understand why we should consider ourselves responsible for Jesus’ death. That event happened 2,000 years ago, they weren’t even born yet!

i. So you may have to explain to them that, as briefly explained in the write-up on page 13, the effects of Je sus’ death on the cross go far beyond the moment in which He breathed his last breath. They stretch into eternity past (Revelation 13:8 describes Jesus as, “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world”) and eterniy future (Hebrews 10:12 says that Jesus “offered for all time one sacrifice for sins”).

ii. Therefore, even though today, we are far removed in time and space from the events of the Cross, we need to understand that beyond all the political plots and conspiracies described in Mark 15:1-20 and all the decisions and choices made by various agents back then, it was for our sake that Jesus went there and laid down His life.

iii. He paid the penalty for our sins there. It is our sin which made it necessary for Jesus to die on the cross,

our mess which He came to clean up. Therefore we, too, are responsible for Jesus’ death. (If you feel that “sin” is a loaded theological word or Christian jargon which your members may not under stand, it may be good for you to facilitate a discussion on that.)

- Ask the members: What is sin?

- Answers: After listening to the members’ answers, make the following points:

• We usually think of sin as the wrong things we do – stealing, killing, lying, etc.

• However, it is also wrong things we think (see e.g. Matthew 5:27-28).

• And it is also right things which we ought to do, but fail to do (See James 4:17).

• At the heart of it, sin is not just things we think, say, and do or fail to do. It is an attitude of rebellion against God – God says, “Do this,” and “Don’t do that,” but we purposely and intentionally refuse to obey Him.

• Sin blocks us from relationship with God. Just like if you disobey your parents and rebel against them, your relationship with them will be broken; similarly, sin cuts us off from knowing God and experiencing His goodness and love.

• Furthermore, sin demands punishment. Just like if you commit a crime, you deserve to go to prison or pay a fine; if you are sinful, you have to suffer eternal death (Romans 6:23); that is, eternal separation from God, a.k.a. Hell.

• This is the punishment that Jesus took upon Himself

on the Cross so that we could be saved from it.

3. Answer for Question 3

This is how Barabbas’s release illustrates what Jesus did for me:

a. Barabbas was on death row – he was a murderer, condemned to die. In the same way, because of my wrongdoings and rebellion against God, I am a sinner, condemned to suffer eternal death.

b. Although Barabbas did not deserve to be released, Pilate released him according to the custom. Similarly, although I do not deserve it, God delivered me from condemnation according to His mercy.

c. Jesus, who was innocent, who did no wrong and did not deserve to die, was crucified instead of Barabbas. Similarly, Jesus bore the punishment for my sin instead of me.

Lesson Objective:

To guide the members to understand that the sacrifice of Christ is sufficient for all, but it is effective only for those who place their trust in Him.

Scripture Reading: Luke 23:32-43, Matthew 5:43-48, Revelation 21:1-4, Revelation 20:11-15, Genesis 37:35, Psalm 6:5, Psalm 31:17-18, Luke 16:23-24, Luke 16:22, 2 Corinthians 5:8 and Philippians 1:23.

1. Answer for Question 1

a. Jesus asked the Father to forgive the people who were torturing Him.

b. Jesus prayed this prayer because He loved even His enemies, just as He had taught us to do (see Matthew 5:43-48).

c. Jesus prayed this prayer for all those who had a hand in His death – the Roman soldiers who gambled for His clothes and mocked Him; the crowd who watched His suffering and talked about Him; and the elders who sneered at Him.

2. Answer for Question 2

Jesus promised the second criminal that he would be with Jesus in paradise on that very day. As a Christian, when you die, you will be in the presence of Jesus in Heaven. The Bible says that Jesus will come to judge the living and the dead (Revelation 20:11-15), and that those who have accepted his gift of salvation will be welcomed into an eternity of joy and peace with Him in Heaven.”

(If you have members who are not Christians, or members who are from Christian homes but you suspect they have not yet made a personal commitment to Jesus, this is an opportune moment to discuss their final destinations with them.)

- If they are not sure where they will go after they die, remind them of some of the things that we have talked about previously:

• Jesus is the only way to the Father (Day 2 of our devotions).

• If they choose to believe in Jesus, they can be 100% confident of their place in heaven, not be cause they are good, but because He is good (Day 3 of our devotions).

- Read the last two paragraphs in the write-up on page 15 with your members, taking turns to read one sentence each. Read the summary at the bottom, too – “At the cross, we stand at the crossroads to heaven or hell.”

- Gently encourage them to carefully consider committing or recommitting their lives to Jesus – to believe in Him as their personal Lord and Saviour and to grow to know Him more intimately and follow Him more closely each day.

- If there are some who indicate that they are ready and willing to take their first step in committing their lives to Jesus, lead them in the sinner’s prayer:

• Admit that you are a sinner.

• Believe that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died on the cross to pay the penalty for all our sins.

• Commit your life to Jesus, asking Him to be your

Saviour – to wash away your sin, personally, and save you; as well as asking Him to be your Lord – to help you walk in His ways, follow after Him, and live a life worthy of His name.

3. Answer for Question 3

As someone who trusts Jesus, the moment I die, I will be with Him in paradise!

Lesson Objective:

To guide the members to understand that it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Jesus.

Scripture Reading:

Matthew 27:62-28:8, Matthew 17:22-23, John 2:18-22, Matthew 28:12-15, Luke 24:10 and Mark 16:3-4.

1. Answer for Question 1

The religious leaders wanted to secure Jesus’ tomb because they remembered that Jesus claimed that He would rise again after three days (see, for example, Matthew 17:22-23 and John 2:18-22). They also anticipated that Jesus’ disciples might steal the body and proclaim that Jesus had risen as He had claimed.

In order to secure it, the religious leaders put a seal on the stone which closed the entrance of the tomb and posted a guard around it.

- The seal was probably a wax or clay seal, placed across the joint between the stone and the entrance of the tomb so that any attempt to move the stone would break it and it would be obvious that someone had tried to tamper with it.

- The guard was possibly a group of Roman soldiers, who were the elite commandos of their day. Rome’s armies had marched and conquered nations from the Rhine River in Germany to Egypt and from Britain to Asia Minor, forming an empire of over 5 million km2.

- Alternatively, the guard could have consisted of Jewish temple guards. This is supported by the fact that they reported what had happened to the chief priests and

the elders, and took instructions from them (Matthew 28:12-15).

2. Answer for Question 2

Mary Magdalene found that the stone had been rolled away from the mouth of the tomb.

- While our passage only mentions Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, from Luke 24:10 we know that the group of women included Joanna and Mary the mother of James (who may or may not be the same woman as “the other Mary”), and from Mark 16:1 we also know that Salome was with them.

- In Mark 16:3-4, the women ask each other, “Who will roll away the stone from the entrance of the tomb?”

And then they find that it has already been rolled away.

- Therefore, the earthquake and the angel of the Lord rolling away the stone (Matthew 28:2) happened before the women came to the tomb, before dawn broke. Mary Magdalene did not witness those things.

- The text does not tell us whether Mary Magdalene saw the guards. Probably their paralysis did not last long after they saw the angel roll away the stone, and they had already left the scene by the time the women came to the tomb.

Mary Magdalene also found an angel at the tomb, who appeared like lightning and whose clothes were white as snow.

The angel’s words:

- Assuaged their fear.

- Informed them that he knows that they are looking for Jesus.

- Told them that Jesus is not there in the tomb; He has come back to life, just has He had predicted.

- Invited them to look at the place where Jesus’ body had lain.

- Instructed them to tell the other disciples that Jesus is risen and will meet them in Galilee.

3. Answer for Question 3

The religious leaders tried to explain away the resurrection of Christ by instructing the guards to spread a false rumour that the disciples stole Jesus’ body. They did this because they could not believe that Jesus had really risen from the dead, it would mean that God had vindicated Him and they were wrong about Him. So, they stubbornly held on to their position against Jesus and tried their best to discredit Jesus’ disciples with this false accusation.

- Ask the members: “Does the story circulated by the guards make sense? Why or why not?”

- Answer:

• It doesn’t.

• Firstly, there were multiple guards. It doesn’t make sense that every single one of them fell asleep.

• Secondly, even if all of them fell asleep, surely when the stone was rolled away the noise and movement would have woken them up.

• Thirdly, if they were asleep, how did they know that it was Jesus’ disciples who stole the body?

• Fourthly, the disciples were depressed and demoralised by the death of Jesus. It was emotionally impossible for them to pull off such a heist.

• Fifthly, history and Christian tradition tells us that

many of the disciples were martyred for their faith – Peter was crucified upside down, James was stoned and clubbed to death, Matthias was burnt to death, etc. If the disciples had stolen Jesus’ body, surely they would have admitted to their deceit rather than standing firm in the face of death. They wouldn’t have been willing to die for a lie.

Lesson Objective:

To guide the members to see that Christ’s resurrection assures what Christ’s death secures.

Scripture Reading:

1 Corinthians 15:1-8. Please take note there are more Bible verses mentioned to read on in order to find the answers.

1. Answer for Question 1

The key elements of the gospel mentioned by Paul in this passage are:

- Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins.

- Jesus rose from the dead on the third day, defeating sin and death forever.

However, if you were telling someone the gospel, you might need to include a few other points:

1. God.

a. The gospel (good news) always starts with God.

b. Ask: “What if there is no God? What if God doesn’t exist? What would that mean for us?”

c. Answer: If there is no God, then we are all here by accident, and life is without meaning and purpose. That is bad news.

d. Even if there is a God, if He is evil, we are in trouble. He could torture us just to watch us suffer. That is really bad news.

e. Christians, though, believe that God is good. He is the greatest good and the source of everything that is good. He created us in His image out of love, so that we could know Him and enjoy Him forever. Because He created us, He imbues our lives with

meaning and purpose. This is good news!

2. Sin.

a. Ask: “Since God is good, and He created us to live lives of meaning and purpose in relationship with Him, why is it that many of us do not enjoy such a life and such a relationship?”

b. Answer: The reason is because our relationship with God has been broken by our sin.

c. We talked about this on Day 5 in this series of devo tions, do you remember?

i. “At the heart of it, sin is not just things we think, say, and do or fail to do. It is an attitude of rebel lion against God – God says, ‘Do this,’ and ‘Don’t do that,’ but we purposely and intentionally refuse to obey Him.”

d. Sin blocks us from relationship with God. We cannot have a relationship with someone whom we actively reject and passively refuse to listen to.

e. Sin must be punished.

i. There are short-term consequences and long-term consequences to sin that we will have to face in this life.

ii. For example, if you steal something and get caught, a short-term consequence may be that you have to go to jail. A long-term consequence

may be that you find it hard to get a job after that, with the stigma of a criminal record.

iii.But beyond that, there are eternal consequences to sin that we will have to face beyond this life –eternal death (Romans 6:23), that is, being separated from God forever in Hell.

3. Salvation.

a. This is where the two key elements that Paul men tioned in 1 Corinthians 15 come in.

b. Even though all of us have rebelled against God and deserve punishment, God still loves us and He sent Jesus to save us.

c. Jesus lived a perfect and sinless life, succeeding where we failed.

d. He then died on the cross for our sins, giving up His life so that we might live (1 Corinthians 15:3).

i. This divine exchange – Jesus’ life for our lives, Jesus’ perfect righteousness for our sinfulness – is described in 2 Corinthians 5:21 – “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”

ii. This divine exchange may remind your members of Barabbas, who was released instead of Jesus although Jesus was innocent and he was guilty (see Answer for Question 3 in Day 5 of these devotions).

e. Not only did Jesus die on the cross for our sins; He

didn’t stay dead! On the third day, God raised Him back to life (1 Corinthians 15:4).

i. By resurrecting Jesus, God validated and verified Jesus’ claims that:

1. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, the only way to the Father (John 14:6, Day 1 of our devotions)

2. He is one with God the Father (John 10:30, Day 2 of our devotions)

ii. Not only that, but God vindicated Jesus. Death

on the cross was the most painful and humiliating way to die; it was the death of the lowest slaves and most heinous criminals. By resurrecting Jesus, God proclaimed that He was innocent of all the false accusations that the elders and chief priests had tried to pin on Him.

iii. As mentioned in the last paragraph of the devotion on page 19, the resurrection also indicates that God approved of Jesus’ sacrifice and accepted His pay ment of the penalty for the sin of all humanity. In His death and resurrection, Jesus dealt with and defeat ed sin once and for all.

iv. And as proclaimed a little later in this passage, in 1 Corinthians 15:54, “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” In His death and resurrection, Jesus also dealt with and defeated death once and for all.

v. For this reason, if you choose to believe in Jesus and you belong to Him, you don’t have to be afraid of death anymore because you know that you will go to heaven after you die, and you know that the Conqueror of death can and will bring you there.

Notes:

- You might notice that when Paul writes about Jesus’ death on the cross, he says that it happened “according to the Scriptures,” and he repeats this phrase when he writes about Jesus’resurrection.

- If you have the time, you may want to delve deeper into this with your members.

- You could read and discuss Isaiah 53:1-7 and Psalm 22:16-18 with them.

• Point out the specific word “pierced” in Isaiah 53:5, which is a clue pointing to the way Jesus was nailed to the cross.

• Point out also the detail that the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 “did not open his mouth” (verse 7), just like Jesus stayed silent in Mark 15:5 (Devotion Day 5).

• This prophecy was written about 700 years before Jesus.

• Point out the specific word “pierced” again in Psalm 22:16, this time even more specifically to the psalmist’s hands and feet.

• Point out also the detail that the tormentors gambled for the sufferer’s clothes (Psalm 22:18), which is exactly what happened to Jesus in Luke 23:34 (Devotion Day 6).

• This psalm was written by King David, which puts it about 1,000 years before Jesus!

- You could read and discuss Jonah 1-2 with your members as well.

• This Old Testament reference to Jesus’ resurrection is not as direct and clear as the references to His crucifixion mentioned above.

• Nevertheless, whilst the story of Jonah is mostly opposite to the life of Jesus, yet it is parallel with the death and resurrection of Jesus.

• Jonah refused to preach repentance to Nineveh (Jonah 1:1-3). [Opposite: Jesus willingly relinquished His place in Heaven and took on human flesh in order to dwell among us (John 1:14, Devotion Day 4)].

• Jonah didn’t want the Ninevites to repent. He hated them and wanted them to be destroyed (Jonah 4:2-3). [Opposite: Jesus loves us. He wants us to repent, believe in Him and have eternal life (John 3:16).]

• Jonah ran away on a boat, purposely going in the opposite direction God wanted him to go (Jonah 1:3). [Opposite: Jesus always obeyed the Father’s will (John 14:31)].

• Jonah ended up being swallowed by a big fish, and was in the fish’s stomach for three days (Jonah 1:17), during which he repented of his disobedience before being vomited out (Jonah 2:10) and called once again to go to Nineveh [Parallel: Jesus was crucified, died, and was buried. He was in the tomb for three days (1 Corinthians 15:4) before He was resurrected].

• While this parallel may seem a bit indirect to us, Jesus Himself pointed to Jonah’s story as a sign pointing to His death and resurrection (see Matthew 12:38-41).

2. Answer for Question 2

515 to 517 or more people saw the resurrected Christ:

- The twelve disciples of Jesus, also known as the apostles, here simply, “the Twelve,” including Peter = 11 =people

• Peter is specially singled out because Jesus specially appeared to him (Luke 24:34). But he is a member of the Twelve, and so does not increase the number of people who saw Jesus.

• That number is 11 even though they are called the Twelve, because Judas had betrayed Jesus, left the group, and eventually hanged himself (Matthew 27:5).

- “More than 500 of the brothers” = more than 500 people

- James, the brother of Jesus, who did not believe in Jesus when Jesus was alive (John 7:3-5) but became a pillar of the Church after the resurrection (Acts 15:13) = 1 person

- “All the apostles” – since Paul has already mentioned the Twelve, this refers to other peoples who are also considered apostles, such as Barnabas (Acts 14:14-15), Apollos (1 Corinthians 4:6, 9), possibly Andronicus and Junia (Romans 16:7, but read the footnote), and maybe others = 2 to 4 or more people

- Paul himself = 1 person

- (11) + (more than 500 )+ (1) + (2 to 4 or more) + (1) = 515 to 517 or more people.

3. Answer for Question 3

These post-resurrection appearances of Jesus are emphasised because they are proof or evidence that God raised Jesus from the dead. This proves His resurrection because: a. He definitely died.

- The Romans were not amateurs in the practice of killing people. As mentioned in Devotion Day 7, they were the elite soldiers of their day. There is no way they could have mistakenly taken Jesus down from the cross while He was still alive.

- When they wanted to break the legs of those being crucified so that they would die faster, they found that Jesus was already dead (John 19:31-33).

- To confirm that Jesus was dead, a soldier pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, and blood and water flowed out (John 19:34-35).

• This was because Jesus had lost a lot of blood when He was flogged (John 19:1).

• As a result, His heart would have been working hard to pump what little blood still remained in His body.

• This rapid heartbeat would have caused fluid (plasma) to gather in the membranes around the heart (the pericardium) and around the lungs (the pleura).

• That is why when the spear penetrated Jesus’ heart and lungs, blood and water (plasma)

flowed out.

• This confirmed that Jesus had died. He could not have lived with a bleeding hole in His heart and lungs.

b. Furthermore, Jesus was buried.

- Joseph of Arimathea interred Jesus’ body in his own new tomb and closed the entrance with a big stone (Matthew 27:57-60).

- Therefore, even if somehow, Jesus did not die on the cross, had He been revived in the tomb, He would have had no way out and would have died inside there anyway.

c. So for Jesus to be seen alive by so many people after He definitely died is truly amazing. There are a limited number of possible explanations for this:

i. All the witnesses were lying

• It is highly unlikely that more than 515-517 people could all lie in such a coordinated and coherent way about something like this. That would be a massive conspiracy and would have required impossible levels of collaboration and communicative discipline.

• Furthermore, as mentioned in Devotion Day 7, many of Jesus’ disciples were martyred for their faith. It would have been emotionally impossible for them to hold on so tenaciously to their proclamation of Jesus’ resurrection if they knew it was a lie.

• Therefore, this hypothesis fails to explain the postresurrection appearances of Jesus.

ii. All the witnesses were hallucinating

• Hallucinations require a certain psychological state, some times aided by drugs. There is no evidence that any of the witnesses were in such a state.

• The witnesses saw Jesus in many different places and situations – at the empty tomb (John 20:10-18), walking along the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus (Luke 24:1332), in a locked room (John 20:19-23), at the seaside (John 21:1-14). This makes hallucination very unlikely.

• James and Paul were people who did not even believe in Jesus, therefore they had no reason to hallucinate about Him.

• Therefore this hypothesis also fails to explain the postresurrection appearances of Jesus.

iii. All the witnesses mistook someone else for Jesus

• Perhaps this might be possible for the 500 brothers, which was a large crowd.

• But how could Jesus’ 12 disciples, who had walked with Him and talked with Him for three years, misidentify Jesus?

• And how could James, Jesus’ own brother, misidentify Jesus?

• The intimate knowledge that they had of Jesus makes it impossible that they mistook someone else for Him.

• Therefore, this hypothesis, too, fails to explain the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus.

iv. Jesus rose from the dead

• As every other explanation fails, the only remaining valid explanation for these appearances of Jesus after He had died on the cross is that He really did rise from the dead!

Notes:

- 1 Corinthians 15:1-8 is actually one of the oldest and best sources we have about the resurrection of Jesus.

- 1 Corinthians was written around 55AD, about 22 years after Jesus’ death on the cross.

- In this passage, though, Paul is not writing his own words. In verse 3, he wrote, “For what I received, I passed on to you as of first importance…”

- These lines about Jesus dying for our sin, being buried, and raised on the third day are not from Paul himself.

They are an older, pre-existing Christian creed that Paul has received and is quoting.

- Because of that, some Bible scholars believe that this passage can be dated within 5 years of Jesus’ death.

- Whilst 5 years may seem long to us, in terms of historical timelines, it is very, very short.

- For comparison, when we look at other historical figures such as Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great, the lapse of time between the events of their lives and the earliest written source is more than 100 years!

- 5 years is so short that there was not enough time for legends and myths to form.

- Many of the eyewitnesses were still alive when Paul wrote his letter (1 Corinthians 15:6) and could confirm what they had heard, seen, and experienced.

- Therefore we have very good reasons to believe that Jesus really did rise up from the grave, conquering sin and death forever. Hallelujah, Jesus is alive!

Lesson Objective:

To guide the members to recognise our God as a triune God.

Scripture Reading:

1 Peter 1:1-5 and Hebrews 9:22.

1. Answer for Question 1

To save me, God the Father chose me according to His foreknowledge (1 Peter 1:2), showed me His great mercy (1 Peter 1:3a), gave me new birth into a living hope (1 Peter 1:3b), and shielded me with His power (1 Peter 1:5).

2. Answer for Question 2

Two things Jesus did to save me are: He sprinkled me with His blood (1 Peter 1:2) and He gave me a living hope through His resurrection from the dead (1 Peter 1:3). These things are important because:

- By sprinkling me with His blood, Jesus saved me from my sin.

• We have talked about sin and how it blocks us from relationship with God and condemns us to eternal separation from Him (a.k.a. Hell) in Devo Day 5 and Devo Day 8.

• How can we deal with our sin or get rid of it?

• Some people and some other religions say that we j ust have to try our best not to sin and to do good works instead. However:

- Problem 1: This does not erase the sins we have already done.

a. Do you remember the illustration of the

murdering doctor that we talked about in Devotion Day 3?

b. Even though a doctor may have saved hundreds of lives, and only murdered one person, the lives he has saved cannot outweigh the one he has taken.

c. In the same way, our many good deeds cannot cancel out our sins. We still deserve punishment for them.

- Problem 2: No matter how hard we try, we cannot be perfect.

a. If you put in your best effort, you may be able to decrease your failure rate – and that is a good thing.

b. But the fact remains that, whether you fail 1%, 10%, or 50% of the time, there will still be times when you fail.

c. And this means that the total amount of sins that need to be dealt with or gotten rid of never decreases – it keeps increasing. If we try really hard, maybe it only increases very slowly; but it’s still increasing.

- So the only way to deal with sin is, it must be punished. The penalty must be paid; then only can the record of sins be cleared.

- That is why Hebrews 9:22 says, “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.”

- And that is what 1 Peter 1:2 is referring to with the sprinkling of Jesus’ blood.

• By His death on the cross, Jesus took that punishment and paid the penalty for our sins.

• It is by His blood that our sins have been dealt with once and for all!

- By His resurrection from the dead, Jesus saved me from death.

• We have talked about how Jesus has defeated and conquered death by His resurrection from the dead in Devo Day 8.

• Because of this, as 1 Peter 1:3 says, we have a living hope.

i. This hope is alive; cannot be killed or extinguished.

ii. The death and resurrection of Jesus is a bedrock truth that we can stand on and that will never change.

iii. Even if the worst things happen to us – if we fail our exams, or can’t get into the course of study that we wanted to, or we or someone we love falls seriously ill, or any other horrible, terrible things happen to us – the fact that Jesus has saved us from sin and death will always remain true.

iv. Therefore, even if in this life, we may face very dark and difficult experiences and undergo great suffering and sorrow, in the midst of it all we can continue to hold on to Jesus and the hope that He gives us.

3. Answer for Question 3

The cleansing work of the Spirit refers to the process of

sanctification, or being made holy, or being transformed to become more and more like Jesus.

- We talked about this process in Devo Day 3. See the table there describing the three aspects of salvation: justification, sanctification, and glorification.

- In a sense, we have already been saved (justified) be cause Jesus has already paid the penalty for our sins on the cross, and He has already conquered death, and we have already begun to know and love God as we ought to.

- But in another sense, we are still being saved (sanctified) because we are far from perfect and sin still rears its ugly head in us from time to time.

- The truth that Jesus has already dealt with our sin and saved us needs to be translated into the reality of our lived experience every day; that victory that He has won for us on the cross needs to be translated into a transformed and victorious life.

- An Analogy: It’s like you are in a prison cell, and actually the door has been unlocked, but you are still staying inside the four walls of the cell.

• So the truth is that Jesus has paid the price for our sins and He has won the victory for us on the Cross (we have been justified). That is like the truth that the prison door has been unlocked.

• But we still have to go through the process of healing being transformed to become more like Jesus, learning to resist temptation, and so on (we are being sanctified). That process is like the process of opening the door and stepping out of the prison cell.

• Some of us only manage to get one leg or one hand out of the prison cell in this life. It’s alright. As long as we keep progressing, walking with Jesus, in the end, when we are finally with Him, He will pull us all the way out of prison. That is when we will finally be made perfect in heaven (we will be glorified).

- So, let’s persevere in undergoing “the cleansing work of the Spirit” (1 Peter 1:2)!

Lesson Objective:

To guide the members to understand that no one can fathom the greatness of God, but we can know God personally through Christ.

Scripture Reading:

John 14:4-11, Mark 14:36, Matthew 6:9-13, John 1:14, and Hebrews 4:15.

1. Answer for Question 1

Jesus describes His relationship with God as that of a son with his father. He also equates Himself with God (“Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father”, John 14:9), so it is a relationship of equality and oneness. Jesus also says that He is in the Father and the Father is in Him, a relationship of interpenetration that we will take a closer look at in Question 3.

Notes:

- The Greek word “patera” is quite correctly translated as “Father” in this passage.

• Another word that Jesus used, especially when praying to the Father, was “Abba” (e.g. in Mark 14:36).

• Abba is from Aramaic, and it is an intimate term of endearment, more like “daddy” or “papa” than the formal word, “father”.

• This underscores the closeness and love between Jesus and the Father; a closeness and love that we too can experience today, for Jesus taught us to also address God as our Father (e.g. in the Lord’s Prayer, Matthew 6:9-13).

- Jesus’ claim of being equal with the Father describes their relationship as persons within the Trinity.

• This was discussed in Devo Day 4.

• Just as the Circle can rightly say to the Flatlanders, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Cylinder,” Jesus can rightly say to us, “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.”

2. Answer for Question 2

According to Jesus, we can know God personally by knowing Jesus personally.

- Sometimes when we think about who God is, He is so big and so different from us that it may be difficult for us to connect with Him on a personal level.

• He is infinite, we are finite; He is omnipotent, we are weak; He is omniscient, we are ignorant; He is morally perfect, we are sinful; etc.

• God is so much greater than us that a chasm seems to separate us, and for us to know Him seems more difficult than for a bacterium or an ant to try and befriend a human being.

- Jesus, though, is not just close to us; He is one of us.

- As we talked about in Devo Day 4, “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us” (John 1:14).

• He knows and understands every weakness and every struggle we go through, every emotion we experience, every temptation we face; because He has gone through the same thing.

• As Hebrews 4:15 says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to feel sympathy for our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in

every way, just as we are – yet He did not sin.”

• Therefore, it is very easy for us to come to Jesus and get to know Him personally. We can be absolutely sure that He is with us, He understands us, and He is on our side.

• As the last sentence of the write-up on page 23 says, “When we look to Jesus and listen to what He has said, we can know the unknowable.”

3. Answer for Question 3

When Jesus said, “I am in the Father and the Father is in Me” (John 14:10-11), He was claiming that:

- They are interpenetrated, each dwelling within the other, such that while they are distinguishable (Jesus is different from the Father and the Father is different from Jesus), they are inseparable (they are One).

- Analogy: Think of a cup fully immersed in water. On one hand, the cup is full of water – the water is in the cup. On the other hand, the cup is fully immersed – the cup is in the water.

• This is an analogy of physical objects, to help us conceptualise how two things can be said to be within one another.

• Jesus and the Father, though, are not objects; they are persons. What might interpenetration mean for persons?

- Analogy: Think of a husband and wife who know each other so well that in certain situations, they know each other’s thoughts and feelings and can anticipate each other’s reactions without saying a word.

• To the extent that the husband can know what the

wife is thinking and feeling without asking her, he has her within him. He knows her so well that his inner concept or understanding of her is identical to who she really is.

• And vice versa for the wife knowing her husband’s thoughts and feelings.

- Of course, these analogies are not perfect, and the relationship between persons in the Trinity is a mystery that we cannot fully understand. But perhaps they may give us a kind of glimpse into what Jesus meant when He said this.

- Jesus Himself also explained a little bit more about this.

• He claimed that when He speaks, it’s not just Him speaking. Because God dwells in Him, and He says only what God works within Him to say, it’s actually God’s Word that He speaks (John 14:10).

• Similarly, this claim also means that when Jesus does miracles, it is not just Him, but God working in and through Him. That is why He puts forward His miracles as a proof of His interpenetrative relationship with the Father (John 14:11).

Acknowledgment

Writers:

Dave Branon, Anne M. Cetas, Dennis J. DeHaan, Mart DeHaan, Richard W. DeHaan, David C. Egner, Vernon C. Grounds, Cindy Hess

Kasper, David C. McCasland, Haddon W. Robinson, David H. Roper, Herb VanderLugt, Joanie Yoder

Study Guide: Sim Kay Tee

Graphic Design: Tham Mary, Sam Goh

Cover Photo: Alex Soh

Interior Photography: Alex Soh, Stock.xchng

Scripture taken from the New International Version, copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, by Zondervan Publishers, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Questions, answers, and notes written by Kiew Sieh Jin.

© 2023 Our Daily Bread Ministries. All rights reserved.