Issues In Perspective

Habakkuk, God's prophet, questions why God has not judged Judah for its idolatry, corruption and immorality; God's answer is surprising.

Although Jonah obeys God and preaches His message, Jonah is upset that God showed mercy and compassion to Nineveh.

From the belly of the "great fish," Jonah confesses his rebellion, repents and worships His God.

Commanded by the LORD to go to Nineveh in ruthless Assyria, Jonah goes in the opposite direction, openly defying His God.

The resurrected Jesus continues to serve as He makes breakfast for 7 of the disciples and restores Peter with the three-fold, piercing question, "Do you love me?"

The resurrection of Jesus is followed by several appearances of the risen Lord to various women and to His disciples, validating His literal, bodily resurrection.

John testifies to the final trial before Pilate, the crucifixion and burial of Jesus.

Jesus' arrest and trial before Annas and Caiaphas are followed by the trial before Pilate, who cannot find any reason to convict Jesus.

As our high priest, Jesus prays that His Father will be glorified by His sacrifice, that the Father will keep His disciples from the evil one, and that His church will manifest a unity, a unity evident among the members of the godhead.

Jesus teaches that the Spirit convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment and that He teaches and guides in all truth.

Using the analogy of a vine and the branches, Jesus challenges us to "abide in Him," a dependency on HIm that has four intended results and four key characteristics.

Jesus introduces the facets of the New Covenant Community--prayer, the Holy Spirit, the new circle of love in Christ and Christ's peace.

As the way, the truth and the life, Jesus reveals the Father and the Holy Spirit whom He will send.

In washing His disciples' feet, Jesus exhibited limitless love, servanthood and, symbolically, the washing away of sin.

As the Father speaks for the third time to His Son, Jesus then interprets His Father's words for the people and offers a theology of unbelief to explain why so many are rejecting Him as the Messiah.

In the context of Mary anointing Jesus' head and feet and the Pharisees seeking to kill both Jesus and Lazarus, Jesus enters Jerusalem on a young donkey in a triumphal manner with the crowds waving palm branches and exclaiming Psalm 118, thereby fulfilling Zechariah 9:9.

Jesus explains that "I and the Father are one," and to Martha, "I am the resurrection and the life."

Jesus declares Himself to be the Door of the sheepfold and the Good Shepherd, providing salvation for His sheep and giving them eternal life.

Jesus' giving sight on the Sabbath to a man blind from birth raises questions among His disciples, cause division among the Pharisees, and leads to the former blind man confessing Him as the Son of Man.

As Jesus teaches in the Temple, using figures of speech to move people from the temporal and physical to the eternal and spiritual, some believe, some reject Him and some wait to see what happens.

Jesus' strategy is to move people from dwelling on the physical and temporal to understanding their spiritual and eternal need; therefore, He is the" bread of life".

As Jesus offers six proofs of His deity, He also feeds the 5,000 and walks on water--further proofs of His deity.

As the Pharisees chastise Jesus for healing on the Sabbath, He explains His relationship with the heavenly Father as one of equality, interdependence and mutual honor.

Jesus challenges the worldviews of a Samaritan woman and His disciples by changing their focus from the physical and temporal to the spiritual and eternal.

Jesus, the Son of God, did not come into the world to condemn the world, but to offer it salvation.