BIBLE STUDY LESSON 05
SERIES T --- THE ADONAI OF LIFE
IF YOU LOVE ME
IN THE UPPER ROOM
From John 14
While Yeshua was with the apostles in the Upper Room, He spoke with them concerning the future. [Set your minds and hearts at ease,] Yeshua told them. [Keep on trusting YHVH and Me. The place where My Father lives has many wonderful homes, which I will prepare for you after I return there. When these are ready, I will come back for you, and take you there to live with Me forever. If this were not true, I would tell you. Now you know where I am going and how to get there.] [But we don’t!] Thomas protested. [We do not know where You are going or the way to get there.] [I am the Way, and also the Truth and the Life,] Yeshua answered. [I am the only way that leads to the Father, for no one can go by some other way. If you would have known Who I am, you would have known My Father. But from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.] But Philip said, [Show us Your Father, and we will be satisfied.] [After all the time I have been with you, do you still not know Who I am?] Yeshua asked Philip. [When you see Me, you see My Father, so why ask to see Him? Don’t you realize that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? These are not My Words, but the Words of My Father Who lives in Me. The work that you see Me do is really My Father’s work, which He does through Me. Believe Me when I tell you that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me. If you find that hard to believe by words alone, believe it because of the miracles you have seen Me do. Whoever believes in Me shall do not only the miracles which I have done but even greater ones, for I am going away to be with My Father. Whatever you ask Him in My Name, I will do it to bring honour to the Father. Ask anything in My Name and I will do it! [If you truly love Me, you will obey Me, and I will ask My Father to send the Comforter to remain with you. I speak of Ruach HaKodesh, Whom the world cannot accept, for it does not perceive Him or recognize Him. But you do, for He is with you now and will dwell in you some day. I will not leave you here alone like helpless orphans in the world, but will return to you. I will first leave the world in a short time, but will still remain in your presence, for I will live again as you will. When I rise from the dead, you will realize that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I in you. Whoever obeys Me shows his love for Me. Because he loves Me, My Father will love him, as I will, and I will make Myself known to him.] Judas {not Judas Iscariot} said, [Adonai, why will You reveal Yourself to us alone, and not to the whole world?] [I reveal Myself only to those who love Me and obey Me,] Yeshua answered. [A person who loves Me follows Me, and My Father will love him and We will come and live with him. But a person who does not obey Me shows that he does not love Me. This answer comes from My Father, not from Me. I tell you these things while I am with you, but Ruach HaKodesh Who is coming will become your Teacher and will remind you of all that I have told you. [I leave the gift of peace with you, much different from the so-called peace that the world offers. Order your troubled hearts to relax and take your fears away. Remember that I have told you that even though I go away, I will come again. Be happy for Me that I go back to My Father, Who is greater than I am. I am telling you these things now before I leave so that when they happen you will believe in Me. [I cannot talk much longer with you, for the evil prince of this world approaches. Although he has no power over Me, I must do exactly what My Father wants to show My love for Him. Now come! Let us be on our way!]
COMMENTARY
JERUSALEM AT YESHUA’ TIME
The Jerusalem that Yeshua knew was far different from the city David ruled a thousand years before. David’s city covered only the slopes of the Ophel ridge, while New Testament Jerusalem had grown to several times that size. The hills that once guarded the northern and western approaches now stood inside Jerusalem’s walls. Only the Mount of Olives remained outside the city’s boundary on the eastern side. If King David could have returned to the Jerusalem of Yeshua’ day, he would have admired the magnificence of Herod’s temple. Its gleaming white marble walls stood much higher than those in the temple of David’s dreams. From its position at the top of Mount Zion it dominated all of Jerusalem. The Jews boasted that no one knew the meaning of true beauty until they had seen the temple of Adonai. Enormous stone bridges spanning the Tyropoeon Valley connected the temple with the upper city. Herod’s lavish palace and the mansions of Jerusalem’s wealthy and most important families looked down from the top of Mount Zion. In the valley below, merchants and craftsmen sold their wares in the open shops that lined the narrow alleys of Jerusalem’s marketplace. Visitors from many nations made up the crowds that passed through the busy streets of the city. But in spite of all the growth and activity, King David would have been saddened by the sight of a foreign army marching through Jerusalem’s streets. The Roman soldiers garrisoned in the Antonia fortress were a constant reminder of Jerusalem’s submission to Caesar.