David Richey's Bible Study Blog

 John 10:2 “But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.” I believe that here Jesus is also pointing out that the Shepherd his father is present, the presence of God the Father as an Angel. Jesus is also speaking about himself being a Shepherd having the voice of God. John 10:5 “And they will not follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers'.” I believe that here Jesus is speaking about the voice of the Shepherd which may be kind of like a loudspeaker but not easily audible to those who don't hear the voice of God.  John 10:6 "Jesus spoke this parable to them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them." Jesus said this, John 10:11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep." Jesus too is a Shepherd the presence of God here.

 If one is going to find the Shepherd in the Bible often you have to go looking for him. God does not always reveal the presence of his representative outright. Jesus says in, John 8:16 “And yet if I do judge, my judgment is true, for I am not alone, but I and the Father who sent me judge together.” John 8:17 “It is also written in your Law that the testimony of two men is valid.” Here Jesus says there are two men present. Jesus says that the Father is present, he is likely not kidding God as the Shepherd is likely present.  John 8:18 "I am one who testifies about myself, and the Father who sent me gives testimony about me'." John 8:19 "Then they said to him, 'Where is your father?' Jesus answered, 'You do not know me, or my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also'." John 8:29 "And he who sent me is with me. The Father has not left me alone, for I always do those things that please him”.

 John 2:7 “Jesus said to them, 'Fill the waterpots with water'. And they filled them up to the brim.” John 2:8 “And he said to them, 'Now draw some out, and take it to the master of the feast'. And they took it.” John 2:9 “And when the master of the feast tasted the water that had been made wine, and not knowing from where it came (but the servants who drew the water knew) the master of the feast called the bridegroom, ...” Here is the first recorded miracle by Jesus and he is making wine. I have attended many churches that teach that drinking alcohol is a sin but yet Jesus is making wine in these verses.  John 2:10 “...and said to him, 'Everyone at first sets out the good wine, and the inferior wine after men are intoxicated. But you have kept the good wine until now'.” Here the men could get intoxicated from this wine. It is obvious that Jesus didn't believe it was a sin to drink wine. 

 Luke 14:1 “And it happened when he went into the house of one of the leading Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that they watched him closely.” Luke 14:2 “And there in front of him was a certain man who had dropsy.” Luke 14:3 “And Jesus responded and spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, 'Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?'” Luke 14:4 “And they kept quiet. And he took him, healed him, and let him go,...” Luke 14:5 “...and responded to them, saying, 'Which of you who has a donkey or an ox fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?'”  It is interesting that the NIV translates the donkey in verse 5 as a son. Luke 14:5 NIV "Then he asked them, 'If one of you has a child or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it out?'" The NIV translators got the son right and here is why, the donkey means a converted demon which is what the man with dropsy was. The man had converted from ...

 This post is a continuation of the post on November 11th. Luke 8:15 “But that seed which fell on the good ground means those who, having heard the word with a suitable and good heart, keep it, and patiently bear fruit.” Here in Luke 8:15 we want to be the good ground the seed fell on which will patiently bear fruit. We do not want to be the rock where the seed fell which is described in Luke 8:13. Luke 8:13 “Those on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root. They believe for a while, and in time of temptation fall away.” In the NIV translation it described this as rocky ground. It means that those on the ground are the ones who believe enough to show fruit for a little while, “...and in time of temptation fall away.” (Luke 8:13)

 Luke 8:14 “And that which fell among thorns means those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity.” Luke 8:15 “But that seed which fell on the good ground means those who, having heard the word with a suitable and good heart, keep it, and patiently bear fruit.” We can't bear fruit unless we remain in the vine of Christ. As John 15:4 says, “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it remains in the vine, so you also cannot, unless you remain in me.” The fruit that we must bear is the fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patient endurance, kindness, goodness, faith ,... “Galatians 5:23 “... meekness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” The fruit we bear requires maturity in Luke 8:14 which comes with patient endurance from the fruits of the Spirit.  Galatians 5:24 “And tho...

 Luke 5:18  “And, suddenly, some men brought on a cot a man who was paralyzed. And they tried to bring him in and place him before him.” Luke 5:19  “And when they could not find any way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop, and let him down on his cot through the tiles into their midst in front of Jesus.” Luke 5:20  “And when he saw their faith, he said to him, 'Man, your sins are forgiven you'.” Notice what Jesus did not do, he did not say, “ look these guys just tore a hole in my roof to let this paralytic down. Sinners for tearing up my roof.” Jesus paid attention to their faith in letting the paralytic down in front of him.  Luke 5:24  “But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins (he said to the paralyzed man), 'I say to you, get up, pick up your cot, and go to your house'.” Jesus didn't say, “go to your house” the one without the hole in the roof. This is an example of healing despite ...

 Mark 15:6 "Now at that feast he used to release to them any one prisoner whom they requested." Mark 15:7 "And there was one named Barabbas. He was imprisoned with those who had rebelled with him, and who had committed murder in the rebellion." Mark 15:8 "And the crowd began to cry out and ask Pilate to do as he had always done for them." Mark 15:9 "But Pilate answered them, saying, 'Do you want me to release the King of the Jews to you?' " Mark 15:10 "For he knew that the chief priests had handed him over out of envy." Mark 15:11 "But the chief priests stirred up the people, so that he would release Barabbas to them instead." Here at the trial of Jesus the chief priests wanted to have Barabbas released because he was more of a king to them than Jesus was in the chief priest's eyes. Consider that Barabbas led a rebellion and murdered at least one other person this was more of what the chief priests sought as a lead...

 Mark 6:37 “He answered and said to them, “You give them something to eat”. And they said to him, 'Shall we go and buy two hundred silver coins’ worth of bread and give it to them to eat?'” At the feeding of the 5,000 the disciples mentioned that 200 silver coins would not likely buy enough food for each of the crowd to have a bite. Why did the disciples mention 200 silver coins if they did not have 200 silver coins in order to be able to do this? Remember that Peter, James and John had boats some of the disciples seem to have had at least 200 silver coins? Mark 6:43 “And they picked up twelve full baskets of pieces of bread and fish.” Mark 6:44 “And it was about five thousand men who ate the loaves.” After the feeding of the 5,000 the disciples also picked up 12 baskets full of broken pieces there were 12 disciples it seems likely that each of the disciples had a basket that he carried on his back. In Iraq in Operation Iraqi Freedom I saw the simple people wearing baskets that...

 Mark 5:6 “But when he saw Jesus at a distance, he ran and worshipped him, ...” Mark 5:7 “...and cried out with a loud voice, and said, 'What have I to do with you, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I plead with you by God not to torment me'.” Mark 5:8 “For he had said to him, 'Come out of the man, unclean spirit'.” Mark 5:9 “And he asked him, 'What is your name?' And he answered, saying, 'My name is Legion, for we are many'.” Some of the demons in the area likely had half a mind and these were likely the ones Jesus was trying to communicate with? Not the demoniac who called himself legion. For example during the flood it is likely that Noah's family served as the hosts for a great number of the demons in the ark since they had likely been warned by God to flee to those who were entering the ark. For example the oxen and donkeys went on to the ark, the sheep too went on the ark. Where there are sheep on the ark there is also a shepherd an Angel repres...

 Mark 4:26 “And he said, 'The kingdom of God is as if a man scatters seed in the ground,” Mark 4:27 “and night and day he sleeps and rises, and the seed sprouts and grows; how, he does not know.” Mark 4:28 “For the earth produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head.” Mark 4:29 “But when the grain shows itself ready, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come'.” This Bible Study Blog is like sowing seeds as Mark 4:27 says, “and night and day he sleeps and rises, and the seed sprouts and grows; how, he does not know.” This Blog is for the Lord's harvest.