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...the Bible tells me so:
“It’s Not Fair!”
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Have you ever heard the expression: “I know that you think that you understand what I said; but what you heard is not what I meant”?
How often it is that we think that we know what the scriptures say; how often it is that we are certain as to what they mean.
When Jesus was issuing some final instructions to Peter, He told him of his fate:
“I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” (John 21:18 NIV)
The apostle
John explained (as he often did in his story of the Lord), “Jesus said this
to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God” (verse 19).
From church tradition, we learn that “lead[ing] you where you do not want to
go” meant to death in Emperor Nero’s
What Jesus said next to Peter is of utmost importance: “Follow Me!” (verse 19) However, it was not what Peter understood.
“Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, ‘Lord, who is going to betray You?’) When Peter saw him, he asked, ‘Lord, what about him?’ ” (verses 20-21)
Did you hear Peter’s cry, “It’s not fair!” Just like siblings, Peter seemed to want John to “get his,” too. What Peter should have heard were the words, “Follow Me!”
John continued, “Jesus answered, ‘If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow Me’ ” (verse 22).
Remember that John and his brother James had asked Jesus to sit at His right and left hands when He comes in His kingdom. Jesus told them that they must suffer as He would suffer (Matthew 20:20-23; Mark 10:35-40). James died early in the history of the Lord’s church (Acts 12:1-2).
At the close of his Gospel, John explained why he was still alive, some sixty years after Jesus predicted John’s painful fate. Indeed, John lived many years after Jesus’ death, though not without suffering. His writings (John, 1-3 John and Revelation) show the difficult struggles with false teachers and with persecution against God’s people.
Yet, many today have the same flawed notion that others in the early centuries of Christianity had, namely, that John would never die. Is John two thousand years old? A new Guinness world record!
Listen to John describe the very common mistake of “I know that you think that you understand what He said; but what you heard is not what He meant!” He explained, “Because of this, the rumor spread among the brothers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; He only said, ‘If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?’ ” (verse 23)
Did you hear that? Jesus did not say that John would not die. Jesus said, “What is that to you, what I chose for John?”
We must be careful not only to listen to what God says, but also to understand the message that He placed in His words. Any passage of Scripture can be misconstrued or twisted into some teaching completely foreign from God’s intent.
As we study the Bible, we must always decide to discover what God means when He says what He does. We must never appropriate His words. His saving message is far too important to misunderstand.
John concluded His book with these words, “This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true. Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.” (verses 24-25)
“It’s not fair” for someone else to turn you away from the simple truth of God’s word. Jesus is very fair. He expects all of us to follow Him.
Answer to last week’s riddle: “Who am I?”: The Whale! (Genesis 1:21; Job 7:12; Ezekiel 32:2; Matthew 12:40 KJV). This riddle was published over a hundred years ago.
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