Eric Anderson

[0:00] Come right ahead, Eric. By the way, when you're concluded, you can just finish the service. Okay, you won't. Thank you. Well, good morning. Yes, I might add I'm single-handedly keeping the economy going myself.

[0:15] It's a whirlwind tour, to say the least, and I'm still amazed at the music that comes out of a box with a couple pieces of metal wire. Absolutely gorgeous this morning.

[0:27] Well, this morning's message I started a few months ago. I started working on it. It attracted my interest, and what I would like to do is run through a little bit of a Bible study because I've always felt very comfortable here because of any place where you want to search the Scriptures and search them daily to find out what is true.

[0:49] This local church is the place to do it in. Now, this morning we will be doing, however, a little bit of finger-walking through the Bible just to keep up and keep track because I want to prove Scripture with Scripture.

[1:03] Okay? And the first place I'd like us to turn is to 2 Timothy 3 and verse 16. All Scripture is given by the inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

[1:26] All Scripture. And then if you would for me as well, let's go to 1 Corinthians 2, 4 and 5.

[1:38] And my speech and preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and power, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

[2:00] Now, I don't know about you, but I get a little bit of time. We watch a little bit of television, and if you'll notice, a lot of the TV shows today end up being mystery-type television shows, a number of criminal-type things that you look at.

[2:16] And one just always really attracted me, and I look at it. I love the way they do it. They start out with a crime, and they end up trying to find who did it by way of developing a profile of that person.

[2:31] Well, we have an unsub in Scripture, or at least I found it, an unknown subject. No crime was committed, but what we want to do is find out and search the Scriptures to see if it can give us some information on that.

[2:47] Now, one of the things that we look at is when we go to, and if you would turn with me to John, and what I'd like to do is go to chapter 13 and verse 23.

[3:03] This is the beginning of when we're going to see our unknown subject. Okay? Now, there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved.

[3:20] Now, as we go through this study, one of the things you're going to find is, is we're going to find a whole different relationship being developed here. It's not us loving Christ, but it's Jesus loving someone.

[3:35] Okay? And then what we run into is a struggle between tradition and what Scripture says. And I found out a great dose of that myself last evening.

[3:49] We shared this with some friends. It's amazing the interest that you can develop and the heat that can be created in a discussion.

[4:00] In any case, what you're looking at here is a disciple. Now, what's a disciple? A disciple simply means a follower or a learner in the Greek.

[4:10] Okay? It's not necessary to be an apostle. An apostle had to be picked by Christ. Okay? A disciple is just a follower. So we see here, this is the disciple that Jesus loved.

[4:26] Again, it's a unique situation, to say the least. And he's set apart from most other of the disciples, simply because of the way Christ has positioned him.

[4:40] And the word, the, brings out that it's singular. It's one disciple that he's talking about. And Jesus loved him. Boy, what a position to be in. You know, imagine yourself trying to introduce yourself to someone else as, I'm the one that Jesus loved.

[4:59] Wow. Pretty amazing. Now, this man is referred to a number of times in the book of John. Okay? And what I'd like us to do, again, is look at this simply.

[5:14] And we're going to see, he starts out in chapter 13, verse 23. But now let's add to that. And what we're going to do is let's go over to chapter 18.

[5:26] And we're going to see him again in chapter 18, 15 and 16. And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple.

[5:44] That disciple was known unto the high priest, and went in with Jesus into the palace of the high priest. But Peter stood at the door without. Then went out that other disciple, which was known to the high priest, and spake unto her that kept the door, and brought Peter in.

[6:05] Here we see a mention of another or that other disciple. Okay? Again, being noted in the scripture as being someone different without a name.

[6:21] Now, who can this be? Let's take it a step further and go now to chapter 19, verses 26 and 27.

[6:33] When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciples standing by, whom he loved, there he is again, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son.

[6:51] Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother. And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.

[7:03] Now, what we're seeing is, I hope, we can start seeing a weaving taking place. The disciple that Jesus loved, that disciple, the other disciple, and the disciple whom Jesus loved.

[7:17] I believe we can start seeing that they're all the same person. Okay? Throughout this portion of scripture. Now, let's go to John chapter 20.

[7:30] Verse 2. Then she runneth, cometh to Simon Peter, and the other disciple. Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulcher, and we know not where they have laid him.

[7:51] Verse 3. Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulcher. Verse 4. So they ran both together, and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulcher.

[8:11] And then over on verse 8. Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulcher, and he saw and believed.

[8:25] Now, again, when we start looking at all those references, nine total references, of that disciple, the other disciple, or the disciple who Jesus loved, shows up here in the middle of John, and all of a sudden we see what I consider a weaving of one person.

[8:48] Now, who can that one person be? Now, the last mention of this disciple, he appears at one other place.

[8:59] He appears in chapter 21 and verse 7. Now, this will be the fishing trip that the seven disciples are on. Therefore, that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord.

[9:16] Now, when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher's coat unto him, and did cast himself into the sea.

[9:28] Now, he recognized, that disciple recognized Christ. He was the first one to do that, as well as being the first to believe.

[9:40] So, throughout this scripture, we see that disciple being mentioned, and yet no one seems to know who he is. And how do we find that out? Now, coming to this church, I know you know we search scripture to find scripture, to find truth.

[9:58] Let the Bible prepare itself. So, with that, what we want to do is take a look at this person called that disciple, with that designation.

[10:09] He shows up at the last Passover of Christ. He shows up at the crucifixion. He shows up at the vacant tomb. He's the first to believe.

[10:22] And he's also the first to identify Christ in his resurrected body. Now, this puts him, to me, in a special position.

[10:33] And yet, no one seems to have him identified. So, what's missing? We're missing a history. Now, the one whom Jesus loved, you would expect to have a history.

[10:47] You wouldn't expect him to meet him the day before he goes and his triumphal entry, and all of a sudden appear, and being a friend whom Jesus loved, or being known as that.

[11:03] There's only one way that we can find out, and what we need to do is search this scripture to find out. The problem is, there's no place to find it. Interesting.

[11:14] This man is very critical throughout the book of John, but there's no evidence of him in the first three Gospels. None. In fact, if you didn't read the Gospel of John, you would never know he existed.

[11:30] So, what we want to do is, let's see if we can find anyone else that Jesus loved. So, the first thing we're going to do is look up another person that Jesus might have loved, and we can find that in the book of John.

[11:46] Okay? And what we do is, we'll turn, if you would turn for me please, to John chapter 11 and verse 3.

[12:02] This is the first mention of somebody being loved by Christ. And what it is, is the recollection of Lazarus.

[12:17] Therefore his sisters sent unto him, Jesus, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. They didn't even use his name here.

[12:35] Christ would have known just through the title that he was given. Verse 5. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister.

[12:50] And here's that identified man, Lazarus. He loved him. Jesus loved him.

[13:01] Okay? Now, again, he's sick. And this is the first time that it's mentioned. As I said earlier, there's no background in any other of the three Gospels about Lazarus and that miraculous sign, or about this other or that disciple.

[13:26] Now, what we want to do is we want to continue on. Now, we can look at verse 11.

[13:39] These things said he, and after he saith unto them, our friend Lazarus. So, again, not only is he loved by Jesus, but Jesus considers him to be a friend.

[13:54] Now, again, we need a history, but we have no history of this man. He just appears at this miraculous sign. Okay? Go again to verse 33.

[14:07] When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping, which came with her, he groaned in the spirit and was troubled.

[14:19] So, you see, there's some emotion taking place of Christ over the man, Lazarus, who had died. And in verse 36, then said the Jews, behold, how he loved him.

[14:39] What I would like to take a look at is, is Lazarus the disciple whom Jesus loved? Is he that other disciple? And I think as we take a look at it, it certainly brings to a great case.

[14:55] It would be a very good identifier to have him there. Now, let's continue on to see where else we can find information.

[15:06] There's only one other place that you're going to be able to find anywhere where Christ loved someone. And that is in Mark. Okay?

[15:17] In Mark chapter 10, and in verse 21, we are going to see the story about Jesus and the rich man.

[15:33] He did everything, and Christ gave him one more thing to do, to give all of his wealth away. In verse 21, Then Jesus, beholding him, loved him.

[15:47] And he said unto him, One thing thou lackest, go thy way, sell whatever thou hast, give it to the poor, thou shalt have the treasure in heaven, and come, take up the cross, and follow me.

[16:01] And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved, for he had great possessions. Now, that's the last time that we hear of that person that Jesus loved.

[16:16] And again, they didn't consider him a disciple, or I wouldn't consider him a follower. He went away, because he couldn't follow through with the rest of what Christ had offered or asked him to do.

[16:28] So that leads us then back to only two people left that can possibly fit that bill of who Jesus loved. It's either Lazarus, or the one whom Jesus loved, which is unnamed.

[16:44] Okay? Let's take this a step further. Let's focus on Jesus' relationship. Now, if we want to find his identity, it's then logical, we have to find how this relationship developed.

[17:04] And prior to Pentecost, Jesus has no other relationship like this with any other biblical character. Let's take it back to chapter 11, verse 3 and 5.

[17:19] Okay? And what we start out with is the story of Lazarus.

[17:35] Therefore his sister sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, thou who lovest is sick. And we go through, and we see that Jesus loved him to the point where he granted him an unbelievable gift.

[17:51] He waited four days, and he raised him from the dead. Now, imagine what that did with Lazarus. Okay.

[18:09] And, just a second here, verse 3. And look what it, we'll look what he did with him as far as what it did to the Jews.

[18:37] In verse 45, we see, then many of the Jews which came to Mary and had seen the things which Jesus did, they believed on him. So what Jesus did as far as the resurrection, now the Jews were beginning to believe and they heard.

[18:57] What we want to do is compare that now to 12, chapter 12, verse 9. Much people of the Jews therefore knew that he was there, and they came not for Jesus' sake, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom they had raised from the dead.

[19:19] All of a sudden, we see Lazarus now gaining fame. People have heard. We take a look at Lazarus, and we look at the backgrounds of Martha and Mary and Lazarus together.

[19:33] Lazarus, when he died, was buried in a tomb. Now, that tomb was probably much like Joseph of Amarathia. It was a tomb with a stone in front of him, much like what Jesus would put in, which says he was probably quite wealthy.

[19:50] At the same time, we see Mary, Martha, as well, using a very expensive bottle of perfume to anoint the feet of Jesus with her hair.

[20:01] Again, leading that he was wealthy, probably pretty well known. And as in the verses prior, we see that he was well known even unto the high priests.

[20:13] Okay? So, when we go into that, now we have a well known, and with fame, Lazarus becomes next to Christ.

[20:28] He, he, oh wait, I've lost my track here. he becomes so famous that in verse 10, but the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus to death.

[20:48] Now, why were they going to put Lazarus to death? It's because what people were doing because of him, they were turning to Christ. So, now we see that person, that disciple, is also on the list, okay, to be killed.

[21:06] He was well known by the chief priests. So, people were attracted to him, and the chief priests wanted to kill him.

[21:22] Now, let's consider verse 12, 12 through 18. On the next day, much people, now this is the triumphal entry, this is our Palm Sunday, on the triumphal, on that next day, much people that were, were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna, blessed is the king of Israel that cometh on the name of the Lord.

[21:51] And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat there upon, as it is written, fear not, daughter of Zion, behold, thy king cometh, sitting on the ass's colt.

[22:03] These things understood not his disciples at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered, they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him.

[22:21] People, therefore, that was with him when he called Lazarus out of the grave, and raised him from the dead, bare record.

[22:32] And for this cause, also met him, for they heard that he had done this miracle. So, even on Palm Sunday, we see a number of people coming out, not to see Christ only, but also to see who raised Lazarus, Christ and Lazarus.

[23:00] he was drawing a crowd through fame. Now, would it be any wonder that as we move from chapter 12 to chapter 13, that we might see he want to get out of this recognition?

[23:20] salvation. Because what you want to do is he's that disciple. People were coming to see him just by hearing him.

[23:32] So, they were coming to see him.

[23:44] He had a strong influence in the community. And they were wanting to find out about how he returned from the dead.

[23:54] There's no mention of Lazarus before chapter 11, verse 1, and there's no mention of Lazarus after chapter 12, 17.

[24:07] But isn't it interesting, the minute we go into chapter 13, verse 23, we all of a sudden see the apostle whom Jesus loved.

[24:20] could it be that Lazarus now wanted to be anonymous simply because of his fame, the fact that people would look to him rather than to Christ because of what had happened to him.

[24:44] And so what we end up with is we have even more evidence that we'll be able to take and look at. In chapters 12, 1, and 2, then Jesus, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany where Lazarus was, which had been dead, whom he had raised from the dead.

[25:09] There they made him a supper, and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him.

[25:20] Now, this is the last physical time, or point where we see Lazarus seen physically, where he's actually sitting down with Christ, and it happens to be at a supper.

[25:35] In chapter 13, we see the one who Jesus loved, that disciple, sitting down, where?

[25:46] at a supper, the Passover supper, leaning on Christ's breast. Could that disciple, whom Jesus loved, be Lazarus?

[26:02] That's the question. Okay? Not only that, let's go to chapter 18, verse 15.

[26:21] And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. That disciple was known unto the high priests. Now, that disciple, remember Lazarus?

[26:36] He was known unto the high priests. Why? They already had a plot to kill him. And yet, we see that disciple, okay, again, once we pass chapter 13, we find out in the last supper, there he is, that disciple whom Jesus loved, that disciple appears again, and look at the proximity that he is with Christ.

[27:00] He's close to him. The apostles fled. That disciple was known to the high priest and went with Jesus into the palace of the high priest.

[27:15] He wasn't afraid. And as we continue on this, we're going to see that disciple shows absolutely no fear of death.

[27:26] I wonder why that would be. If about four days earlier, you had been dead for four days, and all of a sudden, came out of a tomb.

[27:40] It seems a little bit strange, doesn't it? Okay, let's continue on. But Peter stood at the door. The apostle stood at the door. He didn't go in. Why?

[27:53] Then went out the other disciple, which was known unto the highest priest, and spoke to her that kept the door, and brought Peter in. Now here we have the apostles, Peter, not known by the priests.

[28:12] Yet the other disciple was known, and known very easily, and allowed Peter to go in. And it continues on, Then saith the damsel that kept the door unto Peter, art thou not also one of this man's disciples?

[28:32] And he said, no he wasn't. Okay? Continuing on, we can go to chapter 19, verses 26.

[28:46] Now this is at the crucifixion. Everybody has left. And yet look what we see here. Now this is Jesus on the cross.

[28:59] Therefore, now Jesus is hanging on the cross. Therefore he saw his mother and the disciple standing by, whom he loved.

[29:11] He saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son. And he saith to the disciple, Behold thy mother. From that hour that disciple took her to his own home.

[29:26] Now, talk about, I would say, guts. You're standing right next to Christ. They were threatening to kill you.

[29:37] Why didn't they kill Lazarus? While he was with the high priest? Well, why would you bother killing a disciple when you can get Jesus, the leader?

[29:50] that's why I believe that they wouldn't have taken Lazarus at that trial and killed him as well. And yet, he still follows him right next to the cross.

[30:04] Jesus is hanging on the cross and able to identify that disciple. And then tells him what? That he can take his mother home.

[30:20] To his house. Now, that is someone that you would really trust and someone that you would really love. Could that someone be Lazarus?

[30:33] Not being afraid of death? Being with his friend completely? Then again, let's take a look at it one step further.

[30:45] Let's go to the resurrection. Chapter 20. Then she runneth, and this is Mary, runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulcher, and we know not where they have lain him.

[31:12] Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple came to the sepulcher. So they both ran together, and the other disciple did outrun Peter.

[31:26] Now, we used to, a few years ago, we used to do a lot of running. What would cost somebody, now, is that detail in here, that he outran Peter?

[31:37] why would you put that in there? Could it be that maybe adrenaline is causing this to take place? If it were Lazarus, you were just raised yourself, and all of a sudden somebody comes back and says a tomb is empty, would that be exciting enough to make you run a little bit faster?

[32:02] Maybe that's why this detail is in here. But it seems strange to me, why would that be of any concern? But both ran together, and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulcher.

[32:18] And he stooped down looking in, and saw the linen clothes, yet went he not in. So he gets there first, he stoops down and looks in, sees what's in there, but doesn't go in.

[32:35] He's kind of being held, that disciple is being held back from going in. Finally, Peter catches up, and what's he do?

[32:46] What Peter always does. He busts right in, and goes right into the tomb. Now he follows that disciple. Now I imagine, going into that tomb, and if this is Lazarus, what goes through your head?

[33:06] Those linens, those death burial cloths, that napkin, what's the first thing he saw when he was raised from the dead? The back of that napkin.

[33:19] Can you imagine what it felt like when he tried to get out of that cloth? And can you imagine what he felt like when they finally loosed him?

[33:29] all of a sudden we see him going in, and now notice the words that come in to these scriptures at this point. And they stooped down looking in, and saw the linen clothes lying, yet went not in.

[33:46] Then cometh Simon Peter, followed him, and he went into the sepulcher, and seeth the linen lying there. This is the second time linen is mentioned.

[34:00] And the napkin that was about his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but wrapped together in a place by itself. Then in also that other disciple which came to the sepulcher first, and he saw, and he believed.

[34:22] Now I find that extremely exciting, in the fact that he went in, and he believed. He believed what? He believed that Christ was risen from the dead.

[34:36] I believe probably because he experienced it. He understood it. What did the rest of the disciples do? The disciples went away again unto their own home, for as yet they knew not, the scripture that he must rise again from the dead.

[34:59] Yet we have that disciple what? Believing. Jesus appears to the apostles three times after his resurrection to convince them.

[35:17] Remember Thomas? He said, I won't believe until I see it for myself and put my finger in the hole? Yet this disciple looked at the linen pile and believed.

[35:33] That's the first mention of believe after the resurrection. So he believed, whereas the others had, they didn't know what was going on.

[35:43] Even as Christ was crucified, they didn't know what was happening and didn't know until later, until we get to the book of Acts. Now, in chapter 21, we get to the point of the risen Lord and we're going on a fishing trip.

[36:05] After these things, Jesus showed himself again to the disciples in the Sea of Tiberias and on this way showed himself. There together were Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus, Nathaniel of Cana in Galilee and the sons of Zebedee and two other of his disciples.

[36:29] Simon Peter saith unto them, I go fishing. They say unto him, we also go with thee. They went forth and entered into the ship immediately and that night they caught nothing.

[36:42] But when the morning was come, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Then Jesus said unto them, children, have ye any meat?

[36:54] They answered him, no. And he said unto them, cast your net on the right side of the ship and ye shall find. They cast net therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.

[37:10] Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, it is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that, he girded himself and cast himself into the sea.

[37:25] And the other disciples came in in a little ship not far away. That disciple, and I find it interesting that it keeps coming up, that same reference.

[37:40] If it's Lazarus and he's trying to show anonymity, he's there at all the strategic moments of Christ's ministry from the Passover all the way through the resurrection and we see him showing himself anonymously that way.

[38:05] Now we can also then go to chapter 20 21 verses 20 Peter then Peter turning about seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following which also leaned on the breast at supper and said Lord which is he that betrayeth thee?

[38:32] Peter seeing him saith to Jesus Lord and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him if I will that he tarry till I come what is that to thee?

[38:46] Follow thou me. Then went this saying abroad among the brethren that that disciple should not die. Yet Jesus said not unto him he shall not die but if I will that he tarry till I come what is that to thee?

[39:07] this is the disciple which testify of these things and wrote these things that we may know that his testimony is true.

[39:20] What was taking place is Peter was asking about a rumor that was going around that I believe Lazarus they were concerned or was being spread around that he wouldn't die again because he was already raised from the dead he wouldn't see another physical death and this is Christ answering him and the author of the book is now telling you how Christ answered the question to get rid of the rumor that was being spread among the brethren about this disciple that would not die that they shouldn't be concerned about it now this presents the dilemma if the disciple whom Jesus loved and we look scripture on scripture it follows back that disciple the disciple whom

[40:28] Jesus loved the other disciple if that all relates back to the same scripture of Lazarus and they're all one in the same that then concludes when we look at verse 24 who is the author of the book of John this is the disciple that testify of these things that wrote these things and we know that his testimony is true now this goes against all conventional thought I spent almost two full days researching every single commentary I could find on the computer in the library and everywhere and you look up the book of John and there's no contention anywhere everyone states the same thing now you always have to you always want to look at things and weigh them with internal evidence and external evidence everybody goes back to the same thing and

[41:46] Marvin and I had a discussion this morning it all goes back to a guy by the name of Polycarp who was a contemporary of John and he said that he wrote the book of John there's no scriptural evidence you won't find it there is no mention that John ever wrote it but where does this the disciple who Jesus loved come up with and it continues down these commentaries will write three to five pages of this line of succession of people who said that John wrote this and at the same time we find no internal evidence in scripture now we as being Bereans searching scripture and using scripture to prove truth I just pose the question to you after reading these after comparing and looking what the

[42:50] Bible says who did write the book of John it's not it's not the old joke of who's buried in Grant's tomb it's the type of thing that could there be a mistake as far as man remember the title as to who wrote the book that title is a man's invention does it matter is it going to change our salvation of course not the words are true I just find it interesting as to reading the book of John the different light that would be put on it if we look at the writer of it as being Lazarus who died was in the grave for four days came back and was at the strategic points of

[43:52] Christ's ministry to give us the information and then writes a book on Christ's deity and the ability to achieve eternal life what an authority that would be so I leave it to you read and search the scriptures yourself and see what you think and see if it makes a difference let's close in prayer please heavenly father thank you for the ability to live in a country where we can have freedom to do the searching in your scriptures we can have the freedom to share the word we can have the freedom to disagree with each other all to find out what is true for your glory so that we can continue to know what you have in store for us father be with each one of us as we finish this day put this word on our heart continue in your will in

[45:03] Christ's name we pray amen