51 and he saith to him, `Verily, verily, I say to you, henceforth ye shall see the heaven opened, and the messengers of God going up and coming down upon the Son of Man.'
And he dreameth, and lo, a ladder set up on the earth, and its head is touching the heavens; and lo, messengers of God are going up and coming down by it;
and he said, `Lo, I see the heavens having been opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God.'
And it cometh to pass, in the thirtieth year, in the fourth `month', in the fifth of the month, and I `am' in the midst of the Removed by the river Chebar, the heavens have been opened, and I see visions of God.
And I saw the heaven having been opened, and lo, a white horse, and he who is sitting upon it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness doth he judge and war,
And having been baptized, Jesus went up immediately from the water, and lo, opened to him were the heavens, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon him,
And there appeared to him a messenger from heaven strengthening him;
and Jesus said, `I am; and ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of the power, and coming with the clouds, of the heaven.'
And suddenly there came with the messenger a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying,
After these things I saw, and lo, a door opened in the heaven, and the first voice that I heard `is' as of a trumpet speaking with me, saying, `Come up hither, and I will shew thee what it behoveth to come to pass after these things;'
`I was seeing till that thrones have been thrown down, and the Ancient of Days is seated, His garment as snow `is' white, and the hair of his head `is' as pure wool, His throne flames of fire, its wheels burning fire. A flood of fire is proceeding and coming forth from before Him, a thousand thousands do serve Him, and a myriad of myriads before Him do rise up, the Judge is seated, and the books have been opened.
`I was seeing in the visions of the night, and lo, with the clouds of the heavens as a son of man was `one' coming, and unto the Ancient of Days he hath come, and before Him they have brought him near. And to him is given dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, and all peoples, nations, and languages do serve him, his dominion `is' a dominion age-during, that passeth not away, and his kingdom that which is not destroyed.
Then doth the Devil leave him, and lo, messengers came and were ministering to him.
`For, the Son of Man is about to come in the glory of his Father, with his messengers, and then he will reward each, according to his work. Verily I say to you, there are certain of those standing here who shall not taste of death till they may see the Son of Man coming in his reign.'
and lo, a messenger of the Lord stood over them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they feared a great fear.
and no one hath gone up to the heaven, except he who out of the heaven came down -- the Son of Man who is in the heaven. `And as Moses did lift up the serpent in the wilderness, so it behoveth the Son of Man to be lifted up,
and as they were looking stedfastly to the heaven in his going on, then, lo, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, `Men, Galileans, why do ye stand gazing into the heaven? this Jesus who was received up from you into the heaven, shall so come in what manner ye saw him going on to the heaven.'
and to you who are troubled -- rest with us in the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven, with messengers of his power,
and, confessedly, great is the secret of piety -- God was manifested in flesh, declared righteous in spirit, seen by messengers, preached among nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory!
are they not all spirits of service -- for ministration being sent forth because of those about to inherit salvation?
who shall suffer justice -- destruction age-during -- from the face of the Lord, and from the glory of his strength,
And Jesus responded to them, saying, `The hour hath come that the Son of Man may be glorified; verily, verily, I say to you, if the grain of the wheat, having fallen to the earth, may not die, itself remaineth alone; and if it may die, it doth bear much fruit;
And Jesus, having come to the parts of Cesarea Philippi, was asking his disciples, saying, `Who do men say me to be -- the Son of Man?' and they said, `Some, John the Baptist, and others, Elijah, and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.' He saith to them, `And ye -- who do ye say me to be?' and Simon Peter answering said, `Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.'
henceforth, there shall be the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of the power of God.'
And it came to pass, while they are perplexed about this, that lo, two men stood by them in glittering apparel,
Jesus answered, `Verily, verily, I say to thee, If any one may not be born of water, and the Spirit, he is not able to enter into the reign of God;
`Verily, verily, I say to you, He who is believing in me, hath life age-during;
verily, verily, I say to you, If any one may keep my word, death he may not see -- to the age.'
`Verily, verily, I say to you, He who is not entering through the door to the fold of the sheep, but is going up from another side, that one is a thief and a robber;
Jesus, therefore, said to them, `Verily, verily, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread out of the heaven; but my Father doth give you the true bread out of the heaven;
and Jesus saith to him, `The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven places of rest, but the Son of Man hath not where he may lay the head.'
Jesus therefore responded and said to them, `Verily, verily, I say to you, The Son is not able to do anything of himself, if he may not see the Father doing anything; for whatever things He may do, these also the Son in like manner doth;
`Verily, verily, I say to you -- He who is hearing my word, and is believing Him who sent me, hath life age-during, and to judgment he doth not come, but hath passed out of the death to the life. `Verily, verily, I say to you -- There cometh an hour, and it now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and those having heard shall live;
Jesus answered them and said, `Verily, verily, I say to you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw signs, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were satisfied;
Jesus answered them, `Verily, verily, I say to you -- Every one who is committing sin, is a servant of the sin,
verily, verily, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his lord, nor an apostle greater than he who sent him;
verily, verily, I say to you, he who is receiving whomsoever I may send, doth receive me; and he who is receiving me, doth receive Him who sent me.' These things having said, Jesus was troubled in the spirit, and did testify, and said, `Verily, verily, I say to you, that one of you will deliver me up;'
and in that day ye will question me nothing; verily, verily, I say to you, as many things as ye may ask of the Father in my name, He will give you;
verily, verily, I say to thee, When thou wast younger, thou wast girding thyself and wast walking whither thou didst will, but when thou mayest be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another will gird thee, and shall carry `thee' whither thou dost not will;'
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on John 1
Commentary on John 1 Matthew Henry Commentary
An Exposition, With Practical Observations, of
The Gospel According to ST. John
Chapter 1
The scope and design of this chapter is to confirm our faith in Christ as the eternal Son of God, and the true Messiah and Saviour of the world, that we may be brought to receive him, and rely upon him, as our Prophet, Priest, and King, and to give up ourselves to be ruled, and taught, and saved by him. In order to this, we have here,
Jhn 1:1-5
Austin says (de Civitate Dei, lib. 10, cap. 29) that his friend Simplicius told him he had heard a Platonic philosopher say that these first verses of St. John's gospel were worthy to be written in letters of gold. The learned Francis Junius, in the account he gives of his own life, tells how he was in his youth infected with loose notions in religion, and by the grace of God was wonderfully recovered by reading accidentally these verses in a bible which his father had designedly laid in his way. He says that he observed such a divinity in the argument, such an authority and majesty in the style, that his flesh trembled, and he was struck with such amazement that for a whole day he scarcely knew where he was or what he did; and thence he dates the beginning of his being religious. Let us enquire what there is in those strong lines. The evangelist here lays down the great truth he is to prove, that Jesus Christ is God, one with the Father. Observe,
Jhn 1:6-14
The evangelist designs to bring in John Baptist bearing an honourable testimony to Jesus Christ, Now in these verses, before he does this,
Jhn 1:15-18
In these verses,
Jhn 1:19-28
We have here the testimony of John, which he delivered to the messengers who were sent from Jerusalem to examine him. Observe here,
Jhn 1:29-36
We have in these verses an account of John's testimony concerning Jesus Christ, which he witnessed to his own disciples that followed him. As soon as ever Christ was baptized he was immediately hurried into the wilderness, to be tempted; and there he was forty days. During his absence John had continued to bear testimony to him, and to tell the people of him; but now at last he sees Jesus coming to him, returning from the wilderness of temptation. As soon as that conflict was over Christ immediately returned to John, who was preaching and baptizing. Now Christ was tempted for example and encouragement to us; and this teaches us,
Jhn 1:37-42
We have here the turning over of two disciples from John to Jesus, and one of them fetching in a third, and these are the first-fruits of Christ's disciples; see how small the church was in its beginnings, and what the dawning of the day of its great things was.
Jhn 1:43-51
We have here the call of Philip and Nathanael.