The themes in the gospel written by John the apostle.

We've just finished the study of the gospel written by Mark.
Mark took us on a whirl wind tour of Christ's life on earth as the Messiah.
His was probably the first gospel written.

This new quarter we look at an account of the gospel written much later, after the news of the gospel had been preached in much of the Roman Empire. A new generation was on the scene that was not alive when Jesus was on earth. A lot of things had changed, including the fall the of Jerusalem in 70 AD. John, himself, who was probably the youngest of the disciples, was now an old man, the last still alive of the original twelve.

In many ways it was written for us, who never had the physical Jesus among us. We need to find and believe in Jesus by faith, not sight.
"That we may BELIEVE that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that believing we may have life in His name." John 20:30
This statement is for us.
"Jesus said to Thomas, because you have seen me, you believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." John 20:29

SIGNS
People kept asking for signs.
John 2:18 "What sign do you show to us, seeing that You do these things?
John 6:30 "What sign do you show us then, that we may see, and believe thee? what do you work?

The people want signs.
What John is pointing out is that the signs were given, they were in plain sight, BUT the people still did not believe and demanded Jesus show a sign that they specify at the time they they specify. Yet, Jesus never produced a sign at their demand. If they had eyes to see and ears to hear they would recognize the signs were all there. If they chose not to believe, no display of signs would be given at their request to satisfy their curiosity or their false expectations.

John chose to write about seven miracles as signs.
All of them point to Christ's ministry and our need for Christ to work a spiritual renovation in our lives.

1. Water Into Wine (John 2:1-11) Six empty jars of stone were filled with water which He then turned into wine. These six stone jars normally held water used for ceremonial cleansing, but He turned it to wine, the symbol of His cleansing blood.


2. Healing the Nobelman?s Son (John 4:43-54) A lesson on the necessity of faith! Do we take Jesus at His word and believe, or demand more evidence.

3. The Healing at the Pool of Bethesda (John 5:1-15) Do we want to be made whole? No man devised method or law can make us whole. Only Jesus can.


4. The Feeding of the 5000 (John 6:1-5) Physical food is for the moment, it perishes, but Jesus says I AM the bread of life. He who comes to me will never be hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty (John 6:35). Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you (6:27)

5: Walking on the Water (John 6:16-25) A storm was threatening the disciples' lives when they saw Jesus walking toward them on the water. The Master of earth and sea! When they recognized Him they let him into the boat and immediately reached their destination. Without Him, they were struggling, sinking, but with Him they arrived.

6: Healing The Man Born Blind (John 9:1-41) Physical blindness is contrasted with the spiritual blindness of many. Jesus said He came so the blind would see and those who claim they can see, but refuse to really see, would become blind.

7. Cleansing of the temple. (John 2) Cleansing the soul temple from sin. Jesus death on the cross tears down the old and builds up the new.

He gave the ones that help the people and gave honor and glory to God, and showed the work that God does..

John 20:31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

The focus on SEVENS in John's writings.

We know there are a lot of sevens in Revelation.
Seven churches, seven spirits, seven candlesticks, seven stars, seven lamps, seven seals, seven horns, seven eyes, seven trumpets, seven angels, seven thunders, seven heads, seven crowns, seven plagues, seven vials, seven mountains, seven kings.

But we usually don't hear that much about the sevens in the gospel written by John.

He gives seven miracles which are called signs. Signs of what?
"they are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name." 20:31

There are seven I AM statements:

In the Old Testament, God revealed His name to Moses: ?I AM WHO I AM. Exodus 3:14.
When Jesus said: In (John 8:58) , Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I AM. The verbs Jesus uses are in stark contrast with each other: Abraham was, I AM.
The Jews understood Jesus was claiming to be one with God, and they picked up stones to stone Him. They understood what John also told us was true, in the first verse of this gospel, but they would not believe.

John records seven I AM statements of Jesus.

1. "I am the bread of life. (John 6:35, 41, 48, 51)
2. "I am the light of the world. (John 8:12; 9:5)
3. "I am the door. (John 10:7 and 9,)
4. "I am the good shepherd. (John 10:11, 14)
5. "I am the way and the truth and the life. (John 14:6)
6. "I am the true vine. (John 15:1, 5).
7. "I am the resurrection and the life. (John 11:25)

"I am He" (John 18:4?6) and the mob drew back and fell to the ground, for at that moment (for a brief moment) His divinity flashed through His humanity. But they still would not believe.

Lesson One

The Wedding in Cana
John 2:11 This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.
John 2:11 NKJV, This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee and manifested His glory and His disciples believed in Him.

There are several things that help us better understand our Savior.

1. He showed His sympathy for people, and His desire to minister to their happiness, coming into close contact with people in their daily lives: linking Himself with the interests of humanity.
2. He mingled with people to benefit them and to win their friendship, rejoice with them.
3. He honored the marriage covenant by performing His first miracle to enhance the wedding. By attending this feast, Jesus honored marriage as a divine institution.


Why did He answer His mother the way He did?
1. It was not a rude remark, though it sounds that way in English.
2. Mary, for thirty years had treasured the events of His birth in her heart, but did not understand her Son's mission. Like others she was eager for Him to finally declare Himself, show His power, take the throne and bring freedom and peace to Israel.
Jesus gently told her that time was not now.
3. A mother is the guide of the child's early life, but Jesus was not only the "son of man" He was the "Son of God", even at the age of twelve, He gently pointed out that He needed to be about His Father's business. He had come to do His heavenly Father's will, and though He loved and respected His earthly parents, His heavenly Father's will for His life was His guide.

What spiritual truth did this miracle provide?
1. Those water pots were generally used to hold water for purification rituals. The water represented baptism into His death; the wine, the shedding of His blood for the sins of the world.

"At the first feast, the wedding in Cana, He attended with His disciples, Jesus gave them the cup that symbolized His work for their salvation. At the last supper He gave it again, in the institution of that sacred rite by which His death was to be shown forth "till He come." 1 Corinthians 11:26

2. "To the mind of Jesus the gladness of the wedding festivities pointed forward to the rejoicing of that day when He shall bring home His bride to the Father's house, and the redeemed with the Redeemer shall sit down to the marriage supper of the Lamb....
Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready." "Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb." Revelation 19:6, 7, 9. {DA 151.1}

John Introduces the GOSPEL of Jesus Christ

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
1:2 The same was in the beginning with God.

What or Who is the Word? Verse 14 tells us:
1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,
It is Jesus, Immanuel, God with us.

The text links right back to the first verse in scripture.
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God....

In the beginning GOD WAS there.
In the beginning JESUS WAS there.

Jesus, the Logos or Word, (the communicating link of God with humans), was there in the beginning, there is no starting date for Him, He was already there in the beginning.

* Jesus, the Word was with God (the Father) from the beginning
* Jesus, the Word, was God (in the highest sense, he is God)
* He is God with God the Father!

John 1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Gen 1: 26) and God said, Let US make.....

* Jesus was the active Creator, the One Who spoke and it was so (Ps. 33:9), the One Who got down on His knees and shaped the first human with His own hands and breathed into him the breath of life. (Gen.2:8) He created everything that was created. Without Him nothing was created.

John 1:4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

This Word is LIFE, life underived, His is Self existent Life, which He gives to His creatures.
Without His life being continually given to us to sustain us physically, mentally, spiritually we could not live. As Paul said: "In Him we live and move and have our being." (Acts 17:28)
Throughout John's gospel he shows Christ pleading with people to believe, that believing they might have life through his name.

John 1:5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
Light is truth! Jesus is the truth and the light without Him there is only darkness.

John 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
John 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
3:20 For every one that does evil hates the light, neither comes to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
3:21 But he that does truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

The Word was Made Flesh

John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

The Word, a personal being Who was with God the Father, and Who was God with God the Father, was MADE flesh. A body was prepared for Him. (Heb. 10:5)

Phil. 2:6 (The Word, Jesus) Who, being in the form of God, (His whole being embodies everything that is God) thought it not robbery to be equal with God: (there was, no question that He was equal with God, though Satan challenged and is still challenging that)
2:7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

John is here also combating a growing philosophy of "logos" (the word) Wisdom, truth, light and life is NOT some abstract divine power which initiates seekers of higher wisdom into new levels of consciousness so they can find "god" within themselves (basically the principle of the new age type of thinking).
John is emphasizing that the True Logos is a very personal Being, it is Jesus Himself, Who came to this world to reveal the true nature of God. It is only in Him where mankind can see the real glory, truth and light of God, which is full grace and truth. We cannot find truth and light or life in ourselves, only in Him, He is the Word (given us in scripture which testify of Him) He was made flesh and dwelt among us.

In John 14:7-9 Jesus answers a request to see the Father: " If you had known me, you should have known my Father also: and from henceforth you know him, and have seen him. he that has seen me has seen the Father.

He is said to have been "in the world" which he made, yet in such manifestation and veiling of His glory that the world as such did not apprehend the wondrous presence. Yet He came to reveal God, in the only way they could begin to apprehend it. There has been no other, and will be no other like Him, the Son of God and the Son of man. He is in the highest sense absolutely unique in the history of mankind.

Lesson Three

Hearing or not Hearing the Word.
Believing or not believing

What does it mean to hear and believe?

It's an important question? The gospel of John makes it clear this question's answer is an absolute essential defining mark between life and death -- eternal life, or eternally perished.

John 3:16 Whosever believeth on him should not perish but have eternal life!



What does it mean to "hear"?
How many go to church every week to hear a sermon but did they really hear?
How many believe things about Jesus, but never really believe IN Jesus?


"Through faith they will come to know God by an experimental knowledge. They have proved for themselves the reality of His Word, the truth of His promises. They have tasted, and they know that the Lord is good.

Believe that He is ready to help you by His grace, when you come to Him in sincerity. You must fight the good fight of faith.

"He is able to take those who are dead in trespasses and sins, and by the operation of the Spirit which raised Jesus from the dead, transform the human character, bringing back to the soul the lost image of God. Those who believe in Jesus Christ are changed from being rebels against the law of God into obedient servants and subjects of His kingdom. They are born again, regenerated, sanctified through the truth. This power of God the skeptic will not admit, and he refuses all evidence until it is brought under the domain of his finite faculties. The Youth's Instructor, February 7, 1895. {FE 332.1}

Lesson Four
Witnesses


What is a witness:
1. a witness is someone who has seen or experienced something firsthand and can give an account or testimony about it.

2, a witness also refers to one who seeks to testify, and give evidence, proclaiming the truth about something they know or have seen,

John describes the disciples as witnesses ": ?That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands?we proclaim also to you? (1 John 1:1, 3).

The testimony of the disciples, as direct witnesses of Jesus, was foundational evidence for the early Christian church.
But what about us, many generations removed, with no actual contact with people who walked and talked, saw and heard, and were in close contact with the Messiah, what witnesses do we have to assure us that Christ was, indeed, the Messiah?