Glory!
Introduction to the Gospel of John
While Mark emphasizes the hidden nature of Jesus's Earthly existence and Matthew provides excellent evidence for the necessity of Jesus by exposing the many OT prophecies that predicted His First Coming, while Luke testified by giving us precise historical data connected to the Earthly Ministry of Jesus, John goes further. He realizes that by the time aspiring True Christians™ reach his Gospel, they are ready to tackle big, serious issues. The Gospel of John is about the
True Nature™ of Christ as God as evidenced by the Multiple Miracles He performed. It is about the promise God gave to us in His Incarnation and about the sorry state of those who do not follow His call.
Here we go: John 1-3
Please play close attention to some magnificent pieces of information as follows:
- Jesus =God.
- The most influential eyewitness ever!
- Jesus can do Miracles better than yours.
- AND it's time to reach one of the Favorite Verses of EVERYBODY!
The Gospel opens with the
Biggest Revelation Ever. Jesus is God, the Son of God is God and He is His own Father and His Son and they are One and Jesus was instrumental when this Earth and the present Heaven were Created.
John 1:1-3
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
The
physical nature of Jesus is revealed to be electromagnetic radiation between the
wavelenghts 390 and 700 nm corresponding to a band in the vicinity of
430–770 THz.
John 1:9
That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
Gigantic, terrific promise that is accompanied with the omens of a serious
warning!
John 1:10-11
He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
Now, these are
extraordinary claims and they require
extraordinary evidence. Knowing this, Jesus goes on to introduce us to one of the most reliable character witnesses ever:
John the Baptist (not the same John who wrote this down, as we shall see in due course). First, he denies being Christ Himself (the Popes do have something to learn from him). Next. he produces
definite proof that
Jesus is the Son of God is God is the Light of Men,
etc.
John 1:31-33
And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.
Now, we realize that John picks up the action at the moment when
Jesus has reached full Terrestrial Manhood and is ready to start teaching big time. John's disciples immediately
choose Jesus over him and the charisma of
Jesus yields Him many more disciples, as well. Meanwhile, we come across the additional nature of Christ as an entity of the Ovine Created Kind.
John 1:36
And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!
We also learn some
basic Hebrew to assist us if we visit the Holy Land where Sweet
Jesus met the
Cross in His flesh.
John 1:38
Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou?
Jesus closes the Chapter by promising extraordinary and highly entertaining experiences to His followers.
John 1:51
And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.
John 2: A new Chapter full of further evidence of the
differences between regular men and Jesus. We meet Jesus at a
wedding (not His, we'll have to wait until Revelation 19:7). The booze is out. The guest are restless. Jesus is hesitant but the
urgency of the situation is of such magnitude that He just
has to act!
John 2:9-10
When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now.
Jesus turns water into
wine and not just any kind of wine but
good one. Now, I now that many unbelievers think that this is not such a big deal; in fact, they can turn water into urine every day within their own bodies. But, remember, this is
extra-corporeal conjuring, immediate, not waiting for ages and ages for the
wine to mature is oak casks. Not just blending spirits with
cheap wine and sugar to make sherry. No,
instant transmutation beyond the capacities of mortals.
Once again the
timeless nature of being Christ astounds us. The other chronicles of
Jesus told us about cleansing the Temple taking place at the End of
Jesus's ministry, but John tells us that it took place early on. Only a
God can do that, and, as we remember John 1 (you just read it), all suddenly makes sense.
Jesus could live in
two different timelines, both equally True™. Can you do that, unbelieving atheist?
Jesus also predicts His own
Resurrection, a prophecy that would be impossible if He were not
God.
John 2:19
Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
As we enter Chapter 3,
Jesus is busy teaching a man called
Nicodemus about the basic things of
Faith and
lack of Faith. First, to be a follower of Christ, you must be
born again!
John 3:7
Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
This explains
many things that some less educated people find hard to comprehend. You are born again of the
Spirit (John 3:6). The previous family of your flesh is
insignificant and a sad reminder of sinful life. Hence, Luke 14:26 makes sense even on the
Spiritual plane, not just the practical and emotional.
Step two:
Faith, Faith, Faith! Here we enter big time the Cherry Picking Capital of all false Christians. It is time to look at the
One Verse that
should rule them all and find them; The One Verse that is supposed bring them all to
God but by losing context, it will eventually bind them in the
darkness.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life
.
Faith, Faith, Faith! If you have
Faith,
God can give you everlasting life. This is point where most false Christians start and finish their Bible Study. We are
not like them. We can go
further!
John 3:18
He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
No Faith, and you're condemned. You'll be bound in
Darkness!
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.
This is what it is all about.
Choose Jesus and be one of the
Light,
refuse His call and be
condemned. Jesus lets John the Baptist tell us what this condemnation
means, at the end of this same magnificent Chapter.
John 3:36
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
John 3: A Chapter of incredible promise and horrendous warnings. We're out of breath.
Next time: Many more miracles and Teachings.