John: Part 2
The Favorite Book
As we conclude our series on the gospels today, we will do so by ending our time in the gospel of John. If you read our last post on this amazing book, you know why this book is so unique from the other gospels and why many Christians (myself included) claim this book to be their favorite in all of God’s Word. These last few chapters that we will be addressing from 11-21 have so much amazing truth and content that we can’t simply pack it all into one last post. So please do yourself a favor and read through this gospel on your own time as well. For now, however, we will be looking at how John paints Jesus to be God Himself in the later half of this book. And just as we’ve seen multiple times throughout this book, it doesn’t take long to find examples of this that John has laid out before us. Right away in chapter 11, Jesus performs an amazing and well-known miracle by raising Lazarus from the dead. Before Jesus raises Lazarus, He asks his sister Martha a question that points to the goal of John’s gospel in a beautiful way. John 11:25-26 says “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; the one who believes in Me will live, even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” This is not just the question for Martha or for those who have lost loved ones, this is the ultimate question for us all. Do we believe this? Do we believe that Jesus is in fact the Christ and that He is our only hope for salvation? If not, I hope the rest of John’s gospel presents an intriguing case for you. Let’s dive in.
Unity With The Spirit
To begin, I want to look at what Jesus mentions about the Holy Spirit in chapter 14. In our previous post, we made a bunch of connections about Jesus and the Father being one. In other words, Jesus was claiming that He had equal footing with God Himself because He was God. As you can imagine, this is a momentous claim that many people either found fascinating or blasphemous. But as we know about the Lord from His word, He is a triune God. He is altogether the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So we’ve seen Jesus’ take about Him and the Father, but what about Him and the Spirit? John 14:16-17 tells us “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, so that He may be with you forever; the Helper is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him; but you know Him because He remains with you and will be in you.” Jesus is claiming not just union with the Father here, but union with the Spirit. This is why He and He alone can ask the Father to send the Spirit and the Father will gladly do so. But this will only happen once Jesus has fulfilled His mission here on earth first. Notice, however, what Jesus says about receiving this Spirit. This world that we live in will not know Him but Christ’s disciples will because He remains with us and will be in us. This is a fascinating claim that leads us to believe that every person who is a follower of Christ has the Holy Spirit. And this Spirit is known by us, not because of any worldly recognition, but because He leads us in our walk every single day as seek to honor and glorify Christ in our day-to-day living. Again, only the Son of God could make such a claim as this.
Why It Was Written
Moving on towards the end of John’s gospel, we come to the crucifixion of Christ. What’s amazing about this recording of Christ’s sacrifice is what John adds after our Lord passes. John 19:35-37 says “And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe. For these things took place so that the Scripture would be fulfilled: “NOT A BONE OF HIM SHALL BE BROKEN.” And again another Scripture says, “THEY WILL LOOK ATHIM WHOM THEY PIERCED.” John made it clear that he is not just recording these things because he heard about them, he is recording these things because he witnessed them personally. Furthermore, John continues on saying that we can believe in this account not just because he witnessed this event, but because these events are fulfillments of scripture that prove Christ’s deity. John isn’t focused on reaching one particular group of people over another, rather he is solely focused on convincing everyone who reads this that Jesus Christ is exactly who He claimed to be. Jesus is indeed God made man.
Lastly, we come to one of the best closing remarks made in all the gospels. John expresses exactly why he wrote this gospel in chapter 20 in case it hasn’t been made obvious to us yet. John 20: 30-31 tells us “So then, many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that by believing you may have life in His name.” Everything that John has written down in this gospel was done not just so that we may believe what he wrote, but so that we may have life in His name because of this belief. Those who truly are followers of Christ don’t just acknowledge His death and resurrection, they repent and believe in Him as their true Lord and Savior. This concept is seen all throughout John’s gospel and he makes it unmistakably clear at the end of it just in case we missed it. As The Bible Project beautifully puts it “John believes that Jesus is alive and real, and that his message can change individual lives and the entire cosmos forever.” I hope and pray that as you read this gospel and go through these records of Christ’s life, you will truly acknowledge the truth and power written in these books and that the same Holy Spirit that regenerated Jesus’ disciples will regenerate you.
Sources
[1] Blue Letter Bible. (n.d.). Blue Letter Bible. https://www.blueletterbible.org/
[2] Guide to the Book of John: Key information and helpful resources. (n.d.). https://bibleproject.com/guides/book-of-john/
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