Greetings in Jesus’ name, dear listeners, to our fifth talk in our series on New Testament Survey. This is the third of three talks on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In our last talk, we presented the synoptic gospels: Matthew, Mark and Luke. Today, we shall present the Gospel of John.

The Gospel of John is set apart from the synoptic because it reveals to us the person of Jesus Christ in a significantly different way from the synoptic. Instead of weaving together the words and works of Jesus in a message, John explicitly tells us that he wrote his gospel so that we may know that Jesus is the son of God, that by believing in Him, one has life in Him. We find this in John’s gospel chapter 20 verse 31. He starts by immediately declaring that Jesus is the Word. He was with God the Father at the beginning. As creator of all things, He came down from heaven to become a human being to show us who God is. Thus, the deity of Christ is this gospel’s theme.

The Greek word for “word” is logos. John’s teaching that Jesus is the Word of God is a unique insight that he shares with us of the identity and personhood of Christ. Just as words express meaning, so Jesus as the Word of God is the perfect revelation of who God is. He is the eternal Son of God, who came down to earth as man to reveal to us what no one else can - God, our Father in Heaven. This is the doctrine of the incarnation. It is an especially significant contribution of this gospel to Christian theology. This line of teaching is historically identified as logos theology. John also presents to us seven “I am” sayings of Jesus which are not found in the other gospels. He collects together for us the sayings when Jesus refers to Himself as “I am”. These are in John 6:35, 41, 48, 51 when Jesus said, “I am the bread of life”. John 8: 12, “I am the light of the world”. John 10: 7 and 9, “I am the door of the sheep”. John 10: 11 and 14, “I am the good shepherd”. John 11:25, “I am the resurrection and the life”. John 14: 6, “I am the way, the truth and the life”. And, John 15: 1 and 5, “I am the true vine”.

Seven is the number of completeness or perfectness. “I am” was a special self-reference that God gave to Moses of Himself as the eternal God. So, in this way, John was telling us that Jesus is God and also why He came. Similarly, he presents to us who Jesus is and why He came by identifying 7 miracles that Jesus did which he called “signs”. A sign is a manifestation of something that points to the presence of a greater reality. If we see a wagging tail of a dog, we know that a dog is present. If we see the moving hooves of a cow or a horse, we know that the animal is present. Likewise, each sign that Jesus performed reveals to us the greater reality of who He is. In John 2: 1-11, Jesus turned water to wine. In John 4: 46-54, He healed the noblemen son so that He would not die. In John 5: 8, He enabled the lame at the pool of Bethesda to rise up and walk. In John 6: 1-15, He fed the five thousand with five loaves and two fish. In John 6: 16-21, He walked on water. In John 9: 1-45, He healed the blind man. In John 11: 38-44, He resurrected Lazarus after he had been in the tomb for four days. So again, seven is the number of completeness or perfection.

John also introduced to us what we now know as the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. In John chapter 13 to 16 and chapter 19, we have the longest New Testament discourse on the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. It is a passage that most clearly and strongly reveal to us mostly through Jesus’ own words that the God of the Bible is one God who is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This gives us the doctrine of the Holy Trinity that is the unique biblical revelation of the nature of the one true God.

John is also particularly apt at using simple symbols or words to present great truths. He speaks of Jesus as the word, the light, the truth, the way and the life. Each word carries profound meaning. Jesus as the word reveals God the Father. Jesus as the light is the truth and righteousness of God. Jesus is the truth so that truth is not an abstraction, but His person. He is the way to salvation and eternity with God. He is the life as the giver of life as creator and of eternal life as Saviour. When it comes to the record of events, this gospel presents the history of Jesus’ ministry in a cyclical, rather than the linear way that we have noted for the synoptics. Only in John’s gospel, do we find Jesus visiting Jerusalem three times. This is a more historically accurate account as every Jew goes to the temple in Jerusalem annually for the major festivals. Jesus would have visited Jerusalem three times, one for each year of His public ministry. So, the linear presentation of Jesus’ ministry in the synoptics is a literary, rather than a chronological arrangement.

In closing, we note that this gospel is often symbolised by the eagle as the prophetic gospel. The height that the eagle soars speaks of closeness to God. The extraordinary sight of the eagle points to divine revelation and insight.

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