Episode 22, Gospel Of John Summary ”Summary” for Share The Word

Thank you for joining us for this edition of Share the Word, the podcast that explains the big ideas in the New Testament chapter by chapter. Whether you're just beginning to explore the Bible or have been a Christian for years, we believe that you'll get some great insight from our podcast as our teachers unpack the big ideas of the New Testament in a down-to-earth language. So let's listen in to today's lesson and go a little deeper. So we've come to the end of the fourth Gospel, the Gospel of John. I hope you've gotten a much better look at Jesus through John's eyes. What surprised you in it?

Did it change your view of Jesus and what he was about? One thing that struck me, and I think most people don't realize this, is just how openly Jesus insisted that he was God. How many times he said that he came here precisely to suffer and die. Most people still think of him, I think, as a good man who met a tragic end because he challenged the status quo or because he was so misunderstood, something like that. Not as the God-man who, out of great love, was here on a mission to make a way for us back to our Creator, a way that demanded his sacrificial death on the cross. But John became convinced that was exactly God's plan and Jesus' mission after listening and watching him up close.

He came to understand the supreme significance of Jesus' horrific death on the cross and the powerful hope that's in his resurrection. John shared what he witnessed so that we too would realize just who Jesus was and what he means for all of us. When I step back and see the overall outline of John's Gospel, it's clear he selectively included things that convinced him and the other early Christians of Jesus' true identity and mission. Remember his purpose statement in chapter 20. He said, I could have written about many other miraculous signs I witnessed during my time with Jesus, but what I've written is to persuade you to believe that he is the Messiah, the very Son of God, so that by believing you might have life through his name. Let's briefly review those miraculous signs.

There were seven of them, remember, that John describes for us throughout his book. John used the word signs, remember, because he believed these miracles pointed to something more. They were not just things that made people go, Wow. They had deeper meaning, he realized, as he reflected on the supernatural things he witnessed during his time with Jesus. Think back with me. During the early days or weeks he was a follower, John saw Jesus turn water into wine at a wedding in Cana of Galilee.

That sign not only showed Jesus had the power to fundamentally transform things, but he made the point that the water was stored in large jars the Jews used for religious ceremonial washings. I think upon reflection, John believed Jesus was illustrating something that day through that miracle, that he was here to do something better for us than religion could do. The holy water in those jars could not really make anyone clean before God, although the ritual washings happened time after time, day after day. But Jesus came to shed his blood to cleanse us from sin once for all. The holy water became wine. After centuries of religion that could never solve man's sin problem, God, who had saved the best for last, sent his Son to do for us what religion could never do.

John said it was that miracle that first caused him to believe into Jesus. The second sign he records for us is in chapter 4, beginning at verse 46. A government official traveled about 20 miles to find Jesus, desperately hoping he could heal his gravely ill son. The terms John used to describe the situation indicate that boy was in immediate danger, that death was imminent. The father would not be deterred. When he located Jesus, he kept pressing his plea, begging Jesus to come back with him to Capernaum to heal his son.

Jesus was obviously moved by compassion as well as this man's faith in him. But maybe the most interesting thing about this sign is that he healed the official's son without even the need to go to his home, lay his hands on the boy, pray over him, none of that. He just told this frantic father, You can return home now. Your boy is well. That showed John that time and space were no barriers to Jesus' power. The desperate father had traveled more than a day to find Jesus, and the next day, on his return, as he approached his home, excited servants met him on the way to give him the great news.

One minute your boy appeared at the brink of death, then suddenly he made a miraculous recovery. The father asked, About when did that happen? About seven last night. That was exactly, precisely when Jesus had told him to return home because his son was healed. The third sign John includes occurred during a visit to Jerusalem, and he writes about it at the beginning of chapter 5. It happened at the pool called Bethesda, just outside the temple precinct.

This had become a place where, if you remember, some of the most pitiful sick people in Jerusalem were brought and apparently left. Into that pathetic scene, Jesus brought his disciples one Saturday. John recalls how they met a man there who was an invalid who had been lying by the pool for 38 long years, almost unimaginable. Yet John remembers Jesus asking him this surprising question, Do you want to get well? The poor man hardly knew what to say to such a question. He tried to explain that he was incapable of even moving, much less getting into the pool when Jesus interjected, Get up, friend, pick up your mat and walk.

And at that, this man who had lain helplessly for decades instantly felt strength flowing back through his body, and he was whole. Upon reflection, I believe John included that event because he saw in it a spiritual kind of parallel. John understood that in a very real way, not in a physical way, but in a spiritual way, we are all kind of where this man was that day, helpless, slowly, spiritually dying because of the disease of sin. But then Jesus comes to us, right where we are, and asks, Do you want to be well? And regardless of how messed up we are and for how long we've been that way, Jesus has the power and the desire to make us spiritually whole. In chapter 6, John records a fourth sign, something so remarkable that all four gospel writers record it.

By the time this miracle occurred, Jesus' fame had reached such a point in Galilee that large crowds of people were following him wherever he went, even when he tried to get away from them. John remembers how once they crossed over the Sea of Galilee to a remote area to get some relief from these constantly pressing crowds. Yet throngs of people hiked all day, four miles around that lake, and found them anyway. By that time, early evening, all of them were hungry and there was nowhere to get food. But then, amazingly, somehow, Jesus fed all these people, more than 500 people, from a small boy's lunch basket. John himself helped carry the food to the crowd.

It was like how, after the exodus from Egypt, God had miraculously fed their forefathers in the wilderness with manna. The ecstatic people there, experiencing this, wanted to make Jesus their king. But the greater significance of this miracle was, again, not physical, as extraordinary as that was, but in what it symbolized. Jesus claimed on its heels that he himself was the bread come down out of heaven for the life of the world. Upon reflection, John realized that when Jesus willingly gave his body as an atoning sacrifice for sin, that was infinitely more valuable to mankind than a miracle worker who could provide bread for a day. The fifth sign John chose to record is in chapter 9, and this happened back in Jerusalem during the Feast of Lights, one of the Jewish festivals with spiritual and historical significance.

And it came on the heels of an astounding declaration Jesus made while publicly preaching at the temple. I am the light of the world, he said, and he who follows me will not remain in darkness, but will have the light of life. Claim that shocked and angered the temple religious leaders. You're the light of the world? they scoffed. Then John, as though to substantiate Jesus' claim, tells how they came across a blind beggar that day who was a fixture near the temple.

To make a long story short, Jesus restored vision to this man who had been blind since birth. And John notes, Not since the beginning of time has anyone heard of someone giving the gift of sight to a person born blind. That miracle created quite a stir, as you can imagine, and the religious authorities were called to investigate. They were already jealous of Jesus' influence and feared his potential, so they desperately wanted to deny that this had anything to do with him. They tried to pressure that once blind man to denounce Jesus. The fellow's response was classic.

All I know is, a little bit ago I was blind, but now I can see. The underlying spiritual significance of this is actually one of the biggest themes in John's Gospel. Jesus came as a light into our darkened world. He exposed what was wrong. He illumined the way out of it. Some people were drawn to the light, while others, like those religious leaders that day, were repelled by it, even hated it.

And it's still the same today. Some people are drawn to Jesus and receive the light, while others turn away. Spiritually, those of us who have experienced what only Christ has the power to do in our hearts and lives agree with that once blind man. Once I was blind, but now I can see. The sixth great sign Jesus performed that John includes is described in chapter 11. This is such a powerful account, unmatched as a display of Jesus' divine power and authority.

A well-known man named Lazarus was a close friend and follower of Jesus, and he had died. In fact, he had been dead and buried three days before Jesus arrived in his village of Bethany. Yet there, before a whole lot of witnesses, including his sisters, John and the other disciples, as well as friends and neighbors who had gathered to mourn him, Jesus called Lazarus back to life. For John, that incredible display of supernatural power he eyewitnessed, Jesus overpowering our greatest enemy, death itself, had to be clinching for his personal faith. The spiritual significance of the sign is obvious and enormous. Jesus not only claimed, I am the resurrection and the life, and anybody who believes in me will live again, he proved it in front of scores of witnesses.

And John, who was there and watched his Lazarus, dead and buried for three days, emerge from the tomb, was unbound from his grave wrappings and was very much alive again. That astounding sign proved Jesus has the power to and, in fact, will one day raise up all who die with their faith in him. That is the great hope and expectation of every Christian. So, building like a musical crescendo, these signs convinced John and the other apostles of Jesus of his true identity by showing his creative power, his control over time and space, his supremacy over nature, his ability to do unheard-of healing miracles, and even to exert absolute power over death. They each are infused with spiritual truth, the spiritual reality that we are, in so many ways, inadequate. They show our neediness and weakness over against Jesus' power and sufficiency.

They proved to John that Jesus had to be the Son of God, the Logos on our planet for a time in flesh and blood. But the greatest sign was yet to come, the seventh, all-important sign. John devotes four whole chapters of explaining this great last sign, how Jesus, who was publicly executed by crucifixion outside Jerusalem on a Friday morning, rose from the dead the following Sunday. Remember, John was actually there when Jesus expired on the cross. He saw the spear driven into his side and the great outflow of blood and water. He saw Jesus' dead body taken down late Friday afternoon and entombed.

And yet John was also at that very same tomb the following Sunday morning and found it empty except for discarded grave wrappings. And John was there multiple times over the next several weeks when the very alive Jesus appeared and interacted with his disciples in several different settings. He talked with him. He ate with him. He touched him. John was an eyewitness of all this.

He's telling us things he himself experienced. For John and the other apostles, this incredible sign of Jesus' bodily resurrection authenticated everything he had taught and claimed. I mean, who says, Kill me and in three days I will rise again? Whoever says that and makes good on that, John knew, had to be believed in whatever he claimed. Beyond those seven signs around which John arranged his gospel were also seven notable I am declarations Jesus made. These are the claims of Jesus John wants us to hear, the claims the miraculous signs authenticated.

For example, in John chapter 6, verse 51, I am the bread of life come down out of heaven for the life of the world. Jesus declared that on the heels of feeding 5,000 plus people from a small boy's lunch. That statement portended his sacrifice on the cross when he would lay down his life for all of us. And then, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never be in darkness. That's John 8, verse 12.

Jesus declared this before opening the eyes of a man born blind. By those words, he claimed to be the only one who can safely lead us out of the darkness of sin and death and into the light of God's presence. And then, I myself am the door to the sheepfold. John 10, verse 7. Jesus made that declaration after contrasting himself with the religious leaders, stressing that it was through him alone that we must enter if we want to be safely in God's flock. And once there, he promised he would protect us.

And then, I am the good shepherd who will lay down his life for the sheep. That's John chapter 10, verse 11. By this, Jesus declared his intention to give up his life as an atonement for sin and to save us from the danger of coming judgment. And then, I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live even if they die, and everyone who lives believes in me will never really die. John 11, verse 25.

This was the unforgettable promise Jesus spoke to the grieving Martha before raising her brother Lazarus from the dead. The greatest promise for all who believe in Him imaginable. And then, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me. John 14:6. By this impossible-to-misunderstand declaration, Jesus claimed to be the exclusive way back to God made for us sinners.

There's no other way possible, or else the extreme measures Jesus' mission called for would never have been necessary. And finally, I am the true vine. John chapter 15, verse 1. In His final upper room discussion with His disciples, Jesus used an extended metaphor to urge them to stay vitally connected to Him, with their lives pruned of anything unuseful or sinful, in order to be fruitful and to fulfill their mission after He was gone. These remarkable claims, backed up by those confirming sign miracles, persuaded John and his fellow disciples to believe into Jesus, to earnestly follow Him, and then to invest their lives in spreading the good news about who He was, what He did, and what it means for all the rest of us. So how does that translate to us?

It was these eyewitnesses' testimony to Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, backed up by their willingness to give up their lives rather than deny it, that is the reason Christianity grew like a wildfire in the first century and is still growing today. Let me give you a great example of that, and then we'll be done for today. I came of age during the 1970s, a time when a political scandal rocked our country called Watergate. Captured the attention of America and much of the world. It actually brought down a U.S. president, Richard Nixon. It started with spying and a dirty tricks team of political operatives trying to gain an advantage in his 1972 re-election campaign.

They broke into the headquarters of his Democrat opponent in Washington at the Watergate Hotel, but they were caught. And then the investigation by the FBI, as well as a few dogged investigative journalists, began unraveling a complicated web of evidence, tying the break-in clear back to the office of the President of the United States. To protect Nixon from impeachment, some of his most loyal associates created and tried to maintain a cover-up. But under intense pressure, their conspiracy only held together for three weeks. Charles Colson, who was a special counsel to the president at the time and one of Nixon's most trusted aides, later explained that once John Dean, another lawyer in the White House, cracked and went to the prosecutors offering to testify against the president, pretty quickly everyone involved started scrambling to protect themselves.

Some of the most powerful political operatives in the world couldn't maintain a lie for more than three weeks when the heat got turned up. Colson did time for his role in the Watergate affair, and it was while he was in prison, with time on his hands, that he first read the New Testament along with some other Christian literature given to him by a friend. He believed the gospel's claims and was born again, to use his term, and became a committed follower of Christ for the rest of his life. What convinced him of the truth of Christianity? In a book he later wrote, Colson revealed it was the implausibility of Jesus' disciples doing what he and Nixon's other top aides could not do, that is, be successful at maintaining a conspiracy under intense pressure. Jesus' followers had nothing at all to gain by making up a story about the resurrection.

He realized that. In fact, they had everything to gain by maintaining their silence or just fading into the darkness. But the disciples would not be silent and would not fade away. Colson said he realized if what they claimed they'd witnessed about Jesus' life, death, and resurrection was not true, they would never have been willing to accept the persecution, in many cases even martyrdom, that they subsequently endured. And it was not for weeks, it was not for months, but for decade after decade after decade. Under the most intense pressure imaginable, none of the eyewitnesses, the apostles of Jesus, ever wavered.

To their dying whispers, they insisted, Jesus is alive. Colson realized no one gives up their life for something they know to be a lie. He realized that what John tells us in this book has to be the truth about what he actually experienced firsthand during his years with Christ. I hope everyone who's been listening to the story of Jesus through John's eyes comes to that very same logical and life-changing conclusion and puts their faith in Jesus Christ too. This is Paul for Share the Word. Hope you'll stay with us as we tackle another New Testament writing, starting with our very next podcast.

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