Jesus in the Eyes of John (S.S. Lesson)

Introduction

John is the disciple closest to Jesus!

Throughout Jesus ministry with the disciples we see many indications that John had a special relationship with Jesus

He and his brother James were 2 of the first disciples to follow Jesus

They were working as fishermen and when Jesus called them, the Bible says in Matthew that “Immediately” they left their nets and followed him.

Matthew 4:21–22 “And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them. And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.”

They didn’t hesitate to follow Christ

We see John as one of the three disciples, along with James and Peter, who tend to be invited beyond where the other 9 disciples are invited.

On the mount of transfiguration he got to witness Christ shine in glory and got to see Elijah and Moses and witness that conversation

Matthew 17:1 “And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,”

In the garden of Gethsemane he and James and Peter were invited to go a little further than the other disciples again.

Mark 14:33 “And he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy;”

At the last supper, John is found with his head laid on Jesus Chest!

John 13:23 “Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved.”

John often referred to himself as the disciple Jesus loved, or the beloved disciple

If anyone knew the heartbeat of Christ, John knew

He was so close to Jesus, that when Jesus said that somebody would betray him, Peter actually asked John to ask Jesus who it was.

John 13:24–25 “Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him, that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake. He then lying on Jesus’ breast saith unto him, Lord, who is it?”

At Christ’s crucifixion, when we find Peter denying that he even knows Christ 3 times, we find John at the foot of the cross.

No Betrayal

No Abandonment

But staying with his master until the end

In this faithfulness and love, we find out a lot about the trust that Jesus had in John

Jesus asks John to take care of Mary!

John 19:25–27 “Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.”

Take care of my mom!

You have to have a close relationship and an incredible trust for someone, to leave your momma in their hands!

After Christ’s resurrection, the disciples are fishing and not catching anything, Jesus shows up on the shore and tells them to cast the net on the right side of the boat, and they catch fish

It is John that first recognizes that this is Jesus.

John 21:4–7 “But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No. And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher’s coat unto him, (for he was naked,) and did cast himself into the sea.”

Nobody could see him or hear him well enough to recognize him, but John recognized him based on the results!

All of this is to say that if there is somebody who really knew the character of Jesus, it is John.

In the Beginning

John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

Our passage starts with three words that should be really familiar to anyone who has ever sat in a Sunday School Class…. “In the Beginning”

Let’s take a look at where else we see this phrase

Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

Who is in this verse, and when does this verse take place?

God is the only individual mentioned

This verse takes place before and during creation

John is calling back on this verse, so the first verse of the book of John takes place in the same “beginning” as the first verse of Genesis

Who does John say is in the beginning?

The Word, and God

We can assume the Word is a person because of the capitalization of the English “Word” and the Greek “Logos”

So according to John, both the Word and God were in the beginning, at creation.

John uses a very revealing word though, that sheds a lot more light on who all was in the beginning in these 2 verses.

John uses the word “with” in English, or “pros” in Greek

The word “with” implies that these two, the Word, and God, must be different individuals, both together in the beginning

The Greek word “pros” actually has a definition that I like better than the English “with”

“Pros” means “Toward” or “Face to Face”

We are going to borrow this phrase for a breakdown of this verse in a moment.

If John tells us that the Word and God are with each other, or Face to Face with each other, or Toward Each Other… why does he then say “the Word “was” God”?

Is John trying to imply that the Word and God are two separate Gods?

The answer is NO, and we are going to take a look at why.

Before we get to the scriptures that clarify this, it is important to know that scripture must be consistent and not contradict itself.

If there is any part of scripture that is false, then we have to throw out the whole book

So if we are in agreement that it all must be true, then it all must work together.

If something seems like a contradiction, there is something more that you need to look at.

Deuteronomy 4:35 “Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the Lord he is God; there is none else beside him.”

Deuteronomy 6:4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord:”

**NOTE** The word “one” in this verse in the Hebrew is “echad” which has a direct translation of “united” as opposed to single.

Jesus actually says that this verse is the first of all the commandments

Mark 12:29 “And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:”

The scribe responds to Jesus the confirmation that this is what he has been taught and believed already

Mark 12:32 “And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:”

Deuteronomy 32:39 “See now that I, even I, am he, And there is no god with me:”

2 Samuel 7:22 “Wherefore thou art great, O Lord God: for there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.”

1 Kings 8:60 “That all the people of the earth may know that the Lord is God, and that there is none else.”

I think you get the point here, there is ONLY ONE GOD!

So if it is clear that there is only one God, yet John seems to be clear that the Word, and God that he originally mentioned are separate persons, yet also has clearly indicated that the Word is God, there is only one conclusion that one can come to that allows scripture to be consistent and non contradictory.

The Word and God are the SAME GOD, yet are still Separate Persons

You may be asking how this can be?

The honest answer, is that this is something we must accept on faith, because it is what the Bible teaches, and we trust the Word of God

There is nothing else that functions quite like this in all of the world.

We are going to go on and prove that the WORD in verse 1 is Jesus, but before we get there, I want to go ahead and put His name in place of “Word” in this verse, and then look at how this verse would read from both a oneness point of view, and from a trinitarian point of view.

Oneness Version:

In the beginning was JESUS, and JESUS was **Face to Face** with JESUS, and JESUS was JESUS.

Trinitarian Version:

In the beginning was JESUS, and JESUS was **Face to Face** with The Father, and JESUS was God!

Verse two simply reiterates these points by saying

John 1:2 “The same was in the beginning with God.”

As if John really wanted to drive home both the eternity of the Word, and the Separation of Persons of the Word and the Father

In conclusion to this portion on “IN THE BEGINNING” we can now confirm that according to scripture, in the eyes of John

Jesus (or the Word) existed in the very beginning, as a separate person from the Father, but was also God!

The Word and the Father are the SAME GOD, but exist as different persons, who were with each other from eternity past, through the beginning of the World.

The Creator

The next verse in John is still coordinating with the first verse in the entire Bible

John 1:3 “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”

So according to John, it was the Word who made all things, which means he would have had to have made “In the Beginning”

If nothing was made without him, the God of Creation must of course be the Word

Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

So this is more confirmation here that the Word IS God

This is now the third time that John has placed the Word both In the Beginning, and AS God.

This may be beginning to sound repetitive, but to me this reads like it was very important for John’s audience to understand that the Word is most certainly God, and is most certainly separate from the Father.

We can look at Colossians Chapter 1 to see him again as the creator

We can look at Revelation (which is also written by John) to see him again at the beginning in eternity past, in the present, and in eternity’s future

We can (and we will later) look at John chapter 8 to see him exist outside of time altogether

The Life & The Light

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

Let’s start with “in him was life” and we will come back to “the life was the light of men” later

What is John trying to tell us by saying that in the Word was “life”??

To get a picture of this, we are again going to go back to Genesis Chapter One, although this is only a minuscule part of the LIFE that verse 4 is referring to

Where we are going to pick up in scripture, God has already created vegetation, and wildlife. All of these are living things, but that is not the life I want to look at here in Genesis, because those were simply spoken into existence.

Genesis 1:26 “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:”

“Us and Our” again showing multiple persons, existing as One God

Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”

Genesis 2:7 “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”

If all things were made by the Word, and without Him, nothing was made that was made, then man was made by the Word!

The very breath of God was breathed into the nostrils of man and this made man live, and gave man a soul

Every bit of human life, every breath by every human, has been taken as a result of that first breath, when God breathed into man

In Him is life in a literal sense, so much so that human life exists because of His life

It is not just that He is alive, but that His life hold our life, supports our life, allows our life to exist

He IS life, because without Him, there would be no life, not in the earth, and not on the earth. If He ceased to exist, we would too!

It isn’t just that he created it, but it is that he maintains it, it is all held together by him

This is addressed in Colossians 1:17 “And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.”

But here is where this “Life” is so much more than your physical being, or even the existence of your soul

The life here isn’t merely the life in vegetation and wildlife, nor is it merely the life that allows man to breathe and walk and live on this earth, because that kind of life is not “the light of men”

This phrase was not necessarily meant to be understood as Natural Life, but as Eternal Life

This “Life” is the Salvation of your Soul

The Bible teaches us that Sin is Death, that we are dead in sin, and that Jesus came that we might have life

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Ephesians 2:1 “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;”

Quickened means “made alive”

2 Timothy 1:10 “But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:”

Now lets look right here in the book of John:

John 10:10 “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

John 14:6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

John 10:28 “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”

John 6:51–54 “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

John 17:2 “As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.”

John 11:25 “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:”

John 4:10 “Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.”

John 4:14 “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”

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.”

But let’s wrap this life section up with the most famous verse in the entire Bible

Quote it with me:

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.”

The Word is not just the Source of Life to the Body

He is the Source of Life to the Soul

The Word is not just the Source of Life on this Earthly Journey

He is the Source of Everlasting Life

It is not “in him was life” in that he was alive, it is “in him was life” in that all living things from creation through eternity live only through him

In him is not “A” life, in him is “ALL” life because he IS life!

And this LIFE is the LIGHT of man!

Light is the thing that allows us to see!

The next verse goes on to say John 1:5 “And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”

Think about what it is like to walk in the darkness.

You can’t see where you are going, you grope around for your phone or a flashlight or a lamp or the switch on the wall

You cannot find you way unless there is some kind of light to help you decipher both the direction you need to go, and the dangers surrounding you

The Word is not only the Life that brings Salvation, but He himself is the Light that points the way

Isaiah 60:1–3 “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, And the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And gross darkness the people: But the Lord shall arise upon thee, And his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, And kings to the brightness of thy rising.”

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 12:35–36 “Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.”

John 12:46 “I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.”

Psalm 119:105 “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, And a light unto my path.”

Do you think it is any coincidence that His name is The Word of God?

Not only does John tell us this in his Gospel here in the first couple verses…

John also sees this in a vision in Revelation 19:13 “And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.”

It is no coincidence that the spoken and written Word of God is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path, while the 2nd Person in the Trinity, who is named “The Word” is the Light of the World!

This is why Christians are to be the light of the world as well

Acts 11:26 “And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.”

-Christianos- : Followers of Christ or “Like Christ”

Comes from the root word “Christos” which simply means “Messiah”

To be a Christian is to be “like the messiah”

This is why Jesus gives us this instruction:

Matthew 5:14–16 “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

The Word is God

The Word is NOT the Father

The Word is Eternal

The Word is THE Creator

The Word is ALL Life

The Word is The Light of the World

In 4 verses (obviously using supporting scripture) we see:

The Deity of Christ

The Nature of Christ

The Power of Christ

The Relationship of Christ with the Father

The Relationship of Christ with the Earth and All Living Things

The Purpose of Christ in Salvation of Every Soul that will Accept Him

The Illumination of Christ that shows mankind how to come to that Salvation

I think John knew Jesus Pretty Well