Of the four gospels.....John is my absolute favorite!!! I love his writing because it shows what a close personal relationship that he had with Jesus. He is able to give us a "first hand" account of events in Jesus life.
Here are a few "facts" about John.....
- He was one of Jesus 12 disciples
- He was the son of Zebedee and brother of James, another disciple of Jesus
- He was probably younger than James....because in scripture the oldest is always mentioned first
- He and his brother, James, were the first disciples called by Jesus after HIS baptism
- He wrote the Gospel of John, I, II, and III John, and the Book of Revelation
John 1:1
In the beginning, the WORD already existed.
The WORD was with God and the WORD was God.
Jesus First Miracle
Jesus and His mother, Mary, were at a wedding feast and they ran out of wine. He gave instructions to fill six stone water jars with water....and He turned the water into wine. This was the first time that Jesus revealed His glory.
John 3:16
For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
Jesus was tired from a long journey so He sat down by Jacob's well to rest. It was about noon time and a Samaritan woman came to draw water and Jesus asked her for a drink. The woman was surprised for Jews had nothing to do with Samaritans. Jesus offered her living water. This woman had been married 5 times and was currently living with a man.
Jesus told her....
John 4:26
I am the Messiah.
The woman left her water jar and ran back to the village telling everyone....
"Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did!
Could he possibly the Messiah?"
(Didn't Jesus just tell her that He was?!?)
Jesus healed the son of a government official. The man went and begged Jesus to heal him and Jesus told him.....
John 4:50
"go back home; your son will live."
As he returned home, some of his servants met him with the news that his son was alive and well. The official asked them when the boy began to get better and they told him, "yesterday afternoon at 1:00 his fever suddenly disappeared." The man realized this was the very time that Jesus said,
"Your son will live".
He and his entire household believed in Jesus.
This was Jesus' second miracle.
A man who had been sick for 38 years lay on one of 5 covered porches beside the pool of Bethesda. An angel of the Lord would come from time to time and stir up the water and the first one to enter the pool would be healed. This man had no one to put him into the pool. Jesus told him.....
John 5:8
Stand up, pick up your mat and walk!
Instantly, the man was healed. He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking.
Jesus was teaching before a huge crowd of people. There was a young boy there with five barley loaves and two fish. Jesus took the loaves of bread...then, the fish....gave thanks to God and over 5,000 men, plus women and children were fed, with 12 baskets of food left over.
Jesus' disciples were in a boat on a lake when a gale swept down on them and the sea became very rough. They had rowed three, or four miles when suddenly they saw Jesus walking on the water toward the boat.
I love these words that Peter spoke to Jesus when Jesus asked His disciples if they were going to desert Him....
John 6:68-69
Lord, to whom would we go?
You have the words that give eternal life. We believe and we know you are the Holy One of God."
Even Jesus brothers didn't believe in Him and were very cynical toward Him.
John 7:13
But no one had the courage to speak....favorably about Him in public.
Teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman to the Temple who had been caught in the act of adultery....(I wondered where the man was!!!)....and put her before the crowd, saying she should be stoned and were trying to trap Jesus with His answer.
John 8:7
....let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone.
When His accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one and Jesus was left alone with the woman.
Here were Jesus words to her....
John 8:11
Neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more.
Don't you just love those words?
They remind me of a song that I used to sing at our "old" church with a dear friend of mine!!
Jesus healed the man who had been blind since birth by spitting on the ground and making mud that He then placed on the man's eyes. After the man washed off the mud, as Jesus directed, he could see.
Mary and Martha's brother, Lazarus, was sick. The sisters sent a message to Jesus telling him. Jesus stayed where He was for 2 more days and finally told His disciples they were going back to Judea. Lazarus had died and already been in the grave 4 days.
Jesus spoke these words to Martha....
John 11:25-26
I am the resurrection and the life.
Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never die.
Proof that Jesus was "human"....He showed great sorrow at the death of His friend and the grief being suffered by his sisters....
John 11:35
Jesus wept.
Jesus had the stone rolled from the entrance to Lazarus' tomb, but Martha told Him the smell would be terrible since Lazarus had been dead for 4 days.
(even with all she had seen Jesus do....she still doubted)
Jesus shouted....
Lazarus come out!
And the "dead man" came out, his hands and feet bound in grave clothes and his face wrapped in a head cloth. Jesus told the people to unwrap him and let him go. Many of the people who were there and saw this happen believed in Jesus.
From this time on, the Jewish leaders began to plot to kill Jesus. As a result, Jesus stopped His public ministry among the people and left Jerusalem.
Jesus went back to the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus for a dinner in His honor. Mary took a jar of expensive perfume and anointed Jesus' feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair. Judas said that the perfume was worth a year's wages and it should have been sold and the money given to the poor. He really didn't care about the poor....he was actually a thief. Since he was in charge of the disciple's money, he often stole for himself.
Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.
John 12:28
Father, bring glory to your name.
John 12:37
But despite all the miraculous signs Jesus had done, most of the people still did not believe in Him.
John 12:43
For they loved human praise more than the praise of God.
The Humility of Jesus
Foot washing was a daily routine and a gesture of hospitality. It was a lowly, menial task reserved for servants. When Jesus began to wash the feet of His disciples at their last supper together....He took the position of a slave.
John 13:23
The disciple Jesus loved was sitting next to Jesus at the table.
(this was John - The Beloved)
I'll leave y'all this week another great couple of verses of scripture found in the Book of John....
John 15:13-14
There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.
Until next week, my friends!!!
In His Most Precious Love....and with mine!!!
Deb.. thank you for this post. i love the gospel John. and this makes me want to go back and read more..:)
ReplyDeleteHi Deb, I'm so glad you wrote about John today. That's my favorite book too! Can you believe that some people at my husband's grandmother's church in Kansas said they didn't even believe it was scripture and should be included in the bible? Crazy! This same woman said we couldn't know the way to Heaven...OMgoodness! And this to a bunch of retired folks... Then she asked, "What's your favorite book of the bible?" So I promptly raised my hand and told her--the book of John..and yes we CAN know how to get to heaven. I just started quoting verse after verse. I was so upset that I was shaking. I went home crying for that poor woman's soul and all the people she was teaching.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the Lord's word.. It is needed!!
xo
Donna @ Comin' Home
Read every word. Love this post!
ReplyDeleteWhat a blessing!
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