Bible Study in the book of John

Intro

Here we are starting a new study, which is in the book of John.
You may be thinking, "Why John, how come we didn't go back to Exodus. I heard the book of John is just for new believers and I have been walking with the lord for some time now. I want the meat of the word not the milk."

First off, I choose the book of John (after praying about it) and decided we have not done a study on Jesus nor any of the four gospels, and John is my favorite gospel. But, the Lord willing, after John we will go to the book of Exodus continuing on from our study in Genesis (unless the Lord leads us to do something else.).

As far as the book of John being for new believers only, I would agree but disagree.
I agree because the book of John is easy to understand, but it's much more then that.
This week we will do an intro to the book of John, and start digging in next week.
But don't close this out yet because there are some important things about the book of John we will go over this week.

The first question would be, "Who wrote the book of John?"
Sound like a stupid question? Actually it's not, because if you have read the book of John, He does not mention his name at all.
"Yea, but the title is the book of John"
This is true, but when it was originally written, it did not have this title, the name was given by others and not John himself.

So how do we know that John wrote this book?

John's Gospel was written very late in the history of the early Church and by the time Church historians began to write things down, there were still people alive who knew that John had written this Gospel while he was in Ephesus.
Irenaeus who was writing only 50 years after the Gospel of John had been written, recorded evidence that John wrote this Gospel which is supposed to have come from his teacher Polycarp who knew John personally. Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, all believed that John wrote this Gospel. So the early Church Historians are all in agreement.
To say that John didn't write it would be to go against all of the Early Church Fathers.

John does put his own signature throughout the book.

John 21:20 & 24 20 Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said, "Lord, who is the one who betrays You?"
24 This is the disciple who testifies of these things, and wrote these things; and we know that his testimony is true.

John refers to himself as "the disciple whom Jesus loved".

John was also one of the twelve disciples chosen by Jesus.
John also wrote the books of I.II &III John and the book of Revelation.
We all know about Peter, but did you know that Peter and John were one of four who were first chosen by Jesus? Peter, Andrew his brother, James and his brother John.

Matt 4:18-22 18 And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 19 Then He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." 20 They immediately left their nets and followed Him. 21 Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.

"So, John was one of first chosen by Jesus, big deal."

You must also understand that this John was one of the last to see or be with Jesus, which we read at the end of the book of John.

John 21:20 Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said, "Lord, who is the one who betrays You?"

John was one of the first and last with Jesus, also when Jesus was being crucified on the cross, John was the only disciple there, because the other ten were hiding and Judas had hung himself.

John 19:25-27 25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, "Woman, behold your son!" 27 Then He said to the disciple, "Behold your mother!" And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.

John also was to one who took care of Jesus' mother Mary until she died.

Here is an interesting note about the Gospel of John. Did you know that it has been translated into more languages then any other single literary work? Many language groups don't have the whole Bible, or even the whole New Testament, but most language groups have at least the Gospel of John.

Also in the book of John he does not record any of Jesus' parables, not a one.

"So when was the book of John written?"

Most would agree that it was written somewhere between 90 and 100 AD in Ephesus. It was only about 70 years after the resurrection of Jesus and His ascension into heaven.
So the book of John was written after all of Paul's writings (Who wrote about 1/3 of the New testament), it was written after First and Second Peter (another disciple of Jesus), it was written after all three of the other Gospel accounts. And it was written after the Great Dispersion that happened in 70 AD where the Romans came in and burned Jerusalem to the ground. The Nation was shattered and the Jewish people were scattered to the four corners of the earth exactly as Jesus said that they would be. That is why John was writing this from Ephesus. That was where he had ended up. So this was a critical time for Christianity.

"So if there were three other Gospels written before this, then why would a fourth one need to be written?"
Good question, and the answer you will find by reading the book of John. You may have not noticed but about 90% of what is recorded in the book of John is not in any of the other three gospels. Matthew, Mark and Luke's gospels have a lot of the same stories only from different viewpoints.

John's Gospel is written for one main purpose, which we find at the end of the book.

John 20:30-31 30 And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.

Very simply put, so you will believe in Jesus and be saved!

But when John also wrote this book he also wanted everyone to know that this man Jesus was more then a man or a prophet, but was actually God come to this earth in the flesh.
We read this in the very first verse of John.

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

John also records Jesus' seven great I Am statements, which also says that He is God.

John 6:35 And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.

John 8:12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."

John 10:7 Then Jesus said to them again, "Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.

John 10:11 "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.

John 11:25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

John 15:1 "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.

John also record seven miracles of Jesus.

The first is turning water into wine at the wedding party in Cana. (2:1-11)
Then you have the Healing an official's son in Capernaum (4:46-54)
Then healing an invalid at the pool of Bathsaida in Jerusalem (5:1-18)
Then the Feeding the 5,000 near the Sea of Galilee (6:5-14) (this miracle is found in every Gospel.)
And then you have Jesus Walking on the water in the Sea of Galilee (6:16-21)
And then the Healing a blind man in Jerusalem (9:1-7)
And lastly, the Raising of Lazarus from the dead (11:1-45)

John also records the seven witnesses of John's Gospel. Seven people that John calls on to bear witness as to who Jesus is.
These are statements that John heard first hand.

The first is John the Baptist in chapter 1

John 1:34 "And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God."

Then Nathaniel also in chapter 1

John 1:49 Nathanael answered and said to Him, "Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!"

And then you have Peter in chapter 6 right after a great number of the multitude stopped following Jesus, and Jesus ask the twelve, will you leave me also? And Peter said.

John 6:68-69 68 But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 "Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

There was Martha's testimony, after Lazarus was raised from the dead

John 11:27 She said to Him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world."

Thomas after he had seen the nail prints in the risen Lord

John 20:28 And Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!"

And then you have John's own witness in chapter 20

John 20:31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.

And then finally the witness of Jesus Himself to the religious leaders in Jerusalem who wanted to stone Him for Blasphemy Chapter 10

John 10:36 "do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?

Seven represents perfection and John is showing us Jesus' perfection as a man and as God.

All of these things we will study further when we get to them.

Well you now have gotten your feet a little wet in the book of John.
A lot of cool stuff you may have not known about this book.
But we have only scrapped the surface of this book. There is so much good stuff in these 21 chapters. Whether you are a new Christian, have been walking with the Lord for many years, or your just curious about this Jesus and the bible, you will not be disappointed with the book of John.

Next week we start in chapter one, and if you have followed any of these study's you know it may take some time to get through this book, but that's ok, because we will enjoy all of it.

If you haven't already I would encourage you to go ahead and read the book of John, and if you can't wait and have questions when you do, feel free to ask.

May God richly bless you in His love, grace and mercy and may we all grow closer to the Lord Jesus as we learn about Him in the book of John!

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