Jesus in the Gospel of John, Part 1: Bringing Eternal Life as Savior

I once worked on a team of four studio camera operators. Each of us had a different angle and emphasis on our subject, usually a person speaking on stage. Back in the tech room, the director had a large computer screen that showed all four camera views at once. It was interesting to see the speaker make a verbal point or gesture from each camera angle (including an “overhead” view) and the unique perspective that each gave. The four gospels are like that.

Understanding the Gospels

Matthew shows Jesus as the Messiah, the Christ, the King of Israel. It opens with his genetic ties to Abraham and King David, both of whom received the promise that the Messiah would come of their seed. Jesus Christ is called the son of David ten times in Matthew, more than any other gospel. The words for “king” and “kingdom” are each used more in Matthew than the other gospels, and Jesus makes royal commands in the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew reveals Jesus fulfilling sixty Old Testament promises concerning the Messiah.

Mark shows Jesus as a servant, carrying out the will of his heavenly Father. It gives no genealogy, since a servant hasn’t any family claims or titles. Whereas others call Jesus “lord” more than seventy times in the other gospels, he is only once given this title of respect by a Gentile woman in the gospel of Mark. This gospel view is full of Jesus’ actions, compassion, and service toward others. It closes with the Lord “working with” those he sent forth to preach.

Luke shows Jesus as a man, the son of Adam. His lineage goes back to Adam and ends with his adopted father, Joseph, from man’s legal point of view. Luke includes the lives of those people that surrounded his birth: Zacharias and Elisabeth, Joseph and Mary, the shepherds, Simeon and Anna. This gospel often shows Jesus going to the Father for help in prayer and giving praise to God. It is the only gospel that records Jesus teaching eleven parables about human relationships, including the parable of the forgiving father.

So what camera angle does John give us? This gospel gives the “overhead” view. It reveals Jesus as the Son of God. His genealogy is simply that “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father).” In John we see Jesus bringing eternal life as savior, fulfilling the law and every required feast, and proclaiming his intimate love for his Father. We will look at each of these three aspects in this series on the Gospel of John.

Eternal Life in the Gospel of John

God is interested in each individual person. He says so.

Luke 12:6,7:
Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?
But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.

The “hairs of your head” in Biblical culture refers to a person’s wellbeing (I Samuel 14:45; Daniel 3:27; Luke 21:8; Acts 27:34). Our heavenly Father cares about every aspect of a person’s life. He wants all men to be saved and understand His heart for them. God’s salvation comes through His Son, Jesus Christ.

I Timothy 2:4-6:
Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

I John 4:9,10; 5:11:
In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

Jesus: Speaking with Two Individuals Who Wanted to Know the Truth

Jesus Christ understood that he was the savior of the world, and that his personal sacrifice would make eternal life available. When a Pharisee named Nicodemus came to see him at night, Jesus told him so.

John 3:15,16,36:
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
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.
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath [judgment] of God abideth on him.

Nicodemus was “a ruler of the Jews,” a member of the religious leadership body called the Sanhedrin. Jesus Christ made known God’s heart to all who were meek enough to listen, even to this man who came secretly to Jesus when no one else would know about it.

Later, when traveling through Samaria, Jesus stopped in the city of Sychar, at Jacob’s well. He spoke to another individual there—not a respected leader, but a Samaritan, someone looked down upon by most Judeans. Jesus Christ violated the cultural norm by speaking to this person in a public place, for she was a woman. Yet, when she had a heart to know about God, Jesus offered her the greatest gift of all.

John 4:10,14:
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.
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.

Jesus told his disciples why he spoke to the woman—because his heavenly Father wanted him to. Now was the time to make known to others that the Messiah had come!

John 4:34-36
Jesus saith unto them, My meat [food, nourishment] is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.
And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.

Jesus: Speaking at Jerusalem

While in Jerusalem, Jesus healed a man who had been infirm for thirty-eight years. He did this on the Sabbath day, and the religious leaders did not like it. Jesus put his actions into perspective and gave them the “bigger” picture.

John 5:24-26,39:
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him [God, his Father] that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation [judgment]; but is passed from death unto life.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.
For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;
Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

The Father gave His Son to have life in himself. When we search the scriptures, we see that Jesus Christ is their grand subject from Genesis to Revelation. The Word of God testifies of, witnesses to, His only begotten Son. He is the savior of the world.

Jesus: Speaking of the True Bread from Heaven

After Jesus fed about five thousand men (besides women and children) with five barley loaves and two small fishes, many wanted more of this teacher from Galilee. They followed him across the sea to Capernaum to get more physical food. But Jesus knew he had something much greater to offer them. There, in the synagogue, he told them of the true food that God provided for the world.

John 6:26-29:
Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.
Labour not for the meat [food] which perisheth, but for that meat [food] which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.
Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?
Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

Many people try to work their way to heaven. There is only one real work to do: believe on Jesus, whom God sent. Jesus continued declaring the truth to those who had followed him there.

John 6:40,47,51,54,57,58:
And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
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.
Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.
This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.

Many of these people only wanted to fill their bellies. So they left Jesus to find physical food elsewhere. Jesus asked the twelve apostles if they would leave him too. Peter knew where the true nourishment was.

John 6:66-69:
From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.
Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?
Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.

Jesus: Speaking to Those Who Hear His Voice

Jesus Christ is the good shepherd. He laid down his life for his sheep.

John 10:27,28:
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

Martha was one who followed the good shepherd. After her brother Lazarus had lain dead in the grave for four days, Jesus encouraged her with the words of life. She believed Jesus was who he claimed to be!

John 11:25-27:
Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.

Sometime later, Jesus knew his death was at hand. He declared what the Father wanted him to speak so that those around him could have eternal life.

John 12:23,25,50:
And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.
He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.

He told his disciples to believe in him, and that they too would live.

John 14:1,19:
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.

Jesus: Speaking with His Father

Jesus loved to talk with his Father. Near the end of his earthly life, Jesus had a “heart to heart” about what he was about to do.

John 17:1-3:
These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
As thou hast given him power [authority] over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

God gave His Son authority over all of mankind to give eternal life to those who believe on him.

Understanding the Gospel of John

Jesus Christ did many signs and wonders that could have been recorded. So why did God inspire John to write those things that He did concerning His Son? The Father tells us why. And today, we can believe on Jesus Christ to be saved, born again of God’s gift of holy spirit (Romans 10:9,10).

John 20:30,31:
And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book:
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.

In Part 2, we will see Jesus Christ fulfilling the law and keeping the feasts.