The Gospel of John

God
When you look at your watch, you know that an intelligent person designed it. It didn't just come into existence by itself. What about your wrist - isn't it more complicated than your watch? Didn't an intelligent person design your wrist too? We call the One who designed these things God, our Creator, the One who spoke the word and created the universe.

God has spoken to us in terms we can understand. The Bible is the record of his revelation - what he wants us to know about himself. God also became flesh and blood in the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who is 100 percent human and 100 percent God. Want to know what God is like? Study the life of Jesus Christ in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Jesus
Jesus was born approximately 5 B.C. in the town of Bethlehem, Israel, to a virgin named Mary, who was descended from King David. Raised in Nazareth by Mary and her husband, Joseph, Jesus lived the ordinary life of a carpenter's son. Those who knew him didn't yet know that he was also God's Son. At age 30, Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist and tempted by the devil into the desert. He then began healing, teaching and performing miracles throughout Judea. He called people to believe in him as the only way to God.

Christ
Christ, meaning "anointed one," is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word Messiah. The Jews were waiting anxiously for the Messiah, the person guaranteed by God to be their leader and ruler. Every Jewish person living at the time of Jesus knew exactly what he or she was waiting for. "Is he the one?" was the question everyone was debating about Jesus. Some said yes; some said no; and some said Jesus was a liar.

Father
God the Father perfectly cares fur us, giving us all we need -- though we may not agree with him regarding what those needs are. He promises us that we don't have to worry about having enough food or clothes because he knows what we need before we ask. God has also given us every spiritual blessing - something of much more value to our lives than any kind of physical possession.

As children of God, we can expect to be disciplined if we err. And we shouldn't be discouraged when this happens because discipline shows that God loves us. Just as good parents teach their children not to do things that will hurt them, so our Father in heaven teaches us what is best for us.

Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is distinct from the Father and the Son - yet is completely God.

Before Jesus came to the earth, the Holy Spirit guided and directed select people at specific times for specific purposes. To prophets, he revealed future events and warnings of judgment. To kings, he gave wisdom to rule. But when Jesus was near the end of his life on earth, preparing his disciples for his impending death and resurrection, he promised that the Holy Spirit would, form that time on, be with his followers all the time.

Peter
When Jesus gave a fisherman named Simon Peter the opportunity to become a "fisher of men," this man left everything to follow Jesus. It was the beginning of a lifelong mission.

Simon Peter was an amazing man of God. One minute we admire him, and the next minute we cringe because he's stuck his foot in his mouth again. One minute our hearts cry out to be like him, and the next minute we're relieved that we're not like him. Peter seemed to operate in extremes, yet God wa preparing him for something very special.

Simon
Five significant men in Jesus' life shared the name Simon, but they were as different from each other as they could be. (1) Simon the fisherman was a disciple of Jesus. God change his name to Peter (see Peter) because of the part he would playing the the church. (2) Jesus' other disciple named Simon was called Simon the Zealot. He was a man of intense political and religious convictions. (3) One of Jesus' half brothers, a son of Mary and Joseph, was also named Simon. (4) A leper named Simon opened his home to Jesus, perhaps after being cured by him. He was shocked at the woman who came to anoint Jesus with her tears, and he received a lesson on the connection between forgiveness and love. (5) Another Simon, originally from Cyrene, was in Jerusalem one day. Soldiers ordered him to carry the cross for the exhausted and bleeding Jesus. All these men knew Jesus - each in a profound way. Their names may not have all been changed, but after meeting Jesus, their hearts were never the same again.

Galilee
Described as hilly country, Galilee was located in the northern part of ancient Israel. Jesus was from Galilee, as were his disciples; much of his ministry took place in Galilee. During the time of Christ, Galilee made up about one-third of the present-day holy land. In more modern times, Galilee was revived through Zionist colonizations. The land became part of modern-day Israel after the Arab-Israeli war in 1948-1949.

Believe
Beliefs dictate who we are and how we live our lives. To believe in something is to have faith in it. Though it may seem feeble to accept something on faith rather than fact, we all believe many things on different levels without being experts through experience or knowledge. A Christian's life is a demonstration of grounded belief in action.

Merely "believing" in God does not make someone a Christian any more than believing in exercise keeps one in shape; a person must actually exercise to stay in shape. Demons "believe" in God (James 2:19). They know he exists, but they don't choose to follow him. Believing that Jesus Christ is your Savior means believing that Jesus' death pays the penalty for your sin. As a result of this belief you repent-you turn away from your sin-and obey Jesus Christ.

Body
Our bodies are temporarily housing our personalities and souls. They are mortal containers of the immortal. The body is an amazing machine; the brain itself astounds modern scientists. Every part and every cell of the body performs a necessary function, each system interacting with the others.

God uses our bodies as an example of how all Christians should interact. He calls us the "body of Christ." God created each of us with a unique personality, background and set of skills to perform a unique role for him. In fact, he has already prepared good works for each of us to do (see Ephesians 2:10). Yet God wants us to work together for the benefit of the entire "body", of which Jesus Christ is the head (see Ephesians 4:15-16).

Blessing
A blessing is much more profound than a polite response to someone's sneeze. When the Bible talks about blessing someone, it generally means giving good things that result in a state of happiness. Sometimes these blessings are material possessions, but more often they are intangible gifts such as love, faith and peace.

In the Old Testament, God promised to bless Abraham and make Abraham and his descendants a blessing to all people. God intended for the Israelites to bless all people by revealing God and his nature to the surrounding nations. The Israelites, however failed to fulfill that role. They disobeyed God and received punishment instead.

Brothers
Big brothers, babe brothers, blood brothers - all imply a relationship characterized by warmth and similarity of character. Brother can refer to to both natural brothers and "brothers in Christ" (fellow believers). Jesus Christ said that everyone who does the will of God is his brother. Though Jesus is our God, we enter a fraternal relationship with him when we become children of God. Although that does not make us equal with him, Christ is not ashamed to call us his brother or sister.

Death
Death has many faces in our culture, most of them ugly. There's a reason for that: Death was not part of God's plan. When God created us, he intended for us to live forever in perfect harmony with him. But when Adam and Eve sinned, death became a fact of life because the consequence of sin is death. Sin and death separate us from God because God's holiness cannot permit even the smallest imperfection to enter his presence. Those who don't know God are alienated from his love, guidance and spiritual protection all their lives. Physical death seals the sentence of permanent separation from him.

But Christians never have to experience death as the world does. Christ came to take upon himself the penalty for our sins and to remove the barrier between God and us by dying in our place. If we believe and trust our lives to him, we can experience a relationship with God here on earth. The Bible says that when Christ comes into our lives, our sinful self dies., and we immediately receive a new life. We receive a new identity as a child of God. And because Christ overcame death by coming back to life, we too can live with him after death. For followers of Christ, death is no longer a defeating end, but the victorious beginning of life in the physical presence of God.

Doubt
When Jesus Christ rose from the dead, many people doubted that the person they were seeing was really Jesus; they didn't believe that he had really come back from the dead. Jesus told these people to believe and not doubt.

In the same way, Christians have to believe in Christ today even though he cannot be seen. Doubting is not sinful, but it can weaken us. Ask God to reveal himself to you through your doubts and questions, and then look for the answers! God instructs us to believe in him and his power. He says that when we have faith, we can accomplish great things.

Disciples
Does disciple sound uncomfortably like "discipline"? It is. A disciple is a person who adheres to the teaching of another - not just believing a certain philosophy, but also applying it to his or her life.

Feet
Feet make us mobile; we'd have trouble walking without them. Feet also need a brain to guide them; they only go where they're told. If people have a good head on their shoulders, their feet won't likely lead them into trouble.

Forgiveness
Have you ever heart the phrase "To err is human; to forgive, diving"? While this is often said flippantly, it is true. Throughout history, God has been merciful and forgiving to those who repent of their sin. But that doesn't mean forgiveness is automatic. Because the penalty for sin is death, God's law says there can be no forgiveness without sacrifice of a life. In the Old Testament, God introduced a system of animal sacrifices for his people to follow. But those sacrifices were only preparatory and temporary, looking forward to what was to come.

Friends
Many people wish they could be part of a group of friends. Others want to have deeper friendships than what they have. True friends listen, talk and spend time with each other. Friends shield us from loneliness, offer acceptance and give us common ground. They influence us more than we know. As with Jonathan and David, friends can strengthen us in the Lord (1 Samuel 20:16-22; 23:15-18) or, as with Jonadab and Amnon, friends can lead us into sin and disaster (2 Samuel 13:3-16).

The people we know and esteem as dear to our hearts speak volumes about who we are. Friends usually love the same things that we love. The deepest friendships grow between those who not only love God but also help each other grow in him. Individuals like Abraham and Moses shared God's heart, and he called them his friends.

Head
Just as we refer to the CEO or president as being the "head" of a company. God calls Jesus Christ the "head" of the church. The church is not one particular congregation or denomination, but all people - past, present and future - who trust Jesus Christ as Savior. By calling Christ the "head," God is saying that Jesus is the supreme leader and authority over all.

Home
The concept of a home - a place where we belong and from which we gain our identity - is prominent in the Bible. People are often identified in the Bible by their ancestry, such as "Lot son of Haran" (Genesis 11:31), or according to their hometown such as "Joseph of Arimathea (Mark 15:43). The word "house" frequently indicates the collective relatives and descendants of an individual, such as "the house of David" (1 Samuel 20:16).

With this in mind, the image of a home or house is often used symbolically. The temple was called the house of God. Although God is present everywhere, the temple represented his special relationship with the Israelites, his chosen people, and their identification with him. In the new testament, Christians are referred to as God's house because his Spirit lives in them, as the Spirit of God filled the temple (see Temple).

Jews
A yellow star stitched on a jacket declares a person's Jewish identity in Germany during World War II. It was not the fist time that being a Jew carried a death sentence, nor was it the first time that the Jews emerged victorious from a plot for their worldwide extermination.

Jews are the physical descendants of Abraham through his grandson Jacob, the father of the Israelites. The label "Jew" came into use after the Babylonian captivity. The stories of Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther highlight God's protection of the people in the midst of great danger and opposition.

Lying
Remember Pinocchio, the wooden puppet who longed to become a real boy? Though he tried so hard to become human, his habit of lying kept getting in the way. In the Christian life, sins such as lying often interfere with a good relationship with God. While we may not take lying seriously, it is a sign of a depraved, or corrupt life without Christ. When we purposely deceive people, we change our allegiance from God to Satan, who is called the "father of lies" (John 8:44).

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Look
Looking something over is a way of understanding it to a fuller extent. No one knows us more completely than God, who thoroughly examines our actions. Since he is perfect, only he can judge what things are truly done for him and what things are misdirected attentions.

Life
Do you want to live forever? Jesus Christ says he's the only true way. He says he's the door to a life of abundant blessing. God is the giver of life, and his role as such started with the creation of our ancestors, Adam and Eve. When sin entered the world, we were blocked, not only from having eternal life with God, but also from a meaningful life on this planet. Both can be obtained through God himself.

This is where Jesus enters the picture. He came to give us abundant life. He tells us to give him our cares and stop worrying because worrying doesn't add a single hour to our lives. Jesus also tells us to stop selfishly hoarding our lives; instead, we are to freely give them away by serving him. In a strange paradox, it's only when we lose our lives to him that we gain them back. Jesus reminds us that if we get everything the world has to offer, yet lose our souls, we haven't really lived.

Mary
In the New Testament, the name Mary is just about as common as the names John and Amy are today. There are three notable Mary's in the Bible, all of whom were dedicated to Jesus Christ and recognized that he was God. These three women also modeled lives of faith. the first Mary we encounter is Jesus' mother. A virgin, she was chosen by God to have a child-Jesus-through the Holy Spirit. When an angel told her of her pregnancy, she replied, "I am the Lord's servant...may it be to me as you have said" (Luke 2:38). Later, Mary became one of Jesus' followers and was part of the group who received the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.

Miracle
Unexplainable healing, the dead raised to life, the sun standing still, strange encounters with supernatural beings, wonders in the sky and other unsolved mysteries - are events like these miracles, coincidences or merely hoaxes? Miracles are occurrences in the physical world that have no natural explanation. Their cause is either still unknown to science or ascribed to the powers of the supernatural. The Bible is filled with stories of miracles performed by God through human beings. God used people to accomplish his purposes (such as parting the Red Sea to bring the Israelites out of Egypt), demonstrate his character (such as sending Jonah to the Ninevites by way of a great fish) and help people believe in him (such as the disciples' ability to heal the sick).

But the greatest miracle worker was Jesus. He said to his disciples, " Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves" (John 14:11).

Name
In this increasingly impersonal world, we have become numbers to the government, credit card companies and sometimes our employers. But God knows us by name. Names are very important to him!

God loves each individual by name and speaks to each of us personally. He wants us to know him by name too. God reveals his character to us in the many names he calls himself. He also calls us to believe in, and depend on, the name of Jesus Christ: "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). When we pray in Jesus' name, we align ourselves with God's desire and authority - and he promises to answer.

Night
Night is more than just the time period that begins at sundown and ends at sunrise. Unlike the day, night is typified by darkness and filled with unseen obstacles and dangers. The night offers cover for sinful people to undertake selfish pursuits, and it provides challenges for the believer when we sense the "night" in our society. The Lord Jesus will return like "a thief in the night" (1 Thessalonians 5:2) - when we least expect him and whether we're ready or not.

There are many great stories in the Bible that occurred during the night: During the night of Passover, the Lord struck down every firstborn son of the Egyptians. The Israelites followed a pillar of fire when they traveled by night during the exodus. Under cover of night, Gideon and an army of Midianites. Torches lit the night when Jesus was betrayed in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Peace
The dawn of each new year is greeted with boisterous celebrations and hopeful prayers for peace. Yet, as long as there is sin in the world, wars will continue and even the best relationship may fail. As God's ambassadors on this plane, we are to be peacemakers, mediating differences and even squelching gossip. In this way we are demonstrating God's love to others within our individual spheres of influence. The Bible also tells us to keep our personal lives peaceful, for we cannot demonstrate peace if we're not living it.

Resurrection
The resurrection was no hoax. When God raise Jesus from the dead, he gave new life to a dead and mangled body (see Crucify). That Jesus' resurrection was miraculous is evident from the amazement of every person who saw him. After his resurrection, Jesus could eat, speak and work, and his disciples could touch and see him, but his new body was perfectly immortal.

Right
International laws stand to protect the dignity, basic freedoms and governmental immunities due each person because of his or her humanity. Sadly, despite the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, people still face persecution. Christians, though we live in this flawed world, are ultimately under God's rule and protection. Our rights as God's children guarantee freedom from sin's bondage and immunity to spiritual death.

Scripture
Before Jesus Christ came to the earth, the collection of inspired writings consisted of what we now call the Old Testament, the books from Genesis through Malachi. After Jesus' resurrection, Scripture was completed with the inclusion of the New Testament, the books arranged from Matthew to Revelation.

When we read the Bible, we hear from God and grow in our experience with Jesus Christ. All Scripture points to Jesus, and our familiarity with Scripture leads us know him more.

Signs
When we see geese flying south in a V formation, it's a sign that winter is on the way. Almost every street corner and road we travel is marked with a sign telling us where we are and the direction we're headed. God gives signs-miracles or fulfilled prophecies-to show that his promises will come true. The rainbow in the sky after a storm is God's aerial billboard-his reminder to himself and us that he will never flood the earth again.

The Bible also gives us signs to help us understand what is happening in the world around us. The first believers saw many signs to confirm the truth of the message about Christ. Most of all, signs help explain how we can come into a relation with the true and living God. God expects us to pay attention to, and follow, his signs.

Sin
Sin is a tough three-letter word to get one's brain around. It is a term loaded with lots of distasteful and challenging connotations in our world. Everyone sins, but no on e wants to talk about it. Bluntly put, sin is choosing our own will over God's will.

Son
"If you really want to understand someone," said President George W. Bush, " you look at his family and where he was raised." Using this reasoning, what can we learn about Jesus Christ, the Son of God? The Bible says that Jesus is "the image of the invisible God" (Colossians 1:15). This means that the Son is fully God; all of God the Father's qualities are manifested in him: love, justice, righteousness, holiness. God the Son was also fully human; while he was on the earth, he shared our experiences: temptation, hunger, fatigues, pain and death.

Thomas
This is the guy known as "doubting Thomas." He was one of Jesus Christ's 12 disciples. One incident has labeled Thomas, perhaps unfairly, for all time. After Jesus' resurrection, he appeared to the disciples. Thomas, however, was not present. Upon hearing about Jesus' appearance, Thomas boldly declared "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it" (John 20:25). One week later, when Thomas and the other disciples were together, Jesus reappeared. He said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe" (John 20:27).

Water
In the Middle East a gallon of gasoline is cheaper than a gallon of water. Imagine a Middle Easterner's surprise when he or she goes abroad and finds water in such abundance. Water was valued in the Middle East during ancient times too. God did a lot of amazing things with water: He flooded the earth, turned water into blood, made water pour out of a rock and stacked water up on either side of a dry path through the sea.

Women
Glass ceilings, exploitation, date rape, battles over reproductive rights-these things are evidence that women in North America still face gender struggles. But millions of women in other parts of the world endure much worse, as did women in ancient times. REading the Bible can sometimes be very painful because it dos not gloss over the reality of the status of most women. God created Eve to be the perfect counterpart, companion and co-ruler with Adam. The entrance of sin into the world set men and women against each other and warped God's purposes for them both.

Write
Books, stories, literature and letters all allow us the joy of communication, even when the writer is far removed from us in time or space. Humanity and civilization are captured in written language. Both written and spoken languages are intimate aspects of an individual person and people group. Writing is a permanent way to preserve history and provide the means for people to share, relate and understand one another.

The Bible's is God's love letter to us. He wrote it for everyone. God himself wrote the Ten Commandments on two stone tablets. More importantly, God's plan and desire was to write his law with permanent marker in the minds and hearts of his people. And that is what he does when he gives the Holy Spirit to those who believe in Jesus.

Teach
"Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day," the old saying goes, but "teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime." Teaching and learning are also crucial to our Christian faith. Learning is the first step, in fact, to telling others about Jesus Christ. Jesus taught the people about God. He explained what the Scriptures meant, and he taught with an incredible authority that the people had never seen before. In fact, the people called him Rabbi, which means "teacher." Jesus told us to carry on his work. We are to instruct people not only in the facts about salvation, but also in how to obey God and apply what they hear.

6. Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there. 7. As well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separated from the linen. 8. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

10. Then the disciples went back to their homes,
11. But Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12. And saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

13. They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14. At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

15. “Woman,” he said, “why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

16. Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).

17. Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God’.”

18. Mary of Magdala went to the disciples with the news that she had seen the Lord and that he had told her this.

Jesus Appears to His Disciples

19. On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20. After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

21. Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22. And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Jesus Appears to Thomas

24. Not Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25. When the other disciples told him that they had seen the Lord, he declared, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands, and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.”

26. A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them, and said, “Peace be with you!” 27. Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

28. Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

29. Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

30. Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

CHAPTER TWENTYONE

Jesus and the Miraculous Catch of Fish

1. Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples by the Sea of Tiberias. It happened this way: 2. Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. 3. “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

4. Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.

5. He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you caught any fish?” “No,” they answered.

6. He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

7. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water.

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