John 5: Not Just A Guitarist

The title for this chapter is probably going to take some explaining. The only ones who will probably get it is from my generation, and even then, not everyone in my generation will know what I’m talking about. “John 5” is the stage name for John Williams Lowery, who was the lead guitarist for David Lee Roth, Marilyn Manson, and Rob Zombie. I did not know about John 5 until Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock put on their game “Black Widow of La Porte” by John 5 (featuring rhythm guitarist Jim Root). Every time I heard or I played this song, I would always think of John 5 as in the book of John chapter 5. But now every time I read the book of John chapter 5, I think of John 5 the guitarist and the song “Black Widow of La Porte.” Let’s talk less about the guitarist and more about the book and chapter.

John 5:1 is proof I’m pretty sure this supplemental Gospel was written topically and not chronologically. If you read to the end of John 4, the last place you leave Jesus is Cana in Galilee. At the beginning of John 5, Jesus is in Jerusalem in Judea. The best transition we get is “some time later.” But let’s talk less about time and more about location. More specifically than Jerusalem, Jesus is at out pool by the Sheep Gate, which has the name Bethesda (or Bethzatha or Bethsaida, depending on what manuscript your translation used). The name literally means, “House of Healing,” so you know where this story is going. The setting is a sad story, as the place is crawling with the ill, the injured and the disabled. Why?

Now’s the perfect time to point out John 5 is missing verse 4. Why is it missing? Verse 4 can only be founded in the later manuscripts. All the discovered early manuscripts don’t have it. Most likely, John never wrote verse 4. Later on, an editor put in it to explain the significance of the pool because people forgot the importance. So let’s look at verse 4.

John 5:4-
“From time to time an angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters. The first one into the pool after each such disturbance would be cured of whatever disease he had.”

So legend had that every now and then (and it was a rare every now and then), an angel would come down and stir up the waters. When the angel stirred the waters, the waters had healing powers, but only enough power to heal one person. The first one in the water would be healed. You might be thinking, “Then why don’t you just sit the pool the whole time?” It didn’t work like that. It would have to be the first one in the pool after the water was stirred, not during or while the pool was being stirred. Besides, if you sat in the pool waiting for a rare occurrence, you’d have more wrinkles than a raisin and a prune combined. Now this legend isn’t as pure as you think. First, I will note that this was a local legend, local meaning only the people of the city believed it. You probably couldn’t find any other believers in the rest of Judea, Samaria, Galilee or anywhere else in the world. Second, the legend was brought about by the Greeks while they were in the land, not the Jews. You will find nowhere in the Old Testament, New Testament, or even the Jewish Talmud (commentary on the Torah) that would support this legend. The Bible Knowledge Commentary points out that this is unbiblical because it’s so cruel to make disabled people compete for healing. So it’s not a Jewish legend, but rather a Greek legend. It has to be a Greek legend, because when the Greeks were in the land, they worshipped snakes there. As a matter of fact, a lot of them worshipped snakes on poles, just like the Bronze snake on the pole Moses made while the Israelites were wandering in the desert. In the Greek legend, it probably wasn’t an angel that stirred the waters, but their god of healing, which is also symbolized by a snake on a pole. (And that is why hospitals and ambulances use a snake on a pole as their symbol. It is the Greek god for healing.) When the Jews took back the land, the local Jews fixed the legend, replacing the Greek god with an angel of the Lord. It really doesn’t matter where the legend came from. The point to be to made is that the disabled people were willing to anything to be healed, even if it is hoping in a silly superstition.

John 5:5 picks out one of these men, but it’s only descriptive to a point. The NLT and NCV calls him “sick.” The RSV, NRSV, and NASB calls him “ill.” The NET calls him “disabled.” The NIV, ESV and Message call him an “invalid.” The KJV and NKJV says he has an “infirmity.” Very generic. I looked at the original Greek. The word they used is asthenia, which can be translated “weakness” or “frailty.” It still doesn’t help clear things up. A lot of commentaries will simply say he’s paralyzed because context clues says he has problems getting off his mat. The text does tell us this man has been invalid for 38 years, and he’s possibly been waiting at the pool for 38 years. The text doesn’t tell how many ill people are at the pool at this point, but Jesus chooses this invalid man to pick out.

When Jesus asks the invalid man in John 5:6, “Do you want to get well?” we may find it a stupid question. Of course a man disabled for 38 years wants to get well! Many scholars have given many interpretations for why Jesus asked a question that seemed so obvious. Perhaps the man made his living off begging for money out of the people’s pity for him. Healing him would take away his source of income (compare to Acts 16:16-21). Maybe the man got so use to a lifestyle of being invalid he had accepted it and no longer desired to change his lifestyle. It would be like asking a man in a wheelchair, “Would you like to walk?” and the wheel chaired man replying in anger, “What? Am I not good enough because I am in a wheelchair?! Does it make me less of a human because I am in a wheelchair?!” On that note, perhaps Jesus didn’t want to offend the man by making him look weak and pathetic being invalid. Sometimes disabled people do get offended if you baby them too much. Maybe Jesus asked the question because, as we’ll see later on the story, both He and the invalid man knew that they would be breaking the man-made “Sabbath laws” by being healed and carrying a mat. Jesus didn’t want to throw that kind attention on the invalid man if he didn’t want it. Perhaps Jesus said to get the man excited about the real possibility of getting healed. Also remember that Jesus many times connected physical ailment to spiritual ailment and physical healing to spiritual healing. Many people, back then and today, don’t recognize they have sin, and even if they do, both those who do and do not may enjoy their sin and not see as wrong. As much as God hates, he will still honor their free will and allow them to stay in their sin (see Romans 1:24,26,28). On last possibility is that Jesus is calling the man out on his superstition, and calling him to real faith in Christ. It’s like Jesus is saying, “Do you [really] want to get well? [Because this superstition isn’t working. Believe in Me instead. I can really heal you.]”

What may seem weirder than Christ’s question is the invalid man’s answer. The invalid man’s answer is somewhere along the lines of, “Yeah, but it’s not going to happen because I’m too weak and too slow to get in the water when it is stirred, so someone always beats me to it.” It’s like the invalid man doesn’t even answer Christ’s question. The man is so hooked on this superstition, he believes it’s his only way to get cured.

As expected, the miraculous healing takes place in John 5:8,9, but pay close attention to what’s happening. Jesus doesn’t say, “I’ll help you next time the angel stirs the water!” then precedents to wait until the next stirring, when Jesus throws him in the pool. Jesus doesn’t say, “Well, I’m God, so I’ll stir the water for you so you don’t have to wait for the silly angel” and then waits for the man to get so He can stir the water. In fact, notice Jesus doesn’t use the water at all. He just says the word, and the man is healed! Once again, Jesus is drawing the man away from believing in superstitions and towards believing in Jesus Christ. Actually, in light of John 5:14, maybe his superstitious beliefs caused him to sin, which led to his disability.

May I pause him here to say “Amen?” You won’t believe the number of Christians I know who are superstitious is some way, shape or form. Well, ok, I don’t know too many, but that number should be zero, but it isn’t! You might think “I’m not a superstitious Christian” but you might just be. Do you believe in good luck and bad luck? If you do, then you are! The idea of “luck” really denies God of His Will and His sovereign control. It states God cannot destine or predestine anything. But we all know God does control everything with His sovereign hand, and He can destine and predestine events in people’s lives. Thus, anything that happens in our lives, whether good or bad, shouldn’t be credited to luck because that’s crediting it to a non-existing force. Instead of “good luck” we have “blessings;” instead of “bad luck” we have “curses.” None of that is out of God’s control, for it is God who blesses and God who curses (although I will note that some bad things are the consequences of sin, which is the absence of God, but that’s another long post for another time). So Christians, stop believing in “luck” and stop involving yourself in those superstitious things that are suppose to give you good luck, for you are messing with forces that are not meant to be missed with. You too can be invalid by sinning, or something worse!

(Alright, that last paragraph reminded me of a funny saying I had during quizzing. I went into quizzing believing in good luck and bad luck. I even had a lucky t-shirt for quizzing. When I started quizzing for Spring City, my coaches Dave and Vicki Deitrick taught me there was no such thing as good luck and bad luck, but only God’s blessings and God’s curses. So I would teach my quizzing teammates the same, saying to them, “I don’t believe in luck. I only believe in God’s blessing. So remember that next time you see me turn my quizzing opponents and say, ‘Good luck!’.” :-) haha).

What might be crazier than Christ’s question in verse 6 or the invalid man’s answer in verse 7 is the Jewish leaders’ response in verse 10 when they see the man walking. Most people would be happy to see a lame man walking. Even in today’s day and age, we’d be glad to see a man who use to need a wheelchair, crutches or a walker walking on his own. Not the Jewish leaders, though. What is their reaction? They call him out for breaking the Law! The only problem is this “law” is not written in the Torah, not is it even written in the Talmud (Moses’s commentary on the Torah). It’s a law the Sanhedrin wrote out of their interpretation of the Law. Still, in their eyes, this man is in trouble, and he probably would have gotten into trouble, too. But then he mentions someone made him well. In their minds, they could be thinking, “Well, whoever this man is who made you well is in bigger trouble because he did a bigger work on the Sabbath: healing!” At least it got the healed man out of trouble. The Jewish leaders ask the man who healed him because they want to interrogate this healer, but all the man can do is shrug his shoulders. He doesn’t know either, but what does he care, he’s healed! Later on, though, the man finds out the healer was Jesus, and once he does, he reports back to the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus, possibly to keep himself out of hot water.

Before we go any further, we got to ask ourselves the question, “Why does Jesus perform this miracle?” or even “Why did John decide to include this miracle in his book?” Remember, John only put 7 miracles in books. We’re already up to the 3rd miracle (yes, I did skip the 2nd miracle in John 4, but that’s because the post on John 4 was already long enough and it was off topic). So why is this one so important? We could just stick with generic answers. It shows Christ’s power over nature. Jesus came to defeat the Fall, and Jesus defeated all aspects of the Fall, including sickness and disease. Christ’s power to defeat a physical ailment that everyone can see demonstrates His power to defeat the unseen spiritual ailment known as sin. All of those do work, all of those do show Jesus as God, but it would be better if we could have a reason that’s less generic and more specific to the story in this chapter. I’m not going to read the verse, but let’s just say the next verse, John 5:16, shows a dramatic transition in the chapter’s text. It’s almost like a cause-and-effect transition. Many commentaries agree on why Jesus performed this miracle, but they don’t really word it correctly, so it sounds harsh. If I were to paraphrase their belief on why Jesus performed the miracle, it would be, “Jesus healed the man to start a debate with the religious leaders.” Doesn’t that sound harsh, that Jesus would only heal a person to start an argument? It would totally reword Christ’s question in John 5:6 to “Can I make you well so I can pick a fight with the Jewish leaders?” But if you think about it, it does make sense. Jesus never healed people just for the sake of healing people. To borrow the title of an ApologetiX song, Jesus did not want to become the “Temple Physician.” Jesus performed His miracle to demonstrate His authority and verify His message. In short, Jesus performed miracles to demonstrate who He is and verify what He did. Once again, notice how this miracle smoothly transits into Christ’s preaching. So the commentaries did have it right; they just needed to word it better. They could say that the miracle was an attention-getting introduction to His preaching, or say that the healed invalid man was the “visual aid” his teaching.

Now it’s time for the great transition from miracle to teaching. John 5:16 says that because Jesus was preaching work on the Sabbath (or so it seemed) and even working himself on the Sabbath (miracles constituted as work), the Jewish leaders begin persecuting Jesus. Let’s quickly compare the Jews from Jerusalem’s reaction toward John the Baptist to their reaction toward Jesus. When it came to John the Baptist, it was just a close, watchful eye. Yeah, John the Baptist was calling out the Pharisees and Sadducees to hypocrites and sinners, but beside that He was doing nothing wrong. Baptism has its roots in Jewish cleansing rituals, so there was nothing really wrong with John baptizing (although the Jews didn’t think it was necessary to baptize yet). Both John the Baptist and the Jews believed the Messiah was coming, even though John thought he was coming sooner than the rest of the Jews thought. And as matter of fact, John the Baptist’s preaching called for the people to repent of their sins, which was very similar to the Jewish leaders teaching the people to follow the Law. So while the Jews from Jerusalem kept a close eye on John the Baptist to make sure he didn’t start a revolution, the Jews really didn’t see him as a threat. Now when the disciples transfer from John the Baptist to Jesus Christ, so the Jewish leader’s watchful eye also transfer from John to Jesus. At first, their reaction is skeptical. Their questions are merely to get a better understanding of what Jesus is preaching. But by now, by John 5:16, it goes from curiosity to persecution. Their questions go from curiosity and understanding to criticizing and doubting. Why? Jesus is not only working on the Sabbath, but telling others it’s alright to work on the Sabbath. Although healing and carrying a mat are not declared work in the Torah or Talmud, the Jewish leaders saw it as work, therefore they saw as a man breaking the Law and teaching others to break the Law, and the religious leaders would not put up with that. Any man who broke the Law and taught of breaking the Law, even if it was just their interpretation of the Law, was deemed a sinner, a blasphemer and a heretic. To them, the situation called for persecution.

We’re going to skip over John 5:18 for now, but we’ll come back to it. Right now, we’re going to jump right into Christ’s teaching, starting in John 5:19. Now I’ll point out some specifics, but I want to more show the overall message and how it reveals Jesus as God the Son because it will stick to the overall message of John’s Gospel. And you’ll see the number one way John shows Jesus is the Son of God is by teaching trinity.

To fully understand John 5:19-30, we have to get out of our Western mindset of thinking and go into an Eastern mindset of thinking. What’s the difference? The Western mindset of thinking is all about dissecting, breaking down and analyzing. When it comes to trinity, it will break the trinity into 3 parts, break it into 3 categories, and then try to nicely and neatly put categorize all the acts of God into these 3 categorize, by what entity performs what task. The reasons we want to get out of this mindset is because, as we’ll find out, it will create a big mess. Instead, the better thinking is the Eastern mindset, which sees the trinity as 3 persons, and then tries to see how these 3 persons relate to one another. You’ll see John 5:19-30 does not try to categorize the actions of the Father and the actions of the Son, but instead shows how the Father and the Son relate, and how they work together.

So first, starting with John 5:19, we learn that God the Son cannot act independently from God the Father, nor can the Son act in opposition to the Father. There is only love in this relationship, and they come to work together in unity. Just an earthly father mentors his earthly son, so the Heavenly Father mentors His Son and shows the Son the Father’s Will and the Father’s works. In John 5:21, Jesus gives the specific example of life and resurrection. Both the Father and the Son have the power of life. The Son offers eternal life (salvation), and the Father will raise from the dead whoever took up on Christ’s offer for eternal life. In John 5:22, Jesus provides judgment as another specific example. The Father has handed over His power to judge to the Son in order that the Son may be treated like the Father. After all, the Jews in the Old Testament feared God the Father because they knew of the power He had to judge them. Now the Jews in the New Testament were in a whole lot of trouble because the Jew in the New Testament were not treating the Son of God, Jesus, with that same honorable fear. Because Jesus warns the people that to not fear or honor Jesus is like not fearing or honoring God.

Since Jesus is on the subject of judgment, he will talk about the present state of judgment. This talk is going to be very similar to Christ’s talk with Nicodemus in John 3. Whoever hear Christ’s words and believes in Him will receive eternal life. If anyone does not, that person will remain in his or her state of condemnation. That is what is mean when Jesus mentions crossing over from death to life. Before a person has Jesus, the person stands condemned in his or her sin, condemned to death. When a person receives Jesus, the person goes from condemned to forgiven, the person goes from hell to heaven, the person goes from life to death. How can Jesus do this? Jesus is God the Son. God the Father has given the power of life to God the Son. So Jesus, God the Son, can give life to whomever He pleases. And while Jesus is on the subject of judgment, he will talk about the future state of judgment. To demonstrate that the Son has the power of life, the Son of God will resurrect everyone on the Last Day, both the good and the evil. Those who are evil will be condemned to eternal damnation, while the good will be raised to eternal life. Once again, how is this possible for Jesus? Only by the Father.

Before we transit into the next section, let’s once again summarize the teaching of Jesus here, as well as summarize the theology that goes along with it. God the Father loves God the Son, and God the Son loves God the Father. Therefore, they work in unity with one another. Their thoughts, words, and actions are always working together. They will never be in opposition, nor will they ever contradict. Since there is love and unity between the Father and the Son, the Father can entrust the Son will power, such as the power to judge and the power to give life. The Father does not have to worry about the Son abusing these powers because the Father knows the Son loves Him and wants to work to please Him. Everything the Son does is done just the way the Father wants it done because the Son wants to please the Father. Therefore, it doesn’t make sense to categorize the trinity into 3 parts because the Father, Son and Holy Spirit all have the same powers, such as the powers to judge, condemn, forgive, heal and give life. It all comes down to how the 3 persons relate to one another and work together for unity.

Let’s make one quick application pause before we move on. I’ve always believe the relationship between the persons of the trinity, or the community of the trinity, can demonstrate how humans should develop relationships, both with God and with other humans. Since this passage more talk about divine things, let’s look at what humans can learn about their relation to God the Father from God the Son. If we as Christians truly love God, we should seek unity with him. What does it mean to have unity with God? Our thinking should be the same as God. Our feelings should be godly. Our wants and desires should be the same wants and desires our Lord as. If it’s God’s Will, then it should be our will as well. When we do something, whatever it is, it should be done the way God wants it done, in order to give God praise, honor and glory. I believe when we do that, and when we get to that point, God will give us more power because He know and entrusts us to use it continue give him the glory and the praise. I believe that’s what all the authors of the Bible books had in common. They were able to get to the point where their wants, their needs, their desires and their will was the same as God’s. So God entrusted them to write His words.

Just as Jesus makes a smooth transition into another topic (or maybe it’s a sub-topic), so shall we make the same smooth transition. I want you to notice something very important about the transition. The last few paragraphs, John 5:19-30, Jesus talks about God the Father and God the Son. In the next few paragraphs, John 5:31-45, Jesus talks about God the Father and Himself in the first person (I, me, my, mine, etc.). I’ll put it into a simple sentence to show the transition more easily. It goes from God the Father and God the Son to God the Father and Himself. God the Father & God the Son --> God the Father & Himself. Notice the parallel in the transition. It’s almost like Jesus is talking about Himself interchangeably with God the Son. That’s because He is. This is another piece of evidence, another proof, another sign, another sighting that Jesus is God the Son. He declares by talking about Himself as God the Son.

The NIV calls the next section “Testimonies about Jesus.” The ESV calls the section “Witnesses to Jesus.” Both would be accurate descriptions of the section. As a matter of fact the Greek word martyreo, used throughout the section, is most accurately translated “testify” or “bear witness” (it is also where we get the word “martyr” from). Jesus is being nice to Jewish leader by offering the sign of authority that the Jewish leaders have been asking for. So Jesus lies down 4 pieces of evidence, 4 proofs, 4 reasons or 4 signs of Christ’s authorities. This would be similar to the God Sightings we did in John 1 because all 4 do reveal Jesus to be God the Son. So just like John 1, let me list the 4 witnesses that give testimony that Jesus is the Son of God.

4 Testimonies that Jesus is God the Son as found in John 5
1. God the Father’s testimony (vs. 31,32,37,38)
2. John the Baptist’s testimony (vs.33-35)
3. Self-testimony through miracles and miraculous signs (vs. 36)
4. Old Testament Scripture’s testimony (vs.39-47)

Once again, through 4 different testimonies, the evidence clearly proves Jesus is God the Son. I could go through each testimony explaining the proof, but most of these have already been covered, either in this chapter or the chapter before. The last one, however, hasn’t been discussed too deeply, and it’s the one that really hits home, back then and today. Let’s look at the testimony the Old Testament Scriptures gave.

First, let’s look at the testimony of the Old Testament Scriptures in light of 1st century context. Jesus was making no understatement in John 5:39 when he said the Jewish leaders had diligently studied the Scriptures. Any well-educated Jew had the whole Torah memorized. Imagine having Genesis to Deuteronomy memorized by heart! Most Jews did. The highly educated Jews that were rabbis, teachers of the law and Sanhedrin went further and memorized the whole Tanak (Hebrew Bible). Imagine having Genesis to Malachi memorized. Some went even further and memorized the Talmud, which is Moses’s commentary on the Torah. They knew the Scriptures and every possible interpretation. Why were they so dedicated? They truly believed that the Law would bring them salvation, so they made sure they knew it in and out, and they obeyed every word. Jesus says the only way the Scriptures bring salvation is that they point out salvation through Christ Jesus. The problem was the Jewish leaders did not recognize this, so they refused to recognize Jesus as Messiah, or even sent from God. Jesus really gets gutsy when He tells the Jewish leaders that they do not believe Moses and Moses is their accuser, condemning them. In the Jewish mindset, Moses is the hero because he is the lawgiver who gave the Law that brings salvation. Jesus corrects the Jewish mindset, remind them that the Law condemns them because it reveals they can never truly follow the Law, even if they declare they do. Moses also accuses and condemns them because Moses warned the Jews that a prophet like him was coming, and if they did not believe in the prophet, they would be cut off from God’s people (see Deuteronomy 18:15). The Sanhedrin refused to believe in Jesus, so as Moses foretold, they are condemned to be apart from God.

Now bring it up today. Today Christians use the term “Bible-based” like it is the ultimate safety net. For example, if a church is Bible-based, it’s a good church and nothing can wrong. Christians must be careful to use this term as a safety net, for if they are not, they will fall into the same problem the Pharisees and the Sadducees fell into. It will quickly lead to legalism, and before you know it, we’ll be worshipping the Bible, believing the Bible gives us salvation. The Bible can show us the way of salvation, but it does not give us salvation, as it has the Law in it, which condemns us. This is why I am Cristocentric, or Christ-centered, instead of Bibliocentric, or Bible-centered. It is Jesus Christ who created me, loved me and saved me, not the Bible. The Scriptures can only point me in the way to Jesus. Now it is true that there is a strong link between the Word of God and Jesus. After all, it was just in John 1:1 where we read the Word was God and was with God in the beginning. But the saving Word is the Word Incarnate, Jesus Christ. The Bible is just the words on paper. Scriptures are not to be treated like a 4th person of the trinity, for that would be a paradox.

And because I wrote this for the quizzers studying John, I believe this is a helpful reminder that our knowledge of the Bible does not save us. Your rank on the standings does not show how good of a Christian you are. The Top 50 Bible Quizzers List is not a list of the 50 most spiritual people in Bible Quizzing. It’s very possible that the most spiritual quizzer (if it’s possible to measure spirituality like that) may only score 10 points all year. Quizzers, don’t make the same mistakes as the Pharisees and Sadducees and know the Scriptures more than you know God. For that alone is proof that being Christ-centered and Bible-centered are not the same thing. Because it is possible to know the Bible, yet not know God. So quizzers, don’t get too stuck in the technicalities in knowing the material. Actually read the Bible as God’s Word, and get to know God through it.

Before we close, let’s go back to John 5:18, for I think it sums up the chapter, as well as connects back to John’s overall message for his gospel.

John 5:18-
“For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.”

Remember how in the introduction to John I told you to look out for who Jesus claimed He was, as well as the claims about Jesus from those “pro-Jesus” and those “anti-Jesus”? Throughout John 1-4, we’ve seen the claims from Jesus and the “pro-Jesus” about who Jesus is, but not really from the “anti-Jesus” people. Here, in John 5, the religious leaders, who are clearly against Jesus, weigh in on their opinion. Why are they trying to kill Jesus? They knew he was calling God his Father, and they knew calling God your Father meant you were calling yourself equal to God. The only way to be equal to God is to be God. So what’s the testimony of the Jewish religious leaders? Jesus is the Son of God. Now with all 3 groups of people weighing on Jesus, we’re now starting to see a fuller picture of who Jesus is, more specifically the Son of God. As we move on in John 5, we’ll see how these 3 people groups will continue to weigh in on the subject. We’ll also see how the teaching of Jesus becomes bolder, how the proponents of Jesus continue to support Jesus, and the opponents of Jesus sharply oppose Him.

John 1: Early God Sightings

A few years back my church’s small groups were going through a Bible study book that had us record “God-hunt sightings.” What qualified as a “God-hunt Sighting” was anytime in our day or week that we saw God at work. I always liked the term “God sighting.” When I taught a 10th grade class on God’s providential hand in Esther, I asked them to make “God-hunt Sightings” so they could see how God’s providential hand in their lives. This time around I’m going to use the term “God-hunt Sightings” slightly differently, and to differentiate, I’m going to shorten it to “God Sightings”. It’s not going to be God’s providence, although we could do that in the Gospel of John. Remember how I said the purpose of John was to portray Jesus Christ as the Son of God? Our goal for this Bible study of the book of John will be to see if John fulfills his purpose. So instead of “God Sightings” meaning God’s providential hand, we’re going to look for “God Sightings” in Jesus, or rather times we see the divine nature of God the Son in Jesus. So let’s begin!

Ah, but where do you begin? Where does one begin a story? Storytellers have started stories in all different places. Some start stories before the action takes place. In the first movie of the Back to the Future triology, Marty McFly merely goes on his day like a typical 80’s teenager: school and chores at Doc Brown’s house. Some other stories begin right in the middle of the action. Many movies of the Star Wars saga start in the middle of a fight. Episode One starts with negotiation talks gone violent; Episode Three begins with a battle in the Clone War; Episode Five begin with the Rebels desperately trying to defend their base on a frozen planet. Some even start after the action. These books, movies or TV series rely on flashbacks to tell the story in full. Think about Disney’s The Emperor’s New Groove. The movie begins with a sad llama, who seems to be very human-like, crawling in the rain. Why is the llama crawling through the rain? Why is the llama sad? How did it get there? These questions are answered through flashbacks full of action, but by this point, the action has passed. Stories can start at many different points, and where the story starts may even reflect the message the storyteller is getting across.

Let’s get back to the Bible. We have 4 Gospel books, 4 Gospel authors, and 4 different starts to the Gospel narrative. Let’s start with Mark, since his Gospel account came first. Remember Mark is writing to the Romans, who want an action packed story. So Mark starts right away with an adult Jesus preaching his authoritative message performing powerful miracles. Sure, there are quick blurbs on John the Baptist, as well as the baptism and temptation of Jesus, but they are literally short blurbs, quickly thrown in just to set a little background information. Matthew has, in a way, 2 starts. The first start goes all the way back to Abraham, and traces Jesus from Abraham through David (and ultimately tracing Jesus as a fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant and David Covenant). The second start is in a more immediate context, with the announcement of Christ’s birth to both Mary and Joseph, followed by the birth itself. Luke wants begin further back than the birth or the annunciation of the birth of Jesus, but he doesn’t want his start go back as far as Matthew did (although he will put in his genealogy later, but we’ll talk about that later). So Luke believes the best way to begin an “orderly account” is to begin with annunciation and miraculous birth of the Preparer of the Christ, and how it interlinked with the annunciation and miraculous birth of the Christ. So where is John going to begin his Gospel narrative? In the beginning!

“In the beginning…” How would you complete that? Well, alright, most of you know this is a Bible study on John and have read John 1 to know where I’m going with this and how to complete, so never mind on how you would complete it. But if I were to do a Bible version of Jay Leno’s “Jay-walking” (if you don’t know what that is, go look it up on YouTube) among Christians in church, how do you think they would complete that phrase? Most of them probably would complete it, “In the beginning…God created the heavens and the earth.” There’s nothing wrong with that. It would be right. In fact, I bet if you were a 1st Century Jewish Christian, you would complete the phrase in the same exact way. Both of you are quoting Genesis 1:1, which both of you can recognize from learning it so young. So that is why John chose to begin his Gospel with those 3 words: “In the beginning.” He knew his Jewish Christian audience would immediately be thinking about Genesis and the Creation story. He wants his reader in that mindset. But read closely, and you’ll realize he’s actually bringing you further back than this. I won’t do this for every verse in John, but the important verse I really want to zoom in on and focus on I will put in this devotional commentary. So let’s take a close look.

John 1:1,2-
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.”

John’s beginning is not with a birth or the announcement of a birth. It doesn’t begin with someone preparing the way. It doesn’t begin with a Patriarch, like Abraham or David. It doesn’t begin with the fall of man and the need for a Savior. It doesn’t even begin with the creation of the earth. It begins with the Word. From further reading of this chapter, the reader understand that this Word is Jesus. Jesus is the Word incarnate. Look at the doctrine we get from these 2 verses alone. First of all, it explicitly states Jesus is God. That should be good enough alone, but in case you want more, you can find out more in these 2 verses alone. Second, Jesus was with God. This means that despite Jesus being God, He’s not the exact same as Yahweh because He is God and He is with God. Already we have signs of trinity. Third, these verses state Jesus was present at the beginning. Remember, we’ve already said this beginning is before creation. So this verse shows us Jesus is as eternally past, eternally present and eternally future as Yahweh is. Already in two verses, John has de-bunked many incorrect beliefs about Jesus that could have floating around in his time. Jesus was 100% God. While Jesus was a man, He was not just a man. He was God. Jesus did not have a beginning. He is as eternal as His father is. While Jesus is God, He is also with God. So much correct theology standing in the face of bad doctrine. So we have our first God sighting within the first 2 verses of John. I’m going to make a list of these God Sightings we have in John 1, but I encourage you to make your own list to hold on to.

God Sightings in John 1
1. Jesus explicitly stated as God, and is seen with God in the beginning (vs. 1-2)

Before I go on, if you’re still not convinced with the first passage, think about it as a genealogy and compare it to the other genealogies of the other Gospels. You’re probably thinking, “You’re crazy. Only Matthew and Luke has genealogy.” No, as a matter of fact, all of them have genealogies, and they all point back to how the author is portraying Jesus. Matthew’s genealogy goes back to Abraham, tracing it through all the kings of Israel/Judah, especially Jesus. This is important to the Jewish reader of Matthew because it will prove Jesus is the Messiah through the Patriarchs who were promised the blessed seed of the covenant, which is the Messiah. Luke traces the genealogy all the way back to Adam. This not only shows the Adamic and Noahic Covenant on top of the Abrahamic and Davidic Covenant, but it also shows Luke’s Greek Gentile audience that Jesus isn’t just for Jews, but for everyone because he’s just as human as the Gentiles are (and Luke does show us Jesus is the Son of God because he reminds us Adam is technically the Son of God too). What about Mark and John? Well, you’re right Mark doesn’t have a genealogy, but it’s not like Mark forgot it. Remember Mark is trying to display a servant to his Roman audience. Does anyone care about a servant’s lineage? No. A servant/slave (the Greek word is the same) is considered property of the master, and thus has no lineage. So there’s no need for a lineage for the servant Jesus. But there is indeed a genealogy in John, and it’s right there in the first 2 verses. It’s a simple as this: God -->Jesus. God is the Father of Jesus. Jesus is the Son of God. But remember that “God the Father” and “Son of God” are not just title. Both are equally God and one in the same. So if it’s easier, replace the word “God” with “Yahweh.” Yahweh --> Jesus. Yahweh is the Father of Jesus, and Jesus is the Son of Yahweh.” John uses this simple genealogy to show his Christian audience Jesus is God.

We’ve seen how John has used the phrase “In the beginning” to get his audience, mainly the Jewish Christian audience thinking about the beginning of the world. And he even brought us back further with before the beginning. But he’s not trying fool us or deceive us. He really wants to bring us back to the “In the beginning” that we know of: The Creation. And it will only take another 2 verses to do so. Let’s look at John 1:3,4.

John 1:3,4-
“Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men.”

This is a Sunday School you were probably asked as early as preschool and it deserves a Sunday School answer. The question: “Who created the earth and everything in it?” The answer: “God.” Now let’s ask any Preschooler who has been well-raised in the church the question, “Is Jesus God?” and the church-raised Preschooler would probably be able to answer, “Yes.” Now put those 2 answers together, and you’ll probably get a true claim that you probably don’t think about a lot. It’s as simple as, “If X=Y, and Y=Z, then X=Z.” If we believe God created the world, and we believe Jesus is God, then we must believe that Jesus created the world. When we usually think about the creator of the universe, we uses think about Yahweh, or the Father, not Jesus. But it’s true, Jesus created the world. It’s not just a conclusion or an assumption out of logic. The Bible clearly defends Jesus as the creator of the universe. If you don’t know this out of memory, I would write the next sentence down, for it is important doctrine. There are 3 chapters in the New Testament that state Jesus as the creator of the universe: John 1, Colossians 1, Hebrews 1 (some would add Romans 1 as a 4th chapter, but that one takes a little bit of interpretation). But for John, simply stating Jesus as the creator is not enough. He also clearly states that Jesus is giver of life. No man can have life, whether it be physical life or spiritual life, without Him, God the Son. So we have our 2nd God Sighting, and that’s 2 God Sightings in 4 verses alone.

God Sightings in John 1
1. Jesus explicitly stated as God, and is seen with God in the beginning (vs. 1-2)
2. Jesus is the creator of the universe, and Jesus gives life (vs. 3-4)

One way to do storytelling is to give a summary of everything that is going to happen in the introduction, and in the body, show all it all plays out, with all the details. William Shakespeare does this in several of his plays. It would seem as if John does this in his introduction as well. From reading John 1:5-14, it seem like John is starting his Gospel in the same way. John 1:5-14 spells out how the narrative of the book will turn out. It will start with John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus. Despite John’s preparations, the world did not recognize him, nor did it receive him. And we’ll see throughout the book of John people rejecting Jesus. But let’s get back to our immediate God Sightings.

John 1:15-34 zooms in and focuses on one character. It’s not Jesus, but rather it’s John the Baptist. You might remember in my John Introduction that I said the baptism of Jesus is not told in the book of John. So why have John the Baptist if we’re not going to talk about the baptism of Jesus? John (I hope you don’t get confused, but understand when I just say “John,” I mean John the son of Zebedee, the brother of James, the first cousin and disciples of Jesus) has an interesting way of telling us about John the Baptist. It’s almost like he talks about John the Baptist without Jesus. We’ll see John the Baptist before Jesus, preaching, teaching and answering questions. Then we see John the Baptist after Jesus, giving his testimony about Christ. Let me point out some key information. In John 1:19-28, priests and Levites are coming down to the Jordan River near Bethany to find out who this John the Baptist thinks he is and what authority John the Baptist thinks he can preach with. When they ask John the Baptist who he is, notice his answers get shorter every time: “I am not the Christ”…”I am not”…”No.” While John the Baptist has a very important role in preparing Christ’s arrival, John the Baptist is not interested in talking about himself. He much more rather talk about the Christ. His answers in verses 23 and 26 are very humble. He knows the importance of his position, but he humbly accepts his position.

John’s story telling gets interesting in John 1:29-34. Remember, there is no baptism story in John, but we get the before and after. In verses 29 to 30, John the Baptist sees Jesus coming and immediately recognizes who it is. But by the time we get to verse 31, all the action already happened. It’s almost like John the Baptist is saying to reader, “Aw man, you just missed it! It was so amazing!” and then John the Baptist goes on to describe what happened. Why doesn’t John just tell the story of the baptism of Jesus instead of John having someone tell the story after it happened? Because John is not focusing on the event itself, but rather the testimony that came from it. In fact, for the rest of the chapter, John is going to show the interactions between Jesus and people, and how each person testifies after meeting Jesus. The first one is John the Baptist. What is John the Baptist’s testimony? Not only does John the Baptist verify everything he said before Jesus was baptized, but then some more. In verse 29, John the Baptist calls Jesus “the Lamb of God,” recognizing Jesus as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. In verse 30, John the Baptist calls Jesus “a man who comes after me [who] has surpassed me.” The Gospels tell us in both Matthew 11:11 and Luke 7:28 that John the Baptist is greater than any of the Patriarchs, Prophets or Kings of the Old Testament. For someone to come after John the Baptist to be greater, it’s got to be the ultimate Patriarch, Prophet and King, and that would be Jesus (this verse even hints at “messiah.”). Verses 32 and 33 acknowledge Jesus as the one with the greater baptism. But the key part of the testimony is last in verse 34, for it’s the whole reason John is writing the book. In verse 34, John the Baptist explicit calls Jesus the Son of God. With that, John the Baptist gives us our next God Sighting

God Sightings in John 1
1. Jesus explicitly stated as God, and is seen with God in the beginning (vs. 1-2)
2. Jesus is the creator of the universe, and Jesus gives life (vs. 3-4)
3. John the Baptist’s testimony: Lamb of God and Son of God (vs. 15-35)

John 1:35 overlaps the stories a bit. In verse 35, we are still with John the Baptist, declaring Jesus is the messiah. This time, John the Baptist is standing with two of John the Baptist’s disciples, probably Andrew and John (the son of Zebedee, the brother of James, the cousin of Jesus, the author of this book). And it is like John the Baptist is saying to them, “Look, the Messiah is here. What are doing still doing following me? Follow him!” And so in John 1:37, when the book of John tells us that the two disciples “followed” Jesus, it has a double meaning. First, it is to be taken literally, as these 2 men went from walking behind John the Baptist to walking behind Jesus. Second, it is to be taken figuratively, as on this day the 2 men ceased to be John the Baptist’s disciples and they became disciples of Jesus. In John 1:38, when Jesus turns to talk to James and John, the 2 men call him, “Rabbi,” which simply translated to teacher, but means much more than our heads can wrap around. A Rabbi was a teacher, but he was greater and higher than the typical teacher. A rabbi was a master teacher, so much that disciples (which disciples are students with greater dedication) would call their rabbi “master” as much as they would call him “teacher.” Rabbis were watched carefully and listened to carefully, for their knowledge and wisdom was known to be great. John and Andrew calling Jesus Rabbi is a strong testimony to Jesus being the Son of God. John the Baptist’s testimony that Jesus was the Son of God and the Lamb of God was all the convincing these 2 brothers needed to follow Jesus. And between John the Baptist’s testimony and just walking behind Jesus, they already recognized Jesus was a Rabbi, without Jesus needing credentials from anyone else. So I believe James and John’s Testimony is good enough for a God Sighting.

God Sightings in John 1
1. Jesus explicitly stated as God, and is seen with God in the beginning (vs. 1-2)
2. Jesus is the creator of the universe, and Jesus gives life (vs. 3-4)
3. John the Baptist’s testimony: Lamb of God and Son of God (vs. 15-35)
4. Andrew and John’s testimony: Rabbi (vs.35-39)


In John 1:40, we meet a new character: Andrew. Andrew is simply described as the brother of Simon Peter. From the New Testament, we know that Zebedee, the father of James and John, and John (yes, another John!), the father of Simon Peter and Andrew, worked together in the fishing business, in some kind of combined business. So obviously the 4 worked together fishing on a daily basis. It wouldn’t surprise me if one son of John got one son of Zebedee (or vice versa) interested in this John the Baptist, and then each brother got the other brother interested in John the Baptist. Well, the same is about to happen for Jesus. When Andrew gets back from spending a day with Jesus, the first thing he does is run to his brother Simon and excitedly declare, “We have found the messiah!” and he drags Simon to Jesus. At the first meeting, Jesus renames Simon to Peter, basically calling Peter to be his disciple. But let’s take a step back with Andrew. All Andrew needs is a testimony from John the Baptist to follow Jesus, and after spending one day with Jesus, combined with John the Baptist’s testimony, it’s enough for Andrew to believe Jesus is the Messiah. Andrew believes it so much that he drags his brother to Peter to go meet Jesus. And all Peter needs is his brother’s word to believe Jesus is the messiah. Andrew has a strong testimony for Jesus: messiah. Messiah is a Hebrew term. The Greek equivalent is Christ. No matter which word you choose, this person was suppose to be the one promised by God to save the people from sin and from evil. The children of Israel had been waiting over 2,000 years for this man, and now he’s finally come. If you remember our theme verse, John 20:31, John tells the reader he wrote this book to prove that Jesus is not only the Son of God, but also the Christ. Also remember how I said that the Jews believed that both titles went hand-in-hand. The messiah was to be the Son of God. So Andrew’s testimony, backed up by the reaction from Peter, is our next God Sighting in Jesus.

God Sightings in John 1
1. Jesus explicitly stated as God, and is seen with God in the beginning (vs. 1-2)
2. Jesus is the creator of the universe, and Jesus gives life (vs. 3-4)
3. John the Baptist’s testimony: Lamb of God and Son of God (vs. 15-35)
4. Andrew and John’s testimony: Rabbi (vs.35-39)
5. Andrew’s testimony: Messiah (vs. 40-42)

Philip, our next character, is introduced in John 1:43. The meeting is simple. Jesus walks by Philip, Jesus says, “Follow me,” and Philip follows. And before you know it, Philip also has a strong a testimony: “the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote.” The Bible doesn’t exactly say how Philip came to this conclusion. It could have been through the authority that Jesus called Philip by. Maybe, just like John and Andrew, after spending the day with Jesus, Philip could just tell. Perhaps it was through talking to John, James, Andrew and Simon Peter that Philip came to faith. Either way, Philip is sure this is the man the Moses talked about and the prophets talked about. It’s hard to pin down exactly what prophets Philip was talking about. Maybe it was the suffering servant in Isaiah. Maybe it was the Ancient of Days in Daniel. Perhaps it was the ruler in Micah or the king in Zechariah. It could have been all of these or it could have been none of these. Since we don’t know exactly, let’s focus less on the prophets and more on the one we know of the Lawgiver: Moses. It takes place in Deuteronomy. In Deuteronomy, the Israelites’ time of wandering is almost up, which also means the life of Moses is almost up. So for his last instruction, Moses is re-instructing the Law which he has already given (hence the book name Deuteronomy, meaning “Second Law”). In Deuteronomy 18:18,19, Moses foretells of a prophet that will be like him. Moses was a ruler, judge, Lawgiver, law-enforcer, priest and all around leader to the Israelite people. The prophet Moses foretells of will be like all of these things, clearly making him the Messiah. Since Deuteronomy, Israel has been waiting for this prophet. Philip recognizes Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophecy of Moses, and he’s got to tell everybody.

Before we check off Philip’s testimony on our list, let’s see the reaction of the testimony, just in case it’s significant to his testimony. Philip is so excited he tells Nathanael. Nathanael does not receive his friend’s testimony as willingly as everyone else. His reaction comes with skepticism. He yells, “Nazareth! What good could come from there?!” Although Galilee is north of Judea, the people of Galilee were like the “southerners” of Israel. They even had an accent to go along with it. And if Nathanael was told that the Messiah was coming from Nazareth, the epitome of the Galilean stereotype, it was like Nathanel was being told that his Messiah was a redneck, a hick! Nathanael would have nothing to do with that. But Jesus was about to turn that.

In verses 48 and 49 of John 1, Jesus reveals to Nathanael that He saw him before Nathanael knew Jesus or even before Philip knew Jesus. How can this be? Two words: Omnipresence and omniscience. Omnipresence is being all places at all times. Omniscience is being all-knowing. Jews and Christians alike ascribe omnipresence and omniscience to God. When Jesus shows he is omnipresent and omniscience by knowing where Nathanael is, He has proved to Nathanael, as well as the reader, that He is God. But to Nathanael He is not just God the Son or the Son of God, but also a Rabbi and the king of Israel.

Let me close with the closing verse of the chapter, John 1:51.

God Sightings in John 1
1. Jesus explicitly stated as God, and is seen with God in the beginning (vs. 1-2)
2. Jesus is the creator of the universe, and Jesus gives life (vs. 3-4)
3. John the Baptist’s testimony: Lamb of God and Son of God (vs. 15-35)
4. Andrew and John’s testimony: Rabbi (vs.35-39)
5. Andrew’s testimony: Messiah (vs. 40-42)
6. Philip’s testimony: The One Moses and the Prophets foretold (vs. 43-46)
7. Nathanael’s testimony: Rabbi, Son of God, King of Israel (vs. 46-49)

John 1:51-
He then added, “I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

There’s a couple interesting points to point out. First, you might note your Bible has a footnote connected to the word “you” that says, “The Greek [you] is plural.” I never understood that…until I took Greek and now I get it! While English has a second person, the word “you,” for both singular and plural, the word “you” in Greek changes, based on whether it is singular or plural. The difference between the singular version of “you” and the plural version of “you” is, as the Southerners would say, “you and you all (y’all).” Why is this significant? If Jesus was simply talking to Nathanael, the singular form of you would be in there. But instead, we have a plural form. He must be talking to more than one. In the immediate context, it’s most likely his small crowd of followers: James, John, Andrew, Simon Peter and Philip. But maybe he’s almost addressing us, the reader, directly. And he viritually says, “This is nothing. You’re going to see greater things than this.” And he uses a certain term that sticks out: Son of Man. In Bible terms, as well as our terms, it is a reminder of the humanity of Jesus. But “Son of Man” has links to a lot of apocryphal works. The Old Testament prophets, like Daniel, give the title “Son of Man” to the Messiah in the end times. This is the first time in John we hear the term “Son of Man,” and it’s Jesus himself using that term. With such strong links to eschatological works in the Old Testament, I believe that Jesus has given us a self-testimony that He is God. If that’s not enough proof, I believe heaven opening and angels ascending and descending would be. So our list moves up to 8 God Sightings.

God Sightings in John 1
1. Jesus explicitly stated as God, and is seen with God in the beginning (vs. 1-2)
2. Jesus is the creator of the universe, and Jesus gives life (vs. 3-4)
3. John the Baptist’s testimony: Lamb of God and Son of God (vs. 15-35)
4. Andrew and John’s testimony: Rabbi (vs.35-39)
5. Andrew’s testimony: Messiah (vs. 40-42)
6. Philip’s testimony: The One Moses and the Prophets foretold (vs. 43-46)
7. Nathanael’s testimony: Rabbi, Son of God, King of Israel (vs. 46-49)
8. Jesus gives a self-testimony: Son of Man (vs. 50-51)

So 51 verses later, we have 8 God Sightings, or 8 times/ways we can see Jesus as God the Son. 6 of which are explicitly spoken testimonies, but if you really think about it, John is writing this book, and this Gospel book is the closest we’ll get to a 1st person testimony, so the first 2 God Sightings could be considered a testimony from John. So far, not only does Jesus Himself declare He is God, but John the Baptist, John, Andrew, Philip and Nathanael all claim Jesus is God. By the end of the first chapter alone, John already has a convincing argument that Jesus is indeed God the Son, and someone might already believe by just reading only the first chapter of John. But we can’t quit now, we got 20 more chapters to go! Stay tuned for John 2 to see how Jesus continues to reveal himself as God.