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Objective

In this lesson, we’ll see that John teaches us who Christ is and why He came to earth.

Key Verse

John 1:29: The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

Introduction

John was the last of the four Gospels to be written, probably around 90 AD when the apostle John was an elderly man reflecting on his extraordinary life with Jesus. By this time, Matthew, Mark, and Luke had already been circulating among the churches for many years, and these three Gospels contain a lot of similar information about Jesus. But when you open the Gospel of John, you immediately sense that something is different. John takes us on a completely unique journey through the life and ministry of our Savior.

What makes John’s Gospel so distinctive? John is the only Gospel to tell us about some of Jesus’ most significant miracles—like turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana, healing the man born blind, and raising Lazarus from the dead after four days in the tomb. John contains much more of the private, intimate teaching of Jesus—those precious conversations that happened away from the crowds, often late at night or in quiet moments with His closest friends. John is carefully structured around a single, powerful theme that he clearly states near the end of his book. And most importantly, John presents the fullest, most detailed picture of the deity of Jesus Christ found anywhere in the New Testament.

The author of John does not clearly identify himself by name, but early church tradition tells us with confidence that he is the “beloved disciple” who appears throughout the Gospel (John 13:23; 19:26; 20:2; 21:7). This disciple is John, the son of Zebedee, one of Jesus’ closest friends and part of the inner circle along with Peter and James. John is also the author of three epistles and the book of Revelation. When you read these books together, you discover that they share many common themes and reflect the same theological perspective.

This is the first of two lessons on the Gospel of John. In this lesson, we’ll examine the central message that drives everything John wrote, and then we’ll focus closely on the opening chapter where John introduces us to the most profound truths about Jesus Christ:

• The message of John’s Gospel
• The opening of John’s Gospel

The Message of John’s Gospel

Have you ever wondered why some books in the Bible include certain stories while leaving out others that seem equally important? With John’s Gospel, we don’t have to wonder. Unlike the other Gospel writers, John tells us directly and clearly why he chose to include the specific events and teachings that he did.

There are many things that John doesn’t tell us. He doesn’t record many of the miracles and parables that fill the pages of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. The feeding of the 5,000 is actually the only miracle that appears in all four Gospels. John could have told us about Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness, His transfiguration on the mountain, or His agonizing prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. But John deliberately chose to focus on different events and teachings. Why?

John 20:30-31: Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

This passage reveals John’s heart and his crystal-clear purpose. Jesus performed countless miracles during His earthly ministry—so many that John tells us elsewhere that if everything were written down, “even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written” (John 21:25). But John carefully selected specific events and teachings for one overriding reason: he wants us to understand what it truly means to believe in Jesus Christ.

(Notebook Moment: If you were writing a book to help someone understand who Jesus really is, which stories about Him would you choose to include? What does your answer tell you about what you consider most important about Jesus?)

John shows us that believing in Christ involves two essential elements that cannot be separated. We must believe who He is—that Jesus is truly the Messiah, the long-awaited Savior promised in the Old Testament, and that He is the divine Son of God, equal with the Father in every way. We must also believe what He came to do—that He came to give us eternal life through His perfect sacrifice for our sins.

These two truths are like two sides of the same coin; you cannot truly have one without the other. If Jesus were merely a good man or even a great prophet, He could not save us from our sins. Only someone who is truly God could bear the weight of the world’s sin and provide eternal life. But if Jesus were only divine and not truly human, He could not have died as our substitute. The gospel requires both truths: Jesus is fully God and fully man, and He came to accomplish what no one else could accomplish—our complete salvation.

This focused purpose shapes every page of John’s Gospel. Every miracle he records, every conversation he includes, every detail he shares is carefully chosen to help us understand both the divine identity of Jesus and His mission to save us. This makes John’s Gospel one of the most powerful evangelistic tools ever written, perfectly designed to lead people to saving faith in Christ.

We’ll see this message powerfully introduced in the first chapter of John. In our next lesson, we’ll discover how this message is developed and demonstrated throughout the rest of the Gospel as John shows us sign after sign that proves Jesus is indeed the Christ, the Son of God.

The Opening of John’s Gospel

John doesn’t begin his Gospel the way Matthew and Luke do, with beautiful stories about Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem. Instead, John takes us much further back—all the way back to eternity itself. He wants us to understand something absolutely fundamental about Jesus Christ: He didn’t begin to exist when Mary gave birth to Him in that humble stable. Jesus Christ has always existed as the eternal, divine Son of God.

John calls Jesus “the Word,” a title that perfectly captures who Jesus is and why He came. Just as your words express the thoughts and feelings of your heart, Jesus is the perfect expression and communication of God the Father to us. Through Jesus, we discover what God is truly like.

John 1:1-3: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

This opening passage stands as one of the clearest and most powerful statements about the deity of Jesus Christ in all of Scripture. Notice the progression of truth that John reveals about the Word. First, “the Word was with God”—this shows us that Jesus existed in perfect fellowship and relationship with the Father from all eternity. There was never a time when the Son did not exist. Second, “the Word was God”—this declares unmistakably that Jesus possesses the full nature and attributes of deity. He is not a lesser god or a created being; He is God in the truest and fullest sense. Third, “through him all things were made”—this reveals that Jesus was the active agent in creating everything that exists, from the vast galaxies to the tiniest particles of matter.

The implications of these truths are staggering. When we look at Jesus, we are looking at the Creator of the universe. When we hear Jesus speak, we are hearing the voice of the One who spoke the worlds into existence. When we see Jesus demonstrate His power, we are witnessing the power that upholds all things by the word of His power.

Colossians 1:15-16: The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.

Hebrews 1:1-3: In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.

When this eternal Word came into our world, He entered a world that was filled with the darkness of sin and rebellion against God. But John assures us that this darkness could never overcome the light that Jesus brought.

John 1:4-10: In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.

This passage reveals one of the most tragic ironies in human history. The Creator of the universe came to His own creation, but His creation did not recognize Him. The Light of the world entered a world shrouded in spiritual darkness, but people loved their darkness more than the light because their deeds were evil.

John 3:18-21: This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

This is the condition of every human heart apart from God’s grace. We naturally run from the light because it exposes our sin and rebellion. But John gives us wonderful, hope-filled news about what happens when people do receive Jesus by faith:

John 1:11-13: He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

Here is the heart of the gospel message! When we receive Jesus by faith—when we believe in His name and trust in who He is and what He has done—we experience a spiritual birth that only God can accomplish. We become children of God, not through our own efforts or good works, but through God’s gracious gift of salvation. This new birth transforms us from spiritual death to spiritual life, from darkness to light, from slavery to sin to freedom in Christ.

John then describes how the eternal Word took on human flesh to reveal God’s glory to us:

John 1:14: The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

The glory of God refers to the fullness of His character—all of His perfect attributes working together in perfect harmony. When John says that Jesus revealed God’s glory, he’s telling us that Jesus perfectly showed us what God is like. If you want to know what God thinks about children, watch how Jesus treats children. If you want to know how God feels about sinners, watch how Jesus responds to tax collectors and prostitutes. If you want to understand God’s heart toward suffering people, observe how Jesus ministers to the sick and brokenhearted.

Hebrews 1:3: The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.

The theme of God’s glory continues throughout John’s Gospel as one of the primary ways John demonstrates that Jesus is truly the Son of God. When Jesus performed His first miracle at the wedding in Cana, transforming water into wine, John tells us that “he revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him” (John 2:11). When Lazarus became critically ill, Jesus told His disciples, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it” (John 11:4). Before raising Lazarus from the dead, Jesus gently reminded Martha, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” (John 11:40). In His final prayer before the cross, Jesus spoke of returning to “the glory I had with you before the world began” (John 17:5).

After establishing who Jesus is, John introduces us to John the Baptist, whose divinely appointed role was to announce the Messiah’s arrival and explain why He had come to earth:

John 1:15-18: John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.'” Out of his abundance we have all received grace in place of grace already given. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

What a beautiful contrast John draws for us here! Moses gave us the law, which shows us God’s perfect standard and reveals our desperate need for salvation. But Jesus brought us grace and truth—the undeserved favor of God and the complete revelation of who God is. Through Jesus, we can know God personally and intimately in a way that was never possible before.

When Jesus came to the Jordan River to be baptized by John, this faithful forerunner made one of the most important announcements in all of human history:

John 1:29: The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

(Notebook Moment: Why do you think John called Jesus “the Lamb of God” rather than using a title like “the Lion of God” or “the King of God”? What does this title tell us about how Jesus would accomplish His mission?)

John’s announcement reveals the two crucial truths that we must believe about Christ if we want to have eternal life. First, Jesus is “the Lamb of God”—God’s perfect, chosen sacrifice for sin. This title immediately connected Jesus to all the sacrificial lambs that had been offered in the temple for centuries. Every lamb that was sacrificed was pointing forward to this perfect Lamb who would come. Unlike those animal sacrifices that could never truly take away sin, Jesus would be the final, complete sacrifice that would settle the sin debt once and for all.

Second, Jesus “came to take away the sin of the world”—this was His primary mission on earth. He didn’t come primarily as a teacher, though He was the greatest teacher who ever lived. He didn’t come primarily as a miracle worker, though He performed incredible signs and wonders. He didn’t even come primarily as an example of how to live, though He lived the only perfect life in human history. He came as the Savior who would remove the barrier of sin that separates us from God.

This is the heart of the gospel message that John wants us to understand and believe. Jesus is both fully God and the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Only someone who was truly God could bear the sins of the whole world without being crushed by their weight. Only someone who was truly human could die as our substitute. Jesus is both—the God-man who perfectly bridges the gap between a holy God and sinful humanity.

The first chapter of John concludes by showing us how Jesus began calling His disciples to follow Him, and these stories give us a beautiful picture of how the gospel spreads naturally from person to person.

John 1:40-41: Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus.

John 1:43-46: The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.” Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” Philip replied.

Notice the beautiful pattern that emerges in these stories. Andrew encountered Jesus and was so transformed by the experience that he immediately went to find his brother Peter. Philip met Jesus and couldn’t wait to tell his friend Nathanael about this amazing discovery. This is what true evangelism looks like—people who have personally encountered Jesus Christ become so excited about what they’ve discovered that they can’t help but share the good news with others.

This work of telling others about Jesus continues right down to our own day. Someone shared the gospel with you, and now you have the wonderful privilege and responsibility of telling others about the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

(Notebook Moment: Think about the people in your life who don’t yet know Jesus personally. How might you follow Andrew and Philip’s example of simply telling others what you’ve discovered about Christ?)

Conclusion

We learn incredible truths about who Jesus Christ is in the first chapter of John. Jesus is called by many different names and titles throughout this chapter, and each one reveals something important about His nature and His mission. These names and titles speak both of His divine nature and His human mission:

• the Word (1:1)
• the Lamb of God (1:29)
• the Son of God (1:34)
• Rabbi (1:38)
• the Messiah (1:41)
• Jesus of Nazareth (1:45)
• the King of Israel (1:49)
• the Son of Man (1:51)

These titles work together to paint a complete picture of our wonderful Savior. Jesus is fully God—possessing all the power, wisdom, and authority of deity. Jesus is also fully human—able to understand our struggles and limitations, and able to die as our substitute. Most importantly, Jesus came to earth with a specific mission: to take away the sin of the world through His perfect sacrifice on the cross.

We have also seen why Jesus came to earth and how we should be busy telling others about Him. The gospel spreads as people who have encountered Jesus personally share their discovery with others. If each Christian followed the simple but powerful example of Andrew and Philip, the whole world would hear the Gospel. John wrote his Gospel so that we might believe these truths about Jesus and experience the eternal life that comes through faith in Him.

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