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It Is Written

Sabbath School 4th Quarter 2024: Themes in the Gospel of John

Eric Flickinger

Thomas Shepherd

01 Signs That Point the Way

Welcome to Sabbath School brought to you by It Is Written.

We're glad that you are joining us today.

Today we are beginning a brand new journey, a 13 week study in the book of John.

13 lessons where we're going to delve into the various themes in the book of John and learn a whole lot about Jesus along the way.

Father, we wanna thank you for being with us today as we open the book of John and learn more about Jesus and more about you.

We ask that you will bless our time together, give us wisdom and insight, and help us to find practical ways that we can invite the gospel into our lives and introduce others to the gospel as well.

So we're glad that you are joining us, and we are also glad to have 1 of the co-authors of this quarter's study with us.

He is the senior research professor of New Testament at the Theological Seminary, Andrews University.

You were our guest not too long ago in the book of Mark, and here you are helping us understand the book of John as well.

Share with us a little bit about how this particular quarter's lesson came into being.

Bring us up to where we are opening this book in our hands right now.

Yeah, so actually the main author of this series of lessons on themes in John is my friend Edwin Zinke.

And he put together these lessons and then I was also asked to be a co-author with him on that.

And so we worked together on putting it together, these themes.

We're going to look at the book of John, not not step by step going through the book, but rather taking various kind of thematic look at the places in John.

So we'll actually come into John by looking at some of the same chapters more than once.

And so people shouldn't be surprised that, oh, we saw that before.

Oh yeah, but now we'll maybe come from a little different angle.

We are looking forward to joining you on this journey.

As we're about to dive into lesson number 1, signs that point the way, give us a little introduction to the book of John.

How do we understand the book of John as a whole?

He was the longest lived of the 12 disciples of Jesus, and he probably wrote the Gospel of John towards the end of the first century.

And he gives, at the end of the book, he tells why he wrote this book and what its purpose is, it's found in John 20, verses 30 and 31.

And it says, now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this book, but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name." So the purpose of this book is to increase our faith and to strengthen us and be disciples and to call people to become disciples of Jesus.

Now the Gospel of John is very well written, all the Gospels are, but it is very well written in terms of drawing people to faith.

It's 1 of the reasons why people say, oh, if you want to understand Jesus, study the book of John.

And the book of John has at least 5 different ways that it draws people towards faith.

The first is, interestingly, that throughout the book, we're gonna find that there are numerous people who misunderstand what Jesus is saying.

For instance, in chapter 2 he'll say, he's standing in the temple of Jerusalem, he'll say, destroy this temple and in 3 days I will raise it up.

And the religious leaders like, it took 46 years to build this temple.

Then going along with that, not uncommonly, is asides by the narrator to the reader.

And right at that very place he says, he was talking about the temple of his body and his disciples understood that after he was raised from the dead.

Now nobody that was in the temple that day heard that voice, but the reader gets to hear this and so the reader is placed in a position above the people in the book who don't understand, you understand, so that of course draws you to the side of the narrator who's telling you this story.

There's these famous statements of Jesus.

There's also some very thick irony in the book where people say 1 thing and they don't get it.

It's like a different level and the reader sees it and the people in the story don't.

And then finally, very interestingly, there are these intimate scenes with just Jesus and 1 other person.

And it's sort of like you're as the reader on the front row seat watching, you know, what's going on.

Jesus and Nicodemus, Jesus and the woman at the well, Jesus and the paralytic at the pool of Bethesda, Jesus and Peter, Jesus and Pilate, Jesus and Nathaniel.

There's a whole series of these intimate scenes.

And that also, you know, it just gives you this intimate feel, this book, and draws you in, draws you to faith.

And Like I said, we've got 13 lessons that we're going to unpack this.

But lesson number 1 is about signs that point the way.

What does he mean when he talks about signs?

Okay, so the book of John can be divided into 2 parts.

When we studied Mark, it was 2 parts it could be broken into.

And John is not uncommon, is like that too.

The first 12 chapters are often called the Book of Signs.

And we're gonna see that there's a number of signs that Jesus gives.

The second half of the book is called the Book of Glory, pointing towards the cross as Jesus' hour of glory.

So when we come to signs, we'll have statements, we're going to look at some of these today, where they'll have a, Jesus will do something and it'll say, this was the first sign that he did and showed his glory to his disciples.

Now the background for this idea of signs can be found in the Old Testament.

So if we Turn to the book of Exodus chapter 4.

See, I'm gonna put my marker in John so we come back to John.

But Exodus chapter 4, we want to read verses 1 through 9.

This is God talking to Moses and how He's going to send him to Egypt to bring the people out, the people of Israel out.

Then Moses answered and said, But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice.

Suppose they say, the Lord has not appeared to you.

So the Lord said to him, what is that in your hand?

So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses fled from it.

Then the Lord said to Moses, reach out your hand and take it by the tail.

And he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand, that they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has appeared to you.

Furthermore, the Lord said to him, Now put your hand in your bosom.

And he put his hand in his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow.

And he said, Put your hand in your bosom again.

So he put his hand in his bosom again, and drew it out of his bosom, and behold, it was restored like his other flesh.

Then it will be, if they do not believe you, nor heed the message of the first sign, that they may believe the message of the latter sign.

And it shall be, if they do not believe even these 2 signs or listen to your voice, that you shall take water from the river and pour it on the dry land.

02 Signs of Divinity

♪ Welcome to Sabbath School brought to you by It Is Written.

We're glad that you are joining us again this week for lesson number 2 in our study in the themes of the book of John.

We're going to be looking today at signs of Jesus' divinity.

Father, we want to thank you for bringing us together today.

We ask that you will bless us and help us to understand more clearly the themes in the book of John and the wonderful lessons that you have for us to learn.

Well, we're grateful to have with us once again 1 of the authors of this quarter's lesson, and that is Dr.

He's the senior research professor of New Testament at the Theological Seminary, Andrews University.

So last week we took a look at some of the signs that kind of pointed the way of Jesus' ministry.

And we're going to look at some of the signs of His divinity this week.

In John chapter 6 we find that Jesus tests Philip, and we see how Andrew responds to this.

What are we, what lessons are we learning here in John chapter 6?

Alright, so let's turn to John 6, and we want to read verses 4 through 9.

Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near.

Then Jesus lifted up his eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward him, he said to Philip, Where shall we buy bread that these may eat?

But this he said to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.

Philip answered him, 200 denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every 1 of them may have a little.

1 of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, there is a lad here who has 5 barley loaves and 2 small fish, but what are they among so many?

First of all, we notice that this is, there's a reference here to the Passover Feast.

This story is going to be the story of the feeding of the 5, 000.

Actually, it's 1 of the few stories that appears in all 4 Gospels.

And John has mostly other stories of Jesus that the other Gospels don't have, but This is 1 of the stories that he has that all the other Gospels have as well.

It's near the Passover feast of the Jews, which of course was the great memorial of their coming out of the land of Egypt and being saved from Egyptian bondage.

So he lifts up his eyes, he sees this large crowd, and he asks Philip, where are we going to buy bread so that all these people can eat?

Now, you can just imagine, I can imagine somebody being at a potluck at the church and the pastor comes down, the people are preparing the meal down in the kitchen or something, and he says, my friends, we've just had a hundred people, extra people come from an academy, these young people who can eat a lot of food, and we need to prepare food for them as well.

I can imagine some of the people would be tearing out their hair, where are we going to get food for all of these young people to eat?

So, Jesus' question is interesting because it puts Philip to the test.

How will he deal with the problem that Jesus has set before him.

Will he turn back to Jesus the problem, or will he look for a different solution?

Well, Philip kind of fails the test here at this point.

He's like, 200 denarii, well, maybe that's how much money they had in their little bag bank, you know.

200 denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to just get a little bit, right?

There's 5, 000 men and then women and children, you know, there's gonna be 10, 000 or more people.

Now, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, 1 of the first disciples, pipes up and says to him, there's a boy here who has 5 barley loaves and 2 fish, but what are they for so many?" What indeed?

But Andrew's expression is a little bit more, you know, well, Jesus, what will you do with that?

You know, it's kind of like the lesson, well, bring your loaves to Jesus and let Him use what you have.

You know, it's actually, I think, a great lesson for our churches, is bring to Jesus what you have.

If you've got a small church, and I'm a pastor, 1 of my churches is a small church, And you can say, what do we have?

Bring what you have to Jesus, ask Him to bless it, use it to bless and encourage other people, and watch what God will do.

And of course, that's what happens in this story.

So in this story, what were the people in this story looking for?

And was Jesus' response or what Jesus did, was that, did it match what they were hoping for or expecting?

Yeah, well this miracle of the feeding of the 5, 000 really impressed a lot of people.

And they had thousands of people there, and they were ready to make Him king.

In fact, John tells us that there, If you look down at verse 15, it says, "'Perceiving then that they were about to come "'and take him by force to make him king, "'Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.'" So he sends the disciples away, he sends the people away, and he goes up on the mountain all by Himself.

Now, we find out what they're looking for the next day.

He's going to walk on the water to reach His disciples, but the people come looking for Him at Capernaum.

And If we read verses 26 and 27, we'll see what their expectation was.

John Ankerberg, reading from John's book, John's book, verse 26 and 27.

Jesus answered them and said, Most assuredly I say to you, you seek me not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.

Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set his seal on him." So he said, the reason you came looking for me is because you got a nice meal.

That's sometimes what I call rice Christians, where you give them food and they become Christians because you gave them something, you know, you gave them material resources.

Now this is not to say that when you become a Christian there's no benefits for being a Christian.

There's a fellowship of believers and there's the peace of your heart and your heart, the forgiveness of your sins and the opportunity to be part of something bigger than yourself and yes, many friends and you know great experiences and great preaching and a stable life.

There's a whole lot of good things in the Christian life, but if all you're in it for is the material benefits, you're going to be disappointed.

And that's what basically Jesus says to them.

Seek the bread that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you.

We'll see more of this as he unpacks this idea of the bread of life and who he is in John 6.

But John 6 is 1 of the important passages about his signs of doing this wonderful miracle.

And it's actually 1 of the turning points in the Gospel of John.

In John 9, there's another interesting story here.

How do these concepts, these ideas go together?

How should they go together in our understanding?

Now as Jesus passed by, he saw a man who was blind from birth.

And his disciples asked him, saying, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?

Jesus answered, Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.

I must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day, the night is coming when no 1 can work.

As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." When he had said these things, he spat on the ground and made clay with his saliva.

And he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay.

And he said to him, Go wash in the pool of Siloam, which is translated, sent.

So he went and washed and came back seeing." That's the expression of the miracle, right, that Jesus heals this man so that he can see.

The whole rest of the chapter is all the reaction of people to this amazing miracle.

Jesus says, as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

And then he makes this mud and anoints the guy's eyes.

But 1 commentator said that the man didn't have, you know, when God originally made the human beings, he made them from the dust of the ground, breathed into the nostril the breath of life, and he became a living person or a living soul.

Now Jesus takes and makes some mud and gives him his eyes so that he can see.

03 The Backstory: The Prologue

We're glad you're with us today as we continue to take a journey and delve into the themes in the book of John.

We're going to be looking at the backstory, the prologue.

So we've moved forward in John, now we're coming back and looking at some other things, starting in John chapter 1 again.

Father, we thank you for blessing us with a deeper understanding of the book of John already.

And today, as we delve into it once again, we ask for increased light, increased wisdom, increased understanding as we get to know more of the gospel story through the book of John.

Well we're grateful to have helping guide us through this study Dr.

He's a senior research professor of New Testament at the Theological Seminary, Andrews University.

So we are in lesson number 3, the backstory, the prologue.

We're going back to chapter 1 of John again, which begins with the words, in the beginning was the word.

Help us understand this word logos or logos, depending on how 1 wants to pronounce it.

Why does that term, how does that term refer to Jesus?

Okay, so we're going to the very beginning of the book.

Each of our Gospels, our 4 Gospels, begins in a different way.

The book of Matthew begins with the genealogy of Jesus and then the birth narrative about his story and the wise men who come to visit him.

The Gospel of Mark, as we studied last quarter, begins rather abruptly, actually with an introduction of the father and son discussing things, but then the story of John the Baptist's ministry.

The book of Luke starts with an interesting intro where he's writing to a man named Theophilus.

And then he gives a long discussion of the birth narrative, but in a different way than Matthew.

There's different people that are kind of emphasized, Elizabeth and Zachariah and so forth, and people are singing in the songs of the Spirit.

The book of John begins differently than all the other 3.

It begins with this prologue that goes back to before creation and it says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.

In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." It's so beautiful.

And there's a special way that he writes this, that the phrase, the 1 phrase will end with a word and then that word begins the next phrase.

In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.

And he does this several times through this through this prologue.

So we wonder why does he use this word logos which means word.

Interestingly the word Logos meant different things for different people.

For some of the Greeks, the word Logos was the, we get the word logic from the word Logos, and for some of the Greeks it was the organizing principle that was behind all the order that they saw in nature.

For the Hebrews, for the Jews, the word logos was a translation back in the Old Testament for a Hebrew words referring to the Word of God, the God speaking and things happen.

You know, he created it, he speaks and it happens.

So the Word of God is his creative power that shows itself in creation.

Now, what John says here at the very beginning of this is in the beginning, which, you know, rings to us of Genesis 1, verse 1, which says, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

So the word, this logos, was there before creation began, all right?

So the word, this logos, whatever or whoever this is, was present with God.

Now we should maybe pause for a moment and note that our friends, the Jehovah's Witnesses, translate this and the word was agod.

They point to the fact that the term God in that last phrase does not have the Greek article.

Now, the Greek article is what we call the word the, and you'd think that the word the was not a very important word.

It's just a small little word that we use all the time.

But when you have a small little word that you use all the time and grammarians get a hold of it, they have to figure out All the different uses.

They want a cubbyhole for every usage, you see.

The word the in Greek is somewhat complex.

And so grammars will have pages and pages and pages explaining to you the usage.

Now, so the word the in Greek originally was a demonstrative pronoun.

And so it has that, you know, kind of concrete connection.

The absence of the article, they didn't have an indirect article like we do, the absence of the article was more qualitative in nature.

So when it says the word was God, it doesn't mean he was a God.

We don't use English grammar to explain Greek grammar.

We rather say, okay, so what does this signify for a Greek mind?

What it would signify was that the word, this Logos, had the qualities of God.

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Sabbath School 4th Quarter 2024: Themes in the Gospel of John

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