Invitation to study the Gospel according to John

Last year, BSF studied the book of Revelation. This year, BSF will study the Gospel according to John. Through the eye of Revelation written by John, we now look the Gospel of John. The same author wrote those two books. But we know that as all sixty six books in Bible, they are God's Word with God's authority.

Today we speak casually of four Gospels. Matthew, Mark and Luke are called the Synoptic Gospels. They contain so much common material that they may be seen Synoptically. The Synoptic Gospels especially record what Jesus did and said. John who wrote twenty to thirty years later than the other Gospel writers, gave special emphasis to what Jesus meant behind His action. No other writer reveals Jesus so intimately as John. He reveals most fully Jesus"s tender love for His followers, gives us even the innermost thoughts and emotions of the Lord. John calls himself "the one Jesus loved". This is not  show off or pride. This is simply to tell us how certain John knew that the Lord loved him. As about sixty years may have passed between the cross and the writing of this Gospel, deep satisfaction in the love of Jesus became the core of John's existence that he chose to be humbly anonymous as a "disciple whom Jesus loved."  It was his intimate relationship with Jesus, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, that qualified the apostle as Gospel writer. Jesus loves all of His disciples. Are you one of them? Is "the one Jesus loves" your reality? 

The four Gospels speak of the one gospel, which is the hope filled proclamation of the coming of Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and rose again that we might stand in God's presence. The four authors each show us the portrait of the Lord Jesus Christ, invariably produce four unique pictures, similar but recognizable different. For each author focuses on different aspects of the same personality. It is impossible to describe the beauty of the Lord Jesus adequately because of the infinite fullness of His personality, but in the four Gospels God has given us the richest possible picture of His Son. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we can exam the picture with the right prospective. So we may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing we may have life in His name.

Everyone who exams the portrait of Jesus Christ must choose between faith and unbelief, no exception. As Jesus continued to reveal His identify to the world, the faith of a small minority intensified, blossoming into Thomas's heartfelt cry, "My Lord and My God!" The unbelief of the majority metastasized, hardening into final, murderous rejection. The criticism and indifference of the initial stage of Jesus' ministry flared into open opposition. Unreasonable resentment of Jesus and His teaching hardened into implacable hatred, increasingly intense and violent. What about us? What is our response to Jesus, faith or unbelief? Are we like those who refused to believe, fearful that Jesus would change their lives if they followed Him?

John wholeheartly invites us to study the Gospel so we may come to Jesus, either for the first time, or with new intimacy and fresh insight. Do we accept his invitation wholeheartedly?