Matthew’s Gospel presents Christ as King of the
Jews. Mark presents Him as the Servant, and was
written especially to the Romans. Luke’s Gospel was
written to the Greeks, and presents Christ as the Son
of man. John’s writings present Christ as the Son of
God, and John is writing for the entire world.
The first three Gospels deal primarily with
events in Christ’s life, but John deals with the
meaning of those events. We will be noting this from
time to time throughout our study in John’s Gospel.
We see in today’s reading that Jesus is God’s
Son. Chapter 1:1,3,14 tells us that Jesus is the Word
of God made flesh. The Bible is the written Word of
God; Jesus is the living incarnate Word of God. Verses
4-13 tell us that Jesus is the Light. In these same
verses we read that there are but two classes of
people in the world today–believers and unbelievers.
Those who have received Christ as their own personal
Saviour are believers and sons of God; those who have
not received Him are unbelievers and not a part of
God’s family.
In Romans 3:23 we read, “For all have sinned,
and come short of the glory of God.” What is the
“glory of God?” John 1:14 says, “And the Word was made
flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full
of grace and truth.” “The glory of God” is Jesus
Christ, God’s Son.
Verse 29 tells us that John recognized Jesus
as “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the
world.” Jesus is also our Lamb, our sacrifice, our
salvation, if we will but trust in Him. He has taken
away the sins of the world. It is our privilege to
trust Him and receive Him as our personal Saviour. We
are then assured of everlasting life.
Chapter 2 records the first miracle of Christ.
The thirsty crowd in this miracle is a picture of the
lost world today, enjoying the pleasures of sin that
do not satisfy. Empty water pots picture the human
heart, which is hard and empty. When the pots are
filled with water (water, in Scripture, is a picture
of the Word of God), this speaks of a servant of God
filling the empty heart of an unbeliever with the
Word. Turning the water into wine is a picture of a
sinner’s heart which has been filled with the Word;
making it possible for Christ to perform the miracle
of the new birth.