John Wants to Resurrect People Through His Gospel
The Eschatology of John Part 2: An Overview of John Part 1
Read the first post in this series here:
The chief reason John wrote his account of the gospel was to invite his audience into resurrection life by showing them who God really is through the incarnation, miraculous ministry, teaching, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name. John 20:30–31
Before we examine any specific elements of John’s eschatology, we must first see how John accomplished his purpose in each of these five categories. This overview of John will help us to see how John’s eschatological statements, expectation, and hope fit within this same framework.
First, let’s observe a few things about the introductory comments.
Why do you say that the gospel of John is about showing us who God really is?
In the opening verses of John, John makes the claim that nobody has ever seen the Father, so the only person who can actually make God known or explain God is Jesus, who was face to face with the Father from the beginning (John 1:18). Furthermore, Jesus says that if you have seen him, then you have seen the Father (John 14:9).
What does knowing the Father have to do with resurrection life?
If the self-stated purpose of John is to inspire a belief that gives birth to eternal life, then we must ask what exactly John means by eternal life. In John 17:3, Jesus prays, “And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3). So by introducing his audience to God through Jesus Christ, John is inviting them to participate in the life of the Father, Son, and Spirit.
Incarnation
In John 17, Jesus prayed, “So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed” (John 17:5).
What was this glory that Jesus had in God? In what way did Jesus give up that glory? These questions have troubled interpreters for centuries, and I don’t pretend to know the answer. We might receive some help from Philippians 2 in which Paul argues that we should take on the mindset of Jesus “who, though he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped…” (Philippians 2:6).
For readers of the Gospel of John, though, this line in Jesus’s prayer takes us back to John 1:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. John 1:1–3
Let’s focus on the phrase “with God.”
This doesn’t just mean that the Word and the Father were in the same general area. As we learn in John 1:18, the Word was “close to the Father’s heart.” In that same high priestly prayer in John 17, Jesus said, “I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them and I in them” (John 17:26).
We might say, then, that Jesus was face to face with the Father. He sees the Father as the Father really is.
Then something incredible happened.
And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. John 1:14
The Word didn’t just become skin and bones; the Word became sarx. As Paul wrote in Romans 8, Jesus came “in the likeness of sinful flesh” so that God could “deal with sin” (Romans 8:3).
In taking on flesh, Jesus lived among (Greek: en) or in us. That is, Jesus entered into the depth of our delusion. As God, Jesus stood in our place, was tempted as we are, wept like we weep, suffered loss as we suffer loss, but then he died a much greater death than we do, for he, unlike us, was perfect.
In fact, it was because he was perfect that the whole world put him to death.
But more on that later.
The purpose of the incarnation, though, is so that we can, through Jesus, see the Father’s glory and come to know the Father as the Father actually is.
Miraculous Ministry
In the Gospel of John there are seven signs that precede the arrest of Jesus. These are found in John 2:1-11; John 4:46-54; John 5:1-18; John 6:1-15; John 6:16-21; John 9:1-12; John 11:38-44
Each of these signs tell us something about who Jesus is, which tells us who God is, which is how we can know God and have life.
Changing Water to Wine (John 2:1-11)
The first sign in the gospel of John takes place at a wedding in Cana of Galilee.
Jesus and his disciples attended a wedding along with Jesus’s family. After the wedding feast ran out of wine, Jesus’s mother informs Jesus that they had no wine. This prompting from his mother leads Jesus to miraculously create over 120 gallons of good wine for the guests.
There have been many allegorical readings of this story. Could the water transformed into wine represent the connection between Jesus’s blood and baptism? Could the water and wine point towards Jesus’s death when a spear pierced his side which produced both water and blood? Could the emphasis here be on the marriage ceremony and point to Jesus as the bridegroom of Israel?
Or perhaps there is an allusion here to Isaiah 1:22 where Isaiah spoke against Israel by saying that her wine had been diluted with water. Could Jesus’s sign point to the restoration of Israel? Is this wedding banquet a foretaste of the Messianic Banquet?
Or maybe….
There’s no end to this fun exercise. I’m sure you could come up with some interpretations of your own.
For John, though, the purpose is to demonstrate Jesus’s creative power in order that his glory, which is the glory of the Father, might be revealed so that the disciples would believe.
Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee and revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him. John 2:11
Healing a Son (John 4:46-54)
This occasion of the second sign of Jesus—per John’s numbering in John 4:54—is meant to be juxtaposed with the story in John 4:1-42, which recounts a marvelous conversation between Jesus and a Samaritan woman, her preaching efforts in her town, and the subsequent faith of many Samaritans.
Beginning in John 4:46, Jesus returned to Cana in Galilee and encountered a royal official. This royal official had hope that Jesus would heal his son, but he didn’t believe in Jesus (John 4:53). His faith only came after he saw the miracle.
This is why Jesus responded to his request with the harsh line “unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” The theme of seeing and believing is a common theme in John. The Samaritans didn’t need a sign; they just needed the testimony of the woman. Thomas needed a sign, but Jesus said that those who believe without seeing are blessed (John 20:29).
This man hoped that the reports of Jesus were true, that he was a miracle worker. In his despair he “believed the word that Jesus spoke to him” (John 4:50). But his faith in Jesus didn’t come until he saw his son healed.
Healing a Paralytic (John 5:1-18)
I wish we didn’t have headings in our Bibles sometimes. They give away the good parts.
The heading in my Bible says “Jesus Heals on the Sabbath,” but the reader doesn’t know this little fact until after the healing takes place.
Spoiler alerts, people.
Yet again, Jesus is back in Jerusalem for one of the annual festivals. After coming to Jerusalem, Jesus went to a pool known for being a place of healing. He came upon a man who had been paralyzed for thirty-eight years, and he had been lying by the pool for a long time (John 5:6).
Without hesitation, Jesus instructed the man to stand up, take up his mat, and walk. At once the man was made well.
We then learn that this was done on the Sabbath.
This presents two problems: (1) the man is carrying his mat around on the Sabbath and (2) Jesus is healing people on the Sabbath.
At first, some of the people told the man that it was not lawful for him to carry his mat around on the Sabbath, but he told them that the man who had healed him instructed him to do so. It’s as if the man is saying, “You’ve seen me for thirty-eight years, never did a thing for me, and now you expect that I will listen to you? This man saw me once, healed me, and he has the authority to tell me what to do.”
His attitude seems similar to Nicodemus’s in John 3: “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who was come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with that person” (John 3:2).
Unfortunately for this crowd, they didn’t know where Jesus was, but they found out soon enough after Jesus met and encouraged the man. Here’s their interaction:
Therefore the Jews started persecuting Jesus, because he was doing such things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, “My Father is still working, and I also am working.” For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the Sabbath but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God. John 5:16–18
This is astounding. God is Jesus’s Father, so if God can work on the Sabbath, then Jesus can work on the Sabbath. Compassion has no off days.
But this particular group of Jews knew that this meant that Jesus was likening himself to God, which is what John 1:1 said.
Jesus’s response to this accusation is brilliant: “Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own but only what he sees the Father doing, for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise” (John 5:19).
Jesus only does what the Father does, which means that if we see Jesus we see the Father. In other words, God is like Jesus. If you want to know what the Father is like, just look at the Son!
Feeding the 5,000 (John 6:1-15)
John 6 is a long chapter, and there are a lot of implications of this sign. I encourage you to go back and read my “sermons” beginning with this one, which was posted on July 29, to get deeper insight into this whole chapter.
In John 6, Jesus travels to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, but this time it is not just his small crew; instead, there is a large group following him around because of the signs he was doing for the sick.
Remember, John doesn’t give us an account of every sign Jesus did, as we noticed earlier in this post. John chooses to focus on seven particular signs to clue us into who God is, who the Son is, and what the kingdom of God is like. If John had included every good thing Jesus did “I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written” (John 21:25).
So in John 6, Jesus looked out across the crowds and desired to feed them. Phillip did the math and realized that not even two-hundred days wages could feed such a large crowd. As you know, Jesus then takes five loaves and two fish, blesses them, breaks them, and with them has his disciples feed 5,000 people, with twelve baskets of food leftover.
Personally, I believe the twelve baskets of food point towards the truth that in God’s economy there is enough for everyone to have what they need; there is no need for any of us to horde our blessings. We can enjoy them and share them.
When we think of the number twelve as representing the twelve tribes of Israel, we should be reminded of the Exodus story. God told Israel to go and inhabit a land that was flowing with milk and honey (Exodus 3:17). Before too long, though, the rich rulers and kings began to horde resources, break the land Sabbath, and oppress the poor, as many of the prophets attest.
With a man as king, we might see how this could happen, but Jesus has come to set up a kingdom that is not like these other kingdoms.
The people, though, wanted a king who could give them an endless supply of bread, which doesn’t sound like a bad setup:
When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.” When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself. John 6:14–15
Jesus rejected this offer, and, in the ensuing conversation, revealed what he was really doing, which was offering them bread from heaven.
Walking on Water (John 6:16-21)
After the episode in the previous passage, Jesus retreated to a mountain by himself. This is a common theme in Jesus’s life; instead of capitalizing on the success of his ministry, Jesus often retreats to the wilderness to pray.
Jesus’s apostles left the scene as well and got into a boat. Why did they leave? Did they think that Jesus had abandoned his ministry so they were returning to their homes? Were they also disappointed in Jesus’s rejection of earthly power? Maybe. It could be that Jesus told them where to go.
Regardless, Jesus’s miracle here is meant to demonstrate his glory, and the glory of the Father, to his disciples. Specifically, I think it is to let them know that his ministry is going somewhere even if they might think that it isn’t after the previous episode.
Their terror at seeing Jesus walking on water must have been because of the storm and the shock of seeing their Rabbi walk on water, but it may have also been because they didn’t expect to see him again; they may have thought he wasn’t the Messiah because of his rejection of the invitation to sit on the earthly throne of David.
In saying “do not be afraid,” Jesus is encouraging his disciples to not have fear in the moment, but he’s also preparing them for the conflict to come. Trust in the One who can turn water into wine, heal the sick, feed the hungry, and walk on water.
Healing the Blind (John 9:1-12)
In John 8:12, Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”
The “light of life” is a theme that goes back to John 1:4, and it is picked up by John in his epistles as well as in the Revelation of Jesus Christ. The light of life suggests the darkness of death.
In the introductory article, I made the case that John’s and Paul’s eschatological hope was the same, even though they focused on different aspects of that one hope. Here, though, their emphasis merges. Paul wrote,
Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is already the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone; the day is near. Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us walk decently as in the day… Romans 13:11-13a; cf. 1 John 2:8
With this background, we can read this story with new eyes.
Jesus’s disciples want to know if this man was born blind because of sin. Jesus flips their worldview upon its head by suggesting that unfortunate circumstances can often be a way through which God’s work might be revealed.
The man is then healed.
There is only one problem—and thankfully the heading didn’t spoil it this time—this healing took place on the Sabbath. This leads to an investigation, a calling of witnesses, and finally a verdict: this man must have been born in his sins because healing someone without our stamp of approval is illegal (John 9:34).
Jesus finds the man and makes his point:
Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see may see and those who do see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains. John 9:39–41
Raising the Dead (John 11:38-44)
The last miracle in John before the Cross is the raising of Lazarus. There is more to this story than we will talk about here; we’ll cover more in the section on teaching.
The first sign Jesus performed in John was for the purpose of revealing the Word’s/ God’s glory (John 2:11). While not stated, this is the goal of the five following signs as well. Now that we’ve come to the end, this last miracle is also specifically to reveal God’s glory. Jesus told Martha/ Mary1 in verse 40, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” (cf. John 11:4).
Jesus then prayed, not for his sake or God’s sake but for the sake of the crowd, and commanded Lazarus to come forth.
The purpose of this resurrection story is to point to a greater resurrection story. Jesus told Martha/ Mary, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26).
If Jesus is the resurrection and the life, and if the one eschatological hope is “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” then for Christ to be in us is for the life of the Father, Son, and Spirit to be in us.
We are in that life, and the life is in us. Even if we die, we will live. Death has lost its sting because the assumption of separation has been defeated by Jesus (Hebrews =). We now know Christ truly is in us and that we are in him.
There is More to Be Said
There is more to be said. We need to talk about how Jesus reveals God through his teaching, death, and resurrection, but that will have to wait for part 2.
One thing we could note is that John uses sets of sevens in both his account of the gospel and in the book of Revelation to point to the idea that Jesus is the new creation, which might be why John wants us to know Jesus was resurrected in a garden. We’ll notice more of these sevens as we continue in our study.
If you want this series to continue, please like, comment, or message me to let me know of your continued interest. Also, ask questions, point out typos, and engage in kind discussion.
A Few Questions You Might Answer
Did you learn or see anything new in today’s study?
Was there a point that resonated with you?
Which of the rereadings of the signs of Jesus stood out to you?
Is there a particular point or passage you would like to know more about?
I say “Martha/ Mary” here because there are some legitimate questions being raised based upon an earlier manuscript as to whether or not Jesus is speaking to Mary throughout this chapter. Click this link for more information from Diana Butler Bass.