John - Introduction

Today begins what I pray will be a weekly series on the book of John. Every Friday I intend to send a devotional message which, over time, will take us through the entire book. I pray that these messages will be useful for further study and will encourage you to trust God more and live for Him every single day.

There are four gospel accounts of Jesus Christ in the Bible. Of the four, only John was written for a universal audience. Matthew was written mainly for a Jewish audience and presents Jesus as the promised Messiah or King who fulfilled Old Testament prophesies. Mark was written to the Romans and presents Jesus as the Servant who ministers to the needs of the people. Luke was written for the Greeks and presents Jesus as the Perfect Man who came to seek and save the lost. In contrast, John was written for everyone and presents Jesus as the Son of God.

The first three gospels are known as the synoptic gospels because they describe many of the same events in the life of Jesus and are written in a similar style. John is referred to as the supplemental gospel because much of the material is unique and is written with a clear Spiritual purpose.

John 20:31
"But these things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name."

All gospel accounts are useful and equally inspired, but John is ideal for understanding God's plan of Salvation through faith in Jesus. For example, all four gospels give an account of the feeding of 5000 men (and presumably also many women and children) with five loaves and two fish; but only John presents the purpose of that miracle.

The crowd of people had followed Jesus the day after the miraculous feeding; and yet, when Jesus challenged them to believe in Him, they demanded a sign: "What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do?" (John 6:30). They had just seen over 5000 people fed with five loaves and two fish, but now they wanted more! They wanted bread like the manna their fathers ate in the desert (6:31).

Jesus responds to the crowd by teaching that He is the bread from Heaven: "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger" (John 6:35). The purpose of the feeding was not just to provide a free lunch, it was to point to Himself as the bread of life in whom all hunger is satisfied.

So as we begin this devotional study, let's do so with a hungry heart. Let's hunger to know Jesus, and hunger for true life through belief in who He is and all He has done.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Steve T.,