"Be Alive," Warren W. Wiersbe

Prologue -- 1:1-14
I.              OPPORTUNITY ( 1:15-6:71)
"Mine hour is not yet come" (2:4)
He presents Himself to:
1.             His disciples - 1:19-2:12
2.             The Jews - 2:13-3:36
3.             The Samaritans - 4:1-54
4.             The Jewish leaders - 5:1-47
5.             The multitudes - 6:1-71

Crisis - 1
They would not walk with Him (6:66-71)
II.            OPPOSITION (7:1-12:50)
"His hour was not yet come" (7:30)
There is conflict with the Jewish leaders over:
1.             Moses - 7:1-8:11
2.             Abraham - 8:12-59
3.             Who Messiah is - 9:1-10:42
4.             His miraculous power - 11:1-12:36

Crisis - 2
They would not believe on Him (12:37-50)
III.           OUTCOME (CH 13-21)
"His hour was come" (13:1; 17:1)
1.             The faith of the disciples - ch 13-17
2.             The unbelief of the Jews - ch 18-19

Crisis - 3
They crucified Him (19:13-22)
Result:  The Victory of Christ

John sees Jesus fulfilling the Messianic Types of the Old Testament.
1.             The Lamb of God
2.             The Ladder from Heaven to Earth
3.             The New Temple
4.             He gives New Birth
5.             The Serpent Lifted Up
6.             The Bread of God that Came Down

Life is a key theme in John's Gospel; it is used thirty-six times.  What are the essentials for human life?  There are at least four:
1.             Light (if the sun went out there would be no life)
2.             Air
3.             Water
4.             Food

Jesus is all of these!  He is the Light of life and the Light of the world (8:12).
He is the "Sun of righteousness"  (Malachi 4:2)
By His Holy Spirit, He gives us the "Breath of life" (John 3:8; 20:22)
He is the Water of life (4:10, 13-14; 7:37-39)
Jesus is the Living Bread of Life that came down from heaven (6:35ff)
He not only has life, and gives life, but He IS life (14:6)

Darkness of Men's Minds:  Whenever Jesus taught a spiritual truth, His listener interpreted it in a material or physical way.  The light was unable to penetrate the darkness in their minds.  This was true when He spoke about:
1.             The temple of His body (2:19-21),
2.             The New Birth (3:4),
3.             The living Water (4:11),
4.             Eating His flesh (6:51ff),
5.             Spiritual Freedom (8:30-36),
6.             Death as Sleep (11:11-13).

John the Baptist was sent as a witness to Jesus Christ, to tell the people that the Light had come into the world. The nation of Israel, in spite of all its spiritual advantages, was blind to their own Messiah!  The word witness is a key word in this book:  John uses the noun fourteen times and the verb thirty-three times.  John the Baptist was one of the many people who bore witness to Jesus, "This is the Son of God!"  Alas, John the Baptist was martyred and the Jewish leaders did nothing to prevent it.

They were spiritually ignorant.  Jesus is the "True light" -- the original of which every other light is a copy -- but the Jews were content with the copies.  They had Moses and the Law, the temple and the sacrifices; but they did not comprehend that these "lights" pointed to the true Light who was the fulfillment, the completion, of the Old Testament religion.

2012-11-21