 |
Home | Mission Statement | Video Gallery | Audio Gallery | Photo Gallery | Daily Manna | Testimonies | | Links | Contact us |
 |
You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you Isa 26:3 |
 |
| Archived Manna: | |
Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Friday, October 3, 2025
Today's Passage : Today's Passage :Overview of the New Testament: The Gospels Bible Verse:John 1:1-14 (KJV) "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 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. * * * For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. " Message:
The Gospel of John was (most likely) written around 90 A.D., decades after the others, and it is noticeably different from them. Christ’s divinity is presented in all of the gospels, but the Synoptics more fully present Christ’s roles as King, Messiah, Healer, and Teacher, while John strongly emphasizes the divinity of Jesus and the promise of eternal life as a reflection of God’s love.
This distinctive message appears immediately, in the powerful and poetic opening verses. For the first time, we learn that Christ existed before the creation and was, himself, the Creator. This is impossible to understand from the life of Jesus, because while He was human, he had partially separated himself from the power of the Godhead. In Paul’s words, He “emptied” himself, giving up many attributes of his divinity,
“taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death.”
(Philippians 2:5-8) While we understand Christ is the Son of God in all of the gospels, John drives home the point that Christ is God. He is and has always been fully God, except that He intentionally relinquished His powers to live as a human being for about 30 years.
The Synoptics all begin with extensive narrative of Jesus’ ministry in Galilee, turning towards Judea and Jerusalem just after the halfway mark. But John is set almost entirely in Jerusalem. It has comparatively few miracles, and those it does present are specifically symbolic; it relates seven miracles (pre-Resurrection), each of which constitutes a specific “sign” of Christ’s divinity. The first, the marriage at Cana where Christ turns water into wine, is replete with symbolism of the new covenant. The last, raising Lazarus from the dead, prophesies Christ’s own resurrection. (Both of these miracles are unique to John.)
John the Evangelist by Velazquez
John the Evangelist
by Diego Velazquez
Full-size.
John does have parables, miracles, and biography, but they are limited in number and secondary in importance to theological discourse. A single long discourse, Jesus’ speech to the disciples on the night before his crucifixion, takes up almost a quarter of the book (Chapters 13-17).
A word count demonstrates the gospel’s distinctiveness. The word “kingdom” appears 65 times in Matthew but only five times in John; on the other hand, the word “life” appears 36 times in John, more than twice as often as the other three gospels combined. Similarly, the word “love” occurs 53 times in John (by my count) and 27 times in the combined Synoptics.
But the difference is far greater than the numbers, because John speaks mostly to the love of God for us, and our love for God, while the Synoptics generally use the word as a human trait, e.g. “love your neighbor as yourself.” This highlights one strong theme: God’s love for humanity. Christ’s ministry and passion are characterized as an expression of this love, a love that will bring us eternal life.
One would be justified in concluding that John wrote his gospel to fill a theological gap in the other three; or perhaps it would be better to say, to complete our understanding, for it does not stand as a single complete work any more than the other gospels.
John is many people’s “favorite” gospel, but it is properly placed fourth; for reading John without first understanding the message of the Synoptics can lead to a lopsided theology of what Dietrich Bonhoeffer calls “cheap grace.”
Meditation : “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.” ~ Isaiah 40:8 Prayer : Most High, Glorious God, enlighten the darkness of my mind. Give me a right faith, a firm hope and a perfect charity, so that I may always and in all things act according to Your Holy Will......Amen. |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
 |
