PORTRAITS OF CHRIST
JOHN: THE SON OF GOD
by
Dr. E. Harold Henderson

Dr. E. Harold Henderson was for 25 years, from 1972 – 1997, the principal English language speaker on LifeWord Broadcast, an international radio outreach of the Baptist Missionary Association of America. Dr. Henderson was the writer of the Adult Sunday School Quarterly (Baptist Publishing House, Little Rock, AR) for 39 & ½ years. He authored four books and numerous religious periodicals.

© LifeWord Broadcast Ministries
Conway, Arkansas
Reprinted by permission

Prisoners Bible Crusade
P.O. Box 696
Picayune, MS 39466

The fourth record of the life and ministry of Jesus is called the Gospel According to John. It was written by John, the brother of James and son of Zebedee.

There was probably no man who knew Jesus more personally then did John. And no person loved Jesus more dearly than he. John saw and heard things which many other disciples did not. He was present at the raising from death of the daughter of Jairus. He witnessed the transfiguration of Jesus on the mountain. He was in Gethsemane near by Jesus during the hours of agony in prayer. He followed Jesus to the cross and was entrusted with the care of Mary, the mother of Jesus. He was one of the first disciples to go to see the empty tomb when Jesus arose from death. He wrote five books of the New Testament scriptures. He was called "the beloved disciple" or the disciple "whom Jesus loved" (John 19:26; 20:2;21:7,20). He is an excellent choice to write a biography of Jesus.

The purpose of John in writing this record of the life and work of Jesus is stated in John 20:30,31: "Many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: but these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name." The gospel According to John is written to lead you to faith that Jesus is the anointed Son of God, for through faith in Him you will receive eternal life

The Gospel According to John begins with the statement, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1). That term "Word" (Greek, logos) refers to the reality behind the sound. If I say "child", you do not dwell on the tones which produce the word, but you think of a particular child. Jesus is introduced as ultimate reality. He is not "a god" or "like God;" He is god in person. What an introduction!

There is no genealogy of Jesus in The Gospel According to John. God has no father or mother, beginning of days or end of life. He has no genealogy. Though Jesus had a human mother by whom He came into the world in a human body, as God, it is impossible to record His genealogy. John is presenting Jesus as the Son of God.

Do not think of Jesus as the "Son" of God to indicate there was a time when Jesus was born as God. He has always been God! John the Baptist was six months older in the flesh than was Jesus, but John said of Jesus, "He . . .is preferred before me: for he was before me" (John 8:58). Abraham lived 2,000 years before Jesus was born to Mary, yet Jesus was before Abraham. How can that be? Jesus is eternal because He is God. When John 1:1 reads, "In the beginning was the Word," it means, "When the beginning (of time) began, the Word (Jesus) already was." He lives forever.

How can that be so? Jesus is God. John 1:1 says very plainly, "The Word was God." That means that the Lord Jesus was divine, was God Himself eternally. "What God was, the Word was," as the New English Bible translates the statement. That is why Jesus could say, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father" (John 14:9). "I and my Father are one" (John 10:30). Our response to Jesus, therefore, is our response to God. Jesus said it is the purpose of God "that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father which hath sent him" (John 5:23). Jesus the man is the eternal God revealed in a body of flesh and bones as you and I have. Amazing, isn’t it?

Jesus did not begin to exist at His birth to His human mother. He has existed eternally. John 1:3 reports, "All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made." John 1:10 states, "The world was made by him." He created all things thousands of years before He was born into the world of mankind. That is the exalted view of Jesus which John presents in the gospel record that the Holy Spirit directed him in writing.

He who was and is eternal God of very God became a man to live among men. John 1:14 reads, "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." Notice the verb "was made" as the text reads that "the Word was made flesh." It means "to become" and particularly "to become what one was not." The Christ of God, who as God is pure spirit, became a man in a body of flesh. That is the marvel of the incarnation. When Jesus was born as an infant in Bethlehem, "the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us."

Jesus was man, but he was more than man. He was God and man in one person! John is careful to remind us that when we saw His glory, it was "the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). The magnificence of deity was enshrouded in the human body of Jesus of Nazareth, even though men did not recognize it.

Peter, James and John, three of Jesus’ disciples, got a glimpse of the divine glory when Jesus was transfigure before them on a mountain in Galilee (Matthew 17). But otherwise, men saw Him without recognizing that God had come to walk among them.

John bore witness of Jesus in these words: "no man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him" (John 1:18). Think about that! To see Jesus of Nazareth even in His physical body, is to see God. No wonder Jesus told the disciples, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father . . . Believe that I am in the Father, and Father in me" (John 14:9,11).

If we ask, "What is God like?" John points to Jesus and says He is "full of grace and truth." Grace is God’s unmerited favor bestowed upon us in view of our sin and guilt. Truth is God’s absolute holiness which makes Him true in all He says or does. Jesus revealed God’s grace and God’s truth by embodying those very qualities in His own person.

"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 of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace" (John 1:12,16). I urge you to receive Him by repentance from sin and faith in Jesus that you may experience His grace, also.

There is our introduction to Jesus, the Son of God, as set forth in the prologue to The Gospel According to John. Let us worship before Him, confess His deity, yield to His lordship, and learn of Him as we continue this study.

There is a name which Jesus called Himself which is recorded only in The Gospel According to John. It is the name "I AM."
To appreciate the significance of the use of that name, one must read Exodus 3. Moses was shepherd keeping the flocks of his father-in-law, Jethro. He looked up the side of Mount Horeb and saw a fire burning. As a concerned shepherd, he kept his eyes on the fire. It burned continuously without spreading or diminishing. He went to investigate and saw that a bush was burning, but the fire did not consume the bush. Then from the midst of the fire the voice of God came forth. It was God’s commission of Moses to return to Egypt and bring Israel out into Canaan as God had promised four centuries before.

God revealed Himself to Moses by a new name. His name was revealed as "I AM THAT I AM" (Exodus 3:14). No man had heard that name of God before. God had revealed Himself to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob by the name El Shaddai (God Almighty) but not by His name Yahweh (Jehovah, I AM). Here is a new and wonderful thing.

The "I AM THAT I AM" name of God has significant meaning. Various translators have tried to express its meaning in English by these statements: "I AM WHAT I AM:" "I am the I Am;" "I am the God who is;" "I am the Living God." It is evident that we have difficulty expressing the concept included in this name of God.

The "I AM" name of God means two primary things: (1) He is self existent. He did not say, "I became", but He said, "I AM." He depends on nothing outside Himself for His existence or well being. (2) He is eternal. To be forever "I AM" is to be forever the one who "was, and is, and is to come" (Revelation 1:8). So we recognize God as the great "I AM."

The significance of that discussion to our present study is this: Seven times Jesus called Himself by the "I AM" name of God in the record of the Gospel According to John. We do not know

how many times Jesus used that name, but John, who reports only a small part of what Jesus said and did (John 21:24,25), reports that the name was used by Jesus to refer to Himself on seven different occasions. In each of those seven occasions Jesus related the name for Jehovah to finite things we can see and understand.

Jesus said, "I am the bread of life" (John 6:35). "I am the light of the world" (John 8:12). "I am the door" (John 10:7). "I am the good shepherd" (John 10:11). "I am the resurrection, and the life" (John 11:25). "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). "I am the true vine" (John 15:1).

As "the bread of life," Jesus supplies our needs. As "the light of the world," He illuminates our way. As "the door," He provides entrance to the presence of God. As "the good shepherd," He guides and protects us. As "the resurrection, and the life," He delivers us from death and the grave. As "the way, the truth, and the life," He is our source of all we need. As "the true vine," He nourishes us and makes us fruitful.

No wonder we sing, "Christ is all I need; Christ is all I need." He who supplies our needs, illuminates our way, brings us to God, guides and protects us in life, delivers us from death and the grave, conducts us on our way, nourishes and makes us fruitful is all we need, indeed. Let us pause and worship before Him.

Yet there are other uses of the name "I AM" as Jesus applies it to Himself. The seven metaphors by which he identifies Himself by the "I AM" name of God are strengthened by many other times when he used the name directly in reference to Himself.

John 8:51-59 records a conversation between Jesus and certain Jews who did not believe Him. They asked, "Are you saying you are greater than our father Abraham? Whom do you make yourself out to be?" Jesus replied, "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it and was glad. Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto, before Abraham was, I am. Then they took up stones to cast at him" (John 8:56-59)

Why did they become so infuriated at Jesus that they would stone Him to death? Hear again His statement, "Before Abraham was, I AM." That’s it! He took the name of God and applied it to Himself. He was claiming to be deity. "Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God" (John 5:18). The application of the title "I AM" to Himself was Jesus’ claim to be God in human flesh. And He made that claim over and over, according to the record John has written.

If we ask, "What claim did Jesus make concerning Himself?" The answer in the Gospel According to John is quite clear. Jesus declared Himself to be very God, eternal and infinite deity.

Do you agree with His claim? If you do, you should trust Him as your Savior and obey Him as your Lord. He asked, "Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" (Luke 6:46).

To deny Jesus’ claim to be very God of very God, eternal and sovereign deity, is to make Him a liar and a blasphemer. The same John who wrote this Gospel According to John wrote also three Epistles of John. In his first epistle he penned these words: "He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believed not the record that God gave of his Son" (I John 5:10). Those in Jesus’ day who rejected these claims He made were consistent in calling Him a blasphemer. He is what He claimed to be, or He is not the great teacher who brought to us the things of God as we believe Him to be. The choice is quite evident. But what God has affirmed in the person and work of Jesus, plus the teachings of Holy Scripture, move us to say with John, "Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ?" (I John 2:22).

Why did John give so much emphasis to Jesus’ claiming to be the "I AM" God? He explains in these words, "These things are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name" (John 20:31). Will you believe? Like Thomas, who first refused to believe the news that Jesus had risen up from death but afterwards confessed, "My Lord and my God" (John 20:28), so you can turn from doubt to belief and in belief worship before Jesus, the God who is!

CONTENT (INCLUSIONS AND OMISSIONS)

The Gospel According to John is the fourth of the four biographies of Jesus to be found in Holy Scripture. The other three (Matthew, Mark and Luke) are called "the Synoptic Gospels." "Synoptic means "seeing together; giving an account from the same point of view." Each of the three views the ministry of Jesus from the earthly element. He is the King of the Jews, the Servant, the Son of Man. But John views the ministry of Jesus from the heavenly element. He is the Son of God. It is not surprising, therefore, to find the first three writers including much of the same material in their biographies. Neither is it surprising to find John reporting much which the other three did not report. The things included and the things omitted by the Gospel According to John set forth the more carefully John’s purpose to prove "that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God" (John 20:31).

Most of the material included in the first seventeen chapters of The Gospel According to John is recorded by John only. The other three Gospel writers had done their work about 30 years before John wrote. He presupposes a knowledge of what they reported and went beyond their histories in his own. But notice how the material in John 1-17 proves that Jesus is the Son of God.

Chapter 1 reports Jesus’ conversation with Nathaniel, which ends with this confession, "Rabbi, thou art the Son of God" (John 1:49). Jesus accepted that title without denying it. Chapter 2 reports the first miracle of Jesus. Turning water into wine was a miracle of creation which could be done by God only. Chapter 3 is Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, in which Jesus claims the power to give eternal life to anyone who trusts Him. Chapter 4 reports Jesus’ conversation with a poor fallen woman in the city of Samaria and His confession to her that He is the Christ (anointed Savior) of God. In chapter 5 there is Jesus’ declaration, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work," which was a claim that He is equal with God (John 5:17,18). He claimed that "all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father which hath sent him" (John 5:23). Such claims would have been blasphemy if they had not been true.

Chapter 6 reports the miracle of the multiplication of five loaves of bread and two small fish so that 5,000 people ate and were satisfied, plus the miracle of Jesus’ walking on the waters of the Sea of Galilee during a great storm. Again, those were acts which only God could perform.

In chapter 8 you see Jesus forgiving a sinful woman, declaring Himself the light of the world, promising that the one who keeps His words will never see death, and claiming to be deity with the words, "Before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58). A man born blind was given sight by Jesus’ touch in chapter 9. Jesus clearly declared Himself to be "the Son of God" (John 9:35-37) and received the worship of that man.

Chapter 11 recounts Jesus’ power to give life in raising Lazarus from death. In chapter 12 He rides into Jerusalem on a donkey, offering Himself to Israel as her King just as the prophets had said. Then we enter under the shadow of the cross with Jesus as chapters 12-17 report His burden and His preparation of the disciples for the coming events of His crucifixion.

Most of that is included in the Gospel According to John, but not in the Gospel records left by Matthew, Mark and Luke. It was evidently John’s attempt to prove to us that "Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God" (John 20:31).

On the other hand, look at how many things the other writers included in their biographies but which John left out of his book. That is further proof of the purpose of John in presenting the divine elements in the life and ministry of Jesus.

There is no reference to Jesus’ genealogy or birth. God had no birth or genealogy. John begins with the majestic words, "In the beginning was the Word. . .and the Word was God" (John 1:1). So you do not read of angels announcing Jesus, the manger, the star, shepherds or wise men. You meet the eternal God instead.

There is no mention of Jesus’ baptism or temptation. Instead, Jesus is introduced as "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). He needs no baptism to consecrate Him to God, for He is God! The temptation is omitted because "God cannot be tempted with evil" (James 1:13). The human Jesus endured temptation, but the divine Christ need have no such experiences reported of Him.

The prayers of Jesus have a far lesser place in John’s record than in that of the synoptic writers. The seventeenth chapter records the high priestly prayer of Jesus. It is remarkable in that He addressed God the Father as an equal. He said, "Father, I will. . ." Stating His personal will in prayer to God indicates the authority Jesus had.

Jesus’ burden and prayers in Gethsemane are not mentioned by John. Such crying and tears do not benefit the Son of God, so they are not emphasized.

John records no teaching of Jesus about His reigning as the Son of David in an earthly kingdom. (Teaching in the sermon on the Mount of Olives is not mentioned.) Jesus’ emphasis in the teachings recorded by John is on the "many mansions" in the "Father’s house" where He is now preparing a place for us (John 14:1-3).

There is little emphasis on repentance or forgiveness of sins in The Gospel According to John. The sinner is said to be spiritually dead, needing to be born again. The new birth is something God alone can perform (John 3). It is on the basis of being born again that John relates God’s blessings to the believer under the term "everlasting life." To be born of the Spirit is to receive a life which is lived in the age to come, a life of improved quality and extended quantity. It is the life of God Himself lived in the person who trusts Jesus.

John is careful to present titles which emphasize the eternal deity of Jesus of Nazareth. He is called "the only begotten Son" (3:16,18), "the Lord" (1:23; 6:68), "the Son of the living God (6:69), "God" (10:33), "the Son of God" (1:34), and the great "I AM" (8:58).

Jesus is evidently the Messiah of God. He is called "the Christ" (1:20), "Messiah" (1:41), "that prophet" of whom Moses had written (6:14), "the Lamb of God" (1:29,36). His authority as one who represents God is further indicated in the title "Rabbi" being given to Him (1:38,49; 3:2).

Behold Jesus of Nazareth (1:45), the Savior of the world (4:42). He is God come to live as Man among men in order to enable us to live as children of God before God. I encourage you to believe in Jesus, the Christ of God, that by believing you might have life through His name (John 20:31).

The Bible principle of testimony is that there must be multiple witnesses. Jesus required "that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established" (Matthew 18:16). He said that if He was the only one to bear witness to Himself, that testimony would not be considered reliable (John 5:31). Therefore, John was careful to include in his Gospel biography of Jesus the witness of many others than Jesus alone. Let us examine the multiple witnesses which declare Jesus is all He claimed to be: the Son of the Living God.

Disciples bear witness that Jesus is the Christ of God. Hear Andrew say, "We have found the Messiah, which is, being interpreted, the Christ" (John 1:41). On spending one day with Jesus, Andrew recognized and acknowledged Him as God’s Messiah King. Philip testifies, "We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph" (John 1:45). Philip recognized the Old Testament prophecies as being fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus. Nathaniel had a conversation with Jesus and responded, "Rabbi, thou are the Son of God; thou are the King of Israel" (John 1:49). All of those testimonies came upon men receiving a personal call from Jesus to believe in Him and follow Him. But what was their opinion after they had come to know Him more personally? After having been with Him for many months, hearing His teaching and seeing His miracles, the disciples testified, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16). Personal acquaintance with Jesus confirms the conviction that He is God.

John the Baptist bears witness that Jesus is the Christ of God. John introduced Jesus, saying, "This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. . .Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:15,29). He testified afterward of how he came to recognize Jesus as the Christ of God, saying, "I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God" (John 1:33,34). That miraculous manifestation was given when John baptized Jesus (Matthew 3:13-17; Luke 3:21,22). Jesus said, "Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the trust. . .He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light. But I have a greater witness than that of John" (John 5:33-36). John’s great witness was that Jesus is the Bridegroom and he but a friend of the Bridegroom. But the witness does not end with John.

Consider Jesus’ statement in John 5:36, "I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me." What about Jesus’ works? I remember the words of Nicodemus when he came to Jesus at night: "Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest except God be with him" (John 3:2). That was the general opinion of the multitudes who witnessed Jesus’ miracles. "The whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen" (Luke 19:37). Some refused to accept the testimony of His deeds. Jesus said of them, "If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: for now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father" (John 15:24). That means the works of Jesus bore such witness to Him that one who refused the testimony of His deeds is without excuse and condemned by his unbelief.

Many people believed in Jesus when they witnessed His raising of Lazarus from the dead (John 11:45). Jesus changed the water into wine, healed a nobleman’s son, gave a great catch to fishermen, cast out demon spirits, cleansed the leper, restored withered limbs, stilled the tempest, healed many different kinds of sicknesses, made the deaf and mute both hear and speak, gave sight to the blind, brought death to a tree by speaking against it, and His greatest miracle was His own resurrection from the dead. Who could do those things but God? His works testify of Him. He is the Son of the living God!

Jesus’ words testify that He is the Son of God. Even His enemies who heard Him had to agree, "Never man spake like this man" (John 7:46). People of His own home town asked, "From whence hath this man these things? And what wisdom is that which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands?" (Mark 6:2). "All bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth" (Luke 4:22). "They were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power" (Luke 4:32).

Jesus explained the power of His words: "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63). "I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. . .Whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak" (John 12:49,50). The power of Jesus’ words is that same as the power of God’s words. No wonder Jesus said, "He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day" (John 12:48). Only God could make a statement like that. The words of Jesus prove Him to be God in human flesh.

The sinless life of Jesus witnesses that He is deity. Paul wrote that He was manifested as the Son of God by His "spirit of holiness" (Romans 1:4). The Bible says, "There is no man that sinneth not" (I Kings 8:46). Yet it says of Jesus, "He did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth" (I peter 2:22). Though tempted in all points as we are, He was without sin (Hebrews 4:15). That could be true of no one but God Himself. It is true of Jesus because He is very God of very God.

The testimony of God the Father witnesses that Jesus is the Son of God. On two different occasions, the Father bore witness from heaven in an audible voice saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17; 17:5). Jesus referred repeatedly to God as His own Father and spoke in intimate and affectionate terms to the Father in prayer. The works and words of Jesus were the works and words of God the Father. "I and my Father are one" (John 10:30), Jesus said.

What further need for testimony is there? The deity of Jesus is proved by the witness of His disciples, John the Baptist, His words, His works, His sinless life, and the voice of God the Father. "These things are written that ye might believe. . .and that believing ye might have life through his name. (John 20:31).

There is one period in the ministry of Jesus Christ which leaves undeniable proof that He was and is all He claimed to be: the incarnate Son of the living God. That is the period we call the "passion week," the days in which He died, was buried and rose again from death.

The foreknowledge of Jesus proves that He is deity. He knew what was going to happen well before it occurred. About a year before He was crucified, Jesus began to teach the disciples that He would go into Jerusalem, be betrayed, crucified and the third day rise again (Matthew 16:21). They did not understand Him. On the night He observed the Lord’s Supper with His disciples, He told them of the betrayal one of them planned (John 16:21) and identified Judas Iscariot as the betrayer. Knowing what awaited Him in the 24 hours, Jesus warned Simon Peter of a testing ahead for him and sought to strengthen him with a promise to pray for him (Luke 22:31-34).

After the supper, Jesus took His disciples to Gethsemane, where He asked them to pray with Him. After that period of prayer, Judas Iscariot came with a band of men to take Jesus captive. John 18:4 reads, "Jesus, therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth" to meet the enemies. Notice that Jesus’ actions was based on His "knowing all things that should come upon him." How did He know? He knew because He was God, and God knows all things past, present and future. That foreknowledge is a great testimony that Jesus is God.

The power of His personal presence proves that Jesus is deity. Jesus met the mob led by Judas and asked, "Whom seek ye?" They replied, "Jesus of Nazareth." Jesus said, "I am he." Then a miraculous thing happened, "As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward and fell to the ground (John 18:6). What happened? The power of His majestic presence overawed them. They could not stand before Him. That demonstrated that if He chose to resist them they were powerless to take Him. He was surrendering to them of His own will. As He later said to Pilate, "Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above" (John 19:11). Jesus was not the victim of a tragic miscarriage of justice. It was as He said "I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again" (John 10:17,18). Who but God could make such a statement? No one. The power resident in Jesus proves He is the Son of God.

The fulfillment of prophecy in the person of Jesus proves He is deity. The Gospel According to Matthew turns once and again to the Old Testament, showing that Jesus is the fulfillment of all that was written there. No wonder Philip said of Jesus, "We have found him of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth" (John 1:45). The gospel According to John does not make many references to fulfilled prophecy in the ministry of Jesus until you come to His crucifixion.

John 9:31,32 reports that Jesus was crucified, not stoned, a direct fulfillment of Psalm 22. John 18:38 and 19:4,6 reports Pilate’s words, "I find no fault in him," a fulfillment of Isaiah 53:9. John 19:18 records Jesus’ being crucified between two thieves, a fulfillment of Isaiah 53:12. John 19:24 tells how soldiers gambled over Jesus’ garments, a fulfillment of Psalm 22:18. John 19:29 says they gave Jesus vinegar to drink while He was on the cross, a fulfillment of Psalm 60:3. John 19:33-37 reports that they did not break Jesus’ legs while He hanged on the cross, but pierced His side with a spear, that fulfilling the prophecies of Exodus 12:4; Numbers 9:12, Psalm 34:20. Piercing His side with a spear (John 19:34) also fulfilled Zechariah 12:10 and Psalm 22:16. John 19:38-42 tells of Jesus’ body being taken from the cross and laid in the tomb of a rich man named Joseph of Arimathea, a fulfillment of Isaiah 53:9. How could so many prophecies be fulfilled by accident? They would not. God was actively showing that Jesus is His only begotten Son in whom all prophecies found their fulfillment.

Jesus’ shout of triumph on the cross proves His deity. Seven times Jesus spoke while He hung on the cross. John mentions Jesus’ saying, "I thirst," of His giving the care of His mother to John and then the final triumphant cry.

"It is finished" (John 19:30). What a cry of triumph! All the suffering was ended. The earthly ministry of the Son of God had reached its climax. Atonement for sinners had been made. Having cried out in victory, He bowed His head and surrendered His spirit to the Father. Salvation for sinners is free; the full price has been paid. Praise the Lord!.

Jesus’ resurrection from death was the crowning proof that He is God. John was very careful to give details about the resurrection of our Lord. He reported that the linen cloths, which were wrapped around the body of Jesus, were still there—a denial of the report that His disciples had stolen away his body. They were there like an empty shell, for Jesus had risen. There were many witnesses to the resurrection. Mary Magdalene, Peter and James and all of the apostles (Judas Iscariot was dead, and Thomas was absent) saw the Lord on the day He arose. They saw Him, heard Him speak and touched Him to prove that He was truly alive. He appeared to them a week later, when Thomas was with the apostles, showing them His hands and side where the nails were driven and the spear was thrust. It was truly Jesus, alive from the dead. Some days later He appeared to seven disciples who were fishing on the Sea of Galilee. As Paul wrote in Romans 1:4, Jesus is "declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead."

What further proof do we need? John is careful to give all the evidence necessary to prove Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ of God "that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father" (John 5:23). If we needed other proof, it would be available. But that is enough. Believe the testimony and trust the Son.
"Many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: but these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name" (John 20:30,31).

Look at Jesus as He is presented in the four Gospels. Matthew presents Him as the King of the Jews. Mark presents Him as the Servant of Jehovah. Luke presents Him as the Son of Man. John presents Him as the Son of God. Look at the magnificence of His person and the wonder of His ministry. "And be not faithless, but believing" (John 20:27).

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