“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because [he has] not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. . . . Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that [his] deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light” (John 3:18–21, NIV; compare with John 1:10).
Some of the saddest accounts in all of Scripture occur in the Gospel of John. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. . . . [The Light] was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him” (John 1:5, 10, 11, NKJV). The “I AM” was rejected by many of His own people.
No wonder Paul later warns, “Do not cast away your confidence” (Heb. 10:35, NKJV). As we have seen again and again, Christ was rejected because people did not accept His Word.
Read John 6:61–68. When Jesus asked the disciples if they would leave Him, what was the meaning of Peter’s answer?
Peter’s words about “eternal life” tap into a theme that runs throughout the Gospel of John. A concentration of phraseology about eternal life appears in John 6, in the context of the feeding of the 5,000 (John 6:27, 40, 47, 54, 68). Jesus says that He is the Bread of Life (John 6:35), meaning that His life, His death, and His resurrection are the source of eternal salvation.
In John 1:1, the apostle clearly states that Jesus is God, the divine Son. Consequently, in John 1:4—“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men” (NKJV)—the reference to life here has to be divine life, underived eternal self-existence. Because He has life within Himself, He can lay down His life and take it again (John 10:17). And, because He has life within, He can give life to whom He will (John 5:21; compare with John 14:19).
In our study of John so far, we’ve seen that John shows how Jesus, indeed, is the promised Messiah, the great hope that the Jewish people had been longing for.
And yet, many of the religious leaders, the spiritual guides of the people, were His biggest enemies instead.
Why?
Read John 8:12–30. What is the dynamic here between Jesus and these religious leaders? Which texts best explain why many rejected Him?
