Jesus Christ, the Word and Son of God, came preaching the truth and doing mighty deeds, and many heard him but hearing was not enough nor was seeing believing.
The Prologue of John and the entire Gospel of John demonstrate that John “consciously utilized Isaiah as a source of language and ideology in his own effort to interpret the meaning of Jesus Christ in the Gospel which he produced.” (F.W. Young, “A Study of the Relation of Isaiah to the Fourth Gospel,” ZNW 46 (1955), 222). The Prologue of John echoes the beginning verses of Isaiah, in which YHWH complains that his people whom he loved and cared for did not know him (Isaiah 1.2-3) This thought is not only present in the Prologue of John but is emphasized by the repetition of verbs that have to do with knowing, recognition, seeing, believing, and receiving, e.g. “comprehend” (v 5), “know” (v 10), “receive” (vv 11, 12, 16), “believe” (v 12), “behold” (v 14), “see” (v 18), and “make known” (v 18). These verbs all indicate that between God and people the relationship that was desired was personal, and meaningful, but was in most cases decidedly lacking. The Prologue and the entire Gospel of John also set forth Godʻs plan for solving the problem of this unsatisfactory relationship between God and people, following the book of Isaiah.
The Word or Will of God was spoken at creation and at the incarnation, when the Word became flesh and appeared among people (1.3, 14). When Jesus the incarnate Word spoke, “many in the crowd believed in him” (John 7.31; 8.30). The disciples who were present at the wedding in Cana saw the sign Jesus performed, and they saw Jesus’ glory and believed in him (2.11). Yet when the renowned and influential Nicodemus, a ruler and teacher of Israel, came to Jesus saying, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him,” Jesus told him without hesitation that he, Nicodemus, was unable to see the kingdom of God, since he had not been born of the Spirit (John 3.1-3). In contrast, a nameless, abject woman of Samaria, member of a religious group despised by Jews, never expecting to meet the Messiah, was found by Jesus in a lonely setting, and was lifted out of her spiritual poverty by Jesus’ offer of the riches of his grace (forgiveness of her sins and invitation to worship the only God in Spirit and in truth) and the gift of eternal life (John 4.1-26). A significant and noteworthy declaration in 4.23 is that God is seeking people to worship him. The message of the Prologue presents the picture of a God who takes the initiative to make himself known to those who do not know him, for he desires people who will worship him in spirit and in truth (John 4.23). These are people who have been “taught by God,” who have “heard from the Father and learned from him” (John 6.45), people who followed Jesus because they believed he was the one sent by God to give them eternal life and not focusing on things that satisfy their earthly desires (John 6.26-28).
There are three main characters in the Prologue of John: (a) The Logos (Word, Light, Son), (b) God the Father, and (c) John, the man sent by God to be a witness to the light. God is the principal actor: He creates all things that exist, his light shines, he sends a witness, he gives light to everyone, he comes into the world and to his own people, he gives power to those who receive him and believe in him, giving them birth as his children, he dwells among his people, he gives fully of his grace and truth, and he makes himself known. To the question as to whether the Father was the creator and the Son only the agent, if we believe God is one, then we believe that everything that God does is done by Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In the Genesis account of creation, we read that God spoke (this was what the Father did, and the Word that was spoken was the Son), and the Spirit hovered over the water) (Genesis 1.2); in the Psalms, it is written that by Godʻs Word the “heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth” (Psalm 33.6). Here the Word is the Son, and the “breath of his mouth” is the Spirit. There is a doctrine known as the “doctrine of inseparable operations,” and this speaks of the working together of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, so that each person of the Trinity is at work in everything that God does. “As the Father and Son and Holy Spirit are inseparable, so do they work inseparably.” (Augustine, De Trinitate)
There are two entities that are opposites and interact with each other: the light and the darkness (1.5). There are three groups of people with whom the Word, the Father, and John have encounters: (a) the world (1.10), (b) the people of Israel, whom God considered his people (1.7-8, 11), and (c) those who received and believed in the Word (1.12-13, 14, 16, 18).
The words “light” and “darkness” are two contrasting words which are significant both in the Prologue and in the Gospel of John throughout. “Light” occurs in vv. 4, 5, 7, 8 (2x), 9. “Darkness” is found in v. 5 (2x). These words occur frequently all through the Bible, beginning in the first chapter of Genesis. The kingdom or realm of God is the kingdom of light (John 3.3, 5, 19, 21; 1 John 1.5). The kingdom of Satan is the kingdom of darkness. The Lord sent Paul to preach to the Gentiles “to open their eyes, so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God” (Acts 26.18). Light is a symbol of truth, righteousness, and life. Darkness symbolizes sin, evil, and death. (See John 3.19-20; 1 John 1.5-8; John 8.12; Ephesians 5.8-11). Those who follow Jesus will no longer walk in darkness, because they “will have the light of life” (John 8.12 NIV). By believing in Christ the Light, people become children of light (John 12.36) They will receive power to do the same works Jesus did (John 14.12). “The light makes everything visible This is why it is said, ʻAwake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.’” (Ephesians 5.14).
What is the effect that the light and the darkness have on each other, according to the Prologue? The Greek word in John 1.5 is katalambano, which may be translated either as “understand, grasp, comprehend” (Mounce, NASB, NKJV) or “overcome” (ESV, HCSB, NIV). The first time the light shone in the darkness was in the beginning, when God said, “Let there be light” and “there was light” (Genesis 1.2). In Genesis 3, the darkness of sin and death came when Adam and Eve failed to understand and grasp God’s word but listened to the serpent, rebelling against God, allowing Satan to overcome them. However God had a plan of salvation, and the darkness would be unable to overcome the light, for salvation would come when the offspring of the woman (Christ) will crush the head of the offspring of the serpent on the cross, but only Christ’s heel will be bruised (Genesis 3.15), for he will overcome (nikao) the darkness when he is raised from the dead (John 16.33). Among the people who listened to Jesus were some unbelievers who were trying to kill him; Jesus identified them as offspring of the devil (John 8.37). Jesus knew that Satan had no power over him and that he would rise from the dead (John 14.19, 30). Darkness has no power to overcome the light. Instead Christ the Son of God, the Light, came to “destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3.8b NKJV). The light is shining in Christ and his followers, and the darkness is passing away (1 John 2.8).
The Word entered the world which he created, and in 3.16 we are told he loved the world, but the world did not recognize or know (ginosko) him (1.10), just as the people in Isaiah’s time did not know (yada) or understand (bin) their God (Isaiah 1.2). (The Hebrew yada implies more than intellectual knowledge but speaks of a personal relationship; bin means “to see to the heart of a matter or discern” (Alec Motyer, The Prophecy of Isaiah, 1993, 43). The Israelites in Jesus’ time, whose forefathers God had chosen and delivered out of bondage in Egypt, did not receive (paralambano) the Lord (1.11), but there were some who did receive (lambano) him and believed (pisteuo) in his name (1.12).
Even John, the man God had sent to be a witness to the light, did not know (oida) who Jesus was initially (1.31). Pharisees were sent from Jerusalem asking John “Who are you?” (1.21) John told them the truth: “I am not the Messiah.” It seemed obvious that John, who attracted crowds and was baptizing them, was someone special. The leaders of the Temple wanted to know whether John was the Messiah, or Elijah, or the Prophet like Moses (1.24). But although John told them someone much greater than he was already there in their midst, and that he was the Lamb of God and the Son of God (1.29, 34), their ears were not listening and their eyes were blind, so that when the Word appeared among them and they heard him and saw his signs, instead of recognizing him as Messiah, the one sent by God to take away their sin (1.29) and baptize them with the Holy Spirit (1.33), they did not accept him. They questioned Jesus’ authority (2.18) and they misunderstood his statements (John 2.19-21; 3.4; 6.41-42 passim). The question “Who are you” occurs repeatedly in John and is used to bracket the book, occuring at both the beginning of the Gospel (1.19, 21, 22) and in the last chapter (21.12). This question also occurs in the intervening chapters, expressed in the same words, as in 8.25, or in different words, as in 10.24: “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” They picked up stones to stone him, saying he had committed blasphemy, “because you, a mere man, claim to be God.” (10.33) However, many people believed in him and said, “Though John never performed a sign, all that John said about this man was true.” (10;41)
The religious leaders were skeptical about Jesus being from God. They said things like: “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath” (9.16). “We know this man is a sinner” (9.24). “He is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?” (10.20)
After Jesus was risen from the dead, he appeared to his disciples by the Sea of Galilee (21.1). When the disciples saw him standing on the shore, since it was still dark, they “did not realize that it was Jesus.” (21.4) Finally John said “It is the Lord!” “None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord.” (21.12b,c) Johnʻs repeated use of the question “Who are you?” and other indications that the identity of Jesus as the Son of God and God himself was of utmost importance. John defines eternal lfe as knowing “the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom [he had] sent” (17.3). In 6.69, Peter said, “We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”
In the Gospel of John, we learn that God knows the heart of every person, and no one can come to Jesus unless the Father draws that individual (John 2.25; 6.44). Jesus tells his disciples that they have not chosen him, but he has chosen them and appointed them to do the work he has prepared for them , just as he has come to do the work the Father prepared for him to do (John 15.16; 17.4). When he saw Simon for the first time, he saw his potential and gave him the name Peter, which means “rock” (1.42) He already knew the role that Peter was to have as his follower. Along with the first group of disciples, Simon saw the all the signs through which Jesus manifested his glory, beginning with the miracle in
Cana, and with the other disciples, he believed in Jesus when he saw his glory revealed in the signs (2.11). Jesus said many things which the disciples recalled later, when after Jesus rose from the dead, and the Spirit reminded them of all that he had said and taught them everything, and then they would believe the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken” (2.22; 14.26). Having heard the words that Jesus spoke and having witnessed numerous miracles that he performed, by the end of chapter 6, Peter, speaking on behalf of the other disciples, was able to declare that they had come to believe that Jesus was “the Holy One of God” (6.69).
When people asked Jesus what they must do in order to accomplish the work that God required, Jesus answered, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent” (John 6.28-29). By this, Jesus meant that it was required that they believe that he was who he said he was, i.e. that he was “from above” (8.23), meaning that God was his Father, which implied that he was “equal with God” (5.18). He told them plainly that unless they believed he was “not of this world,” but “from above,” they would die in their sins (8.24).
The Greek verb pisteuo meaning “believe” occurs almost 100x in the Gospel of John, but the noun “pistis” is not found in John. This verb “expresses a vital component in Johnʻs understanding of salvation.” (R.T.France, Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, 1992, 225) It not only states what God requires of his people but it also shows that it is by believing in Jesus as the Son of God that his followers have eternal life. In Jesus’ farewell prayer, it clearly declares what eternal life is. “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (17.3). Here we see the answer to the problem presented in the Prologue, the tragedy that people in the wide world and even the people of Israel, God’s own people, did not know God. Now the question is: What is meant by knowing God?
First, knowing God begins with being taught by God, and this occurred when John the Baptizer taught his disciples concerning the light (1.7; 6.45). Two of John’s disciples, Andrew, son of Jonah, and John, son of Zebedee, followed Jesus and spent a day with him (1.39). Soon, Simon, Philip, and Nathanael began to follow Jesus also (1.42-49). These disciples traveled with Jesus first to Cana in Galilee, and to Capernaum, and then to Jerusalem. and then to the Judean countryside (2.1, 12, 13; 3.22). Wherever Jesus went, his disciples followed him, and he spent time with them (3.22). A crisis came while Jesus was teaching about his being the bread from heaven and about his flesh to be given for the life of this world, a teaching that many disciples could not accept, leading them to turn away from him (6.50, 66). By this time, there were twelve disciples. When Jesus asked them if they wanted to leave also, Simon Peter answered: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” And he confessed the belief that the group of disciples had reached, that Jesus was the Holy One of God.” All of them had arrived at this belief and knowledge, except for one, whom Jesus called “a devil,” Judas Iscariot, who would later betray him. Up until this time, the Twelve had spent time with Jesus, traveling with him wherever he went, hearing his teaching and observing the miracles that he performed, and when others no longer continued to follow him and believe that he was the Son of God, these eleven continued to believe he was who he said he was. By following Jesus, his disciples would never walk in the darkness of sin but would have the light, which is life (1.4, 9; 8.12). Following Jesus and acknowledging him as the Son of God, they had come to know who he really was and to have a relationship with him that was one of love and loyalty. Jesus described his relationship with them as that of a shepherd with his sheep: He knew them by name, and they knew his voice (10.2). He went before them, and they followed him, but they would not follow a stranger, whose voice they did not know. A thief brings death and destruction, but their shepherd gives them life that is full (10.10). The relationship the shepherd had with his sheep was a relationship of sacrificial love (10.11, 15). Eternal life is not merely about escaping punishment and death.
It is a relationship in which God knows his people, and they know him, and there is a deep love between them. Jesus prayed that the world would know that the Father has loved his disciples even as he has loved his Son (17.23). Loving Jesus leads them to keep his commandments (14.15, 21, 23; 15.10). A relationship of mutual knowledge and mutual love is what eternal life is about (17.3). It comes about when they have seen his glory and have received him and the fulness of his grace and truth, grace being his abundant love and truth being the words he has given them (1.14, 16-17). It is a relationship of mutual indwelling, in which the Spirit lives in them (14.17), and the Son is in the Father, the Father is in the Son, and they are in the Son and in the Father, and the Father and the Son are in them (14.20; 17.21, 26) , and they will be “brought to complete unity.” This is a description of eternal life. This is what is meant by knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom he has sent (17.3). As the Son is “in the bosom of the Father”, enjoying the closest possible relationship with his loving Father, even so those whom Jesus loves also have the privilege and pleasure of being in the same loving intimacy with their Father, in whose presence is fullness of joy (Psalm 16.11).
Hearing is not enough, for one must recognize the voice of the Shepherd and follow him and receive the love, the life, and the security that he alone gives (1.4, 12; 10.3, 4, 10). Seeing is not believing unless one has been born from above, born of God and given the Spirit of God, because earthly eyes cannot see God or the glory of God or the kingdom of God (1.18; 3.3, 5, 7).
The first question that Jesus asked in the Gospel of John was: “What are you seeking?” Andrew and John, who were following Jesus, were desirous of finding his dwellingplace so that they could spend time with him and get to know him. The word of the Lord says to us: “If you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deuteronomy 4.29) The Psalmist prayed, “When you said, ‛Seek my face,’ my heart said to you, ‛Your face, Lord, I will seek’” (Psalm 27.8 NKJV)
The last question that Jesus asked in Johnʻs Gospel was: “Do you love me?” The word of the Lord is: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6.5). Jesus said, “Feed my lambs....Tend my sheep....Feed my sheep....Follow me” (John 21.15, 16, 17, 19) “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15.13).