Daily Scripture Reading John 1:1-28
Thanks for visiting Bible Mountain. This is the first installment of a Bible Mountain Reading of the Gospel of John.
In recent decades a so-called salvation message has often been preached in which the so-called preacher spent very little time, if any, talking about belief. Instead, salvation is often presented as simply asking Jesus into your heart or having a relationship with Jesus.
Today, we are going to start reading through the Gospel of John. As we read the first chapter, we will see that belief is a necessary component of salvation.
Before we start reading John, I want to comment on why John wrote the gospel of John. His reason is found at the end of his book.
John 20:30 ¶ Therefore many other signs Jesus also did in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;
John 20:31 but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.
This tells us John recorded miracles of Jesus so that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ.
Notice the word “life”. Belief results in life. In this case life refers to eternal life in heaven as opposed to eternity in hell.
Something else to keep in mind as we read John is that this gospel was written towards the end of the 1st century AD. It was written after most of the rest of the New Testament was written. This means John wrote to people who had most of the New Testament and knew many of the concepts that make up New Testament theology.
John 1:1 ¶ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Anytime we see the word “beginning”, we need to ask, “Beginning of what?” In this case, the word “beginning” refers to the beginning of the world, or the beginning of time.
Notice the word “Word”. The “Word” refers to Jesus.
The last phrase states that the Word was God, which means Jesus was God.
John 1:2 He was in the beginning with God.
John 1:3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.
The pronoun “Him” refers to Jesus. All things came into being through Jesus.
John 1:4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.
We see the word “life” again. As before, life refers to eternal life. Eternal life is found in Jesus.
We also see the word “light”.
John 1:5 And the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.
John used light as a metaphor. Just as physical light makes it possible for our physical bodies to see what is in the physical world around us, so too Jesus is a light that makes it possible for us to know the truth about the non-physical world.
John 1:6 ¶ There was a man having been sent from God, whose name was John.
John 1:7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the Light, so that all might believe through him.
The word “Light” refers to Jesus.
John 1:8 He was not the Light, but he came to bear witness about the Light.
John 1:9 ¶ There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens everyone.
John 1:10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.
The pronoun “He” refers to Jesus.
Think about the truth we see in this verse about the world not knowing their Creator. Imagine if you start a company, but then the employees of the company don’t know you started it or refuse to acknowledge that you started the company. That would be insulting. That is what happened to God. He created the world, and now the world refuses to acknowledge Him as the Creator.
John 1:11 He came to what was His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.
The pronoun “He” refers to Jesus. The word “own” refers to the Jewish people.
John 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,
Note the word “believe”. This word occurs over ninety times in the Gospel of John. Belief is necessary for salvation.
In recent decades a so-called salvation message has often been preached in which the so-called preacher spent very little time, if any, talking about belief. That is a fatal omission. Belief is required for salvation. If a so-called preacher talks about having a relationship with Jesus or asking Jesus into your heart, but does not talk about believing in Jesus and the resurrection, then his message is a false message.
John 1:13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 1:14 ¶ And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
This is John’s summary of the birth of Jesus. The word “Word” refers to Jesus. Jesus became flesh and dwelt among men. That allowed John and his fellow disciples to actually see the glory of Jesus.
Many people today doubt God exists. Some insist God does not exist. They also deny there is a Creator who created the world and everything in it.
John wrote that God became flesh and dwelt among men. John was an eyewitness of God living among men. There are men who lived in the past and were eyewitnesses of the existence of God.
John 1:15 John bore witness about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has been ahead of me, for He existed before me.’”
John 1:16 For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.
John 1:17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
John 1:18 No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.
John 1:19 ¶ And this is the witness of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”
John 1:20 And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”
The Jewish people were looking forward to the coming of the Christ, but John the Baptist denied that he was the Christ.
John 1:21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”
Based on Malachi 4:5 the Jews were expecting Elijah to return, and because of Deuteronomy 18:15 they were expecting a prophet. John the Baptist also denied being either of them.
John 1:22 Therefore, they said to him, “Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”
John 1:23 He said, “I am A VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, ‘MAKE STRAIGHT THE WAY OF THE LORD,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”
John identified himself as the voice written about in Isaiah 40:3.
John 1:24 ¶ Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.
John 1:25 And they asked him, and said to him, “Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”
John 1:26 John answered them, saying, “I baptize with water, but among you stands One whom you do not know.
John 1:27 This One is He who comes after me, of whom I am not worthy to untie the strap of His sandal.”
John 1:28 These things took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
The phrase “beyond the Jordan” was from the perspective of Jerusalem, because Jerusalem was the center of Judea. Bethany was on the other side of the Jordan River from Jerusalem. That means it was east of the Jordan River. That is where John did his baptizing, but we don’t know the location of the Bethany that was east of the Jordan.
I mentioned earlier that many times in recent decades a so-called salvation message has been preached without telling people about the necessity of believing in Jesus. The word “believe” occurs over 90 times in the Gospel of John. We saw it twice in the verses we read today. Belief is an essential component of salvation.
Here are some questions for you to think about.
When you share the gospel, what do you say about belief? Are you sufficiently communicating the necessity of believing in Jesus in order to be saved?
When your church presents a salvation message, what does your Pastor say about belief? Does he adequately spell out the role of belief in gaining eternal life?
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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”