Father, I come before You in humble need. I realize You enable me to express what You want my small corner of the world to hear. Use my mind and heart as You see fit. Amen.
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Well for someone with obsessive-compulsive tendencies, where I find myself at this point in journaling is a little out of whack. When I first started writing, almost 6 years ago, I picked up right about where I was in reading through the New Testament at the time, and that was the Book of Ephesians. Since then, I have written in conjunction with those passages from that point to the end of the New Testament (I began Revelation but soon skipped back to the Gospels).
As of yesterday, we have tracked through the first three Gospels – i.e., Mathew, Mark, and Luke, and that alone has taken a little over three years! But today we begin the Gospel of the Apostle John.
First of all, a quick explanation of the word Gospel. The word gospel is derived from the Anglo-Saxon term god-spell – god meaning “good” and spell meaning “news, a story”, hence “good news”. And that good news is the proclamation of Jesus and all He said and did while living here amongst us.
Mathew, Mark, and Luke are referred to as the synoptic Gospels. The word “synoptic” comes from the Greek word meaning “able to be seen together.”
This is from an online news article: The synoptics cover many of the same miracles, parables and events of Jesus’ life and ministry. There is a lot of overlap, repetition and even some parallel passages that are nearly identical. Generally speaking, the synoptics tell us what Jesus said and did; John tells us who Jesus is. The synoptics focus on the signs and sayings of Christ; John emphasizes the identity of Christ. (emphasis mine)
They all are the inspired Word of God, dispensed to the writers of each, which accounts for each of their perspectives. While the synoptics are similar the Gospel of John is unique, again telling us who Jesus is and emphasizing His identity.
There is definitely something special about John and what He had to say about Jesus, and I have been looking forward to diving into what the Lord has for us over the up-and-coming weeks!
Let me close with an excerpt from my study Bible’s introduction to John.
The mighty Creator became a part of the creation, limited by time and space and susceptible to aging, sickness, and death. But love propelled him, and so he came to rescue and save those who were lost and to give them the gift of eternity. He is the Word, he is Jesus, the Messiah.
John’s Gospel is not a life of Christ, it is a powerful argument for the incarnation, a conclusive demonstration that Jesus was, and is the very heaven-sent Son of God and the only source of eternal life.
Pray that this journey we are about to undertake will change and challenge us as only God can do!
*Life Application Study Bible New Living Translation
Jan 28th, 2021, Thurs, 1:15 pm
