What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and our hands handled, concerning the Word of Life.” -- 1 John 1:1
Opening Thought
What's In a Name
Our study series is titled “In His Image” for a reason. It’s not titled “Christlikeness” or “Beholding Him” or such. The title needs to constantly remind us of where we’re headed. We want to know Him then show Him then make Him known. This study is aimed at getting to know Christ, to understand Who He is and how He expressed His character here in our world, just a little bit better. That understanding is a growing process, never complete, but by spending some time focusing on it, perhaps we can increase our consistency at the task. Before we can “be” Christlike, we need to understand what Christ was like. So let’s focus on Him, “behold” and “handle” Him as John and the other disciples did.
Study Notes
A Day in His Life
1. Why are there four Gospels?
- Matthew: Jesus as King of the Jews, His regal right to David's throne; writing to the Jewish reader; see Zechariah 9:9, "behold your King"
- Mark: Jesus as a man of action, the Suffering Servant; writing to the Roman world; see Zechariah 3:9, "behold my Servant"
- Luke: Jesus as the Son of Man, our Redeemer; writing to the entire Gentile world; see Zechariah 6:12, "behold the man"
- John: Jesus as the Son of God, His holiness and compassion; writes to the timeless assembly of believers (see the expansion of the audience over the 4 Gospels?); see Isaiah 35:4, "behold your God"
2. Who IS this man Jesus?
- Recall the account of Jesus in the boat with the disciples in the middle of that storm? They awake Him in great fear for their lives. He stands, rebukes their lack of faith, then speaks the storm into silence. One of the disciples exclaims, "What manner of man is this?" Who IS this guy?? We've left everything to follow Him - wow! Are we in for a ride!
- Look into each of these passages and write down what you learn about Jesus from each --
- John 1:1
- John 4:10
- John 6:35
- John 8:12
- John 10:14
- John 11:25
- John 14:6
- John 15:1
- Hebrews 4:14
- 1 John 1:1
3. The First Days -- the First Followers
- John provides us with important clues about the first days in Jesus life of public ministry, beginning with His baptism
- Day One -- John 1:29-34 -- John the Baptist, "behold the Lamb of God", a singularly important statement of the unique work of Christ as Redeemer, a meek lamb (Isaiah 53), here to do a complete and final work of propitiation ("take away" in a permanent sense, for the whole world, not just Jews)
- Day Two -- John 1:35-42 -- two of John the Baptist's disciples, Andrew and likely John the Gospel writer, leave to go with Jesus; remember that John in his Gospel never refers to himself by name; Andrew, perhaps in somewhat uncharacteristic fashion, rushes off to find his brother Simon and drags him back to meet the Savior!
- Day Three -- John 1:43-51 -- Jesus takes His new proteges and treks up towards the north end of the Sea of Galilee; in the area around Bethsaida, they run into Philip (Jesus surely expected that to happen; after Jesus draws Philip into their circle, Philip demonstrates his evangelistic zeal (more to be seen later, such as Acts 8) by bring Nathanael back to meet the Savior, who then joins the band of followers
- Day Four -- John 2:1-11 -- Together, the men walk over to Cana to join with family and friends for a wedding. Again, Jesus knew He needed to be there. Session 4, we will study this special occasion.
- The First followers -- Andrew, John, Peter, Philip, Nathanael
For further study:
- Spend some time this week in the Gospels, trying to think of what the three most notable occasions were when Jesus interacted with people. Bring your conclusions to class next week.
- Have you found any characteristics of Jesus yet that you need to be focusing on in your life? Meditate in God’s Word about them.
