The author of the Gospel of John is not declared in the writings. It is only through verses in other books that some determine John (one of the sons of Zebedee) authored it. The author was called the "disciple whom Jesus loved" narrowing the writing to just that, a disciple. The writer had to be one of the 12 because the disciple Jesus loved was at the last supper and was seated next to Jesus. Authorship was then narrowed by some to three of the disciples, then to John. There is a great deal written about the process of determining his authorship but I don't want to make this blog an exploration in that determination.
John was most likely written between 85 AD and 95 AD in Ephesus.
John starts by giving clarity on the existence of "The Word" or Jesus, God's Son. He uses "The Word" in his writing which refers to Jesus for Jesus is The Word. He proclaims Jesus always was. Jesus existed in the very beginning and did not appear at some later time. Jesus was always with God and Jesus was God. Jesus was the creator of all things and nothing exists that was not created by Him. Jesus gave life to all things He created. Jesus' life brought light to everyone. Light is the emblem of God whereas darkness might be the emblem of death, sin, and separation from God. With that in mind, Jesus brought the light to everyone. That light shines in the midst of darkness. Jesus brought that light into a sin-filled world that experienced separation from God. Darkness can never overpower light nor extinguish it.
If we consider light and darkness in normal terms, we can always see light pouring out through a window of a home that has it's lights on. We can easily see that light eliminates darkness wherever it shines. The effect light has on darkness is to make darkness light. Now try to reverse that thinking. We never see darkness pouring in through the window of a home where the lights are on. Darkness has no effect on light.
This holds true regarding Jesus. Everywhere He goes, He brings a light that eliminates the darkness. There is no darkness anywhere that can eliminate His light.
John continues telling us about Jesus by saying that the Word, Jesus, came into the very world He created but the world didn't recognize Him. In Scripture it is evident people expected a worldly ruler, a king, not a simple man born in a manger. Even more, when He spoke of who He was, He was rejected by men and many did not believe in Him. But Jesus did come and offers the right to become children of God to those who believed in Him. Those who believed in Him would be reborn. Not reborn in a physical birth but in a birth that comes from God.
So the Word, Jesus, became a human and lived among us. Jesus was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. John stated that "we have seen His glory, the glory of the Father's one and only Son." What John was saying when he said they had seen His glory was that they were eyewitnesses to Jesus' glory expressed as His unique honor and splendor, miracles, death, and resurrection. This was Jesus' glory who was the Father's one and only Son.
In verse 15, we see John the Baptist declaring that Jesus was the one he was talking about when he said, "Someone is coming after me who is greater than I am, for He existed long before me." From Jesus' abundance, all who believe in Him have received blessing after blessing. The blessing here is referring to His abundance of grace. Believers receive His grace over and over.
In the Old Testament, God gave the Law to the people through Moses which was a blessing at that time. The people of Israel were the only nation to whom God gave such a thing. That was great but through God's unfailing love and faithfulness came Jesus Christ who brought salvation. No one has ever seen God, even Moses only saw the back of God. No one has seen God but they have seen Jesus. By seeing Jesus, who is close to the Father's heart and who is in reality God, we have seen God. In Jesus we see who God is and what He desires. We see what He wants for us and what He makes available to us. In Jesus we see the very nature of God. In fact, in chapter 14, Jesus explains this even more. One thing Jesus tells the people in chapter 14 is if they have seen Jesus, they have seen the Father.
John the Baptist is introduced in verse 6. He defines himself by quoting the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 40:3 NAS. A voice is calling, "Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God." A voice in those times usually referred to a prophet, in this case John the Baptist. He was a desert prophet who prepared the way for Christ. The prophets of that day were calling to the nation of Israel to make their way back to God for they had turned away and were in, what could be called, spiritual wilderness. John the Baptist was calling people back to a relationship with God as well and making a path for Jesus who had come. The gospel of Mark also claims that John the Baptist fulfilled the oracle of Malachi found in Malachi 3:1 that states; Behold, I have sent my messenger to prepare the way before me. With these things in mind, we see John the Baptist as the one chosen to prepare the way of Jesus coming and to declare him to the people.
John the Baptist was the son of Zechariah who was a priest who regularly served at the temple in Jerusalem. John's mother was Elizabeth who was one of Aaron's daughters. Having become quite elderly, Zechariah and Elizabeth still had no children. One day the angel, Gabriel, visited Zechariah in the temple and told him Elizabeth was to have a child. He also told him the child's name was to be John and he would make ready the way for the Lord. Six months later, Gabriel visited the virgin Mary and told her she would bear a son, Jesus. John was born to prepare the way for Jesus who would follow close behind.
John spent his life declaring that the Lord had come and doing what he could to make the way for the Lord.
At one point, priests came from the temple to question who he was and by what authority he baptized with water. John the Baptist clearly declared he was there to make the way for the Messiah, again referring to Isaiah 40:3. He also declared he was not the Messiah, Jesus. He was not Elijah, nor the prophet they expected. This prophet they expected was indeed Jesus but in their wrong thinking they thought the prophet that was to come and the Messiah were two different people. John addressed their questions about his baptizing people. John replied that he baptized with water but he proclaimed there was one in the crowd right at that moment that would baptize with the Holy Spirit. John went on to say that even though the ministry of the one who would baptize with the Holy Spirit (Jesus) came after his, he was not worthy to be His slave or even untie His sandals.
John wrote of a time when John the Baptist saw Jesus walking toward him, and he said, "Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" John the Baptist said he didn't recognize Him as the Messiah at first but that when God told him to baptize with water, God also told him the one who he would see the Spirit descend on would be the one who would baptize with the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist testified, "I saw the Holy Spirit descending on Him like a dove from heaven and resting upon Him," and "I saw this happen to Jesus, so I testify that He is the Chosen One of God."
The next day John was standing with two of his disciples when Jesus passed by. John looked at Jesus and again declared, "Look! There is the Lamb of God!" When the two disciples of John the Baptist heard that, they followed Jesus. Jesus noticed them following Him and asked them what they wanted. They addressed Him as "Rabbi" (Teacher) and asked Him where He was staying. Jesus invited them to come with Him and see for themselves. The two disciples did and stayed with Jesus the rest of the day.
This is the last we hear of any involvement by John the Baptist in the Gospel of John.
Some time later, we learn of John the Baptist having many conversations with Herod Antipas. Some of these conversations regarded Herod's sin of marrying his half brother's wife Herodias. Herodias hated John for this and tried to get rid of him. One night, at a banquet Herod threw for his birthday, the daughter of Herodias danced for the guests and pleased Herod so much that he offered to give her anything she wished. She went to her mother and asked for advice. Herodias told her to ask for the head of John the Baptist on a platter. Sadly, Herod complied and John was beheaded.
One of the two disciples who were with John the Baptist was Andrew, who was Simon Peter's brother. Andrew ran off to find his brother Simon to tell him they had found the Messiah. Andrew then brought Simon to meet Jesus. When they met, Jesus looked intently at Simon and said, "Your name is Simon, son of John - but now you will be called Cephas." (Aramaic for the word "rock" and translated into Greek is Peter.)
The following day, Jesus went to Galilee and found Phillip and asked him to follow Him. Phillip was also from Bethsaida as were Peter and Andrew. Once Phillip joined Jesus, Andrew, and Peter, he went off to find Nathanael and told him they had found the One Moses had spoke of. He said that His name was Jesus the son of Joseph from Nazareth. All would eventually think of Jesus not as the son of Joseph but the Son of God.
Nathanael, like most others, expected the Messiah to come out of Jerusalem and be a world leader. He responded to Phillip by asking if anything good could come from a lowly place such as Nazareth. His comment reflects his thinking, how could the long awaited Messiah, told of by Moses himself, come from such a place? To him, it must not have made any sense. Wisely, Phillip did not argue but took him to meet Jesus.
When Jesus saw Nathanael coming, He said, "Now here is a genuine son of Israel - a man of complete integrity." Nathaniel asked Jesus how He knew about him to which Jesus replied, "I could see you under the fig tree before Phillip found you." Nathanael immediately responded, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God - the King of Israel." We cannot help but notice in this one brief chapter, the amount of times Jesus is declared to be the Messiah. Jesus had to be the Messiah because only the Messiah would have such supernatural knowledge.
Jesus basically replied that if Nathanael believed Jesus was the Messiah because of Jesus' supernatural knowledge, then Jesus would provide even greater reasons for him to believe. The people at that time referred back to such teachings as the writings of Moses. Nathanael would surely have been aware of Genesis 28:12 where Jacob's dream is recorded. In the NLT we read, "As he slept, he dreamed of a stairway that reached from the earth up to heaven. And he saw the angels of God going up and down the stairway."
Jesus then spoke saying, "I tell you the truth, you will all see heaven open and the angels of God going up and down on the Son of Man, the one who is the stairway between heaven and earth." With that statement, Jesus declared Himself as the Son of Man who replaces the ladder of Jacob's dream with Himself. Jesus is divine communication between heaven and earth. Jesus is God's link and connection to the earth.