The Apostle John, so it appears, never intended to render his own portrait of Jesus. Matthew, Mark, and Luke [i.e. the "synoptic" gospels] had sketched their renderings as much as a half-century earlier. Using a deft pallet of words rather than colors, John filled his canvas with the bold, even "mystical," strokes of an Impressionist painter. His work bears little in common--in either content or style--with the synoptic gospels.

The Gospel of John begins, not with the birth of Jesus, but with his preexistence: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being" (1:1-3). John's thematic approach to the gospel is evident in the number of times he repeats a handful of key words throughout twenty-one chapters: Father (with reference to God, 115x), believe (98x; incidentally, never in the noun form--always as a verb!), life (76x), love (57x), truth/true (48x), witness/testify/testimony (46x), glory/glorify (42x), birth/born (20x), and light (16x).

The Gospel of John can be divided in two sections: Jesus' Public Ministry (ch. 1-12) and Jesus' Passion and Resurrection (ch. 13-21). Like John's other graphic masterwork, The Revelation, his gospel is built on a structure of "sevens." The entire gospel features seven bold "I AM" declarations of Jesus. Each one includes Jesus' assertion of his divine nature ("I AM..."; see Exodus 3:6) followed by a metaphor of his life and ministry (e.g. "...the light of the world"). In addition, the first section of John's gospel, Jesus Public Ministry, consists of seven sermons and seven signs, each sign carefully selected to illustrate, or to confirm the veracity of, the accompanying sermon.

A particular treasure of John's gospel is found within the second section, in chapters 13-17: five chapters; nearly a fourth of the book! It's an abridged transcription of a conversation Jesus shared with the apostles on Passover, on the night before his crucifixion; a conversation that stretched from the upper room of a disciple's home in Jerusalem, through the quiet, moonlit streets of Jerusalem, to the Garden of Gethsemane; a conversation found exclusively in the Gospel of John.

The conversation began when Jesus washed the disciples' feet, a silent rebuke to the twelve as they clamored for the "chief seats" in the upper room; it ended with a lengthy intercessory prayer offered by Jesus on behalf of the apostles and "for those also who believe in Me through their word" (17:20). In between, Jesus prepared the apostles for the cross and for life and ministry beyond. A primary theme of Jesus' discourse was the role of the Holy Spirit, "another Helper" (14:16), who would step into Jesus' role as the apostles' guide and companion, completing the revelation of the Word (16:13).

What, might you imagine, is the meaning of John's description of Jesus as "the Word"?

The Gospel of John and The Revelation have more in common than you might imagine. One example alluded to earlier is the framework of "sevens" with which both books are constructed. A second example is the animal John uses in both books as a metaphor for Jesus. What is it? See John 1:29; Revelation 5:6-8. Can you think of any other commonalities shared by the two books? 

The Gospel of John is framed by seven "I AM..." statements:

"I AM the bread of life" (6:35; see also 41, 48, 51).

"I AM the light of the world" (8:12).

"I AM the door of the sheep" (10:7, 9).

"I AM the good shepherd" (10:11, 14).

"I AM the resurrection and the life" (11:25).

"I AM the way, the truth, and the life" (14:6).

"I AM the vine" (15:1, 5).

What's to learn of Jesus from these seven declarations?