Bookends in John - Glory of God and Belief in God

The Gospel of John is perhaps the simplest book of the New Testament in terms of grammar and writing style. It does not contain many flashy turns of phrase, subordinating clauses, or strings of synonyms like in Luke or Paul. It can be read and understood on a grammatical level by the youngest of readers - no wonder it is often the first book read by novice Greek students!

Yet, on a theological level, John is the deepest in the whole Bible. It is often called the "Spiritual Gospel" in contrast with the synoptics (which are not spiritual?!). Some of Paul's letters like Romans can be studied and digested paragraph by paragraph as a logical argument pieced together, but it is often said of John that the individual parts cannot be understood unless the whole Gospel is understood. Today I want to look at two key verses in John's Gospel, one at the beginning and another at the end, and hopefully help us dive more clearly into this great Gospel.

 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. - John 1:14

This is not an unfamiliar verse to many. In the 13 verses that precede it, we see the cosmic beginnings of the universe: all things were created through this grand Word that was with God and strangely, was actually God. Now in our verse we are told that this Word is the person of Jesus Christ who, though being God, became man and became the manifestation of God's glory. Matthew calls him Immanuel, God with us. John calls him the dwelling place of glory, which can only remind the Israelites of the Temple, the place where God's Holiness was most highly displayed. For example, in Exodus 40:35, we are told that the cloud, which was God's physical guiding presence for Israel, dwelled over the tent, and God's glory filled the tabernacle. The very word for tabernacle means "dwelling place," and the same Hebrew root is borrowed by John for the incarnation of the Word. So many have suggested we could better translate Christ as having "become flesh and tabernacled among us," to remind us of the way he resided among us just like the various places in the Old Testament where God resided with Israel: the ark of the covenant, the tabernacle, and the temple (it is also convenient to not confuse this word with the more common word in John, "abide" or "remain," a theme beyond the scope of this post!). The Son of God came down from heaven, became fully man, full of grace, full of truth, and showed his glory to the world.

 But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. - John 20:31

This verse, near the end of the Gospel, is also very well-known. Our response to John's Gospel is simple and brief: believe. Believe in Jesus as who he says he is, the anointed Messiah fulfilling the Old Testament prophecies (including the Temple, as well as providing the New Covenant, the grand Prophet of Moses, the full embodiment of Wisdom, our High Priest, our King, our Redeemer, our Savior and Lord), the divine Son of God who was sending the Holy Spirit after him. Believe in this Christ, put your trust in him, put your full dependence upon him. For no one else grants life, nothing else can grant life except Jesus Christ. Without Christ we are dead (Eph 2:1), we are in darkness, blind, we are unclean and wicked before God, ignorant of the Truth, unable to know the Word.

John 1:14 serves well as the topic statement for the rest of the Gospel. All of the signs display the glory of God in the miraculous and yet human workings of Jesus. The discourses spread throughout the book proclaim the grace of God in full truth, that Christ calls all to himself. John 20:31 serves as the corresponding purpose statement. Through 20 chapters, John is nearly done with his presentation of Jesus' interaction with the disciples, and the call which heretofore has been indirectly given in the story is now directly given to us, the audience: believe in this glorious Christ. Will we answer as Nathanael, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" and receive life from Jesus? Or will we rest in our own knowledge and assumptions as the Pharisees, and remain in our guilt (John 9:41)?