John’s Gospel account reveals Jesus as:
•The Eternal Word - the Eternal Son communicating God’s desire to bless humanity with divine revelation.
•With God - the Eternal Word revealing God’s eternally triune nature as Gospel community.
•Was God - the Eternal Word who not only reveals Jesus as being with God, but as God, an essentially eternal part of eternally relational Holy Trinity.
•Immanuel - Unlike earthly rulers (who are all corrupted by power we lie and manipulate to seize), Jesus, the King of Eternity, condescends from His heavenly throne to dwell with us and reveal God’s boundless love for humanity.
•The Lamb - He comes as The Lamb of God (the ultimate divine and perfect sacrifice) who takes away the sin of the world. He is simultaneously our Passover Lamb and the Lamb of Atonement.
•Transformer - In changing water to wine, Jesus reveals both our need and His power to transform us into something completely new. He didn’t come and die to give us rules and regulations (works based salvation) to clean up our acts.
•Confronter - In cleansing the temple, Jesus reveals God’s total disregard for and disgust with religion, which perverts truth and actually prevents people from encountering Him.
•Challenger - In His conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus challenges and corrects misguided human traditions. Everlasting life is God’s gift to us in Christ. Therefore, we must be born again by grace through faith in Him. It doesn’t stem from social status, memorization, genealogies, rituals, or synthetic means of any kind. It comes exclusively from Him being “lifted up” (alluding to the Cross) as the bronze snake was in Moses’ day.
•Personal - Scripture reveals Jesus “had to go through Samaria.” He “had to go” in order to meet a Samaritan woman who was a complete social outcast. Jesus had no reservations about meeting with her despite all the social, cultural, and historical taboos. He revealed Himself as the personally invested Christ to her. He still does the same for you and me.
Whatever your “love language,” King Jesus speaks it perfectly as The Divine Communicator, Immanuel, The Lamb of God, and The Eternal Word.
•Words of Affirmation - “God so loved humanity He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever has faith in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life.”
•Acts of Service - Creation, Scripture, His incarnation, His baptism, The Cross, and His return. “And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross.”
•Receiving Gifts - “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
•Quality Time - “Pray without ceasing.” His door is always open.
•Presence / Touch - “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate (the Holy Spirit) to be with you forever—“
Being born again by grace through faith is a supernatural transaction between us and eternal and almighty God. When it truly happens, there’s no denying it. It’s not a magical prayer or a shallow profession.
When we truly encounter Christ, He radically transforms us into something completely new - just like water being turned into wine.
Then, we inevitably become springs of living waters (our radical testimony of who Jesus is) bursting forth from our new hearts and overflowing from our lips with unfettered thanksgiving and praise.
King Jesus, The Radical Sovereign, radically transforms us and produces a radical testimony in and through us. It’s true of every saint and martyr throughout history.
Dive into John’s Gospel account ready and willing to hear from King Jesus, The Eternal Word, and you’ll find it’ll be true of you too!
Blessings,
-PK
https://www.unstoppablekidsbook.com/
