LIAR? LUNATIC? LEGEND?

Was Jesus...a liar?...a lunatic?...a legend?...or the LORD?

What about 'Son of God'?

or even the great 'I AM'?

Let’s open John’s Gospel towards the end (21:31) to find:

"These are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.”

What signs is John talking about? 

Miracles!...in fact 7 of course.  Watch as each miracle is more public than the last one, with a bonus miracle after the resurrection, just for his disciples.

How do we know John recorded these?                                                                         

He hides his identity until the very end: “The disciple whom Jesus loved” – the only disciple he doesn’t identify by name!                                                                                         

Which one is John the fisherman?

This guy who saw it all up close, wants us to ignore who is writing and just believe in the Son of God, so that we can have real life. His abiding memory is feeling loved by Jesus, who was announced by another John - the Baptist.

Did you know?...John the writer will use the word ‘pisteuo’ (believe) 98 times!...and will remind us 43 times that salvation is by ‘believing in Jesus’!

Half of John’s account will be devoted to the last week of Jesus’ life on Earth. We know so much about what was done and said during this week, in fact more than any other week in ancient history, so that detailed re-enactments can be filmed today!

As John opens the curtain for us, notice how many times he uses that special number - ‘7’.

He might be an old fisherman but he can still count!