Matthew's Gospel presents Christ as King of the Jews. Mark presents Him as the Servant, and was written especially to the Romans. Luke's Gospel was written to the Greeks, and presents Christ as the Son of man. John's writings present Christ as the Son of God, and John is writing for the entire world.
The first three Gospels deal primarily with events in Christ's life, but John deals with the meaning of those events. We will be noting this from time to time throughout our study in John's Gospel.
We see in today's reading that Jesus is God's Son. Chapter 1:1,3,14 tells us that Jesus is the Word of God made flesh. The Bible is the written Word of God; Jesus is the living incarnate Word of God. Verses 4-13 tell us that Jesus is the Light. In these same verses we read that there are but two classes of people in the world today--believers and unbelievers. Those who have received Christ as their own personal Saviour are believers and sons of God; those who have not received Him are unbelievers and not a part of God's family.
In Romans 3:23 we read, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." What is the "glory of God?" John 1:14 says, "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." "The glory of God" is Jesus Christ, God's Son.
Verse 29 tells us that John recognized Jesus as "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." Jesus is also our Lamb, our sacrifice, our salvation, if we will but trust in Him. He has taken away the sins of the world. It is our privilege to trust Him and receive Him as our personal Saviour. We are then assured of everlasting life.
Chapter 2 records the first miracle of Christ. The thirsty crowd in this miracle is a picture of the lost world today, enjoying the pleasures of sin that do not satisfy. Empty water pots picture the human heart, which is hard and empty. When the pots are filled with water (water, in Scripture, is a picture of the Word of God), this speaks of a servant of God filling the empty heart of an unbeliever with the Word. Turning the water into wine is a picture of a sinner's heart which has been filled with the Word; making it possible for Christ to perform the miracle of the new birth.
