JOHN'S UNIQUE GOSPEL

Has it ever occurred to you that we know very little about Christ's life on earth?  For instance, between the ages of one and twelve, there is nothing recorded, nor is there from the one mention at age twelve, to the age thirty!  Basically, of the twenty-nine years prior to the Lord beginning His ministry, we know only of the twelve year old Jesus discussing Scripture with the theologians at the Temple (Lk. 2:40-52)!  Amazing, don't you think? 

In other words, the Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, are mostly focused upon the three plus years in which Jesus prepared His disciples for their future task of telling the world about God's obedient Son.  John's Gospel is focused upon God's love, as seen by the sacrifice of His only begotten Son for the sins of mankind!  John's Gospel is unique, in that it focuses upon the true identity of Jesus Christ:  He is the Word, God manifest in the flesh (Jn. 1:1-3, 14; etc.).  This fact was also the testimony of the Apostle Paul, who wrote:  "For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell" (Col. 1:19), and "For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily" (Col. 2:9)!  And again in his letter to Timothy:  "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory" (1 Tim. 3:16)!

To illustrate the difference between the two perspectives, the Synoptic Gospels record at least 150 events of which John makes no mention.  Amazingly, these include:
         *   His genealogies.
         *   His temptation in the wilderness.
         *   Christ calming the storm.
         *   The choosing of the twelve.
         *   The Sermon on the Mount.
         *   Every parable except one (Jn. 10:1-6).
         *   The death of John the Baptist.
         *   The Transfiguration.
         *   The Lord's Supper.
         *   Christ's Ascension.

John tells us all we need to know to understand we are sinners; that we need a Savior; that Jesus died, was buried, and rose from the dead to be that Savior; and that all one needs to do to be saved is to BELIEVE (a word that appears fifty-two times in forty-six verses in John's Gospel)!  John had this to say about "his omissions":

"And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book:  but 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" (Jn. 20:30-31).

"This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true.  And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen" (Jn. 21:24-25).