Have you ever wondered why there are four gospel accounts in the New Testament?

Jesus carefully chose His 12 disciples to be witnesses of His resurrection. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were witnesses of Jesus’ life, message, death and resurrection. As witnesses, they are offering official testimony and evidence to the jury, which is you and me. As the jury, we must read their testimony and believe it to be true. If a witness bears false testimony, he could be charged with perjury and be sent to jail.

We, as the jury, must realize that the testimony of all four witnesses may not and should not agree, word for word. If all four witnesses’ testimony were identical, word for word, we the jury would conclude that the truth was being tampered with and that someone was lying.

We also must realize that the testimony of these four witnesses were given fifteen to sixty years after the ascension of Jesus. Each testimony will vary a little in detail as to the exact sequence of events. They didn’t have tape recorders at that time to record the exact words of Jesus. They had to rely upon the inspiration of the holy spirit and their memories for their testimonies.

Another point that we must realize is that each of the four witnesses is giving his testimony from his point of view. Matthew wrote from the point of view that "Jesus is King", Mark’s emphasis was that "Jesus was a servant", Luke’s point of view was on "Jesus as man" and John’s emphasis was that "Jesus is God".

In this article, we will focus on John’s emphasis in that "Jesus is God!"

The first three gospels are called synoptic, which means that they tend to convey a synopsis or general view of Jesus’ life and ministry. The fourth gospel is different and very unique. If you have ever read the book of John then you probably have realized that this book is very special, spiritual and has great meaning. The Apostle John approaches Jesus in a very distinctive manner. John is revealing the spiritual aspects of Jesus. In the very first verse of the book John tells us that "Jesus is God!"

Let’s begin in John 1:1: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. {2} He was in the beginning with God. {3} All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. {4} In Him was life, and the life was the light of men" (John 1:1-4 ).

The first striking thing about verse one is the similarity to Genesis 1:1: "In the beginning."

The English word for "Word" comes from the Greek word "Logos" which means spokesman, speaker, talking, exhortation and message.

We then see that Jesus is the Spokesman for God. This ties in with verse 18 which says: "No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him."

Jesus, the Spokesman, has declared God. He has revealed the Father to mankind.

Let’s notice John 1:3 again: "All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made." This indicates that Jesus is the creator of all things.

The Apostle John reveals in verse 14 that the Word, Jesus, had become flesh, born of a woman, and had come to live with mankind: "And the Word became 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" (John 1:14 ).

Nathanael knew that Jesus was the Son of God: "Nathanael answered and said to Him, "Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!"" (John 1:49 ).

Peter knew that Jesus was the Son of God: "But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. {69} "Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God"" (John 6:68-69 ).

Nicodemus and the rulers knew that Jesus was a teacher from God: "There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. {2} This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him"" (John 3:1-2 ).

"No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. {14} "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, {15} "that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. {16} "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:13-16 ).

Jesus said that no one has gone to heaven except for Himself who had come down from heaven. Jesus preexisted with God the Father and their origin is in heaven. (John 1:1-3)

The word "Messiah" occurs four times in the Bible and two of those occurrences are in the Gospel of John: "One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him (Jesus), was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. {41} He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated, the Christ)" (John 1:40-41 ).

The Apostle John wants to make sure that we understand that Jesus is the Messiah, because he spells it out very clearly to us.

The last occurrence of the word "Messiah" is found in John chapter 4. Jesus is talking to the woman at the well who happens to be of Samaria. As this woman listened to Jesus, she began thinking of the coming Messiah and that He would teach us all things. "The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ). "When He comes, He will tell us all things"" (John 4:25 ).

This expression "Messiah ... who is called Christ" is an expression that these two words mean the same thing. "Messiah" is the Hebrew word for "God’s Anointed One" and "Christ" is the equivalent word in Greek .

John tells us that Jesus is the Christ, which means the Messiah. John’s purpose in writing his Gospel was to prove the Messiahship and deity of Jesus Christ: "but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name" (John 20:31 ).

Jesus was the creator of all things. He was the God of the Old Testament and one of His names was "I AM" which is recorded in Exodus 3:14 () "And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And He said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'""

The Apostle John also relates this name to Jesus in John 8:56-58 (): ""Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad." {57} Then the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?" {58} Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.""

Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead: "Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!" {44} And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Loose him, and let him go"" (John 11:43-44 ).

Only God can do a miracle and raise someone from the dead. Jesus did many miracles and one of the most fascinating verses in all the scriptures is: John 21:25 () "And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written."

The apostle John gives a detailed record of Jesus’ public ministry based around God’s holy days, the annual "high day" Sabbath Festivals. For years people have known that the only way to prove the length of Jesus’ ministry is to go to the Gospel of John and count the number of Passovers. You can not do this in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark or Luke. It is amazing to realize that God inspired the Apostle John to record his testimony of Jesus’ public ministry around God’s Feast Days. These feast days are important to God for He calls them His feasts: "And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: 'The feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts"" (Lev 23:2 ).

Jesus’ public ministry lasted for 3-1/2 years. Jesus was crucified on the Passover. If we back up 3-1/2 years that brings us to the Feast of Tabernacles time that Jesus began his public ministry. (There are six months between Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles.)

It is interesting that the word dwelt in John 1:14 means "tabernacled" or "pitched His tent". This could be a reference to the Feast of Tabernacles. We could translate this verse as: "Jesus became flesh and tabernacled among us". (Request our free article: "The Gospel of John and God’s Holy Days" for more information on this topic.)

In Conclusion:

The Apostle John begins his Gospel with the declaration that "the Word was with God, and the Word was God". John is saying that Jesus is the "Word" and "Jesus Is God!"

Many people knew that Jesus was the "Son of God".

The Apostle John revealed that Jesus Christ was the "Messiah" and the "I AM" of the Old Testament.

Keep the point that "Jesus is God!" in mind as you read through the book of John.