John’s witness to the Priests and Levites.
They were sent to ask John, "Who are you?"

He answered them saying he was not the Christ

but came to bare witness of the Christ.

"I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness; Make straight the way of the Lord."

Then they asked why he baptized people and he answered.
"I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandals I am not worthy to loose."

Then the next day when Jesus came he said

"Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"

And he told them how as he baptized Jesus

"I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and He remained on Him."

And the He would not baptize with water but with the Holy Spirit, and that He was the son of God.

This is an example of how we should react when people come to us and ask us who we are. We are to direct them to Jesus. He must increase, I must decrease. We must point people to Jesus. John’s disciples were standing with him and he said to them,

"Behold the Lamb of God". And they followed Jesus. John knew his place. He knew that God was using him to point others to Christ. We must be this way. It doesn’t matter if we have people follow us, they need to follow Jesus.

The disciples that John was talking to were Andrew and Peter. They became the first disciples of Jesus. Then we see in the next few verses that Jesus then called Philip and Nathaniel.

Chapters 2-11

Now we will look at the seven miracles

are selected out of the many miracles that Jesus did.

Chapter 2 verses 1-10

This is the first miracle listed that Jesus performed. He was at a wedding and they ran out of wine. Mary, Jesus’ mother, told him this. She told the servants to do whatever Jesus told them to do. He told them to fill the waterpots with water and then draw out some and take it to the master of the feast. This took some trust on the part of the servants. But they did it, and when the wine was tasted, it was better then what they had drunk so far.

Jesus let these servants be part of a miracle. If they had refused to do it they would have missed out. Sometimes God asks us to do things that may seem strange and ridiculous to do, but if we obey, we will be part of a miracle and blessing to others.

Healing the Nobleman’s son

Chapter 4: 46-54

There was a Nobleman whose son was sick. He came to Jesus and asked him to "Come" and heal his son. Jesus answered him rather strangely

"Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe."

I always wondered why he said this. I believe it was to test the man’s faith. To see if he was persistent enough to believe for his son’s healing.

The man again said "Sir, come down before my child dies"

Jesus answered him" "Go your way your son lives".

The man had a choice then. To believe and leave or persist in asking Jesus to come. He took Jesus at His word and left and found that in the very hour that Jesus spoke the words "Your son lives" was when he was healed. Then he and his whole household believed on the Lord.

Sometimes God will push us to the point that we have to just trust him and go. We will then have our faith rewarded and find that it is as He said it was.

Chapter 5:1-18

This is the story of the man at the pool of Bethesda. For many years he had been crippled and sat by that pool and had never been healed. An angel would come at certain times and trouble the waters. The first one to get into the pool would be healed. This man had no one to help him and so he was not healed.

One day Jesus came to him and asked him

"Do you want to be made well?"

In reply the man went into an explanation of why he could not be healed.

That is not what Jesus asked him. He wanted to know the man’s heart and whether he wanted healing. So to shake him up and challenge his faith he said

"Rise, take up your bed and walk."

At this point the man could have continued in what he was saying, or get up. Fortunately for his sake, he stood up, and was healed. If he had chosen the other way, he probably would never been healed.

John 6:1-14

Jesus was preaching all day and as night drew near he was concerned that the people had not eaten. So he told the disciple to feed them. This was a test to see what the disciples would do. Their first response was that they did not have enough money to feed all these people, about 5,000 or more in count. But they did find a boy with five loaves and two fish. Not even imagining that it would even feed Jesus and the disciples, but they brought him to Jesus.

Once the people were seated, Jesus took the loaves and blessed them, and told the disciples to give them out to the people. Can you imagine what they thought. But as they took a step of faith and began to give them out. To their surprise, every time they reached into the basket there was more. Then Jesus did the same thing with the fish. It must have been amazing to be there and see this happen.

Then He told them to gather up the fragments and the had twelve baskets full.

Now this was a four fold blessing. One was for that young boy to be the provider of such a great feast. The second would be the leftovers he took home that night. And the third was to the disciples for being a part of such a wonderful miracle. And fourth, the people did not go home hungry.

But all of it only took place, as they trusted the Lord and did what he said.

Chapter 6:15-21

In this miracle the disciples were in a boat. It was right after the feeding of the 5000. Jesus had gone up in a mountain to pray. Then a big storm arose. So Jesus walked out on the water to meet them. When they saw him, they were afraid. But when he told them who he was, they were glad and took him into the boat. And "Immediately" the boat was at the land where they were going.

Here is another test of their faith. If they had not listened to Jesus and believed Him, they might have perished. But as a result, they no longer were in the storm, but where they were headed. What a double miracle. Some people miss this. Not only did He walk on the water, but the boat was to shore instantaneously.

Chapter 9:1-41

This blind man was brought to Jesus. Jesus made clay and put it on the man’s eyes and told him to go wash. When the man did, he was healed. Again, a step of faith. Jesus could have laid hands on him and healed him, but for some reason, which he knew, he did it this way.

God know what it takes to get us healed. He knows where each of us are in our faith walk and so he deals with us all differently.

I think it was also that Jesus did not want him to see who he was. Simply believe that God was the healer and to trust Him. When he was questioned by the Pharisees, the man did not even know who had healed him, just that he was healed and that was all that was important to him, he knew the man had to be from God. This is what he said

"Why this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from and yet He has opened my eyes. Now we know that God does not hear sinners, but if anyone is a worshipper of God and does His will, He hears him......If this man were not from God, He could do nothing."

They got angry at him and expelled him from the temple. Jesus found him and asked him if he believed in the Son of God. The man said who is he that I might believe. And Jesus told him it was Him. The man bowed down and worshipped him.

Then Jesus answered the Pharisee’s with this

"For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see, may see, and that those who see, may be made blind. If you were blind, you would have no sin, but now you say, ‘We see’ Therefore your sin remains."

Anyone that thinks they have all the answers, is blind indeed.

Chapter 11:1-44

This is the story of a friend of Jesus that died. One day someone was sent to Jesus to tell him that his friend was sick. Jesus did not leave right away to go to him. But all he would say is

"This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God my be glorified."

He said this for He knew that He would raise him from the dead But He stayed two more days before he went on to see Lazarus. When he got there he had been dead for 4 days. He told His disciples.

"Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless, let us go to him."

What a strange thing to say. But Jesus wanted people to know that God had power over the spirit of death, the same as He did over sickness.

He assured the sisters when he got there that Lazarus would rise again. Martha thought he was speaking of the "Resurrection" and Jesus answered.

"I AM the Resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?"

She answered "Yes Lord I believe that You are the Christ, the son of God, who is to come into the world."

Then they went to the tomb and Jesus told them to take away the stone. Even still, Martha protested, that he had been dead for 4 days.

Jesus said to her "Did I not say to you, that if you believe you would see the Glory of God?"

Then he prayed to the Father and said this "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me and I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me."

Then he shouted "Lazarus, come forth!"

And he came forth still bound in the grave clothes, and he told them to loose him.

What a tremendous miracle. This was a test of the faith of many people and also a proclamation by Jesus, that He was the Son of God and that God heard Him.

It also said in verse 35 that Jesus wept. I believe He was weeping for the people, because they did not understand. And also for their grief. He knew that Lazarus would be alive in a few minutes, so he was not weeping for him, but for all those that were there. Sometimes we put ourselves through unnecessary pain and suffering when all we have to do is cry out to God. These people knew Jesus. They had heard him preach and seen the miracles, and yet, did not believe. This was a sign and a wonder of God’s resurrection power and compassion for His people.

Jesus did many more miracles that were recorded, but John chose these ones to share in his book.