Have you ever wondered how you can truly believe in something you’ve never seen with your own eyes? In this episode of Seek Go Create, Tim Winders guides us through the Gospel of John—the last gospel written by the last living eyewitness of Jesus. Discover why John’s account stands out from the rest, how early believers wrestled with doubt and false teachings, and what it means to anchor your faith in the truth revealed decades after the resurrection. Join us as we dive deep into the context, drama, and inspiration behind one of the most powerful books in the New Testament.

“John writes not just to remember but to reveal.” - Tim Winders

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Episode Resources:

1. NT90 Hub – This is the central website for the 90-day New Testament reading plan, with downloadable, printable plans, background information, and links to all episodes and resources.

Episode Highlights:

00:00 Eyewitnesses Fading: Why John’s Gospel Matters Now

00:20 Series Setup + Today’s Focus: The Last Gospel, the Last Witness

01:14 Author, Date, Audience: John Writes for Second-Generation Believers

02:51 AD 65 Pressure Cooker: Persecution, False Teachers, and the Incarnation

04:20 Why John Writes Differently: Filling the Gaps the Synoptics Left

06:30 The Missing Olivet Discourse—and How Revelation Will Complete It

07:19 What to Watch For in John: Belief, the Word Made Flesh, and “My Hour”

08:43 Seven Signs & Seven “I Am” Claims: Glory That Demands a Verdict

09:22 Signature Encounters + Farewell Discourse: Jesus Up Close

10:27 John’s Purpose Statement (John 20:31) + The Peter Rivalry Detail

12:19 Reading Plan: Seven Sessions in John, Then 1–3 John

12:48 Cinematic Scene-Set: John in Ephesus Puts Pen to Scroll

14:08 Final Charge: Will You Believe What You Haven’t Seen?

The eyewitnesses are dying.

False teachers are rewriting the story and one man remains who can say I was there.

John writes, not just to remember, but to reveal.

This is Seek Go Create.

You're listening to read the New Testament in 90 days, 27 books in order in context.

We're walking through the New Testament, the way it was written,

so you can hear it the way the first.

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Okay.

Today, stop.

This is a big one.

It is John, the last gospel written by the last eyewitness alive, or

at least the the last eyewitness.

That we have documented in our New Testament.

So this one is big.

I've got a lot of info here.

I'm gonna try to move quickly.

This has always been one of my favorites.

So let's try to, dive in and get the book of John in context, the author.

Is John and I love it.

He's got the title, the Beloved Disciple, or the one that Jesus

Loved and all, which, that goes a long way in us understanding who

John was and who he believed he was.

We have the date written as a D 65.

So, that's, that's the timestamp that we've got on this.

Some put it at a later date.

There are many things though, that we can back up and see from scholarly

research that shows it written in the mid sixties of the first century.

The audience was more broad, but in general, we believe it's the second

generation believers, many who never met Jesus, and churches who are facing.

False teachers who denied he came in the flesh.

So in many ways, the Gospel of John May be more suited to believers like ourselves.

We obviously didn't witness the resurrection.

We weren't.

At Pentecost, we didn't actually meet Peter and Paul and others

who were early witnesses.

John is a great one, for people like us.

Kinda like people that are starting to get somewhat removed from the

actual event of the resurrection.

We're 35 years now past the resurrection.

Of the inner Circle, Peter, James and John, only.

John remains.

Let's look at some historical context of what was going on at the time.

Nero still the leader of Rome, but the persecution is ramping up.

Continuing.

Peter was martyred the previous year.

Paul is in prison awaiting trial in Jerusalem.

The temple is still intact.

We are five years before the destruction of the temple.

The church, false teachers are claiming that Jesus wasn't truly

human, that the divine Christ descended on the man Jesus at baptism,

and then left before the cross.

Some odd things are Being taught.

John writes to refute this.

The word became flesh and dwelt, and that's a powerful message of

John, the tension that's going on.

The other gospels told what Jesus did.

John wants to show who Jesus is.

Not was but who?

Jesus.

Is present tense and that he came in a real body died in a real

body and rose in a real body.

The resurrection power is on full display in the Book of John.

I think it's interesting that John is writing last and

it seems to be on purpose.

John writes, after the other synoptic gospels have circulated, some of

them have been circulated for.

Almost 20 years now after Paul's letters have shaped the churches.

Paul has been writing now for, let's see, 49, 65, you know, 16 years.

So we would have to assume that John has read them.

He doesn't repeat what they said, he reveals what they didn't.

There's no birth narrative, no temptation, no parables, no olave discourse.

He assumes his readers already have that.

Instead, he fills the gaps.

The Early Judean ministry, the Samaritan woman at the well, one of my favorites,

Lazarus, the Farewell Discourse.

Why now?

Why would John be writing this now?

A generation has grown up that never.

Touched him.

Never saw Jesus.

John is the last eye witness who can say I was there.

He writes not just to preserve memory, but to answer the

question his readers are asking.

Can we trust what we haven't seen?

This is a very prolific season for John and we're about to see this

over the next few books as we are.

Beginning to wrap up our, read the New Testament in 90 days,

and we're going in order.

John, it's gonna be heavy with John towards the end here.

He enters an intense writing period of his life.

Over the next few years, he'll write his gospel three letters.

And then the Book of Revelation, the revealing of the Christ.

All of that is anchoring the church in truth as the old order crumbles,

as the old covenant disintegrates and disappears in just a few years in 80 70.

The missing discourse.

John is the only gospel that omits the Olave discourse, what

we see at length in Matthew 24, he heard Jesus say he was there.

This generation will not pass away.

Now, 35 years later, he's watching that.

Prophecy unfold.

That generation is coming to an end, and I'm sure he remembers it.

It was written about in the other gospels, but his version won't be

in what we call the Book of John.

It will actually come as a summary.

In a few books, and that will be the book of Revelation.

That is John's Olivette discourse.

So we will see that shortly.

As we get to that, here's what we're going to encounter in John.

It is reflective and theological.

Signs that reveal glory and one question that runs through every page, will

you believe the word believe appears nearly 100 times in this gospel?

It is the heartbeat of the book.

John is wanting to make sure that those that get this gospel believe.

Even though they didn't see many of the others, saw those that are now

reading this gospel and all the way to us in our modern times, we didn't see.

So we are believing based on the things that John is sharing here in his gospel.

Here's what we're gonna hear about in the beginning was the word

John starts before Genesis, before creation, before time itself.

The word.

Became flesh, the scandal of incarnation against those who

denied Jesus came in a real body.

He addresses that my hour, we will hear this.

My hour has not yet come.

Attention that builds until the cross, when finally the hour has come.

Those are Jesus words.

Seven signs.

A lot of signs in John water to wine.

The official son healed the paralytic feeding the 5,000 walking on water.

The man born blind, Lazarus raised each reveals glory, each demands a verdict.

There are also seven I am statements, bread of life, light of the world,

the door, the Good Shepherd, resurrection in life, the way, the

truth and the life, the true vine.

These aren't just titles.

There are claims that got Jesus accused of blasphemy.

There are some signature encounters that are only in the Book of John Nicodemus.

a leader in the church comes by night, a religious insider who can't see.

Kingdom and wants more information.

He's drawn to Jesus.

And then one of my favorites, the woman at the well meets Jesus at noon.

She's an outsider who becomes a witness, a powerful witness.

John shows Jesus crossing every boundary.

And then there's the farewell discourse, five chapters that

the other gospels don't have.

Washing feet promising the spirit, the vine, and the branches.

Praying for unity.

This is the most intimate window into Jesus' heart in

scripture, and it's only in John.

and then there's the new commandment.

By this, all people will know you are my disciples if you

have love for one another.

And then there's kind of the purpose statement, John 20, verse 31.

These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ,

the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.

And then there's something that I, I just sort of chuckle at this.

I don't know, maybe we're not supposed to laugh and have fun

with things that are biblical, but there's this friendly rivalry.

Between John and Peter and John and Peter ran side by side.

We know that through much of the gospel story we see that.

But John makes sure that, you know, in his gospel in chapter 20 verse four,

that he outran Peter to the tomb.

He waited, and this is interesting.

Peter died about a year before this was written, we believe, and

John shared this detail for all of us in eternity to read that.

After Peter had died, he was able to share that he outran Peter to the tomb,

to the empty tomb, and he waited till Peter was gone to publish that detail.

We get that fact in the book of John, old fishermen and dudes, competitive men,

whatever, never forget a race and are probably never too virtuous to share.

a competitiveness about us that, that was interesting.

And, just in, in general in John, he doesn't just tell, he reveals.

And that is powerful.

You're gonna be reading John.

Have fun with, have fun with that John.

And.

Peter aspect.

I think it's kind of interesting.

we're gonna read John over the next seven sessions.

So there's a lot of John that we're gonna be reading here.

What comes next after we read his gospel.

Then we're gonna be looking in order the next three letters that John puts out.

First, John, keeping the church.

In the light with assurance and love, remember to be following along

at K two M Foundation slash NT 90.

Lot of great info there.

Background Now, before you read John, let's set the scene.

It is AD 65.

The evening air off.

The Aje carry salt through the window of John's room.

In Ephesus, the lamp flickers, his hand rests on the writing surface.

Reed Pen poised 35 years have passed since he leaned against Jesus' chest

at the last supper of the inner circle.

Peter, James, and John, only He remains.

Only John remains.

Peter was crucified last year.

James was beheaded decades ago.

John alone can still say I was there.

I saw the empty tomb.

I touched the wounds.

He's read the other gospels.

They told what Jesus did.

But false teachers are twisting the story, claiming Jesus wasn't truly human, that

the Christ spirit left before the cross.

John knows better.

He saw the blood and water flow.

He watched the risen Lord breathe on his disciples, receive the Holy Spirit.

So John writes some meditation, Not just on what Jesus did, but on who he is.

And one question echoes through every chapter, will you

believe what you haven't seen?

When the scroll reaches the churches of Asia minor believers

who never saw Jesus will finally understand who he is Now, let's read.