The Gospel of John was written as a first person account, in other words, it was written in the present tense. This made it very difficult to translate especially when dialogue is such a strong point.
It also makes it difficult to know exactly when the book of John was written, before or after the destruction of the Temple.

Some Torah scholars believe that the beginning of Yeh’shuas ministry was a Sabbatical year (Acceptable year of YHWH) and during that time the disciples were resting form their day to day work. It was not out of the ordinary for Rabbis to call their students to follow them for some time so that they can teach them. John (Yohanan), Kepha (Peter) and Ya’aqov (James) were the central apostles or leaders of the first believers. Sha’ul (Paul) only appears on the scene later.

To understand what John wrote you need to understand the Feasts of YHWH. Not how the Jews keep it, but what was written for us by Mosheh (Moses). It shows us how four of the seven feasts are fulfilled. It was fulfilled to the tiniest detail and if you do not know Torah, you miss amazing witnesses.

Read John 1.

Verse 1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Elohim, and the Word was Elohim”
‘In the beginning’ is the start of Gen 1:1 – It refers back to creation.
The Word refers to Yehshua as being the living Word, but also it refers to Rev 1:8, 1:11, 21:6 and 22:13. I believe Yeh’shua spoke to John in Hebrew, not Greek. He reveals Himself as the ‘Alef Tav’ rather than the Alfa and Omega. These are the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
Gen 1:1 consists of seven Hebrew words of which only six are translated into the other languages. The fourth word in Gen 1:1 is ‘Alef Tav’. Four is the number of Messiah. This witnesses that the Messiah was present in the beginning.
(Please refer back to Class 5 for more detail on the teaching of Gen 1:1. If you do not have this class, please contact me and I will send it to you.)

Verse 5: “And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
This verse also refers back to the Creation. On day one the light was separated from the darkness – even thought the sun was only created on the fourth day. The good is separated from what is profane through Messiah Yeh’shua.

Verse 12: “…to those believing in His Name”…the Name of the Messiah plays such an important role. From the beginning in Genesis to the book of Revelation, there is on central message – Believe that ‘God’ can save you. His Name means YHWH IS MY SALVATION!

Verse 14: “…and pitched His tent among us,…”
This refers to the Feasts of Sukkoth or Feast of Tabernacles/Tents. This Feast has not yet been fulfilled in full! It will only be fulfilled when the Messiah comes to dwell among us forever. This also gives us an indication to when His birth might have been – during the feast of Sukkoth.

Verse 16: “…,and favour upon favour,”
Notice that favour is repeated – Scholars refer to this as the double portion. In the Hebrew culture, it was custom that the First born receives double from his father than the rest of the siblings. This shows His grace (unmerited favour) to us.

Verse 17: “for the Torah was given through Mosheh – the favour and the Truth came through Yeh’shua Messiah.”
Mosheh and Messiah is not put in contrast here, rather it is showed that they are working together. Mosheh showed the problem and Yeh’shua was the solution. There was sin, now there is Sacrifice. That is why Yehshua is the GOAL/end of the Torah. He is fulfilling it in Truth. Truth can only be established on account of two or three witnesses.

Verse 18: “No one has ever seen…, He did declare.”
The pre-existent Son declared, and was the One who appeared to men in the Torah.

Verse 19:
John the ‘Baptist’: John was the cousin of Yeh’shua, born about 6 months prior to the birth of Messiah. Johns’ father was a Priest, which made them Levites.
Why did John immerse/baptize people?
First, one needs to know that this was not the beginning of baptism. In Hebrew, it is called “Mikvah”, which means literally to wash or cleanse. When the Covenant/Commandments were given to the children of Yisrael they were ordered by YHWH through Mosheh to first take a Mikvah. After all of Yisrael were cleansed, YHWH spoke to them from the Mountain. After that, the same principle counted at the Tent of Meeting and at the Temple. Water was stationed at the entrance and you needed to wash/Mikvah before entering and hearing the voice of YHWH.

This time they were not going up to the Mountain to hear the voice of YHWH but he is sending a Messenger, His Son to bring us His Word. That was why John was preparing the way, cleansing the people by having them take a ‘Mikvah.’ Later He says that the Messiah will Mikvah with the Ruach ha’kodesh (Spirit). If we receive the Spirit, we can hear the voice of YHWH.
The word Mikvah in Hebrew, if you look at the letters also means to ‘Brand’. If you choose to believe and you Mikvah yourself, you are branded as a child of Elohim.

Verse 25:
The Pharisees wants to know if John is the Messiah, then Eliyahu (Elijah) (Mal 4:5), then the Prophet (Deut 18). In Deut 18:15 it says ‘a Prophet like Me’ – it is YHWH speaking, thus it should be a capital M. This prophet will be like Elohim. In verse 18, He says: “a Prophet like you”. This prophet will be like Moses to, a man. The Prophet is the Messiah.
Acts 3:22-26 and Acts 7:37

Verse 29: “The Lamb of Elohim”
Did you know why He is called the Lamb of Elohim? Yeh’shua is the Lamb promised by YHWH to Abraham when he went up the mountain to sacrifice Isaac.
Gen 22:8; “And Abraham said, My son, Elohim will provide himself a lamb offering: so they went both of them together.”
Yeh’shua was sacrificed on the same place where Abraham bound Isaac for an offering. Gen 22:14; “…on the Mountain YHWH provides”.

Verse 32: “like a dove…”
It is interesting that a dove is used as an analogy for the Spirit. In the Torah, there are different kinds of sacrifices for different kinds of sin. The biggest sacrifice was death with your own life and the smallest was a turtledove. The poor usually used a turtledove, because that was all that they could afford. Yeh’shua is the perfect sacrifice – He pays all the penalties, form the smallest to the biggest.

Verse 37:
It is very important witness when John calls the Messiah ‘The Lamb of Elohim’. Every sacrifice had to be approved by a priest before they were sacrificed. John being a Levite, ‘approves’ to the people that Yeh’shua is the Lamb.
Together with the first witness of the Spirit, descending like a dove this second witness convinces the followers that this is the Messiah.
2 Cor 13:1

Verse 42:
He names Shim’on, Kepha (Peter) – it means Stone. Peter is the disciple who states in Mat 16:16 that Yeh’shua is the Son of Elohim. Peter will go out to proclaim whom the Rock of Salvation is, from where the Living Waters flow.

Verse 45:
“…the son of Yoseph” – Yes, the earthly father of Yeh’shua was named Yoseph, but this refers back to one of the biggest types and teachings about the Messiah found in the Torah. Joseph who was sold by his brothers, later to reign over them and giving them salvation.

Next, we will look at Chapter two.

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