In this gospel Jesus Christ is introduced as the eternal, divine "Word" through whom the world was made. We see that there was opposition to this belief throughout the life of Jesus. This opposition led to his being put to death on a cross. Yet it was through his death and resurrection that Jesus Christ fulfilled his mission to reveal God and his own identity. In this gospel the life of Jesus the Messiah is portrayed in a series of miracles or "signs," which are events with symbolic significance. A striking feature of the gospel of John is the symbolic use of common things from everyday life to point to spiritual realities, such as water, bread, light, the shepherd and his sheep, and the grapevine and its fruit.
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