(John 21:25), “ And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.”
In our last devotion we began looking at why John didn’t write about all the works that Jesus did while He was here upon this earth. In our first point concerning this thought, we saw that John didn’t write nor could He write all the things that should be written concerning the works that Jesus did because of “the greatness of God” and the world could not contain the books if they were to be written.
In our devotion today, I want us to look at the second reason that John did not write about all the works that Jesus did while He was here on earth.
- JOHN DIDN’T WRITE ABOUT ALL THE WORKS JESUS DID BECAUSE OF THE GOAL OF GOD
(John 20:30-31), “And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.”
In our scripture text above, John tells us there were other signs that Jesus did during His earthly ministry which are not written in the gospel of John. A sign is a miracle with a message and what John is telling us is, Jesus did many other miracles that had messages while here on this earth, but John only selected certain ones to include in His gospel because of the particular message that God wanted to convey through his writings.
In the gospel of John, of all the miracles that Jesus did, John only uses seven. These seven miracles are:
1.) Miracle of turning the water into wine (John 2:1-11)
2.) Miracle of the Nobleman’s Son (John 4:46-54)
3.) Miracle of the Healing of the Lame Man at the pool of Bethesda (John 5:1-9)
4.) Miracle of the Feeding of the Five Thousand (John 6:1-13)
5.) Miracle of the Walking on the Water (John 6:16-25)
6.) Miracle of the Healing of the Man Born Blind (John 9:1-41)
7.) Miracle of the Raising of Lazarus from the Dead (John 11:1-44)
Why did John only use seven of the many miracles that Jesus did? It was because the gospel of John is a Selective Account of the Person and Ministry of Jesus. By this, I mean, the purpose of John in writing his gospel was to establish the truth of the divinity and the deity of Jesus Christ, that He was absolute total God living in a human body. He was not half-God and half-man, but He was total God and total man all at the same time.
And the signs (miracles) that John used in his gospel, he was selective in choosing them because they most clearly confirm the deity of Jesus Christ, that He is the Son of God, the Messiah of Israel, and the Saviour of the world, that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, we might have life through His name.
Have you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour and received the forgiveness of your sins? The Bible tells us; in order for us to go to heaven when we die we must be saved and forgiven of our sins. This called the new birth in (John 3:3), “ Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. (John 3:5), “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”
Have you been born again? Have you asked God to forgive you of your sins and invited Jesus Christ into your heart as your Saviour. God loves you and God wants to forgive you of your sins and save you. I encourage you today, if you have never been saved, turn to God right now and tell Him that you know that you have sinned against Him, and that you believe that Jesus Christ, His Son, died for your sins, was buried, and rose again the third day. Then turn to God in faith and ask God to forgive you of your sins and ask Jesus to save you and to come into your heart as your Saviour.
Pastor Allen Jackson