(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.”
As John, the writer of the gospel of John concludes his gospel, he tells us there were many things that Jesus did during His earthly ministry that he did not write in this book, and then he further states that, if everything Jesus did during His earthly ministry was written in books, the world itself could not contain the books.
As I thought upon these statements that John made, a question was raised in my mind, as to why all the things that Jesus did while He was here on this earth are not written? As I meditated and prayed over this thought, the Lord showed me three reasons why John didn’t write about all the works that Jesus did.
In our devotion today, I am going to give the first one and over the next couple of devotions I will give the other two. WHY JOHN DIDN’T WRITE ABOUT ALL THE WORKS THAT JESUS DID!!!
- JOHN DIDN’T WRITE ABOUT ALL THE WORKS THAT JESUS DID BECAUSE OF THE GREATNESS OF GOD
During the earthly ministry of Jesus, He did many mighty and wonderful works that revealed the greatness of God.The works of Jesus and the greatness of God were synonymous, they could not be separated. Where Jesus did a work, the greatness of God was revealed. Where the greatness of God was revealed, Jesus had done a work. So when John tells us that Jesus did many other things that are not written in his gospel, and if those things that Jesus did, which are not written in his gospel, were written in books, and the world could not contain them, he is telling us that the world could not contain the books that could be written about the greatness of God.Have you ever thought about how great God is?
Robert Wells wrote a book entitled, “Is a Blue Whale the Biggest Thing There Is?” This book is a children’s book written to small children to teach them see just how big the universe really is. In his book he says, the blue whale is the largest animal on earth. Just the flippers on its tail are bigger than most animals on earth, but a blue whale isn’t anywhere near as big as a mountain. If you could put one-hundred blue whales inside of a huge jar, you could put millions of those whale jars inside of a hollowed out Mt. Everest. But Mt. Everest isn’t anywhere near as big as the earth. If you stack one-hundred Mt. Everest on top of one another it would be just a whisker on the face of the earth. Now the earth isn’t anywhere near as big as the sun. You could fit one-million earths inside of the sun. But the sun isn’t anywhere near as big as a red, super-giant star called, “Antares.” You could fit 50 million of our suns inside Antares. But Antares isn’t anywhere near as big as the Milky Way galaxy. Billions of stars, including super-stars, like Antares make up the Milky Way galaxy. But the Milky Way galaxy isn’t anywhere near as big as the universe. There are billions of other galaxies in the universe. And yet filled with billions of galaxies, the universe is almost totally empty. The distances from one galaxy to another are beyond human calculation.
We live in a vast universe and we are told in the book of Genesis the one who created it all just spoke it into existence.
(Genesis 1:1-2a), “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.”
(Genesis 1:3), “And God said, Let there be light, and there was Light.”
(Genesis 1:6), “And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.”
(Genesis 1:9), “And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.”
(Genesis 1:11), “And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.”
(Genesis 1:14), “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and seasons, and for days ,and for years.”
(Genesis 1:20), “And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament.”
(Genesis 1:24), “And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.”
(Genesis 1:26), “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…”
Not only does the Word of God tell us God spoke the world into existence but in Hebrews 1, we are told that, He also upholds the world with the Word of His power. We are talking about the greatness of God that the world cannot contain the books that could be written about Him. God’s greatness is immeasurable, inexhaustible, and incomparable. There is no standard by which we can measure God.
You cannot measure God by time because He is the beginning and the ending of time.
You cannot measure God by space because the heavens and the earth cannot contain Him.
You cannot measure God by age because He is the ancient of days.
You cannot measure God by height because He is higher than the heavens and He sets upon the throne in the north.
You cannot measure God by strength because He holds the world in His hand.
The only thing that does justice to the greatness of God is God Himself. God is so great that the world cannot contain Him. God is so great that if all the books that could be written about Him were written, the world could not contain them. God is so great that He cannot be contained, but yet He is so small He can live within the heart of those who will trust Him to forgive them of their sins and trust Him for salvation. 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