John 20:30-31

Intro

One author said that he wrote to quiet the voices in his head. Many write because they have something that they want to tell the world. Some become fascinated with a particular character and want to learn everything about them, the why’s and how’s of their lives. Sometimes biographers can scarcely conceal their love for whoever they are writing about that they refuse to include their faults and failures. It’s hard work writing a biography; you are literally stewarding someone else’s life. How you shape the narrative and interpret the events will pass down that person’s legacy with your particular interpretation.

Anyone who has tried to tell a family story in the presence of others who were a part of that story knows that what one person sees and experiences is often very different than another experience of that same event. Maybe it’s the years that have changed the story or your particular life experience. But when you tell the story to your siblings about the time dad did such and such, but they don’t remember it that way at all. Instead, dad didn’t do such and such, but your oldest brother did.

As much as we shape and filter our narratives on social media, trying to let the world see what we see, through pictures of what we’re eating or where we are at that moment, those mediums can never approximate our own point of view. I am not saying that this means everything is relative, and there is no absolute truth, just “my” truth. Instead, I mean that your particular experience of an event may not be the same as someone experiencing the same event from their perspective. This is why the fourfold gospel is told from four different perspectives. The narrative is shaped to emphasize different perspectives and bring out different theological emphases of the person and the work of Jesus Christ.

Why did the evangelists write the gospels? Why Did John write his Gospel? Luke tells us he compiled his gospel from eyewitness accounts for Theophilus. But Mathew and Mark don’t give us an exact reason for writing their gospel, but John does. At the end of the gospel of John, almost as a conclusion, John tells us exactly why he wrote his gospel. So as we begin a new series this morning through the gospel of John, which will take us several years to get through, we will introduce this series by looking at why John wrote. In that way, we will be able to keep his intentions with his gospel front and center throughout our exposition. So if you have your bible with you, please turn with me to

John 20:30–31 ESV

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but 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.

Let’s pray.

John wrote his gospel so that you might believe that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, and by believing, you may have life in His name.

Summary of the Text

It’s worth reminding you that John’s gospel was written around 85-90 AD. And this is important because one of the things that happened during the first few decades of the early church was the destruction of the second temple in AD 70. That event foretold by Jesus in Mt. 24 was cataclysmic, bringing what the apostle Paul called this present evil age ushering in the age to come, or the latter days.

The death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ inaugurated the in-breaking of the new creation in and through the church, the new covenant community, which means that the old covenant administration of types and shadows was disappearing. The apostles occupied that transition period between these two ages. But the end of the old covenant administration was the temple's destruction by the Roman General and future Emperor Titus in Ad 70.

Now, why is this important for when John wrote his gospel? One of the important reasons is that John is consciously writing his Gospel as an apologetic to Jewish brothers and sisters reeling from this event. The Jewish religion and way of life was decimated, leaving a hole and causing the religious leaders to redefine themselves and the nature of their religion. John writes into this environment to show that Jesus is the new temple. The incarnation is the dwelling of God with man.

John 1:14 ESV

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

The temple was the dwelling place of God, where God’s glory dwelled and where he met with His people through the mediation of the priesthood and the sacrificial system. How then, with the temple being destroyed, would God meet with His people? The answer very simply is through Jesus, the Son of God.

We notice from v. 30 that a gospel is not a proper biography. Jesus did many more signs in the presence of his disciples. This means that John was selective, picking the signs he wanted to convey his particular theological messages. He wasn’t trying to be exhaustive. None of the four gospels cover very much detail about Jesus’ childhood. Matthew and Luke record more details than the others about his birth, but next to nothing about the time between his birth and when he starts his public ministry. Why partly because those events are not important. The few events that Matthew and Luke do include of Jesus prove that Jesus came for a particular mission. Jesus didn’t come to live his best life now; he came to die. That comes through very clearly in the structure and telling of each of the evangelist’s accounts.

It also means that John wasn’t particularly concerned with chronology. Hebrew histories are shaped first for theology and only secondly chronologically; we have seen that as we went through 1 Samuel. As we go through this gospel, I will point out how John shapes the narrative, not for chronology but theology.

Notice also John says signs, Jesus did many other signs…We just finished a short series on the sacraments; what is a sign? Signs signify they point to a deeper reality. But in John, we can say with one scholar that:

A sign is a manifestation, through the person of Jesus, of God’s work in the world.

John doesn’t use the word miracle in his gospel account but instead uses the word sign. These “works” that Jesus does point to the character and nature of God, but they don’t symbolize; they actually manifest that character. The Gospel of John hinges around seven signs.

The Gospel of John: A Commentary 20:30. What Are the “Signs” to Which John Refers?

Traditionally, the seven signs have been considered to be these:

(1) The Water into Wine (2:1–11, specifically called, v. 11, the “first” of the signs)

(2) The Healing of the Officer’s Son (4:46–54, called “the second sign,” v. 54)

p 1198 (3) The Healing of the Lame Man (5:1–16)

(4) The Miraculous Feeding of the Five Thousand (6:1–15)

(5) The Walking on the Water (6:16–21)

(6) The Healing of the Man Born Blind (chap. 9)

(7) The Raising of Lazarus (chap. 11)

But I would add that the death and resurrection of Jesus are an eighth sign.

These signs are given so that you might believe, and believing will have life. And those are the two points I want to draw out this morning.

John wrote his gospel so that you might believe that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, and by believing, you may have life in His name.

So that you might Believe.

Reading John’s gospel is meant to lead you to believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ the Son of God. Briefly, I want to show why these two aspects of the nature and character of Jesus are essential to our faith.

Jesus is the Christ.

When mankind fell in Adam’s first sin, it plunged the whole creation into sin and death. Man in this condition is helpless and subject to the ravages of sin and death. We desperately needed someone to save us from this lost condition. God promised In:

Genesis 3:15 (ESV)

I will put enmity between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and her offspring;

he shall bruise your head,

and you shall bruise his heel.”

Ultimately God promised that he would send a man who would crush the head of that serpent, the ancient dragon. As redemptive history unfolded in the pages of scripture, it became clear that no one man by himself could not free himself from the curse of sin. As the story of scripture unfolds, the nature and character of this deliverer begin to come into clearer focus. This deliverer would redeem his people from the curse of sin and deliver them from the domain of darkness by setting them free.

He would be a prophet like Moses, a priest like Melchizedek, and a king like David. He would be the Son of man from Daniel, the servant from Isaiah, Abraham's seed, and the woman's offspring. The word Christ is the Greek translation of the Messiah, which means anointed. Prophet, priest, and king were all offices within Israel that were commissioned through their anointing with oil. The oil represented the Spirit, who filled and empowered them for that particular task. No one person in the Old Covenant economy was in all three offices. David comes closest, as we saw intimations of him inquiring of the Lord with the Ephod. In his sermon in Acts 2:30, Peter Acts 2:30 refers to David as a prophet when he quotes from Psalm 16 to prove the resurrection of Jesus.

John wrote his gospel to prove that Jesus was the Messiah. Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled the promises of the coming messiah in his work as Prophet, priest, and King. The Gospel is an apologetic meant not only to lead to belief in Jesus but to sustain it.

In the first century context, the Jews were eagerly awaiting this promised messiah. Depending on which sect of Judaism you were a part of, you had different expectations of who the Messiah would be and what he would do. Early reflection on 2 Sam 7 and the covenant God made with David, the Jews realized that the promise of an enduring house for David was much more than a long dynasty. They looked for a king who would endure forever; this is Peter’s point in Acts 2 in defense of the resurrection. David died, that was known, but David’s Son Jesus died and rose again. In that way, Jesus was more than the Christ; he was also the Son of God.

The Son of God.

Over the next few months, we will be taking a deep dive into John chapter 1, called the Prologue. It is rich with theological depth as John describes the incarnation, not in terms of historical incarnation in his birth as a baby in the womb of the virgin Mary, but in theological terms.

John 1:1–3 ESV

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

This divine Word was God’s Son as he continues in:

John 1:14 ESV

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

The Son, one with the Father, who came from the father, manifested that he was the Son through these signs that make up John’s gospel. No mere man could do the things that Jesus did. The signs point to the deeper reality that Jesus, born of a woman, had God as His Father and uniquely manifested the glory of his union with His Father in the signs he did.

There were many other signs Jesus did, but John singles these out because they uniquely point to the truth that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

John wrote his gospel so that you might believe that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, and by believing, you may have life in His name.

So that by believing, you may have life.

We know something of what John wanted us to believe, but what does John mean when he says believe, and what is the life that he is referring to. One of the interesting things about textual criticism, the study of the various manuscripts that survive, is found in that word translated may believe. In about half of the manuscripts that we have, that word pisteuow is in the aorist tense, and the other half is in the present tense; the difference is only one letter. The aorist you might translate as so that you might become believers, and the present you might translate as so that you might continue to believe. One may emphasize the apologetic nature of John’s Gospel and the other its ongoing significance for the life of faith. Clearly, it’s not an either/or but a both/and.

However, belief for John is not merely assent to certain facts about this person Jesus called the Christ, the son of God. It has a continuous nature, which John calls abiding. Jesus says in

John 15:4 ESV

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.

he continues by saying,

John 15:10 ESV

If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.

And in John 3, he said:

John 3:16–21 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

Everyone knows v. 16 but notice the logic of the argument he makes. God loved the world so much that he sent His son to save the world. But Jesus came as light, and some rejected the light—loving the darkness instead. These are those who don’t believe in Jesus, and they are already condemned. Did you notice v. 21?

John 3:21 ESV

But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

The person who believes in Jesus comes to the light, which represents obedience, the putting off of wicked deeds by allowing them to be exposed for evil in the light.

So belief is knowledge of who Jesus is and what he came to do, but that knowledge is accompanied by ongoing obedience through abiding in Christ. The WCF says it this way:

The Westminster Confession of Faith (Section 2)

By this faith, a Christian believeth to be true whatsoever is revealed in the Word, for the authority of God Himself speaking therein; and acteth differently upon that which each particular passage thereof containeth; yielding obedience to the commands, trembling at the threatenings, and embracing the promises of God for this life, and that which is to come. But the principal acts of saving faith are accepting, receiving, and resting upon Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life, by virtue of the covenant of grace.

And that is precisely what John means by so that you may believe. He wants you to know on good authority that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. But Satan, as James tells us, knows Jesus in that way. What’s implied then in belief is trust, resting in the good news of the Gospel, that Jesus, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, has taken away your sins in his death on the cross. It’s a belief that in Christ God has made his dwelling place with man, that in Christ God has drawn near to heal and put right the sin-cursed world we live in. As you read John's gospel and see the signs that he did, culminating in his cursed death on a cross and his resurrection from the dead, you will continue (abide) to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

Reading the gospel and hearing it preached has the effect of building up your faith. For in it is revealed God’s very character and heart towards a wayward sinner like you and me. We see that Jesus, who is in masterful control of every situation he encounters, is working many signs and wonders, not to get fans or show off. But to usher in the new creation, the kingdom of God, what John calls eternal life. To build a new temple in his body, the Church, the dwelling place of God by His Spirit.

Life is the absence of death, and eternal life is the persistent absence of death forever. To have such a gift, the dreadful curse that led to death had to be dealt with. His turning water into wine and feeding the five thousand are signs of the happiness and joy of eternal life and the beneficent provision of God. Wine represents mirth, plenty, and joy, just as bread and fish represent the abundant provision of God to bless. The same can be said about all the signs Jesus does. The healing’s point to a time when there will be no more suffering, when sin’s effects are reversed, and we enjoy eternal life with no sickness or pain.

Each of the signs points to the life that belief in Jesus assures. It’s a life that is breaking in on us so that in the signs and our daily walking out of our faith in Jesus Christ, we get glimpses of that abundant life. But not everyone responds to the signs the same way. Some outright don’t believe. Others believe, but for fear of others, they don’t confess their belief publicly.

John 12:42–43 ESV

Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.

How do you respond to the gospel? Do you believe it? Do you continue to believe? We have been reading through the gospel of John in our daily bible reading, having just finished chapter 12 this morning. Maybe for you, this is your fiftieth time through the gospel. What effect does it have on you? Do you find that you see Jesus as more beautiful, lovely, and deserving of your praise and adoration with each new reading? Do you find your faith stirred in the signs and wonders that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, performed? Or is it boring, the same old, tired gospel story? My prayer for you throughout the next couple of years as we inhabit the gospel of John is that your view will change. That you will see the familiar stories through new eyes. That your faith would grow as the object of your faith becomes clearer and clearer.

John wrote his gospel so that you might believe that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, and by believing, you may have life in His name.