John 20:30

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. (John 20:30-31)

The whole Gospel of John is built to bring you to one decision: to believe in Jesus and receive life in His name.

The Purpose Behind the Gospel of John

John, the author of this gospel, wrote with a purpose and a plan. These signs were written that you might believe Jesus is the Christ, the anointed one, the Messiah who came to fulfill all the prophecies of the Old Testament. He is not only the anointed one, but the very Son of God. These works were written that you might believe, and that believing, you would have life through His name.

The gospel of John is filled with the idea of belief. The Greek word pisteo, translated "believe," appears 98 times in this gospel. Across these 21 chapters, John seeks to bring us to the place of placing our faith in Jesus Christ so that we would receive life. That is the life we began considering more than a year ago when we started John chapter 1:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... And in him was life; and the life was the light of men.

Just in the first seven verses, John focuses our attention on the life found in Jesus Christ and the way we receive it—by faith, not by works of the law. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

The Seven Signs of the Gospel of John

During the three to three-and-a-half years Jesus ministered, He performed a multitude of miracles—healing the sick, casting out demons, raising the dead, walking on water, feeding multitudes. Yet in this gospel, John mentions only seven signs.

The first comes in John 2 at the wedding in Cana. When Mary told Him they had no wine, Jesus answered, "Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come." That sounds harsh to our ears, but it was a common way a Jewish man would address a woman—He calls the woman at the well "woman" too. There was no disrespect. Mary, by faith, told the servants, "Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it." That is a good word from Mary.

There were six stone water pots used for the purification of the Jews—earthen vessels that were considered unclean. Jesus told the servants to fill them with water and then draw some out and carry it to the master of the feast. That took faith. When the governor of the feast drank, the water had become wine, the best he had ever tasted. Jesus takes unclean earthen vessels and changes the ordinary into the extraordinary—a beautiful picture of what Christ desires to do in our lives as we submit to Him.

The second sign comes in John 4, when Jesus healed the son of a wealthy official from Capernaum. The third is in John 5, at the Pool of Bethesda by the Sheep Gate. There, sick, blind, and lame people lay waiting for an angel to stir the waters, believing the first one in would be healed. It strikes me that many in the church today are also waiting for the moving of the waters—praying for revival, hoping God would move—not recognizing that God is always working. The fountain of living waters, Jesus, was outside the pool, healing and preaching.

A man there had been lame 38 years—longer than Jesus had been alive. Jesus asked him, "Wilt thou be made whole?" The man focused on his limitations: "I have no man... to put me into the pool." But Jesus said, "Rise, take up thy bed, and walk."

The fourth sign comes in John 6, when Jesus fed 5,000 with five barley loaves and two fish. We sometimes think my messages are long, but He preached all day. The fifth follows in the same chapter, when Jesus walked on the water to His disciples in the storm. At least four of them were fishermen, and I suspect Peter said, "Don't worry, I've got this." But at the third watch of the night, Jesus came walking on the water.

In John 9, Jesus gave sight to a man born blind. And in John 11, perhaps the grandest sign, He raised Lazarus from the dead. Lazarus was a close friend; when his sisters Mary and Martha sent word that he was sick, Jesus tarried, then came to Bethany. Martha said, "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." But Jesus stood before the tomb and called, "Lazarus, come forth."

The Miracles Substantiate the Message

These signs were written that you might believe Jesus is the Christ. But the miracles alone do not prove He is the Son of God, because others in the Old Testament performed miracles and were not the Messiah. How could John say these miracles prove Jesus is the Christ? The miracles substantiate the message.

The gospel of John surrounds not only seven signs but seven statements—the seven "I am" statements. In John 6:35, "I am the bread of life." In John 8:12, "I am the light of the world." In John 10:7, 9, "I am the door." In John 10:11, 14, "I am the good shepherd." In John 11, before raising Lazarus, "I am the resurrection, and the life... Believest thou this?" In John 14, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." And in John 15, "I am the true vine."

Each "I am" refers to the great I AM of Exodus 3, when God told Moses, "Tell them I AM hath sent you." The Jews understood this clearly—several times they took up stones to kill Him when He said "I am," most pointedly when He said, "Before Abraham was, I am." So Jesus declares Himself the Christ, the Son of God, and His miracles substantiate that message.

The Message Brings People to Faith

The purpose of the message is to bring people to faith in Jesus Christ. That is the most important thing we as Christians can do with unbelievers—bring them by the preaching of the gospel to place their faith in Christ, because it is by faith that we live.

You can have the best apologetic—the ontological, teleological, or cosmological argument—and use every method to defend the faith. But at the end of the day, if someone is going to receive Christ as Lord and become a child of God, they must take a step of faith. The purpose of preaching the gospel is to bring people to that point.

Four Responses to the Risen Lord

In John 20, four people or groups are pictured by how they received the truth. First, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, saw the stone taken away, and ran to Peter and John saying, "They have taken away the Lord." She wrongly interpreted what she saw.

Then Peter and John ran to the tomb. John stooped down and looked in—like taking a snapshot. Peter went in and began to contemplate, putting the pieces together. Then John entered and perceived; he understood. They saw the same things but reacted differently.

Mary remained outside weeping. Stooping into the tomb, she saw two angels in white, one at the head and one at the feet where Jesus had lain. They asked, "Woman, why weepest thou?" Normally people meeting angels are afraid, but she treated it as ordinary and again wrongly interpreted: "They have taken away my Lord."

What Mary Saw: The New Holy of Holies

Consider what she actually saw—the place where Jesus had lain, with the blood-soaked cloths, and an angel where His feet were and another where His head had been. That is the exact picture God gave Moses in Exodus 25:

And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold... And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high... toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be. And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark... And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims.

The ark, two foot by three foot, overlaid with gold, with the mercy seat and two angels over it, was placed in the holy of holies. Once a year on the Day of Atonement, the high priest sprinkled the blood of the sacrifice on the mercy seat, for there God said, "I will meet with you." Through the blood of the lamb, man has communion with God.

What did Mary see? The new holy of holies—the new ark. There was the table where Jesus, the Lamb of God, had lain, and at His head and feet, the angels. Notice in verse 13 she says, "my Lord." This was a woman of sincere devotion. Luke 8:2 tells us she was a woman out of whom came seven devils. Mark 16:9 says the risen Jesus appeared first to Mary, out of whom He had cast seven demons. Her life had been dramatically changed by Him, so she said, "Tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away"—not even considering she could never carry His body.

"Touch Me Not" and the Command to Go

When she turned, she saw Jesus but supposed Him to be the gardener. Not only had she wrongly interpreted the empty tomb, she did not recognize Him. Something about His appearance had changed after the resurrection—the disciples on the road to Emmaus did not know Him either—yet His scars remained. But when He said, "Mary," she knew Him and embraced Him, crying, "Rabboni."

He said, "Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father." In the original, this means "cling not to me"—He was telling her to stop an action already started. There was much to do over the next forty days before His ascension. So He told her, "Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God."

That is what God says to us. When we meet the risen Lord by faith, He says, "Go and tell this world that He is risen indeed." Remarkably, the first witness of the risen Lord was a woman—whose testimony was not admissible in court, and a woman with a rough background whose report many did not believe. Yet Jesus revealed Himself first to Mary.

The Disciples and the Three Breaths of God

That same evening, the disciples were gathered with the doors shut for fear of the Jews. How many doors in our own lives have we considered shut because of fear? "I can't teach children's ministry; I can't go on that mission trip; I can't say that to that person." Many times the doors are not truly closed—we are simply afraid to go through them.

Jesus is not limited by closed doors. He stood in their midst and said, "Peace be unto you," and showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad. He breathed on them and said, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost."

Scripture gives three pictures of the breath of God. In Genesis 2, God breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life—physical life from the Father. Here in John 20, the Son breathes on the disciples spiritual life. And in Acts 2, at Pentecost, came a rushing mighty wind—pneuma, breath—and the Holy Spirit breathed powerful life. The Father breathes physical life, the Son spiritual life, the Spirit powerful life. Every person needs all three. If you have not received the indwelling Holy Spirit, may you receive Him by faith in Christ; and if you have, may the Spirit overflow you with His power.

Thomas and the Blessing of Believing Unseen

Thomas was not present. The other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said, "Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe."

Eight days later, with the doors shut, Jesus stood again and said to Thomas, "Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands... and be not faithless, but believing." Thomas answered, "My Lord and my God." Jesus said, "Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed."

Four groups: Mary, who wrongly interpreted; Peter and John, who saw the same things differently; the disciples, who had to see before they were glad; and Thomas, who would not believe without touching. There have always been those who wrongly interpret the cross, those who do not fully understand, those who do not recognize Christ for who He is, and those who demand a sign. But blessed are those who, having not seen, believe.

The Hand and the Nail

God desires us to be in that last category—believing having not seen. Paul wrote in Romans 1:16, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth."

When Jesus said, "Behold my hands," consider the Hebrew pictorial language. The name Yahweh—Yod, He, Vav, He—uses pictures: the Yod is a hand, the He is a window meaning "to reveal," the Vav is a nail. So God's name pictures "the hand revealed, the nail revealed." Behold my hands, Jesus says. The rabbis of old understood it only as the hand that binds creation together, but it is not until Calvary that we fully understand.

Christ was crucified on Mount Zion. The word Zion also has four letters: a hook, the school of fish moving toward it, and in the middle the bait—the Yod and Vav, the hand and the nail. Zion is what leads the fish by the hand and the nail. Behold the hand, behold the nail, and be led to Him like a fish to the hook. The cross of Christ leads all men to salvation; there is no other name under heaven whereby men must be saved.

A Light to a Watching World

People drive past the church every week and just take a snapshot: "I wonder what they do in there." Others come in and contemplate, theorize, mull it over. Some come to understand what Christ has done through the hand and the nail of a life laid down. Many wrongly interpret the gospel, seeing only do's and don'ts and missing the grace of the living God—just as Mary did not at first recognize the risen Lord.

But blessed are those who believe though they have not seen. That is you and me. Having not seen Him, you love Him and wait expectantly for Him. The whole of creation groans for the manifestation of the sons of God. So the Spirit and the bride say, "Come. Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly." Having not seen, we believe.

The whole purpose of the gospel is to bring people to faith in Jesus Christ—that He is the Messiah, the Son of God—and that by believing, you receive abundant life as He breathes into you the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. What an awesome gospel.

Closing Prayer

God, You are an awesome God, mighty in power and strength. Your mighty hand and outstretched arm has redeemed us from death, from darkness, from the power of hell. Because of the work You did on our behalf on the cross, we are simply amazed today. I pray for this fellowship, that as we prepare to go from here, You would pour out Your power and Your Spirit upon them, that You would give us boldness to speak the truth of the gospel of Your Son in this lost and dying world. Use us to bring Your grace and truth to those in such desperate need—family members, neighbors, friends, co-workers. You have given us the ministry of reconciliation and have torn down the middle wall of separation, calling all to come to You in repentance.

Lord, I know there are those here who have been outside observers, and even now the enemy seeks to steal away the seed of Your word. By Your Holy Spirit, plant Your word deep in hearts and cause it to grow. And for those who have believed on You, prune our lives that we would bear much fruit to You. For we ask it in Jesus' name, Amen.