THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE
John 20:30-31 NKJV
30 And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.
The gospel of Jesus is a believe first gospel. Not see and believe but rather believe and see.
John gives us the story that the other three gospel writers omitted. It is the story of Thomas, who was not with the other ten disciples when Jesus revealed Himself after the resurrection. Thomas was the one who declared that he would not believe until he could see the print of the nails and put his finger into the print of the nails. And he wasn’t finished, Thomas also wanted to put his hand into the side of Jesus where the spear had pierced Him. The problem is that Thomas had two strong reasons to believe that Jesus was raised from the dead. Actually, Thomas had three reasons. There was the scripture in Psalm 16:10 "For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your holy one to rot in the grave." NLT. But John had already stated in verse nine of this chapter that the disciples did not understand the scripture. So we'll give Thomas a pass. But Thomas had the words of Jesus Himself. Jesus had revealed to the disciples on more than one occasion that He would rise from the dead. And Thomas had the witness of the other ten disciples; remember, Judas was dead at this point. The other ten were eyewitnesses to Jesus being alive. Thomas had reasons to believe, but chose not to.
And Jesus did not give Thomas a pass on his unbelief. Jesus called Thomas out, inviting him to put his finger in the nail prints and his hand into Jesus' side. Thomas wisely chose to believe at that point. And Jesus made an important statement in verse twenty-nine, "Then Jesus told him, 'You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me." NLT. And now we have a statement we can live by. Jesus said the blessed ones are those who believe without seeing.
Some would argue that seeing is believing. But our verses for today prove otherwise. Jesus did many signs after His resurrection, and all those signs were not recorded. But here is the kicker. "But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name." These are written that we may believe. Our believing is not based on what we can see and feel. Our believing is based on what is written. This is great news. We are not limited by what we see or feel; we can believe based on the scriptures.
Paul would later write to the church at Rome declaring that faith comes by hearing and hearing by God's Word. God's Word has the ability to generate faith in all who will hear it. And if we choose to believe what is written, it produces results in our lives. Hearing a message of salvation produces the ability to believe, and in believing, we have life in His name. In the same way, hearing messages of healing, deliverance, freedom, and identity produces faith in those areas.
APPLICATION
In any area of our walk with the Lord that we feel we are deficient, we have a solution. We need to find what is written. What do the Scriptures say about that particular area of our lives? And then, believing what is written, we can have life in those areas. When Joy was so sick thirty-three years ago with chronic pancreatitis, she chose to believe what was written concerning healing. In believing she received healing from that horrible condition. I received freedom from the depression and anxiety that had been a part of my life for years. I am so grateful for what is written. What is written gave me hope that my situation could change, and as I believed the scriptures' deliverance came.
God's Word is powerful and was written that we may believe.
PRAYER
Thank You, Lord, for what You have done for me. Thank You for what is written that I may believe. I believe Your Word.