During his earthly life, Jesus performed many, many miraculous signs. John suggests here that the number was very large, but out of this great number, the relatively few which the Gospel records were chosen for one supreme reason, and that is that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

Here we are brought face to face with Biblical inspiration. How did John chose the miraculous signs which he included in his Gospel? It seems to me that it is impossible to believe that he made the choice alone. The very fact that he says the miraculous signs he has written in his Gospel were recorded that we might believe, indicates that he felt himself moved by a force outside him, and that the choices he made were inspired by God himself. This is in line with the whole Bible testimony concerning its origin. The Bible is spoken of as the product of inspiration where the writers were carried along by the Holy Spirit. John, and all the writers, used their minds, and they made choices, and they used the skill in writing they had, and they were conscious of all this activity, but in it all they had to confess that they were moved by the Holy Spirit to take up the task of writing; and while writing they knew that every choice they made, and every skill they used, was under the direct guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit, so that what they wrote in their own words did not just contain the word of God, but was God speaking directly through them. Their own freedom of personality and thought was not violated. They were not taken over so that they ceased to be anything but robots, but were still free individuals, nonetheless they were so operated on by the Holy Spirit, that their thoughts were God’s thoughts, and the way they wrote those thoughts down, clearly spoke the mind of God.

This opens up to us the wonder of God’s grace and mercy to us sinners. We are the ones who have transgressed the will and ways of God. We are the rebels. We have offended against God, and caused him pain. We have thwarted his will, and we deserve no good from God. Yet God not only sent his Son into the world to be our head and representative, and take our place before the law and justice of God, and there on the cross bear our sin and its consequences in our place so that we might be saved from death and hell, but God in his love and mercy gives us a true record of this great Salvation and this great Saviour, so that we might believe and so enter the eternal life which God, in his mercy, purposes for us.

This Gospel, and indeed all the Scriptures, show forth the wonderful grace and love of God to sinners. He gave his Son because he wants to save us. He gave the Bible that we might both know of this salvation, and be able to believe it.

John writes in these two verses “These were written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” We may often wish that we might have been told more about the life of Jesus and all that he did, and to hear more of the miraculous signs he performed, but God has given us enough in the Bible for us to be assured of the truth, and he has given us just the miraculous signs and teaching which serves best to fulfill this end that we might believe.

This Gospel record we have been studying together has all that we need to be assured that Jesus in the Christ. Do we need a Saviour? Do we need to be assured that Jesus is the Saviour appointed by God to work salvation for us? Then we have only to read this Gospel, because through the mercy of God John was given the grace and inspiration to tell us all we need to know to be assured that Jesus is the Christ. Much more it tells us all we need to know to be assured that Jesus is the divine Saviour, even the Son of God. When we read with a seeking heart and mind, this Gospel of John is all we need to come to faith, and be assured that as we rest our souls upon Jesus and believe on him to save us, we will not be disappointed, but we will receive eternal life.

Here also is expressed the wonder of this saving grace of God. It is by believing we receive eternal life. Nowhere else in all the world is anything like it. There is nothing so precious as eternal life, and where there is great blessing provided, they never come entirely free, but we have to merit or pay for them in some way. Here this great and precious gift of life is free from start to finish. All we are called upon to do is to believe and trust in the provider and giver of eternal life, even in Jesus Christ our Lord.

How can we not rejoice and praise God. But in closing let us dwell a moment on the salvation we are provided with, and receive by faith. It is nothing less than eternal life. This is life that is beyond anything else we know. It is not only endless, but life of such quality that endlessness is not terrifying, but something that fills our hearts with joy. Eternal life is to be one with God, and belong to God and God to us. It is to have the life God purposed for us in creation and for all eternity. It is life which is ever more fulfilling and joyous as we dwell in the love of God, and know the joy of perfect love, which is free from anything that could mar or spoil it. It is to have life which entirely satisfies our souls.