Life In His Name

"Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe 

that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; 

and that believing you may have life in His name."

John 20:30-31

The gospel of John is written with one purpose: to show the deity of Christ. John begins with the work and characteristics of the Son of God before the incarnation. He tells us “the Word was God” (John 1:1), he repeatedly calls Jesus the “Son of God” and “Lord and...God” (John 20:28). In John's gospel, Jesus also affirms His deity. In John 8:58 He says “...before Abraham was, I Am” (God called Himself "I Am" in Exodus 3:14). But John also emphasizes Jesus' humanity, challenging the error of a religious sect of his day, the Gnostics, who did not believe in Christ’s humanity. John clearly shows that Jesus not only claimed to be the Christ (the Messiah), the Son of God, but by the many miraculous signs He performed He proved it. The last and greatest of these signs was His resurrection from the dead. John is telling us that God has provided only one way for us to be saved, and that is by believing in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God. And by believing this we have the gift of eternal life. "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12)

The Life and the Light

 "In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men."

John 1:4

John's gospel begins with the deity of Christ; that He is the Word of God made flesh. God has always existed and all of life comes from Him. But what is more is that in Christ there is spiritual life. Until we come to Him and receive Him as our Savior, we are spiritually dead, living in darkness. Jesus is the Light that illumines our hearts and minds to the truth of who God is and how we fall so short of His perfection. When we fail to realize how imperfect (sinful) we are, then we are still encased in darkness. Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life." (John 5:24) Jesus takes us from death to life. From darkness to light. "The vast majority of mankind in every age have refused to know Him, have forgotten the fall, and their own need of a Savior. The light has been constantly shining 'in darkness.' The most have 'not comprehended the light.' But if any men and women out of the countless millions of mankind have ever had spiritual life and light, they have owed all to Christ." (J C Ryle)

The Deity of Christ

"For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,"

Colossians 2:9

The meaning of this verse is so clear. Jesus Christ is God incarnate. If we don't believe this, then we have rejected Christ as Savior. "The doctrine of the nature of Christ has been widely debated throughout the course of Christian history. Some deny the deity (or God nature) of Christ. They teach that He was ONLY a man. They feel that to assert that the Father is God, the Son is God and the Holy Spirit is God is to claim that there are three Gods, not one. The Bible doesn't seek to explain this mind-boggling concept of the Trinity (that three persons are one in essence). It asserts that "the Lord our God, the Lord is one." And it tells us that "Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God." (Jn. 20:31). Jesus Himself told us, "I and the Father are one." -- Rev. Bruce Goettsche. God demanded a perfect sacrifice for sin and only the second person of the Trinity Jesus Christ could fulfill that requirement. If we deny Christ, thinking we can reach God by being a good person, a moral person, then we have made a grave mistake. For God has said that there is no one who is righteous and all that we think of as righteousness is filthy rags to Him (Isaiah 64:6).

Scars of Love

Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!" John 20:28

Thomas refused to believe the testimony of the other ten disciples that Christ had risen from the dead. We may criticize Thomas for his unbelief, but isn't that where we all start? At a point of disbelief? Someone shares the gospel of the risen Savior with us and we find it too hard to believe. Or we read the gospel account for ourselves and still waiver in doubt. I find it interesting that the proof Thomas demanded was the wounds of Jesus: His nail-scarred hands and His pierced side. One can only surmise why Thomas made such a particular request, but it does reveal to us that the wounds of Christ are still visible in His resurrected body. Upon seeing them Thomas proclaimed Jesus' deity: Lord and God. One day those of us who love Him will see the scars of His sacrifice for our sins. And when we behold those scars of love we, like Thomas, may cry "My Lord and my God!".