Why

John 20:24-31

“...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.” John 20:31

And finally we see his heart; John’s heart. We are near the end of his firsthand account of Jesus’ life and I hope we consider it a privilege to know why he took the time to write it out. It’s between you and God whether you respond the way John had hoped. He wrote in the hope that you (and I) would:

1. Believe Jesus is The Christ
2. Believe Jesus is the Son of God
3. That by believing, we would have life in Jesus’ name

It isn’t as if John wanted us to receive 3 separate things, like a toaster, a baseball and a new kitten. I’m just listing them so as to address the implications of each.

Jesus is The Christ

“Christ” is a title. It was another word used to describe the deliverer, or Messiah. The Jews generally looked towards the Christ as being someone who would restore Israel to her sovereign place among the nations. God’s purpose for the Messiah was much grander – all of humanity.

Depending on your worldview, you might not think humanity is in need of saving. We are indeed making progress in many ways. There are facets of life however that our advancement simply cannot help with. We are medicated more than ever and medicine has its place, but we’re really losing ground to anxiety and depression. We have more communication tools at our disposal than ever before, but are increasingly disconnected from one another. Feel free to believe that we are not falling apart, but you do realize that we have no solution to our own mortality. The Christ was to reconcile God with mankind. Try inventing a pill or an app that does that. Jesus is not just “A” deliverer, but “THE” Messiah, once for all time.

The Son of God

God’s love for the people He created prompted Him to send His very own Son. I love a few people. I do not love any of them enough to give them my son. As God’s Son, Jesus is uniquely situated to represent us before The Father as well as The Father to us in a way that no other can. The Christ had to be The Son. Anyone else would merely be a representative.

You May Have Life in Jesus’ Name

If I tell you Jesus wants you to have life now, how would you interpret that? He does care about your life now, but that doesn’t mean that by believing you will be healthy and wealthy. As for this life, I think the implications for faith in Jesus have more to do with receiving the peace, strength, hope and perseverance in the midst of life. It’s not just life that John is referring to: It is life in Christ’s name. Our life, our identity is to be lived out in Christ. His name is the name we are to be known for. His name is the flag that represents our lives. If we are His, we are to be known primarily as His, not for our “own” accomplishments. As for the life after death, He’s taken care of that too.