The Book of Belief

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     John 20:30-31 says, “ Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;   but 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.” 

      If I were to write another book, I would have the title all picked out.  It would be, “Don’t eat the Applesauce.”  It would be a story or a narrative about life in assisted living and eventually in the nursing home.  The applesauce comes from the fact that quite often, pills are crushed and then crushed and placed  into a small container of applesauce and then fed to the resident who needs them.  The applesauce makes it go down easier and gives it a more pleasant taste. Many books have already been written on perhaps most topics in the world today.  While working in a bookstore, we had a set of two volumes, the Bowker Books, which contained the publisher and information of every published book that existed in that particular year.  It was quite handy to find out the publisher of a title that you never heard of.

     The Gospel of John ends with the purpose statement for the book itself in chapter twenty and the final two verses.   I know I have mentioned this before but it is worthy to mention again because of the key word,”believe” which is used some 54 times just in this gospel.  Slso, the statement says that if every miracle was recorded in this book, it wouldn’t be able to hold them all.  There are only 7 miracles mentioned that Christ did in the book itself and if you include the resurrection, there are eight.  The seven miracles are events that took place before the resurrection that gave evidence of Christs power overy different areas such as quality, quantity, time, distance and so forth.  The final verse in this chapter, verse 31, details the reason or purpose for the gospel, that we might  believe that Jesus is the Christ.  How important is that?  You need to recall the Philippian jailor and his question to Paul on how to be saved and Paul answered for him to simply believe in Christ.  The simplicity of the gospel has become the stumbling block for many as they feel it is too simple and so therefore seek other ways that would seem practical to them such as baptism, or a certain quantity of works or self punishment in order to merit such a thing as this great salvation.  Some will say, “you mean that  if I believe that Jesus is the Christ,” I Will be saved.”  That’s what it says,  The statement is then clarified in the final words, “that ye might have life in His name.”  For some reason, simplicity seems to confuse some people so much that they skip it and try to form another more logical way, which there is not.  John 14:6 plainly says, “I am the Way….”  Praise