SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/5/2017
12:11 PM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-4 “Christ’s Appearance to Thomas”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: John
20:30-31
Message of the
verses: “30 Therefore many other
signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not
written in this book; 31 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.”
It has been a long time since we first thought about verses
30-31 of John chapter 20, as they are the theme verses of the gospel of John and
not today we finally get to look at these verses in context to those that came
before them.
John MacArthur comments “Thomas’ confession and Christ’s
response are a fitting lead in to John’s summary statement of his goal and
purpose in writing his gospel…Those who have not and will not see the Lord
risen will depend on this gospel penned by John (as well as the other three) to
provide the word concerning Christ by which the Spirit can give them
regeneration and faith (Rom. 10:17).” “So
faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”
John tells us that there are many other miracles that
Jesus did which are not recorded in John’s Gospel nor the other three
Gospels. The miracles that are recorded
in the gospels are there for a reason, to show first of all that Christ is God
come in the flesh, and that Christ has the power to perform miracles in an
instant in most cases. When we looked at
the raising of Lazarus from the dead, and looked at it from a human point of
view telling some things that happens to a body once the spirit leaves it, we
can better tell just how great a miracle happened with Lazarus’ raising from
the dead. Now the greatest miracle in
the Gospels is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, for this shows
us that God was satisfied with the payment that Christ made for our sins. John MacArthur writes that the miracles that
he describes “establishes that this gospel of John is about the miraculous
signs pointing to Jesus as Christ and Lord—for the purpose John explicitly
expresses in the next statement: “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.”
“As has been said, to expand this verse one need only to
go back through the whole gospel. This
is the summary statement. To believe
that Jesus Chris is God incarnate (1:1, 14), the Lamb of God who takes away the
sin of the world (1:29), and the resurrection and life (11:25) is to believe
that truth that when accepted provides forgiveness of sin and eternal life
(3:16). John’s purp0ose is clearly
evangelistic. Again, Carson aptly
unifies the thought:
‘John’s purpose is not
academic. He writes in order that men
and women may believe certain propositional truth, the truth that the Christ,
the Son of God, is Jesus, the Jesus whose portrait is drawn in this
Gospel. But such faith is not an end in
itself. It is directed toward the goal
of personal, eschatological salvation: that by believing you may have life in his
name. This is still the purpose of
this book today, and at the heart of the Christians mission.’”
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Christ, gain (Philippians
1:21).
Today’s Bible
question: “In Malachi 3:2, when the Lord
comes to his temple, he shall be like what?”
Answer in our next SD.
6/5/2017 12:32 PM
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