John 20:31

“But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.“

What are “these” that are written? That is the question we should focus on. What are the things that should cause us to believe in Jesus Christ? To trust in Him for eternal life? Well, let us take a closer look at the verses before this one.

This Chapter starts following the death and burial of Jesus Christ. His body had been placed in the tomb and a stone was rolled in front of it. Mary Magdalene (not to be confused with Mary, Jesus’ mother) came to the tomb and she noticed that the stone had been removed from the entrance. She exclaimed to two of the disciples that the body of Jesus had been taken to some unknown place. The two disciples came over and saw that clearly his body was gone. It is remarkably interesting to note here that Jesus had previously told them, on more than one occasion, that he was going to be risen from the dead. This was also taught to them in written scripture. But for some reason, they appeared to forget this fact.

How often do we as followers of Christ forget his words? When faced with situations, trials, and tribulations (which are the very things He said we would encounter in this life) we pretend to not remember His words. That we are more than conquerors. That He will never leave us or forsake us. That it is in Him that we live, move, breathe, and have our being. Hard times are amazingly effective in causing amnesia among us who profess to have faith in Him.

The disciples left and Mary was at the tomb alone crying. She was visited and questioned about her crying by two angels. Then, she saw Jesus. At first, she did not recognize Him because he was now in his glorified body. But she came to understand that it was indeed him! Jesus would go on to appear before the disciples. What makes this so miraculous is the fact that the disciples were together locked in a room when Jesus appeared. That means he did not enter through the door!! But instead he just appeared among them. So here was have Jesus, with a physical body, that can be touched and seen, and that can also appear in a place at any given moment! He also claimed that he was going to ascend to be back with the father once again in heaven. The attributes and glory of God was being shown right here in the person of Jesus Christ.

And that takes us back to the questions that were posed in the beginning. What are “these” that are written? What are the things that should cause us to believe in Jesus Christ? To trust in Him for eternal life? The answer is because it is written that he rose from the dead. There is eyewitness testimony of this happening. After being raised from the dead, he appeared among those that loved him. If He could do all those things, surely, we can count on him to be the exclusive way to salvation and our advocate for a relationship with God Almighty.

KINGDOM DEFINITIONS