Signs of Salvation
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2022 · 8 May 2022
We come to the end of John 20. So with that in mind, I’m going to direct our attention to a theme that arises in the closing verses. John 20:30 – 31 says, “And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”
John has two stated purposes for this gospel. One is based on evidence and the other is evangelistic. The first appeals to reason, the second appeals to faith. The first is that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, based on the evidence. The second is that you, in believing, may have life in His name; that’s evangelistic. John lays out for us the evidence that Jesus is God’s anointed Messiah.
In John 8:24, our Lord essentially declared the exclusivity of His identify by saying this: “You will die in your sins unless you believe that I am He.” If you do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you will die in your sins. The positive one is in John 14:6, “Jesus said, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.’” John identifies this foundational truth.
John introduces the exclusivity of Christ by saying in verse 30, “Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book.” If you take all the miracles that John records and add all the ones that Matthew, Mark, and Luke record, you have a list of about forty separate miracles that Jesus did. In particular, seven special miracles are in John’s gospel.
But that is not the sum of all that Jesus did. There were many days when He did forty or more miracles in a day. For three years His life was marked by miracle after miracle of divine power that banished disease from Israel during His ministry. The gospel writers record just some of them as evidence for who He is. It’s important that you believe, so you escape the consequence of your sins.
John 21:25 says, “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written.” Now when we talk about signs we’re simply defining the purpose of a miracle. What’s the purpose of a sign? When you’re at the sign, you’re simply realizing that you’re going in the right direction.
When you’re at the sign/miracle, you’re at the point where Jesus is directing you to look at Him and see that this points to who He is. Verse 31 says, “These signs which have been written by John in this gospel 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.” Eternal life only available to those who believe in Christ.
Now what signs is he talking about? Some have suggested that there are many signs that point to Him as Messiah in a general sense. One would be His action of clearing the temple back in the beginning of His ministry, as recorded in John 2. He single-handedly threw thousands of people out of the temple. A declaration that He takes up God’s cause, such as Messiah would surely do.
Others think that when He said, “As the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness, so the Son of Man will be lifted up,” in John 3 that He was pointing to Himself as the one who fulfills the Old Testament picture demonstrating the power of God to heal and restore those who have been smitten. Others say that even His anointing at Bethany is a kind of sign that He is the Anointed One, the Messiah.
Some would say that the crucifixion record in John’s gospel is a series of signs pointing to Him because of the fulfillment of prophecy recorded at the time of His death. All of these things do point to Him as the Messiah. So do the times that He said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, I am the living water, I am the bread, I am the Good Shepherd.” All those “I am” statements declare Him to be God.
But if we ask, “What exactly is John saying about these signs?” This narrows it down to seven miracles that occur in the gospel of John including the resurrection. In John 21 the Lord demonstrates His control over fish, which demonstrates His sovereignty and power over the animal kingdom and make animals do anything He wants them to do. But now in verses 30 - 31, these seem to be the signs.
Why these signs? Remember Jesus saying, “If they don’t believe the Scriptures, they won’t believe though someone was raised from the dead,” There are three people that Jesus raised from the dead, the third one being Lazarus. And then He Himself was raised from the dead and they did not believe, so it was true. But nonetheless they wanted signs. They wanted supernatural miracles.
But John had in mind seven great miracles. The first sign came in John 2 where Jesus did His first miracle in His public ministry at Cana. Up until this point in His life, at least 30 years of life He had never done a miracle. Here is the first miracles, and He turns water into wine. It is a massively creative miracle. It was a public sign which manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.
In John 4, you see the second miracle. Verse 47 shows the healing of a nobleman’s son., who was ill to the point of death, and this is where Jesus said, “You people see signs and still you will not believe.” He healed that son, and in verse 54 we read, “This is again a second sign that Jesus performed when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.” So now we know the signs are specific detailed miracles.
The third one occurs in John 5, which is the healing of the lame man at the pool of Bethesda. He was paralyzed for 38 years, and there was a superstition that the first one in the water when the angel stirred the water would be healed. Jesus came along, healed him instantaneously and told him to stand up, pick up his pallet and walk. This is a miracle of complete restoration and rehabilitation.
In John 6, we come to the fourth sign, and here we see Jesus’ power over nature. He creates food to feed up to 5,000 men. All He has to start with is two fishes and five biscuits, but He feeds 20,000 people, gives them all they can possibly eat, and has twelve baskets left over for the twelve apostles. Then subsequent to that, He walks on water and stills a storm on the Sea of Galilee.
Then in John 9 we see the next sign, He heals a man who was born blind. And then the next sign is in John 11, which is raising Lazarus from the dead, and he has been dead for days, his body is in a state of decay, and yet Jesus raises him from the dead. Power over death, power over blindness, power over nature, power over deformity, power over illness, power to create. This is proof that He is God.
The final sign comes in John 20 and it’s the resurrection. But to see that as a sign you have to go back to John 2:18, “The Jews were saying to Him, ‘What sign do You show us as Your authority for doing these things?’ Verse 19, “Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” So when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that; and they believed.’”
Jesus has the power Himself to rise from the dead to conquer death. Those are the signs that John details as evidences that this is the Messiah, the Son of God. The purpose is to demonstrate the glory of God in the person of Jesus Christ. John 1:14 says, “The Word (Christ) became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory. It was glory of the only begotten Son, full of grace and truth.”
In John 9, there was this man blind from birth, “And the disciples said, ‘Rabbi,’ to the Lord, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.’” This man is healed, to put God on display, to manifest the glory of God.
The same was the story with Lazarus in John 11:4, “This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.” All these signs are to display the glory of God manifested in the Son of God who is God. They are public displays of divine power that have no human explanation to demonstrate that Jesus is God, Jesus is the Messiah.
Now what was the response? Did the people who saw them believe? There were some. In the very beginning there were people who believed, John 1:41, the early disciples who became His apostles. Andrew says, “We have found the Messiah.” And in John 1:49 Nathanael says, “You are the Son of God.” You are the King of Israel. You are the Anointed One, the Messiah.”
And then in John 4 our Lord discloses who He is to the Samaritan woman, verse 25, “The woman said, ‘I know that Messiah is coming (who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I who speak to you am He.’ She left her water pot, went to the city and said to the men, ‘Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ?’
Verse 39-42, “And many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay; and He stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of His own word. 42 Then they said, “Now we believe, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ.”
The early followers of Jesus in Judea believed. The Samaritans believed. That nobleman whose son Jesus healed believed. At the end of John 4, “The father knew that it was the hour in which Jesus said to him, ‘Your son lives’; and he knew He had healed him at the very hour that the servant told him he got well. And he, the nobleman, believed and his whole household.”
In John 7:40 some people believed. “Some were saying this is the Prophet.” Others were saying, ‘Surely the Christ is not going to come from Galilee, is He? Isn’t He supposed to come from Bethlehem?’ So a division occurred in the crowd because of Him. Some were believing; some wanted to seize Him again. There were some people in the crowd who apparently truly believed.
What was the response of the blind man after he was healed in John 9:35, “Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, “Do you believe in the Son of God?” 36 He answered, “Who is He, Lord that I may believe in Him?” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you.” 38 Then he said, “Lord, I believe!” And he worshiped Jesus.
Martha, the sister of Lazarus truly believed. John 11:25 - 27 says, “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” 27 Marta said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
There were even some rulers who believed. John 12:42, “Many of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear they’d be put out of the synagogue.” At least two of these sort of silent believers show up to bury the Lord and declare themselves as His true followers: Joseph of Arimathea, whose tomb He was buried in; and Nicodemus.
The Passover crowds did not really believe. John 2:23 25, “Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. 24 But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, 25 and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.” Jesus knew their faith was a superficial faith.
So some had superficial faith, about such ones our Lord spoke. And John recorded His words in John 8:31, “Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” James said, “You believe to some degree, but your faith will only manifest its validity if you continue in My word.”
As Isaiah 6 it says, “God has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts so they would not see with their eyes and perceive with their heart and be converted and I heal them.” It’s still that way. Johns says, “I’ve written this gospel; here are the signs that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ.” For us, we stand with Andrew: “We have found the Messiah.” We stand with Nathanael: “We have found the Son of God.”
1 John 4:1, “Don’t believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they’re from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist.”
The sum of it is simply expressed in John 12:37, “Though Jesus had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him.” He gave them what they demanded, yet they were not believing. This fulfilled the word of the prophet in Isaiah 53:1, “Lord, who has believed our report?” They would not believe and for this reason they could not believe. Let us pray.