Believe and Live: The Gospel of John and the Voice of Zechariah

John 20:30–31 (NKJV)

The Purpose of John’s Gospel

³⁰ 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.

Message

The disciple John wrote this book. Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of His disciples that are not recorded in this book (30). However, he wrote what he did write to help us believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, so that by believing, we may have life in His name (31).

John 1:14 declares that the Word became a human being and lived among us (c.f. 1 John 1:1-4). Jesus often affirmed that the Father had sent Him (see John 5:36, 6:38, 8:42, 12:49). The book of Zechariah, one of the prophetic books in the Old Testament, foretold these truths.  See Zechariah 2:10-13 NLT.

¹⁰ The Lord says, “Shout and rejoice, O beautiful Jerusalem, for I am coming to live among you. ¹¹ Many nations will join themselves to the Lord on that day, and they, too, will be my people. I will live among you, and you will know that the Lord of Heaven’s Armies sent me to you. ¹² The land of Judah will be the Lord’s special possession in the holy land, and he will once again choose Jerusalem to be his own city. ¹³ Be silent before the Lord, all humanity, for he is springing into action from his holy dwelling.”

Jesus said, “It is finished!” just before dying on the cross (John 19:30), indicating the work of redemption for the sins of humanity was complete. This fulfillment was foretold in the book of Zechariah.  See Zechariah 3:9 NLT.

…and I will remove the sins of this land in a single day.

I share these verses from Zechariah with readers of the book of John to illustrate the Old Testament prophesies and strengthen their faith.