John 20:30,31–Signs of the Saviour And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disicples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name. Here is John the beloved disciple. He is writing of the risen Lord Jesus Christ. He loves this theme, for he has more on it than any of the other evangelists. He reminds us of another famous penman of Scripture who said; “My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer” (Psa.45:1). When John comes to the verses of our text it is as though he pauses in his flow. He would like to go on, but he is constrained by the Holy Spirit to write these striking verses about the signs of Christ. He suddenly understands that what he has already written is really enough. These signs, the signs he has just described, are the signs of the Saviour that people need to know. We wish to look at this matter. Firstly we must consider the signs which Jesus did. They were abundant. Peter testified to his audience at Pentecost of “Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know” (Acts 2:22). Yet the reference in our text is quite specific. John writes of those signs which Jesus did “in the presence of his disciples.” While Christ performed miracles publicly prior to His death, it is notable that after His resurrection His signs were confined to believers. There is ample evidence in the Bible for the resurrection of Christ. In this chapter John describes the Lord’s appearances to Mary Magdalene, then to the apostles except Thomas, and finally to the apostles including Thomas. The Lord was careful to leave His disciples in no doubt that it was Himself. He showed His disciples His hands and His side; He invited Thomas to touch the places where He had been wounded. These were convincing tokens of a risen Saviour. Luke says concerning Christ and the apostles, “To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days” (Acts 1:3). The resurrection is the great sign of the Messiah. Others have made known the word of God and worked miracles, but none has been raised from the dead “after the power of an endless life” (Heb.7:16). It was the sign which Jesus Himself spoke of to the scribes and Pharisees – the sign of Jonah. “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matt.12:39,40). Then there are the Scriptures which John wrote. Do we ever ask ourselves what the real purpose of the Bible is? God has not given His word simply to teach us history, or to satisfy our curiosity, but for reasons of faith. It is essential to saving faith that the sinner grasps the true identity of the man Jesus of Nazareth. He is revealed in the Scriptures to be the only begotten Son of God and His resurrection from the dead is the supreme testimony to this fact. Death could not hold the One who as God has life in himself and who as the Mediator satisfied for sin to be “the Prince of life” to His people (Acts 3:15). There are those who say that they will believe in Jesus if He will appear to them personally. They are perhaps hoping for a vision or a voice. But we should look no further than the word of God. John is saying here that the Scripture evidences themselves, with the blessing of God, are sufficient to convince us of the resurrection of Christ. By the wonder of inspiration and preservation the signs which Jesus displayed before the eyes of His disciples become our signs too. Finally there is the salvation which we are promised. The doctrine of the resurrection of Christ is seen to be essential to salvation. As sinners we only have life, eternal life, because our Saviour rose from the dead. The wages which God’s people have earned by their sins were paid to Christ – so He suffered and died. But through His sufferings He paid for those sins – so He rose again. We must repent of our sins and put our trust in this strong Redeemer. It is not enough to believe that Jesus is the Son of God: we need to be able to say as Thomas did of Christ, “My Lord and my God” (v.28). Salvation from sin is promised only through faith in the risen Christ. Let us set ourselves to seek this Saviour where He is to be found – in the sure and certain word of God. For our encouragement we should remember the words of Jesus in this chapter: “Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed” (v.29).