JOHN 20:30 or The Purpose Of This Book

Today, quite by accident I read John 20:30. It is a small part of a bigger chapter but has its own sub heading, signifying it's importance. It explains that "Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples which are not written in this book." (referring to the Bible of course in which this scripture is found.) It goes on to further say "these are written so that you may come to believe (I guess He knew we'd need proof) that Jesus is the Messiah, The Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in His name."

I was dumbstruck with the epiphany that hit me square in the eyes as I thought of the naysayers and the non-believers, many of whom I know and love. I thought of how people say the Bible is written by a bunch of different men, implying human manipulation, inconsistency, and well....lies. I thought of so many things said against the truth of the Bible as God's Word; even that there are other books not included in the Bible that have been found and these ancient works must contradict the actual truth of the Bible because, after all, they aren't included probably because they are in some way adding or subtracting from what is included and that must mean conspiracy to try and make the Bible say what evil men want it to say with the ultimate goal of controlling the masses. Whew!!!! I mean the rationalizing and justifying that takes place to just prove it wrong is insane.

Yet, I sat on a Saturday afternoon in Florida where my son is in training and in his last year of high school, at IMG Academy, reading quite by accident the above scripture. It dawned on me quite amazingly and miraculously that what was written carried a profound truth. John was telling us waaaaay back then that Jesus did ALOT of things in front of him and his friends but what would come to be included in the Book was for us to believe and have life in His name. In that moment I knew that THIS Bible really is the exact, true, Word of God leading us to, and affirming, a belief in Jesus and his mission here on earth. I have never been more convinced that every word, every sentence, and every paragraph made its way into this book because God knew that thousands of years later it would equal the proof needed for the existence of Christ; God on earth.

Scientists have broken down even the numerical equation of every word and letter in the Bible to come up with the same mathematic equation no matter how you divide the number of books, names, people, letters, and paragraphs. This is a fact I discovered a few weeks ago, while honeymooning in Santorini, Greece. It stuck with me because it went on top of a long list of scientists and former non believers whose work and research keeps validating the existence of Jesus, the truth of the Bible, and the total fact that God and his work through Jesus must be real because there is no way any human, group of humans, corporations or mass conspiracy theory or theorist, could have actually, over thousands of years, without ever meeting or knowing each other, manipulated the choosing of which books would mathematically and in every other scientific and prophetical way speak to the details concerning the coming of, the birth of, the life of, and even the death of the Son of God; Jesus. It's just not possible that the Bible is not the Word of God helping us understand the truth and love and life giving power found in the belief and acceptance of the reality that Jesus was, and is, real. In a small scripture that I never paid attention to until today when something supernatural moved me and sleighed me in a deep, profound way, I got it: God KNEW exactly what Gospels, and Words, and prophetic and seemingly entertaining stories to put together so that throughout thousands of years man could come to see, and test, and ask, and examine, and understand...that Jesus was, and is, real.

And, then what made me cry was the even deeper, more profound, truth that existed in the overwhelming feeling of reality that struck me when I totally got that He, GOD, did all this manipulating and calculating and arranging of equations and people and truths and prophecies and events and predictions of what we will encounter in this world and what we will receive when He returns...because He LOVED us. Every discussion, debate, and argument about His truth only further validates the truth that He existed and he died for us. With all that He has done to assure that thousands of years later we could have some proof of what to believe in, we should KNOW how much He LOVES us. He truly LOVED and LOVES us; even knowing how miserable and wretched and devoted we are to not acknowledging, or dealing with, or even taking time for...Him in return. HE loves US.

So, I know without a doubt, that He, great, almighty, all-seeing, all knowing HE, knew who and what I am, and would be, and still loved me anyway.

Wow. Now that's God. Thank you. I love you too; never as much as I should, but I do.