The World Could Not Contain the Books that Would Be Written (11/15)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Luke 24; John 20-21.

The gospels record a relatively brief period in the life of Jesus on the earth. There are many things that Jesus said and did that were not recorded. John, at the end of his gospel, explained that it would not be possible to record everything.

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” (John 21:25).

If the gospels do not contain everything that Jesus said or did on the earth, then why did the gospel writers record what they did? Remember, Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to guide the apostles “into all the truth” (John 16:13). So why was it that the Holy Spirit had these men include certain things and omit other things? John gave the answer:

Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these 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” (John 20:30-31).

The criteria used to determine what would be included in the gospels did not have to do with what would be most interesting to future readers. Instead, those things that were included were designed to produce saving faith.

There may be many unrecorded things about Jesus’ time on the earth about which we might be curious. But God has made sure we have been given everything we need to possess faith. Peter later wrote that God had “granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence” (2 Peter 1:3). What we find in the gospels is sufficient to prove that “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.”

Tomorrow’s reading: Acts 1-3

[I’m using the Chronological reading plan on the Bible Gateway website if you’d like to follow along, too.]


Daily Notes & Observations contains all 365 articles from this series and is available in paperback from Gospel Armory.


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