In John's Gospel in chapter 20,
verses 30 and 31, we read the following. And many other signs
truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, 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
believe in ye might have life through his name. These signs
are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God, and that believe in ye might have life through
his name. John's gospel is very different
in character to any of the other three gospels. Each gospel presents
Christ in a certain light. And John's gospel is very different
to the other three because John's express purpose in his gospel
is to present the divinity of Christ. His purpose is to present
to us Christ as the Son of God, as God himself. He presents to
us Christ, the Son of God, the Creator, The Logos, as he's called,
the Word, the Logos. Logos meaning the reason, the
purpose. He is the cause of all things. He's the reason for all things. He's the logic, the purpose of
all things. Christ is the meaning, the reason
for life. He is the beginning and the end.
He is the Word of God. He is the One by whom God made
all things. He is the Son of God. He is God. And John writes this Gospel in
such a way as to present the accounts of Christ's life in
this world in such a manner as to reveal Him expressly as God
and as the Son of God. He is divine. Well how does John
present his account? How does he present his gospel
to this end? How does he do this? Well if
you just turn back to the first chapter of John, John chapter
1 and verse 1, and read the very beginning of his gospel, you
will find out how he commences. For he commences with three words. In the beginning, in the beginning. In the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him and
without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was
life and the life was the light of men and the light shineth
in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not. In the beginning
was the word, in the beginning. Now when you read the words in
the beginning, where is your mind taken? But back to Genesis
and chapter one, where Moses wrote, in the beginning, God,
in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. Yes,
John sets forth Christ's divinity in the very first words of his
gospel, by reminding us of what was in the beginning, of who
was in the beginning, and of what happened in the beginning.
In the beginning, God. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Christ is God. He is the Son
of God, yes. but he is God himself. It's John
sets forth Christ's divinity by taking us right back to the
beginning and by reminding us of Genesis 1 and the account
of creation in the beginning by presenting Christ to us as
the creator and none is the creator but God himself in the beginning
Christ is the one who created all things. He goes on, John
goes on through his gospel to present Christ to us as this
divine creator, as the son of God, by revealing Christ to us
by means of signs. As we've read in chapter 20,
many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples,
which are not written in this book, But these are written,
these signs 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. John presents to us signs, he
actually presents to us seven signs throughout his book, the
book is a collection of accounts grouped together as seven distinct
signs These signs are not merely miracles which Christ did, but
they are whole sections of narrative, often around a miracle, but centered
around various teachings and various events around that miracle
recorded, to present a whole picture of truth, a whole sign
of truth, which conveys Christ in a certain light. There are
seven signs in John that declare Christ to be Christ the son of
God and God himself the creator. In fact John often uses the number
seven to convey truth. In his gospel here he uses seven
signs as we've seen in the book of Revelation. The revelation
of Jesus Christ which was given to John and recorded by John
is a record of seven distinct visions which John was given
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And often the number seven is
used throughout the Book of Revelation. Seven angels, seven vials, seven
trumpets, often seven is used. And as well as seven signs in
the Gospel of John, John often uses seven in other regards.
There are in fact seven references to sayings of Christ in which
he refers to himself as I Am. Seven distinct I Ams. He says
in John 6.35, I am the bread of life. John 8.12, I am the
light of the world. John 10.7, I am the door of the
sheep. John 10.11, I am the good shepherd. John 11.25, I am the
resurrection and the life. John 14.6, I am the way, the
truth and the life. And finally, John 15, 1, I am
the true vine. There are seven distinct sayings
prefixed by I am. And the meaning of this should
not be lost on us. For I am is the divine title
which God refers to himself as. He calls himself as I am. And
here Christ is himself likening himself to God by the use of
I am. And is here as the Jews knew
exactly what he meant when he repeatedly said, I am. He was asserting himself as being
divine, as the son of God, as God himself. So here John gives
a sevenfold witness to Christ being the I am, being God, being
the creator. But as I said, in his gospel,
he presents Christ with seven signs, seven distinct signs to
portray Christ as the Son of God. But what are these signs
and how are we to discern them? How does John structure his gospel? How does he find a framework
for these signs? That there are seven signs is
one thing. But there is more to these seven
signs than simply the record of the accounts which happened
in them. We can discern the signs and we can find clues as to the
meanings of the signs and what John uses as inspiration for
these signs by again going back to the very first words in his
gospel and where he would take us in the scriptures. We're reminded,
in the beginning was the word. In the beginning God created
the heavens and the earth. So look at Genesis chapter 1. There are seven signs in John,
seven distinct signs and his gospel commences with in the
beginning. It reminds us of the creator
and the creation and it proceeds in figure with a sevenfold unfolding
of creation. Yes, in Genesis 1 we saw six
days of creation, followed by a seventh day on which God rested. And in John's Gospel we see six
distinct signs grouped together from chapters 1 to 12. We then
have a pause where the events of the last day of Christ are
recorded, leading up to the crucifixion. And then in the final two chapters
we read the seventh sign which regards his resurrection. There
are six signs grouped together and finally the seventh regarding
the resurrection. In the creation there are six
days of creation followed by the seventh in which God rested. The seventh day of rest, his
Sabbath rest. a figure of that eternal Sabbath
rest which there is for the people of God in Christ, that eternal
rest in the resurrection with Christ as they are risen from
the dead and go to dwell with Christ in a new heavens and a
new earth. How may we discern these signs? By looking at these
six, these seven days of creation. Let's consider these days, drawn
by the Holy Spirit uses this picture of creation and these
days to set forth christ in his divinity as the son of god as
god as the creator these seven signs in john in essence flow
from these seven days of creation seen in the beginning so let
us consider these days firstly the first day genesis 1 we read
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth and
the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the
face of the deep and the spirit of God moved upon the face of
the waters and God said let there be light and there was light
and God saw the light that it was good and God divided the
light from the darkness and he called the light day, and the
darkness he called night, and the evening and the morning were
the first day. Now in John's gospel we read
in the beginning of Christ being the life, and the life was the
light of men, and the light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness
comprehended it not. We have this prologue in the
first 18 verses of John which declares Christ's coming as the
light into the darkness. Then the first sign is recorded
from chapter 1 and verse 19 through to the end of verse 11 of chapter
2. This is made clear by what it
says in verse 11 after the water at the marriage feast of Cana
is turned into wine by Christ. It says this beginning of signs
did Jesus in Cana of Galilee and manifested forth his glory
and his disciples believed on him. That word signs is rendered
as miracles in the authorized version of the scriptures but
The word in the Greek is semeion and it means sign and it is used
elsewhere and translated as sign. This is the first of the seven
signs. It runs from chapter one and
it concludes with the marriage feast in Cana. The events of
this sign cover three days. They concern John's witness of
Christ. They cover Christ coming to John
on one day and he is baptized of John in Jordan. The day after
his baptism, he calls his disciples under him. And on the third day,
in chapter two, there is a marriage in Cana of Galilee, where water
is turned into wine. These days figuratively point
to Christ's death on the first day, as figured by the baptism.
They then cover his time in the grave and they conclude with
his rising again in the resurrection on the marriage day of the Lamb.
That day in which there's a marriage and which all his people are
with him and in which water is made into wine. Now we saw in
that first day in the creation how there was darkness and how
God brought forth light which we see in his first sign of Christ's
entrance into this world as light and how there's a division of
the light from the darkness and in Christ's death and resurrection
he divides his people his those who are in the light from those
who are in the darkness also in the first day we read that
the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters There
were waters upon which the Spirit of God moved. And in this resurrection
feast, this marriage feast of the Lamb, the great miracle seen
here is how Christ turned the waters into wine. The Spirit
of God, as it were, moves upon the waters and brings forth wine. He brings forth life. He brings
forth light and glory. And in so doing, Christ's glory
is manifested in this beginning of signs. Oh what a need there
is of light. We live in a dark and a dead
and an evil world. We are blind by nature, we are
dark by nature, we're in darkness. But God sent forth his only begotten
Son, the Word of God, the Son of God. the light of the world
into this darkness, to come unto a people who were in captivity
in the darkness, a people who had fallen in sin, a people who
were blind, who were dark, whose souls were dark, whose souls
were dead. He sent his Son to die for a
people, to be slain, to be baptised with that baptism which none
other could be baptised with, to be baptised with fire, to
be baptised in the wrath of God against their sins. That was
what the baptism of Christ was a figure of, that real baptism
which he would suffer in his death upon the cross as he lay
down his life for sinners. The result of which was that
his people were called to him. Because he died for his own,
he could call his disciples unto him. And rising again the third
day, they rose with Him, their sins having been judged in the
One that came into the darkness for them, the One that came to
them in the darkness, that He might bring them into light,
the One that came to take their sins away, that He might bring
them into righteousness, the One that came to dead sinners,
that He might bring them unto life. the One that sent His Spirit
to breathe upon the waters, to move upon the waters of their
souls, and to turn the waters into wine, into that which makes
the heart glad, into that which brings life. Oh, there's a marriage
feast of the Lamb, and what a company will be seen at that feast, what
a gathering, What a multitude He came to save. Are you yet
in darkness? Or has the Son of God come unto
you in the midst of the darkness? And as He said unto the disciples,
as He come unto you and said, follow me, I am the light of
the world. I have laid down my life for
sinners such as you. Do you know you're a sinner? Have you heard of this Saviour?
Have you come unto Him and seen Him in His death? Have you seen
Him in His resurrection? Have you seen His miraculous
glory, the one that can turn water into wine? Yes, the light
came into the darkness. God said, let there be light.
Well, the evening and the morning were the first day. That was
what God did on the first day and that is the first sign in
John. Genesis 1 verse 6 says, And God said, Let there be a
firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the
waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and
divided the waters which were under the firmament from the
waters which were above the firmament. And it was so. And God called
the firmament heaven. And the evening and the morning
were the second day. Yes, on the second day of creation,
God divided the waters below from the waters above. He made
a division. And he called the firmament heaven. We have this picture of heaven
on the second day. Now the second sign in John,
runs from the commencement of the first. The first sign concludes
at 2 and verse 11. The second sign continues in
verse 12 and it concludes at the end of chapter 4, 454. The second sign takes in Christ's
returning to Capernaum. It takes his entrance into Jerusalem
and how he casts out the money changers and the people in the
temple. It takes in his teaching of regarding the temple and of
how if this temple will be destroyed that he will raise it up in three
days in which he speaks of his own death and his own resurrection. And then in chapter three, in
the night, we have the coming of Nicodemus unto Jesus. And Jesus' words to Nicodemus
regarding the need for man to be born again. He says plainly
unto Nicodemus, except the man be born again, he cannot see
the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, how
can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second
time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, verily,
verily, I say unto thee, except the man be born of water and
of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Here
Christ speaks of the need, the absolute need for mankind to
be born again in order to see the kingdom of God, in order
to enter the kingdom of heaven. He says, to Nicodemus who was
puzzled at these things, he said, verily, verily, I say unto thee,
we speak that we do know and testify that we have seen and
you receive not our witness. If I had told you earthly things
and you believe not, how shall you believe if I tell you of
heavenly things? And no man ever ascended up to
heaven but he that came down from heaven, even the son of
man which is in heaven. Yes, Christ speaks of the new
birth. He speaks of the need for Christ
to be lifted up and for how God would give his only begotten
son that all who believe in him should not perish but have everlasting
life. We have John's testimony to Christ. And then in chapter four, we
have the account of Christ coming to the woman of Samaria to draw
water and of his teaching of that everlasting life, that everlasting
life found in the water of life. So we see when we compare what
was created on the second day, this division of the waters which
are below from the waters which are above. And the firmament
which is called heaven. We see that heaven is considered. Heaven, heavenly things. And
in this second sign in John, there is an express consideration
of heaven, of the kingdom of God, of the entrance into the
kingdom of God, the entrance into heaven, the division of
earth from heaven, the need to enter into heaven, the need to
be born again, if we are ever to enter heaven. Yes, ye must,
ye must, be born again, for by nature we are dead in trespasses
and sins. We may have a first birth, but
in Adam, our father, we rebelled against God and we fell into
sin and into death. We're born sinners. We're blind
to the truth. We cannot see the truth. We cannot
comprehend the truth. We cannot comprehend the things
of God. We cannot see the things of God.
We cannot enter into the kingdom of God. We cannot enter into
heaven. We need the spirit to move upon
us. We need the spirit to quicken
us unto life. We must, we must be born again. Yes, this sign concerns heaven
and the entrance into heaven and the water of life which is
found in heaven. Ye must be born again. We see
this entrance into heaven. We see the heavenly water at
the well. The waters above were divided
from the waters below. There is water upon this earth. You can drink of the water from
a well upon the earth, but God has divided the waters above
from the waters below, and there is heavenly water, which if a
man drinks, he will never thirst. There is that water which the
Holy Ghost brings from heaven above, the water of life which
is found in Jesus Christ and Him alone, that water which we
will drink of when we are born again. Yes, there is heavenly
water. Heavenly water. This second sign
concludes with the healing of the nobleman's son, who was on
the brink of death. And Christ heals him and brings
one who was, as it were, dead back to life. And this heavenly
water is that which brings life. There's life. And is life found
only in the Gospel, only in Christ, only by His words. For He is
the Son of God. He is God. He is the Creator. And when He brings life, He brings
life forevermore. When He gives water, He gives
water which, once drunk, will never lead to thirst again. Heavenly
water. On the third day, we read, and
God said, let the waters under the heaven be gathered together
unto one place, and let the dry land appear, and it was so. And
God called the dry land earth, and the gathering together of
the waters called he seas, and God saw that it was good. And
God said, let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding
seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed
is in itself upon the earth, and it was so. and the earth
brought forth grass and herb yielding seed after his kind,
and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself after
his kind. And God saw that it was good.
And the evening and the morning were the third day. In this third
sign, God divides the waters from the dry land, and he brings
forth living things, the trees, the fruits, after their kind
upon the earth. The dry land is separated from
the waters, and life is seen to be brought forth upon the
earth. The third sign in John is in chapter 5. It concerns
the man at the pool of Bethesda. It concerns the healing of this
man. He sits on the dry land beside
the waters and he cannot get into the waters that he might
have life. And one comes unto him to whom
he cries for mercy and one heals him. He brings life to this one
who sits, as it were, unable to heal himself by the means
of these waters. And then we see the reaction
of the Jews to this man. We see the division, we see the
reactions of two groups of people who respond according to their
kind. Those who are the Pharisees,
Those who are of the earth, those who are of earthly religion respond
according to their nature and their birth. They're of the earth,
earthly, and they oppose that which is of the heaven, heavenly.
They walk according to their kind, and they accuse and find
fault, they find fault with the man and they find fault with
the one who healed him. And we see the reactions of these
things according to their kind. yes there is water and there
is dry land and there is life there is that life which is brought
in those who are of God that which is heavenly and there is
that response after its kind of the earth earthy which opposes
that which is of God which opposes that which is of God's mercy
for this pool is the pool of Bethesda the house of mercy It
is at the sheep gate, that which concerns the sheep, God's sheep,
those to whom he shows mercy, those to whom men of this earth
after their kind rail and oppose and persecute. On the fourth
day, God said, let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven
to divide the day from the night. and let them be for signs and
for seasons and for days and years. And let them be for lights
in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
and it was so. And God made two great lights,
the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to
rule the night. He made the stars also, and God
set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon
the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night. and to
divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. On this
fourth day, God creates lights in the heavens. But as well as
the stars, he creates two great lights, the sun and the moon. Now there's great spiritual significance
in what is meant here from Genesis alone, even without considering
what John brings forth in his sign in his gospel. These two
great lights have great significance in their relationship to the
gospel. One is the moon, and one is the sun. The moon is that
which lights up the darkness. The sun is that which lights
up the day, which not only brings light in the darkness, but it
brings so great a light that it brings the day. The sun is
a picture symbolic of Christ, the son of God. the sun of righteousness,
he who is the light, he who has light in himself, he who is the
light of the world, as he testifies of himself in John's Gospel.
He who is light, this sun is a picture of Christ. The moon,
the lesser light, which rules the night, its light is not of
itself. The moon's light is merely a
reflection, it reflects the light of the sun. In the physical realm,
the light of the moon is a reflection of the light of the sun. It brings
light in the darkness, but it has no light in itself. Ultimately,
the light comes from the sun. Spiritually speaking, these two
things regard law and gospel. Christ is made known in the gospel. The Son of God is revealed in
the gospel. The moon is a picture of the
law. For the law brings light in darkness,
but it is not that full light which is made known in the gospel.
The law has no light in itself. It merely reflects the light
of God as seen in Christ. The glory of the law is that
which is to be done away with, as we read in 2 Corinthians 3.
Moses' face shone when he was given the law on the mount, but
that shining faded. It was a reflection of the glory
of God. There is a glory attached to
the law in how it reveals the justice and the holiness of God
to us. But it is nothing compared to
that glory which is found in Christ and in his gospel. that
these two lights regard law and gospel. The fourth sign in John
is from John 6, 1 through to John 8 and 59, chapters 6, 7
and 8. And very briefly, if you were
to read those chapters, the clear contrast of the teaching in the
chapters in those gospel is between Christ and his gospel, and between
the testimony of the scribes and Pharisees to the law of God.
There is much contrast between Christ as the light of the world,
as the bread of heaven, as that bread which comes down from heaven,
and that testimony of man, of the Pharisees, those custodians
of the law, in the darkness of their religion on the earth.
I'll not go into these things now, but the clear contrast,
the teaching in those chapters is a contrast between grace and
law. between law and gospel, between
Christ, the light of God, and between the darkness of man under
the law. God sent his law to show man
his sin, not to bring him righteousness. God sent the law to shut up man
condemned under the law as a guilty sinner, and to shut him up to
the coming of Christ in the gospel. Yet these Pharisees thought that
by the law they might attain unto heaven. By the deeds of
the law, their keeping of the law, they might come unto God.
And as such, they remained in darkness, despite the testimony
of the light which was reflected in the law as a reflection of
Christ in the gospel. Yet Christ, the true light, comes
unto them, and they oppose and they reject him. The fifth day,
God begins to create the living creatures upon the earth. He
says, let the waters bring forth abundantly, and the moving creature
that have life, and fowl that may fly above the earth, and
the open firmament of heaven. And God created great whales,
and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought
forth abundantly after their kind, and after every winged
fowl after his kind. And God saw that it was good.
And God blessed them saying, be fruitful and multiply and
fill the waters in the earth and let fowl multiply in the
earth. And the evening and the morning
were the fifth day. Yes, on the fifth day, God begins
his creation of living creatures. He commences with the creation
of the creatures in the waters below and the creatures in the
air above. He has two creatures divided
one from the other, those in the heavens and those in the
earth, under the earth, in the waters. In the fifth sign in
John, the fifth sign in John runs from the beginning of chapter
nine through to chapter 10, verse 40, chapters nine and 10. This
sign, encompasses a number of things
but it primarily, as we come into chapter 10, it primarily
concerns his teaching regarding his sheep as distinct from those
who are goats who are not his sheep. In chapter 9 he commences
by saying that Christ works in the day for the night cometh
when no man can work. He speaks of his work and he
heals a blind man by taking clay from the ground and anointing
it on his eyes. He shows his work of creation
and then he commences in chapter 10 to speak of him being the
shepherd of the sheep, to speak of how he is the good shepherd,
to speak of how he lays down his life for the sheep and none
other, and to speak of those who believe as being his sheep. And he bears testimony to those
who don't believe, the Pharisees, that they believe not because
they are not of his sheep. They are goats. So we see this
relationship to the sheep, to the animals, to the creatures.
God speaks of his people as being sheep. And yet there are two
types of creatures spoken of here. There are those who are
his who believe, and there are those who are not. There are
two types. There are those who are of heaven,
and there are those who are of the earth. There's a great distinction
made between those who believe and those who oppose. Those who
are in Christ's hands who will never be plucked from it, and
those who believe not because they are not of his sheep. There
are creatures of the earth, creatures below, who hate and despise Christ
and his sheep. and creatures who are heavenly,
his own, who are born from above, those of the earth below and
those above. As God on the fifth day created
two lots of creatures, those above in the heavens who flew,
and those below. And a distinction is seen. So we see this clear distinction
in this fifth sign in John, between the sheep and the goats. And then on the sixth day, the
work of creation comes to its conclusion with the greatest
of God's creations, the creation of man. He completes his creation
of the animals and then creates man. We read, and God said, let
the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle
and creeping things, beast of the earth after his kind, and
it was so. God made the beast of the earth after his kind and
cattle after their kind. and everything that creepeth
upon the earth after his kind, and God saw that it was good.
And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness,
and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over
the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the
earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the
earth. So God created man in his own
image. In the image of God created he
him. male and female created he them
and then at the end we read and God saw everything that he had
made and behold it was very good and the evening and the morning
were the sixth day yes finally God creates man on the sixth
day and in the sixth sign in John which is a very very clear
sign The sixth sign in John is in chapters 11 and 12. It respects
the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead. This clear testimony
to the bringing of life unto man from the dead. Lazarus had
died and laid in the tomb four days. And Christ comes unto him,
unto this dead man in the dust in the earth. And out of nothing
he brings forth life. and man walks and lives he cries
out Lazarus come forth and Lazarus came forth how this is pictured
or by this sixth day of God's creation of man of the greatest
order of creation man is created and on in the sixth sign John
has this in mind on this sixth sign he has the sixth day of
creation in mind when he gives this account of the resurrection
of life in man, of Lazarus being brought forth. And then in chapter
12 of John, the second half of the sign, we see the woman. We've seen Mary and Martha and
Lazarus, this family whom Jesus loves. And Lazarus is brought
to life in the first part of the sign and then in chapter
12 in John, as they are seated in Simon's house, Lazarus and
Mary there, the woman Mary, the woman anoints Jesus' feet and
washes them. And we see this glorious picture
of the woman coming unto Christ, as it were the bride of Christ
coming unto the man and anointing and washing his feet. So we've
had the life of man pictured and yet the woman is not passed
by for the woman is pictured with this picture of the woman
in chapter 12. Yes God created man in his own image in the image
of God created he him male and female created he them from nothing
he brought forth life we're dead by nature dead like Lazarus and
we need life, we need life and we need Christ to come unto us
and bring us to life. The first man Adam in the garden
by his rebellion when he disobeyed God he brought in sin and death
and yet here in this sixth sign the second man Christ conquers
death and brings life from the dead. That contrast we see in
Romans 5, by the disobedience of one many were made sinners
but by the obedience, by one obedience, the obedience of one
many were made righteous. Christ brought in life and in
bringing in life he brought his bride to him, the last Adam. Eve was brought to him the last
Adam, of whom Adam was but a picture. And so in this sixth time, we
see the woman, a picture of this bride, a picture of Eve, a picture
of the bride of Christ, washing his feet. Male and female created
he then. Well, that was the sixth day.
And God saw that it was very good. Well, what of the seventh
day? Thus the heavens and the earth
were finished and all the host of them. And on the seventh day,
God ended his work which he had made and he rested on the seventh
day from all his work which he had made and God blessed the
seventh day and sanctified it because that in it he had rested
from all his work which God created and made yes on the seventh day
God rested the work was done in six days and then he rested
And so in John's Gospel he's given us these six signs during
which Christ works. These are then followed by the
account of Christ's last day and his actual crucifixion. And
in John's Gospel the account of his crucifixion when he has
died, when he has taken away the sins of his people, when
all is done, all is complete, Christ cries out with a loud
voice, it is finished. It is finished. The work is done. The work is over. All his creative
work in delivering his people, in bringing life to his own,
in saving the people, his work of creation, this one who died
upon the cross, this Son of God, this same God, this same Word
by whom the worlds were created in six days, on the cross he
cries out, it is finished. and it was finished, the work
was done. This is the only gospel in which
the phrase it is finished is used. Why? Because John would
have us see that the end of the six days is done, the work is
over, and Christ now in the resurrection enters into his rest. For in
John chapter 20, in the seventh sign, we see the resurrection. We see the rest which Christ
enters into with his people. He rises from the dead and the
women come to the tomb and they find him, they find him risen. His work is completed, it is
all done and God looks upon the work and sees that it is very
good. As Christ said at the beginning
of John 9, I must work the works of him that sent me while it
is day. The night cometh when no man
can work. And after that night upon the
cross, when sin was blotted out in that hour of darkness, he
cries out, it is finished. And on the third day, he rises
again, the work complete. The work complete, the six days
of working over, and in the seventh day, he enters into rest. But
when does he first appear on this day of rest, and where does
he appear? He appears in the garden. the
garden, the tomb is in the garden, it is recorded as being in the
garden. And Mary when she sees Christ
mistakes him for the gardener. Now why in the garden? Why is
special mention made in John's gospel and John's gospel only
of it being in the garden? And why does she mistake Christ
as being the gardener? Indeed in the previous chapter
when Christ is In Gethsemane, as we know from the other Gospels,
the word Gethsemane isn't used. In the previous chapter, when
Christ prays, leading up to his crucifixion, it is mentioned
that he goes into a garden. John is emphasising the garden
here. The garden before the crucifixion,
the garden when he rises again. And he's mistaken as the gardener.
Now, why the garden? Well, obviously, to bring our
thoughts back to the garden. The garden of Eden. For this
is the gardener, the one that made Eden, the one that brought
life in Eden, the one that put man in Eden. No mention is made
of Gethsemane, but only the garden. And Christ is here mistaken as
the gardener. Well, he is the gardener. He's
not simply an earthly gardener. He's the one that made Eden.
He's the one that made the world. And he's the one that made man.
And he's the one that brought life unto man, everlasting life. And in this risen life, in which
Christ is and in which all his people who believe on him enter. There is no more death, there
is no more work, there is only rest, there is only eternal life,
everlasting rest. God rested on the seventh day,
he rested and he looked upon all that he had done and it was
good, it was good. everlasting life. It was good. Oh, can you see these signs? These things are written that
ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. He is God, the creator, and that
believing ye might have life through his name. Can you see
him? Look to him, see the signs. See how wonderfully true the
Scriptures are, how they are united as one. But most of all,
may God open your eyes to see who this one is of whom John
writes, that he is very God, that he is God himself, that
he is the Son of God. For what he writes is true, for
he tells us, this is the disciple which testified of these things
and wrote these things. and we know that his testimony
is true. And there are also many other
things which Jesus did, the which if they should be written every
one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain
the books that should be written. Amen.