John 20:30-31
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 believing ye might have life through his name.

It must have been an unbelievable journey to walk with Jesus, to see all that He did, to hear all that He said.  And in the end, John was able to reflect back and think through all of the things he had experienced with Jesus.  And led by the Holy Spirit, he tells His story.  He writes this book to expose Jesus as best he can, to give as full and complete a picture as he can of Jesus Christ, Savior, Son of God, exactly who He claimed to be.

What John presents in his gospel is more than enough for us to believe.  There we see Jesus as the eternal Word from eternity past and the Creator of all things.  We see Him as our Good Shepherd, seeking out the lost sheep.  We see His power over disease, over devils, and over death.  We see His compassion and love, His evident grace and mercy.  We see a willing teacher full of all wisdom.  We hear pure truth from Him.  We see the Lamb slain and the sacrifice given.  We see the Light of God.  And so we can believe and partake of that eternal life that He offers to us.

Amazingly, there are so many more things that Jesus did that John was a witness to that wouldn’t fit in his book.  But the most important thing to know is that Jesus is the source of eternal life.  He is the only way.  So John and others told His story.  He was willing to tell the truth, even if he was persecuted for doing so.  He had experienced life through Christ, and there is nothing better.  There is nothing that can fill a life with purpose and meaning and value like knowing Jesus can.  And so John wanted everyone to know about Jesus so they could come to know Him and have that life for themselves.

Though the events of John’s book happened many years ago, they are still relevant and meaningful today.  It is still the source of truth, part of God’s Word He has given to us so we can know Him and believe on His Son.  It is still the truth we can share with others so they can come to know Jesus for themselves.  That is still the purpose of the book that was written.  So have we believed it for ourselves?  And are we continuing to tell the story so that others may know and believe, as well?