The Purpose of the Bible

Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
John 20:30-31

  Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”  Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,  and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead,   and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.   You are witnesses of these things.   And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

Luke 24:44-49

Did you know that the Apostle John tells us the purpose of the Bible? When we read the verses from John 20 shown above, John is talking to his readers. With only one more chapter remaining in the book of John, he is telling us that the miracles of Jesus recorded in his book are just samplings of the many more miracles that Christ had actually done.

We are very skeptical by nature; especially in this age of special effects, nothing really seems to surprise us. Remember, however, there were no special effects at the time of Christ. Can you imagine the reaction of the people when they saw the sick and blind healed and the dead brought back to life?

This, of course, made the religious leaders very nervous; they were comfortable with their religious practices and were not about to have them undermined by this unorthodox Galilean named Jesus.

Are we really that much different today? How popular is the Bible today? By and large, we have burrowed ourselves into a comfortable religious experience or lack of one with no thought of the future - especially of a life after death.

The miracles of Jesus were recorded as much for us today as they were for the people alive during the time of Christ. What difference do they really make in our life? In spite of special effects, which we all realize are not real, Christ was and is real. He was not merely a man who lived long ago doing good deeds; He is Christ, the Son of God, and our Redeemer who is still alive today.

The Bible tells us that Christ came to purchase a people for himself. When we read the life of Christ as written in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we realize that He was not just a man; He is also God. He is our only Hope! Apart from Him we will die because of our sins (oh, yes, we all have sins). We are hopelessly lost; that is why Christ came. He alone, the Perfect Man and Perfect God, is able to pay the debt of our sins.

He alone can take us from being lost to having eternal life. Look to Christ today; turn from your sins; cry out to Him for salvation; accept His payment for your sins and make Him the Lord of your life.

That's it; that is the true purpose of the Bible!