At first His disciples did not understand all this.

Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize

that these things had been written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.
John 12:16
This Sunday Evening we restart our Evening Worship Services after our two month summer
break. We will continue our exposition of the Gospel of John at the point that we left off at the end of
June. This is John 12:1-19. This chapter finishes off the first half of Johns Gospel which is concerned
with seven signs which teach biblical truth. John weaves these seven signs into his account of the life
and ministry of Christ drawing clear Biblical teaching out of each one of them. John tells us at the end of
his Gospel that he has been selective in what he has included in this Gospel because he wants to pursue
an evangelistic purpose. He writes in John 20:30-31 this, 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, and that by believing you may have life in His Name. What a
wonderful statement of his purpose in this Gospel record. He brings us to ask ourselves the question
have we received life in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. If we have not them we truly have not
understood the message of the Gospel of John.
The first half of the Gospel is often referred to as the Book of Signs. The second half has been
referred to as the Book of Jesus Hour. John weaves into each of these halves material that overlaps
and which helps us to understand what is being taught here. The second half points to teaching about
the cross of Christ. His hour has come for Him to lay down His life for His Church. The first half weaves
together a series of seven miraculous signs that make it clear to us that the Lord Jesus Christ is truly the
Son of Man who lays down His life for us.
To review these seven miraculous signs, meaning miracles which Jesus does which teach Biblical
truth, we must retrace them in the first half of the Gospel. They are as follows.
1) John 2:1ff Jesus turns water into wine.
2) John 4:43ff Jesus heals a Noblemans son who is dying of a fever.
3) John 5:1ff Jesus heals a lame man at the pool called Bethesda.
4) John 6:1ff Jesus feeds the 5000.
5) John 6:16ff Jesus walks on the water.
6) John 9:1ff Jesus heals a blind man.
7) John 11:1ff Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead.
In each case John then records the teaching which Jesus gave as a consequence of the sign miracle
which He had done. These are meant to lead us to faith in Christ. John wants to make sure that the
faith that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ is firmly rooted in the promises revealed in the Scriptures. As
John explains this to us he confesses the ignorance which the Apostles had at one point. They had not
understood, or believed, that Jesus was the Christ at the point that these signs were being done. It was
only after Jesus was glorified that they put it all together, believing that these Scriptural prophesies
were pointing in reality to the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is the Biblical faith that we must have if we are to be saved. In faith we look to the Lord
Jesus Christ as Gods promised redeemer. As we explore this book this is the point that John is
confronting each of us with. Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ?