This is the Baimal Podcast with Marty Solomon. I'm his co-host, Brent Billings. Today we finish our look at John's Book of Signs and the concluding examination of belief and disbelief.

We've seen the signs, but what do we believe? The decision is upon us because his hour has now come.

Yes, this is a closing of the book of signs. John and in the minds of some scholars and I like it. I definitely think it's there. I don't know what you guys see. You guys get to be, you guys get to make your own decision on what you see in the Gospel of John.

I definitely see two distinct portions of John. I love the idea of calling them books. Not that they are actually distinct volumes.

Just that there is one, there is part A and there is part B of John. John has written this Gospel. He told us that we might believe. He's going to tell us that to get it at the very end of the Gospel.

He's written this Gospel so that we could make a decision. This has been an artistic, he is, and by artistic, I don't mean untrue. I just mean John is purposely pulling the Gospel of John together.

In such a way that the reader is pulled into making a decision and responding to that decision.

The first part of this book, the book of signs, is all about the identity of Jesus. It was much more poetic and mystical than the synoptic Gospel, the other three Gospels, which have a much more historic feel to them.

This Gospel is much more poetic in its language, mystical in its presentation. Who is the Christ? Here's all these miracles. Here's all these signs. You have the book of signs. It was all designed to tell you this is who Jesus is.

You get to read about the Jews and how they respond to him. When I say Jews, we've talked about the phrase Judeans, how is the Jewish leadership, how is the Jewish status quo interacting with this Jesus? Some Jews believe in him. Some Jews don't. We've been told that multiple times. Who is this Jesus? Is he the Christ? What is his identity? Where does he come from? Does he have heavenly origins? And now the book comes to a close. We have seen all the signs.

We've seen the miracles. We have to now decide who he is. And the book is going to end with the book of hours. The Gospel is going to end with the book of hours or the book of glory. Either way, his hour has come. The hour is now upon us.

We are now going to see Jesus be glorified. We're going to see Jesus be exalted. But this exaltation is going to look totally backwards. He heads towards his death.

If you believe that Jesus is who he says he is, now you have the second half of John, which says, okay, we'll then prepare to follow him to his crucifixion. If you really want to see a new creation.

If you really want to see what's happening in the new creation, a new resurrection, if you want to be a part of this kingdom, let's see what the book of glory has for us. But today we close up the book, the book of signs. And it's going to open this first verse. Brent's going to open with a statement about miracles and belief.

So if you're ready, we can pick right up. I'm ready. And just to set our context, there's kind of a nebulous amount of time since the passage we covered in the last episode ended. He had been engaging with a crowd and says when he had finished speaking Jesus left and hid himself from them.

And then starting with our passage today, even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. So I kind of get this sense that he, you know, said some stuff and then disappeared. And then they're all left there arguing about it. And the like, should we believe, should we not believe?

Yeah, I'm telling you, John loves to do weird things with time. And we're going to see this. I haven't pointed this out as much as I wish I should have up to this point. But John is also going to talk from like his post resurrection perspective all the time. He's always going to be pulling like the like what we know now, like we now know, like what, like you kind of know the end of the story. And so John's going to do that even in today's passage in next episodes passage.

He's going to speak from where he sits as an author as well as kind of toying with time, even within the story. But he's doing that because he wants you as the reader to be pulled into this drama.

And and and kind of be confronted to make a decision. So this is very artistic on his. He's not as he's not as concerned in my mind with history as Matthew, Mark and Luke.

He is he is concerned with your belief. And he is. And again, by that, I don't mean it's not true. I simply mean his presentation is designed to ask a different question. So there you go.

This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah, the prophet. Lord, who has believed our message into whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For this reason, they could not believe.

Because as Isaiah says elsewhere, he has blinded their eyes and heart and their hearts. So they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn. And I would heal them.

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