John 21:24-25 - Homiletics

Conclusion of the appendix to the Gospel.

These last words are added, not by the apostle, but by some other hand.

I. A TESTIMONY TO THE AUTHORSHIP AND TRUTH OF THIS GOSPEL . "This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true." This language implies:

1. That John was still alive.

2. That he was an eye-witness and an ear-witness of all recorded in this Gospel.

3. That the narratives were written by his hand in a spirit of truth, free from all exaggeration or falsehood.

II. A COMPLETE LIFE OF CHRIST WOULD BE PRACTICALLY OF INFINITE DIMENSIONS . "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."

1. A book of limited extent could never describe the acts of an infinite Being.

2. Thee emphatic place given to our Lord's works, including his miracles, shows the stress that is to be laid, evidentially, upon miracles as an argument for Christianity.

3. The passage implies a vast activity of Christ. After all, we have but few miracles of his life recorded. He verily" went about every day doing good." What an amount of beneficial work he compressed into the three years of his public ministry!

4. It is satisfactory for faith to know that nothing is omitted in the record of Scripture essential to salvation.

5. It was a sign of Divine consideration to the wants of men that the Scriptures should be suitable, in respect of their extent as well as their contents. The Bible is large enough, but not too large for human use.

6. Let us prize it as the exhibition of a Divine life revealed for the salvation of the world.