Believe
Scripture Reading: 2 Samuel 16-17; John 6; Psalm 120
The Gospel of John has always been one of my favorite books in the Bible. I have several commentaries on it, enough to fill a shelf in my library. One of them is titled The Gospel of Belief. It’s not my favorite commentary, but it is my favorite title—because it captures, with profound simplicity, what the book is all about. It tells us what John was aiming at when he wrote. And we’re not left guessing—John himself tells us:
"Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so 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
John chapter 6 centers around the miracle of feeding the multitude. That one miracle leads to several others—Jesus walks on water, and the crowd follows Him—but everything flows from the feeding of the 5,000. Jesus uses this miracle as a teaching moment. He uses it to call the people to faith.
But what does it mean to believe?
This is something I deeply appreciate about John’s Gospel. Its purpose is to help us believe, and John goes to great lengths to make clear what that means. He doesn’t just use the word believe—he explains it through pictures and metaphors. We see that in John 6.
In this chapter, Jesus says, “Come to me,” as a phrase synonymous with belief. He also uses the act of eating bread as a metaphor for believing:
“This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die... If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.” (John 6:50–51)
Then Jesus goes further, pointing toward His crucifixion, and deepens the metaphor:
“Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him... whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me... whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” (John 6:54–58)
Jesus isn’t introducing a new idea here—He’s not moving away from belief. He is helping us understand what saving belief looks like. Reading the whole chapter shows us that believing in Christ, coming to Christ, and feeding on Christ are not three different actions—they are one and the same, viewed from different angles.
Why does the Holy Spirit, through John, approach belief this way? Because He wants you to believe—and He’s giving you as many ways to grasp what that means as possible.
Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.
