Do You now believe? Jesus replied. A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me. I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. 

John 16:31-33 

Jesus has already won. As He prepared His disciples for the horrific impending events of the next few hours, He concluded His remarks with the words of our text. In these words, He realistically describes the experience of believers in the world that is hostile to Him. He says, ‘In the world you will have tribulation.’ He declares that even though they will have tribulation they will have peace in spite of it. What makes for their peace? It is the fact that Christ has overcome the world. This means they will not only have peace but even good cheer in the midst of their trouble. Why, because they know what others do not know, that Christ has already won the victory over the world. This has enabled the people of God to bear up under the most adverse onslaughts against them from that day until today. Christ has always made good on His word. Every promise He made, He has fulfilled in due course of time. He promised, on the night He spoke the words of our text, that He would come again to receive us unto Himself, that where He is there we may be also. John describes His return in the Book of Revelation. He appears as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He returns as the Overcomer to do judgment and justice. We may be of good cheer.  

Our Glorious, Victorious Christ, 
we rejoice that You have won the victory. 
We praise You that You will come again, 
to subdue all things unto Yourself. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Jesus answered them, Do you now believe?  

John 16:31  

But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. 

John 20:31 

Why did John write his gospel? The second portion of our text articulates it. John believed. The other disciples believed. He wanted us, his readers to believe. We live by faith. What the world around us calls foolishness, we believe by faith. John wrote of what he saw. Peter, James, John and all the rest of the disciples could not help but speak of what they had seen and heard. They became witnesses of Christ in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth. Their intention was to preach Christ to the purpose that people would believe. To that end they lived and for that truth they died. We are the inheritors of their message. Their message has become our message. We have the privilege to proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord. He is the Word; the Lamb of God; the Son of God; the King of Israel; the Way, the Truth and the Life.  He is He who lives and was dead and behold is alive forevermore. He has the keys of hell and of death. He is the Once and Future King. We believe, and proclaim Him that you also might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that believing you might have life through His Name. This is the most worthy use of time we can make. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.  

Our Glorious, Living Christ, 
we rejoice that You have revealed Yourself to us. 
We praise You that we have the privilege to proclaim You, 
that others also may believe. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Jesus answered them, Do you now believe?  

John 16:31 

Then He said to Thomas, Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing. 

John 20:27 

Christ overcomes our unbelief by personal intervention. After He had arisen from the dead, He showed Himself to the disciples who gathered behind locked doors for fear of the religionists. Thomas was not there on this occasion. He was a hard sell. When he heard the others say they had seen Christ alive, he responded, ‘…Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.’ Christ accommodated Thomas in a personal way. On the next Sunday, He appeared again to the gathered disciples, Thomas being there also. He addressed him directly with words of our text. What did Christ want from him? ‘Do not be unbelieving, but believing.’ What does Christ want from us? He wants us to believe in Him. This supersedes every other belief. We may not believe in the organizations, institutions or some of the people who claim to speak for Him. We do believe in Him, and that is above all else what He wants by His Own testimony. Christ is the Person Who has done what is necessary to bring us to God. He has lived the life; died the death; risen from the dead; and proven Himself to us in every way. We believe in Him for all these reasons and more. He graciously restores our faith, when it has failed by giving us a clear sight of Himself.  

Our Gracious Master, and our God, 
we rejoice that You restore our faith. 
We praise You that all You do 
brings us to believe. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Jesus answered them, Do you now believe?  

John 16:31 

Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed. For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. 

John 20:8,9 

What restored the faith of the disciples after the death of Christ? The answer is, His resurrection. John identifies himself as ‘the other disciple’ who was with Peter at the tomb. He says, ‘he saw and believed.’ Over the course of that day, Christ appeared to Mary Magdalene, the two disciples on the road to Emmaus and then to the disciples gathered together behind locked doors for fear of the Jews. It would be a week before He appeared to them again to personally address Thomas, in order that he would believe. The fact remains that the resurrection was what brought their belief back to life. ‘Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord.’ What makes our faith live? It is a clear sight of the risen Christ. We have seen His deeds. We have read His words. We have beheld His agony. We have heard His cries. We have seen where they have laid Him. We have witnessed that He has risen from the dead. Above 500 brethren saw Him at one time. The Apostles all bore witness they had seen Him in Person. The resurrection of Christ is one of the most well-attested facts in human history. It has fired the faith of millions and has power today. With all of them we say, ‘The Lord is risen!’  

Our Glorious, Risen Christ, 
we rejoice that You are alive from the dead. 
We praise You that we can have confidence in You, 
our Risen Lord. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning