“Jesus also did MANY OTHER THINGS. What if every one of them were written down? I suppose that even THE WHOLE WORLD WOULD NOT HAVE ROOM FOR THE BOOKS THAT WOULD BE WRITTEN.” (John 21:24-25)
In Jewish circles, there was a prominent rabbi named Eliezer. He used this illustration to express the meaning of John 21:24-25. “If the heavens were parchment, and all the sons of men writers, and all the trees of the forest pens, they would not be sufficient for writing all the wisdom of which he was possessed.” (cited in: McClintock and Strong, 447).
We do not know all that Jesus did in His brief time on earth, but imagine that if the Library of Congress holds thirty-three million books and other publications in over 838 miles of bookshelves. That is a lot, and yet if all the stories of how Jesus has affected each person of the world and in history the bookshelves even of the Library of Congress would not hold all the books. We know that EACH OF OUR LIVES IN CHRIST is a different story about the actions of Jesus. Look how the work flourished after the day of Pentecost!
“…Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd…’In the last days’, God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit on all people’…God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it…God has made this Jesus, WHOM YOU CRUCIFIED, both Lord and Messiah… When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter…‘WHAT SHALL WE DO?’… Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And YOU WILL RECEIVE THE GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT’…Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about THREE THOUSAND were added to their number that day.” (Acts 2:14-17, 32, 36-38, 41)
The threats, and beatings they received from the religious leaders motivated them to go on:
“…many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men CAME TO ABOUT FIVE THOUSAND.” (Acts 4:4)
More miracles, more believers:
“…more than ever believers were added to the Lord, MULTITUDES of both men and women…” (Acts 5:14)
Oh, Lord let this happen in our day – Make us ready…Bill Stockham