{"id":88786,"date":"2025-07-19T14:58:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-19T19:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=88786"},"modified":"2025-07-19T14:59:46","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T19:59:46","slug":"believe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/believe\/","title":{"rendered":"Believe!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

by David Gibson<\/p>\n

“Believe” is the main keyword of the Gospel of John. From the 12th chapter of John, let’s see what we can learn about what it means to believe:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Many believed (John 12:10-11). A large number of those who witnessed Lazarus’ resurrection came to believe in Jesus (John 11:45). This is as it should be, for that was the reason\u00a0Jesus raised Lazarus in the first place (John 11:4, 15, 42).<\/li>\n
  2. Some did not believe (John 12:37-40). Despite Jesus’ many miracles, some still refused to put their trust in Him. Why? It’s not that they didn’t have ample evidence; they willfully closed their eyes against the Light. In doing so, they forfeited their only hope. Could anything be sadder?<\/li>\n
  3. Some believed but would not publicly express their faith (John 12:42-43). They knew if they confessed their faith, they would be put out of the synagogue. “… they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God<\/em>” (John 12:43 NASB). So they kept quiet. In doing so, they took their stand with those who did not believe. In contrast, those who believed as a result of Lazarus’ resurrection were willing to bear public witness to Christ (John 12:17). They weren’t ashamed to say so.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    “While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light… I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness<\/em>” (John 12:36, 46).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    Those who do not believe and those who do not confess remain in darkness. Those who take their stand for Jesus are the ones who become sons of light. May that describe us! And it will when we express our faith in obedience to the gospel (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:37-38)–and as we keep on maintaining our faith until the Lord calls us home.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    by David Gibson “Believe” is the main keyword of the Gospel of John. From the 12th chapter of John, let’s see what we can learn about what it means to believe: Many believed (John 12:10-11). A large number of those who witnessed Lazarus’ resurrection came to believe in Jesus (John 11:45). This is as it…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[139,51,49],"class_list":["post-88786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-belief","tag-confession","tag-faith"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":84006,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-moved-the-stones\/","url_meta":{"origin":88786,"position":0},"title":"Who Moved the Stones?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 3, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Gibson Only Matthew tells us that \"an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it\" (Matthew 28:2 NASB). But when Jesus came to Lazarus' tomb, He said, \"Remove the stone\" (John 11:39). It would have been easy for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":59760,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/some-unsaved-believers\/","url_meta":{"origin":88786,"position":1},"title":"Some Unsaved Believers","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 7, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Erin Percell The creed book of one popular denomination says, \"that we are justified by faith only is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort.\" But is it true? Does the Bible say that if one believes on Jesus, it makes no difference what else he believes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":46404,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-does-john-mention-that-jesus-wept\/","url_meta":{"origin":88786,"position":2},"title":"Why Does John Mention that Jesus Wept?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 16, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: John 11:17-44 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ask someone even slightly familiar with the Bible what the shortest verse is and they can tell you: \u201cJesus wept.\u201d - John 11:35 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I was reading an article by Phil Gardner and he asked an interesting question, \u201cWhy does John show us\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18180,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/to-whom-shall-we-go\/","url_meta":{"origin":88786,"position":3},"title":"To Whom Shall We Go?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 12, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: John 6:48-69 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When Jesus feed the 5,000, his popularity was at an all time high \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Some of the people decided it was time to make Jesus their king - John 6:14-15 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Jesus left because the people\u2019s motivation was wrong. They were only thinking of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9694,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-does-the-bible-say-that-some-believed-but-would-not-follow\/","url_meta":{"origin":88786,"position":4},"title":"Where does the Bible say that some believed, but would not follow?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 9, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have been trying to find, without luck, the verse that talks about people believing but still not following God. I think it was the Pharisees in Acts. I just remember reading a passage and I was wondering if you knew of it. I am using word searches but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":87108,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-miracles\/","url_meta":{"origin":88786,"position":5},"title":"Why Miracles?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 10, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Gibson Jesus was constantly demonstrating His divine power over disease, demons, death, and nature. Why did He perform miracles? Miracles were designed to bring glory to God. Many praised God for the wonders they witnessed (Luke 5:24-26; 18:43; 19:37; John 11:4). Miracles were also intended to motivate people\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88786\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}