The Reliable Witness and the Uncontainable Christ Text: John 21:24-25
Introduction: The Anchor of History
We have come to the end of the Gospel of John. And like any good book, the ending matters. How an author chooses to conclude his work tells you a great deal about his central purpose. Some books end with a question, leaving you unsettled. Others end with a neat little bow, tying up every loose end. But the Gospel of John ends with a thunderclap. It concludes not by shrinking the subject down to a manageable size, but by blowing the doors off our capacity to contain Him. It finishes with two foundational pillars: the gritty reliability of historical testimony and the glorious, infinite immensity of Jesus Christ.
Our modern world is allergic to both of these things. It despises the idea of an authoritative, historical testimony. Instead, it prefers a subjective, internal, "spiritual" feeling that makes no demands and can't be cross-examined. We want a Jesus of our own imagination, not the Jesus of the apostolic witness. And second, our age cannot stomach a Christ who is truly uncontainable. We want a domesticated savior, a pocket-sized Jesus who fits neatly into our political agendas, our therapeutic needs, and our self-improvement projects. We want a Jesus who can be managed, packaged, and sold. We do not want a King whose deeds, if they were all written down, would break the world's bookshelf.
But the Christian faith is not a sentiment. It is not a private spiritual journey. It is a testimony. It is a public declaration of historical facts, witnessed by real men in a real time and place, and the central fact is this: Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, was crucified for our sins, was buried, and rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures. This faith is anchored in the bedrock of history, and it points to a Person who transcends history entirely. John's conclusion forces us to grapple with these two realities: the testimony is true, and the Man it points to is infinite.
The Text
This is the disciple who is bearing witness to these things and wrote these things, and we know that his witness is true.
And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written one after the other, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.
(John 21:24-25 LSB)
The Eyewitness Seal (v. 24)
We begin with the attestation, the apostolic seal upon this entire document.
"This is the disciple who is bearing witness to these things and wrote these things, and we know that his witness is true." (John 21:24)
First, notice the claim. The author identifies himself as "the disciple who is bearing witness." This is the beloved disciple, John the Apostle. He is not some distant historian compiling secondhand reports. He is an eyewitness. He was there. He saw the water turned to wine. He leaned against Jesus at the Last Supper. He stood at the foot of the cross and was entrusted with the care of Mary. He outran Peter to the empty tomb and saw the grave clothes lying in a heap. His testimony is not based on hearsay, but on what he has seen and heard and touched (1 John 1:1). The Christian faith rests on this kind of rugged, verifiable, eyewitness testimony. God did not give us a philosophy; He gave us a history.
The verse says he "wrote these things." This is a claim of direct authorship. And it is also a claim of present and ongoing testimony. He "is bearing witness." The ink may be dry, but the testimony is alive. This book is not just a historical artifact; it is a living witness to the living Christ. Every time you open this Gospel, John is still testifying.
But then the voice shifts. It moves from "I" to "we." "And we know that his witness is true." Who is this "we"? This is the voice of the early church, the community of believers who received this gospel, who knew John personally, and who are adding their corporate affirmation to his testimony. This is likely the church at Ephesus, where John ministered in his old age. They are standing with their apostle and saying, "Amen. This man is who he says he is, and his testimony is rock-solid. We vouch for it."
This is profoundly important. The Scriptures did not fall out of the sky into the lap of isolated individuals. They were written by apostles and prophets and given to the covenant community, the Church. The Church does not create the authority of Scripture, but it is called to recognize and bear witness to that authority. This "we know" is the corporate confession of the first believers. They are not saying, "we feel" or "we hope" it is true. They are stating a matter of fact. They know it is true. This is the language of certainty, grounded in the reliability of the witness and the self-authenticating power of the Word itself, confirmed by the Holy Spirit.
The Uncontainable Christ (v. 25)
Then, having anchored the testimony in the solid ground of history, John concludes with a statement that launches us into eternity.
"And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written one after the other, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written." (John 21:25 LSB)
Now, this is what you call a magnificent hyperbole. John is not saying that if you tried to print all the books, you would literally run out of shelf space on planet earth. This is not a logistical problem for the publishing industry. This is sanctified, Spirit-inspired poetic language, and it is designed to do one thing: to overwhelm you with the sheer, inexhaustible, infinite glory of Jesus Christ.
After grounding his entire Gospel in precise, historical details, John ends by telling us that what he has written is just the tip of the iceberg. It is a true and sufficient sample, but it is only a sample. Think about it. For three years, the infinite God, the Logos through whom the universe was made, walked the earth in the flesh. Every step He took, every word He spoke, every conversation He had, every glance, every miracle, every act of mercy, every breath He drew was an act of cosmic significance. If you were to unpack the full meaning and all the implications of even one of His parables, you could write a library. If you were to trace the eternal ramifications of His healing a single blind man, the volumes would be endless.
This verse is a direct assault on any attempt to put Jesus in a box. He is not simply one more great moral teacher. He is not just a prophet. He is the infinite God in human flesh. His person and work are inexhaustible. You will never get to the bottom of Him. You can study Him for a lifetime, and you will have only begun to wade into the shallows of an infinite ocean. This is why we will spend eternity exploring the riches of His grace and glory, and we will never grow bored. There will always be more of Christ to see, more to learn, more to love, more to praise.
And yet, this glorious reality does not undermine the sufficiency of Scripture. John says something similar just a chapter earlier: "Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed 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 believing you may have life in His name" (John 20:30-31). The Bible does not tell us everything Jesus did. But it tells us everything we need to know for salvation and for a life of godliness. It is a sufficient revelation. God, in His wisdom, has given us exactly what we need. He has given us a true portrait, not an exhaustive biography. This final verse is not an invitation to speculate about what is missing, but rather to worship the one who is so much greater than even His own inspired book can contain.
Conclusion: The Sufficient Word and the Infinite Lord
So, we end where we must. We are left with these two glorious truths. The book you hold in your hands is true. It is a reliable witness. You can bet your life on it, because the apostles bet their lives on it. The testimony of John, affirmed by the early church, is the testimony of God Himself. You do not need another word from God. You do not need a private revelation or a new prophecy. You have the sufficient Word. Trust it. Read it. Obey it. Build your life upon it.
But as you do, never forget that the Word points beyond itself to the infinite Lord. The Scriptures are the map, but Jesus is the destination. The Scriptures are the menu, but Jesus is the feast. The purpose of this reliable, historical, sufficient book is to introduce you to the uncontainable, inexhaustible, glorious person of Jesus Christ. He is too big for the world to contain. He is too wonderful for any book to fully describe.
Therefore, our response must be one of humble faith and ecstatic worship. We believe the testimony that "we know is true." And because we believe it, we bow before the one whose glory fills the heavens and the earth, the one of whom it is said that the world itself cannot contain the record of His deeds. We believe the finite record in order to worship the infinite Lord, both now and for all eternity.