The Seven Signs of John

The Gospels record the miracles of Jesus--Matthew, Mark and Luke each record over twenty, but John records only seven.  But, there is a purpose in his doing so:

"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)

You would think that there would be great numbers of people believing in Jesus because of these signs, but, there were not.  At the wedding feast, His mother and His disciples believed.  When the official's son was healed, he and his family believed.  It is unclear if the man at Bethesda believed, even though he experienced Jesus' miraculous powers and was healed.  Likewise, when Jesus fed the 5,000 there is no evidence that anyone believed, even though they were fed and saw the abundance of what was left.  They even demanded a sign from Jesus to prove his claims the very next day!  

Even the disciples didn't believe when they observed this miracle.  We know this from studying the parallel accounts of Jesus' next sign, walking on the water.  The man born blind believed, but his parents, neighbors and Jewish leaders did not, even though they saw the evidence.  After Lazarus was resurrected, many of the Jews believed, but some reported it to the Pharisees, who were hostile towards Jesus.  

What struck me is that in our culture, these miracles would be considered a failure, for the most part.  Only one in seven indicates that many believed--the others indicate just a few believed, if that many.   Since Jesus wasn't concerned with numbers as a measure of spiritual success or of God working, then, neither should you or I.

One must take the long view--these things were written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in His name.  Do you believe the claims of Jesus?  How many, through the centuries, have life in His name because they believed?  Is it possible that God is using us in our everyday doings to bring others to eternal life, even though there are no 'so called numbers' to show our success?