A Tale of Four Beliefs

There are degrees of belief, and not all belief translates to saving faith.  Jesus arrived in Cana of Galilee, the place where He previously performed his first public miracle by turning water into wine.  A nobleman came to Him and begged Jesus to come quickly and heal his dying son.  Jesus remarked as a matter of fact in John 4:48, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe."  The man may not have come to Jesus at all unless he heard of the previous miracle Jesus had done.  It meant He believed Jesus could heal His son, not that He followed what the supernatural sign pointed to:  that Jesus was the Christ, the promised Messiah and Son of God.  The words of Jesus would prove prophetic.

John 4:50 says, "Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your son lives." So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way."  The man believed the word Jesus spoke to him, and his belief was evidenced by obedience to leave.  He did not continue begging for Jesus to return to heal his son because Jesus affirmed his son lives.  The burden of worry lifted, the nobleman began to head for home.  John 4:51-53 continues, "And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, "Your son lives!" ⁵² Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him." ⁵³ So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son lives." And he himself believed, and his whole household."

After the nobleman was met by his servants with the wonderful news his son lived, as Jesus had said, he asked them precisely when his son began to mend.  They confirmed it was the same hour Jesus had proclaimed, "Your son lives."  This was a sign to the nobleman Jesus indeed was directly responsible for his son's healing, and thus "he himself believed."  The man believed at first Jesus could heal his son, then he believed the word Jesus said, and then "he himself believed, and his whole household."  Having believed that Jesus was the Christ, the man joyfully shared the truth with his son who was healed and his whole house.  They all believed as the man did, having heard his eyewitness testimony and seeing the miraculous healing firsthand.  Genuine faith makes the truth known to others so they might believe themselves.

It was a watershed moment when the man himself believed who Jesus was, for salvation through the Gospel begins here.  It is not enough to believe a man named Jesus lived, spoke the truth and performed miracles if we do not believe ourselves in Him.  Jesus gave the man everything he needed to place his faith in Jesus Christ as LORD and Saviour, and He does the same for us.  He has given us the testimony of the word of God and believers who share the truth about Jesus.  No one is without excuse to believe today in Christ, as Paul said in Acts 17:30-31: "Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, ³¹ because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead."  If the Law, Prophets, and resurrection of Jesus will not convince us, then we will not believe--even the testimony of the Man risen from the dead.