Matthew | Mark | Luke | Acts | King | Ethic | Subjects

Like Paul Harvey, the apostle John tells us “The Rest of the Story.”

I don’t know whether he had access to one or more of the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark or Luke) – his closing verses lead me to suspect that – but he seems to concentrate on telling the parts of the story of Jesus that will lead us to believe (John 20:30-32).

So his two references to the kingdom are like bookends, near the beginning and the close of his story:

• Be born again to see and enter it (John 3:3-5)
• Understand that it’s of, and from, another world (John 18:36)

But in those few verses of the very mystical, miraculous, powerful, persuasive gospel of John there are profound truths.

The kingdom is transcendent, more important than fighting to prevent an unjust arrest, leading to a more cosmic judgment.

The kingdom is transformation, from this world to the next.

That transformation is compulsory – “You must be born again.”

And that transformation makes us “The Rest of the Story.”