John closes his book by revealing his purpose in writing Jesus’ story: These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. John begins his book by echoing words from the Bible’s creation story—In the beginning—showing his readers that this is a story of a new creation. Just as the first creation was completed in seven days, John uses the number seven to structure his book. For the Jews the number seven represented completeness and wholeness, a finished work of God revealing his purpose for the world. The story is told in two main parts. The first describes Jesus’ public ministry and has seven sections. Each section closes with a report on how people respond to Jesus, either in faith or unbelief.