WITNESSES ABOUNDING
#802 WITNESSES ABOUNDING
Scripture John 5:31-47 NIV Orig. 3/10/1990
Passage: Testimonies About Jesus
31 “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. 32 There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is true.
33 “You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth. 34 Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved. 35 John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.
36 “I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to finish—the very works that I am doing—testify that the Father has sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, 38 nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. 39 You study[c] the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
41 “I do not accept glory from human beings, 42 but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. 43 I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. 44 How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God[d]?
45 “But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. 46 If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. 47 But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?”
Purpose: Continuing the series from the gospel, here sharing the witnesses who declare Christ to be Saviour.
Keywords: Bible Study John’s Gospel Christ as Saviour Salvation
Timeline/Series: John
Introduction
One thing among many that we have learned in our study of this gospel is that Jesus faces the antagonisms of the Jews fearlessly. He is not operating on the back streets of Jerusalem and the small towns of Galilee. He is addressing everyone everywhere, telling them that He is the Messiah, and that they, sooner or later, are going to have to deal with who He is.
Does His fearlessness surprise you? Do you have the spiritual volition to compare His boldness with your own? Would you like to have a faith conditioned by such purpose as His? (E14p114)
Bishop Hanns Lilje(1) wrote a book about his experiences in German prisoner of war camps. One of the clear messages of The Valley of the Shadow is the differences in the lives of people who had a “living” religious faith. Lilje says that they had conquered their fears, even the fear of death. He wrote, ”In those days it was granted me to tread the shores of that land which lies on the outermost fringe of time, upon which already something of the radiance of the other world is shining. I did not know that an existence which is still earthly and human could be so open to the world of God. It was a stillness full of blessing, a solitude over which God brooded, an imprisonment blessed by God Himself.”
Jesus was God, imprisoned within a human body, but it was an imprisonment of purpose. Can it also be said that every believer, who chooses to live by his or her faith, does so with that same sense of imprisoned purpose? “I am what I am, and therefore, I must be what I must be.” It is not a prison of fear or dread, but a simple constraint of purpose. Do WE seek such faith? This passage calls forth witnesses to so testify of Jesus, and to call us to follow.
I. The Witnesses Are Identified. V31 “If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.”
He is the Word, but does not depend upon His “word” only. He is well able to identify himself. People everywhere are seeking to find out who they are. Jesus knew absolutely.
The rest of this chapter, however, is an enunciation of those witnesses of who He is. The law clearly states the concern for integrity among witnesses. Deuteronomy 17:6, 19:15 , 176 Whoever is deserving of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three witnesses; he shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness. 1915 “One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established. II Corinthians 13:1 “In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.”
Jesus here tells us that there are unlimited witnesses whom He can call. Six are clearly identified. His own witness is the allusion of the first (31) and the last (47) verses. They all say the same thing: that Jesus is God’s unique son, a monogene.
Jesus next identifies the six witnesses. Our word for martyr. Greek times did not connote this. The first witness is the Holy Spirit. V32 “There is another.” “Is” is a word for fundamental being. “Another” is of the same kind. Remember that we Baptists believe in the Trinity: the Godhead. The Holy Spirit is still the agent of confirmation of who Christ is. When you trusted Jesus, you do so at the urging of Holy Spirit. Some will deny Him today by denying the Spirit urging in your heart. We deny by denial. We deny by closing our minds.
Next, Jesus identifies John as a witness. V33 “Ye sent unto John, and he bears witness.” In actual fact, they went twice to John. John 1:22 “Who art thou?” “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness.” “I baptize with water . . . among you is one you know not.” (Matthew: “baptizes with the Holy Spirit.”) John 3:26, “He that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou bearest witness.” Also in actual fact John testifies He is the Christ (28). Speaks God’s words (34). One with Holy Spirit (34). To believe is to receive life (36). Deny is to be condemned (36). Romans 2:5: “But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.”
Nor must we overlook v36: “He was a burning and shining light.” Burning is present/past participle—consumed. Shining is aorist/active/participle—still shines. We are more interested in shining than we are in burning. The will of these people was emotional rather than resolve of comm.
The third witness is the oneness of Jesus’ own works with God’s will. He has affirmed that it is not given to Him to boost Himself. V31. He does not find it necessary to use words to affirm who HE is. In vocal silence, however, His works still establish who He is:
Going public in Cana.
Preaching like John in Judea (John 4:1).
Healing an official’s son (John 4:43).
The paralytic at Bethesda (John 5:1).
Every work attests to who He is.
It is in this tradition that chapter 6 of John opens with the feeding of 5,000.
Three witnesses should be quite enough but the fourth is God. V37 “And the Father Himself, . . . hath born witness of me.” The Holy Spirit/John/His own works. The problem is their own unbelief. Someone (Z#191) defines hear as hearing with the ear of the mind. We can condition ourselves with noise so as not to hear music. We can condition ourselves with error so as not to hear truth. The person who claims inability to believe blames externals. Philosophical/Witness of others. “Seen” ‘orao—to see with the mind, to suddenly grasp a fundamental but obscure truth. They must come to terms with God, but to do so they must believe Him.
Jesus describes salvation. What it is. What it is not.
It is not religious law. V39
It is not human personality. V44
It is not spiritual heritage. V45
It is Jesus Himself. V40
This outline for next week.
Next, He adds the scripture as the fifth witness. V39 “Search the scriptures: . . . they are they which testify of me.” The reference is to the Old Testament scripture. Genesis 49:10 “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah till Shiloh comes.” Isaiah 11:1 “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse.” Jeremiah 23:5 “I will raise unto David a righteous branch.” Micah 5:2 “But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratha.” And many, many others.
Finally, He certifies what should not have been, but was, the most important voice to the religious leaders, . . . Moses. V46 “Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.” No text above from Moses but there is one. Deuteronomy 18:18 “I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my word in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command.”
Dr. Vaught says they probably had pictures of Moses in the classrooms. We have Lincoln, Washington, King. Grant and Winn Parishes had pictures of Huey Long.
It was Moses who prepared the serpent on the pole for the relief of the people. Numbers 21:8
The LORD said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live,” to which Jesus alludes in 3:14.
Conclusion
Someone (T43p240) writes “How many popular histories, encyclopedias, and school textbooks have blindfolded Jesus by an apologetic paragraph on The Carpenter of Nazareth, or The Greatest Jew Who Ever Lived, or The Great Teacher of Galilee! They read about the seamless Robe but do not receive new life by the touch of a living faith. They follow the story of The Big Fisherman but never make the great confession he did, ‘Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God.’ They listen to The Greatest Story Ever Told . . . but do not know the power of Christ’s Resurrection.”
(1) Lilje, H. (1966). The Valley of the Shadow. The Muhlenberg Press.