“I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my
judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent Me.
If I alone bear witness about Myself, My testimony is not true. There is another
who bears witness about Me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about Me
is true. You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. Not that the
testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be
saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a
while in his light. But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John.
For the works that the Father has given Me to accomplish, the very works that I
am doing, bear witness about Me that the Father has sent Me. And the Father who
sent Me has himself borne witness about Me. His voice you have never heard, His
form you have never seen, and you do not have His word abiding in you, for you
do not believe the One whom He has sent.” (John 5:30–38, ESV) (Caps added to
pronouns referring to God.)
When there is a dispute between two individuals and neither
of their stories can be corroborated it is difficult to determine who is
correct. In cases like this they might both be lying and they might even both
be telling their own “enhanced” piece of truth without regard to the portion
that affects the other individual. The reality is that you just don’t know
which one to believe. As Jesus continued to confront His accusers He reiterated
that He was not doing anything on His own. He was appointed to judge and His
judgments were based upon what He had heard and these judgments were just. He
did not have any personal agenda in them, but was given to perfectly doing the
will of the Father who sent Him.
The Jews believing Him was another issue. They had their
agenda, they were opposed to Jesus, and based upon what we know followed they
made no change in their opinion. Jesus went on to tell them that if it were
just Him who had said these things without any corroboration then they would have
every reason to doubt Him. He even went further to say that if He were the only
one who had claimed this and there were no other substantiation then His
testimony would indeed not be true.
Jesus also told them that while His testimony did not come
from man and that He really did not have any obligation to support what He had
said, because of His desire that their hearts might be changed and people would
be saved He would support what He had said by telling them of the witness of
others. The first of them is found in one who they had personally examined, John
the Baptist, who proclaimed the immediate coming of the Lamb of God who would
come in power and truth. The second witness is the signs and wonders, and the third
is the Scriptures themselves. We’ll look at witness of John and the signs and
wonders today and then the Scriptures in the next post.
“There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came
as a witness, to bear witness about the Light, that all might believe through him.
He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the Light.” (John 1:6–8,
ESV)
“The next day he [John the Baptist] saw Jesus coming toward
him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” …
“I myself did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to
me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is He who baptizes
with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the
Son of God.” (John 1:29, 33–34, ESV)
John was one that they themselves saw as a bright and
shining light from God as he came to declare repentance and the coming of the Lord.
They rejoiced for a while in his message. After all, the coming of the Messiah
was what Jews had been looking forward to for a very long time. They knew the
promises of Scripture and the message of John that He would soon come was good
news. Some, I’m sure might have even had on their minds the words of the
prophets such as Malachi.
“Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way
before Me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the
messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, He is coming, says the Lord of hosts.” (Malachi 3:1, ESV)
Jesus went on to say that the word of John was not all there
was, and were it a trial his word as a single witness would be insufficient
proof. He pointed them to an even greater proof in pointing to the works that
He had done. He told the Jews that the works that “the Father has given me to
accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the
Father has sent me.” It was not just a matter of a couple of guys staking claim
to one of them being the Messiah. No, the Father had sent the Son with the
ability to do signs and wonders which testify of and bear witness to His
veracity. Jesus’ words were backed by action, and the action was undeniable.
Remember that this whole incident started with Jesus telling a man who had been
unable to walk for thirty-eight years to take up his bed and walk, only to have
the Jews confront him for carrying his bed on the Sabbath.
He bluntly told them that they were in no position to judge
whether or not He was for real on behalf of God. They had never personally
heard the voice of God. They had never personally seen Him, and they did not
have His word in them. The first two statements probably were easily accepted,
but I imagine that these self-appointed enforcers of the law did not particularly
care for the last one. Telling them that they did not have His word in them
meant that they did not know what they were speaking of. They had no authority
in this area and as such could not sit in judgment, adding that if they really
did have the word of God in them then they clearly would accept Him as the One
sent by God. By their lack of acceptance they proved their lack of real
understanding and their ignorance of these things of God.
In our world there are huge numbers of people who have their
concept of God and how He should do things. They even take His word and twist
it to suit their own agendas or personal desires. This does not make them right
and it does not change the character of God. What it does do is prove how
distant they are from Him and how little they know of His truth.
There are a number of great books available written by men
who sought to prove the claims of Christ or even to disprove them and
subsequently were left with no other conclusion than to accept that He is
really who He claimed to be. These men include C.S. Lewis an Oxford professor
and writer, Francis Collins a geneticist and physicist, Malcom Muggeridge a
British journalist among a long list of other credentials, and more recently
Lee Strobel who has written numerous books including “The Case for Christ.”
Today driving home I heard David Limbaugh interviewed about his new book, “Jesus
on Trial,” where he spoke about applying his lawyer’s eye to the evidence concerning
the truth of Christ. All of these men and so many others have come to salvation
or made a significant change in their spiritual walk based upon gaining a
greater understanding of just how true these claims really are.
Jesus said that He would give them further evidence because
He wanted people to be saved, and this evidence continues to change lives
today. It is an amazing thing to know that our faith is not something that is
simply to be heard and believed. God has thought so much of His truth that He
has manifested it in such a way that the evidence speaks through time and
affirms His truth.
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