Last Sunday morning we covered verses John 5:1-18. The scene was that Jesus had just healed a lame man. However, the healing happened on the sabbath day. It caused quite a stir amongst the rulers of the Jews that someone was working on the sabbath day (John 5:10). Jesus does not take the time to argue with the Jews. Instead, He tells them that He is God and is therefore permitted to work on the sabbath (John 5:17). Jesus, in a sense, lit a bomb by making this claim. This caused the Jews to only kill Him even more (John 5:18).
In the evening service we saw how Jesus then goes on to explain even further that He is equal to and is God. He did this by explaining the relationship between God the Father and God the Son. Jesus claimed that He and the Father are the same in Their will and actions (John 5:19-20, 30). Jesus claimed that He and the Father are equal in power (John 5:21, 25-26). Jesus claimed that He and the Father are equal in authority (John 5:22, 27). Jesus claimed that He and the Father are equal in honor (John 5:23). The center point of the passage being that either you believe and have life or you do not believe and pass into condemnation (John 5:24).
Introduction (5:31-32)
The keyword for this passage is witness, which comes from the Greek word μαρτυρέω (verb: to witness/testify) or μαρτυρία (noun: a witness/testimony). This word will be repeated numerous times. μαρτυρέω means to confirm or attest something on the basis of personal knowledge or belief, or to affirm in a supportive manner. A witness/μαρτυς is one who testifies in legal matters, or one who affirms or attests. Jesus is going to point other witnesses that will give a testimony to the claims that He just made; that He is equal to and is God.
Verse 31. Do not misunderstand this verse. Jesus is not saying that if only one person speaks on a certain matter then the matter is not true. A matter can be true wether or not other people will claim to agree. For example, if only I say that I saw a rare bird the claim can be true even though I am the only one saying it. However, it will be hard to accept my claim to seeing the rare bird because I am alone in this claim. The truth is still the same. The truth only becomes more difficult to accept. We are talking the acceptance of a claim not its validity. This is explained further by Jesus Himself (John 8:14).
Verse 32. Because Jesus knows that it would hard to accept His claim to deity based upon His witness alone, He states that there is another that bares witness of Him and that the witness is true or trustworthy. Going back to the example of a rare bird, my claim to see a rare bird becomes easier to accept if my wife said that she was with me and saw it too. There is also a precedent set in the law to not make a verdict without the affirmation of two or three witnesses (Deut. 17:6; 19:15).
The Testimony of John the Baptist (5:33-35)
Verse 33. This is a reference to John 1:19-28 when the priests and levites sent men to inquire of who John the Baptist is and what he was doing. John was correct when he said that he is not the messiah but was the voice crying in the wilderness make straight the path for the king. John explained that there was one coming that was greater than him. Even in John 1:32-34 John the Baptist said that he bore witness of the fact that the Holy Spirit came down from heaven and remained upon Jesus. This signified that Jesus was the one that he was preaching about.
Verse 34. Jesus does not need the testimony of John in order to prove His claim to deity. The witnesses that He will appeal to are heavenly witnesses. However, the reason that Jesus mentions John is so that the Jews that were there would believe in His claims. This is further explained by the following verse.
Verse 35. It is a little unusual for John to be called a light. Normally, John is seen as a witness to the light. Still, John the Baptist preached truth even to the people who did want to hear it and even exposed sin (Matt. 14:3-4). I think that at the time that Jesus was speaking that John the Baptist would have been arrested. He is beheaded just previous to the feeding of the five thousand in John 6:1-14.
The Testimony of His Works (5:36)
All John the Baptist ever did was point to Jesus and say that He is greater. Jesus echoes this idea by saying that His works are a greater testimony than John the Baptist. The “works” that He is referring to would be the entirety of His earthly ministry. I talked numerous about how the miracles that are recorded in the Gospel of John are meant to point the reader to the understanding of who Jesus is. They are demonstrations of power but they are meant to point to one performing the work. The whole point being that only God could do such things. Jesus only spoke and the man was made whole. The Jews asked for a sign. Jesus told them that the only sign that they will see would be His resurrection (John 2:18-19, 20).
The Testimony of His Father (5:37-38)
Verse 37. I talked last Sunday night about what God the Father said about His Son each time He speaks audibly from heaven. Jesus is talking about these audible pronouncements from heaven. His emphasis is that it was God that spoke these words. The first occasion that God the Father audibly spoke was at His baptism, “And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17). The Holy Spirit also descended as well in the form of a dove. The other two times that God the Father spoke audibly had not yet happened at this point in Jesus’ earthly ministry.
Just because Jesus said that they have never heard His voice does not mean that God had never spoke. God spoke but they never heard it. It could have been that these particular men were not present at Jesus’ baptism. There is still a possibility also that they were present but they did not hear. It could be said that they did not hear because they do not believe that Jesus is sent from God. In Jewish culture, there is a very close tie to hearing a command and following through with it. They would often say that if one avoided obedience to a command, that he did not hear the command. If they had heard, they would have obeyed.
Verse 38. This could be another reason as to why the men standing there did not hear God speak at the baptism of Jesus. They did not have His word abiding in them. They knew the word and it sat before them everyday but they did not have the word in them. They did not believe the word of God.
The Testimony of the Scriptures (5:39-44)
Verse 39. This would have been an odd scene for a bystander to observe. They would be looking a poor man from Galilee telling the much educated Pharisees to go search the Scriptures. To put it in a modern day setting, it would look like a high school student telling off a university professor. These men made a living search out the Scriptures. “Scribes numbered the verses, words, and letter of every book. They calculated the middle word and the middle of each. They enumerated verses which contained all the letters of the alphabet, or a certain number of them.” These men have probably never felt such a great insult.
However, if these men believed the Scriptures rather just learning the Scriptures, they would have seen that Jesus really is sent from God. There can be numerous Scripture passages from the Old Testament to point this out. He was to be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). He would be of the lineage of David (2 Sam 7:12-13). He will be born of a virgin (Isa. 7:14). Herod would slaughter children to try to get to Jesus (Jer. 31:15). These are only the prophecies that have been fulfilled up until this point in His ministry. I could go on to talk so many other prophecies that talk other works that He will do, including, but not limited to His death and resurrection.
Verse 40. Jesus makes an interesting connection here. He is the completion of the Scriptures. The Law will not give you life. The Law will only point out that you are sinful. The Law will show that you are deserving of death. The Law will show that you need blood to spilled in order to atone for your sin. However, there are not enough goats, bulls and sheep in the world to atone for the sin of a single man. Only God can provide the sacrifice that is of enough value to atone for every sin committed of every man. That sacrifice was God’s Son – Jesus Christ. In Jesus is life. Jesus rescue us of what the Law condemns us of. Jesus rescues us from the condemnation that we would never be able to escape from. Jesus is life.
Verse 41. Jesus is not receiving honor from men because they do not recognize who Jesus truly is. If they knew, they would honor Him. This also shows though that He is receiving honor from His Father. This is the best source to receive honor from. These men honor each other to make each other feel important.
Verse 42. These men do not really love God. They instead love the idea of being recognized as a scholar of the Bible and being recognized a man that is more holy than everyone else. These men only love themselves. If they truly loved God, they would have loved His Son.
Verse 43. Jesus did not come proclaiming His own name. He called Himself the Messiah but He does bring glory to Himself. He instead make every thought of His preaching be about glorifying God. There will be other men that will call themselves to be the messiah. They will all bring glory to their own name. They will seek to put themselves in a position of authority to rule over a sovereign nation of Israel.
Verse 44. These men seek honor from one another. They want to be praised in the temple court yards. They want to be recognized for their self righteousness. Their pride prevents them from seeking to be honored by God. When God gives honor, He honors greatly. But His honor is ofter delayed. Think of the twelve disciples. They served God but they received no honor while on earth. However, these men will judge the twelve tribes of Israel at the Day of the Lord.
The Testimony of Moses (5:45-47)
Verse 45. This would have been a shock to these to hear Jesus say this. These men considered themselves to be most obedient to the Law compared to all other people. They would have considered Moses their spiritual father and mentor. They studied his writings through and through. Yet, it will be Moses himself that will accuse these men of not believing in his writings. They read the Torah but they fail to believe it.
Verse 46. Moses wrote about the Messiah numerous. It started with the fact that the seed of the women would crush the head of the serpent. All the nations would be blessed from the seed of Abraham. A great prophet will come and you will need to listen to him.
Verse 47. If the men failed to believe what Moses had written, then they would not believe what Jesus said about Himself. The reason for this is because they are the same thing. When Moses wrote about the Messiah, he was writing about Jesus.
For some reason, the author does not tell us how the Jews responded to this discourse of Jesus that contained claims of deity. It does say in 7:1 that, “He would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill Him.”
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