John 5, Part 3

Jesus has previously established His authority, after being criticized by the Pharisees for healing on the Sabbath. Jesus plainly states that He is equal with God, and there is no one who can honor God without honoring Him.

John 5:31–32 ESV

31 If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true. 32 There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true.

In other words, you can’t believe in God, and not believe in Jesus. Now, Jesus goes on to establish more of His testimony. He cannot testify about himself as a witness, by Jewish law there had to be at least two witnesses. Even though He COULD speak of His deity, there would be another witness who would prove His claim - the Holy Spirit. While being God, He still yields to the Father, and does the Will of the one who sent Him. He mirrors the Will of God. So, we (as Christians) must be willing to put our belief that Jesus is the Son of God. This doctrine undergirds the Christian faith. Without it everything else will crumble and fail. This is why the devil has always attacked this truth. If he can put doubt into the thought process, he erodes the foundation of Christianity. Even the smallest chip will soon become a crack, and will erode away the foundation. If we think of a house, it doesn’t matter how strong we build the house, if the foundation fails the house will fail. We must protect the foundation of the Christian faith. Plain, simple, fact. Now Jesus goes on to establish MORE witnesses to speak of His divine nature.

John the Baptist

John 5:33–35 ESV

33 You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. 34 Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. 35 He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.

The religionists had sent some men to ask John about his witness, and John bore witness to the truth. Remember, John was a personal witness to who Jesus truly was.

John 1:19–34 ESV

19 And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” 21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” 22 So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” 23 He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” 24 (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) 25 They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” 26 John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, 27 even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” 28 These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing. 29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 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.’ 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

John was a consistent witness as to who Jesus truly was. He spoke the truth, not only of what He had seen, but who the real “Truth” is.

Jesus’ Works

John 5:36 ESV

36 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.

There was the witness of miraculous works. Four significant things were said by Jesus. Jesus’ works were a greater witness than the witness of John the Baptist. Jesus’ works were given to Him by the Father. He was on a mission for God; therefore, what He did—all the works—were of God. Jesus’ works were the Father’s works. The Father was the Originator, the Planner, the Overseer of the works. He was the One who had given the works to be done and completed. Note that Jesus claimed to have completed the works perfectly. Jesus’ works proved that the Father had sent Him. They were works which had never been, or ever would be, done by others. They were so unusual—so full of power and wisdom, love and care, glory and honor to God—that all men who failed to see and believe were without excuse. Remember, He had just performed one of the Godly works, healing the paralyzed man.

The Word of God

John 5:37–38 ESV

37 And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, 38 and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent.

God sent Christ into the world, so Christ naturally bore witness of God. The witness included all that God had ever revealed to man down through the centuries. Everything God did was to prepare the way for His Son, and every single act bore witness that God was sending His Son. In the Old Testament, every time God spoke, every time God appeared, every time God acted, He was preparing them for the coming Son of God.

Christ made two charges against the religionists. “His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen,” Some people may think they have seen God, but they have not. However, it is not because God has not spoken or shown what He is like. He has revealed the truth about Himself and the coming of His Son. While we read of some in the Old and New Testament that have heard and seen what God was like, MOST of us have never seen or heard God. This is where true faith comes into play. Faith comes from reading His Word. Yet Jesus said “you do not have his word abiding in you”. If His Word is not abiding in us, we haven’t read it, we haven’t believed it, then how can we allow it to change our lives?

The Word of God must abide in a person for a person to know God in a personal way. We must accept the Word of God AS God’s Word, accept it as truth, as fact, as the Gospel. They religionists failed in allowing the Word of God to be “IN” them. Yes, they knew of the Word, they knew “the” Word, but they did not allow the Word to infiltrate into them and they should allow the Word to abide in them. It becomes a part of our thoughts, of who we are, but we must also cling to it making it a central part of our lives. When God’s word truly abides in a person, that person naturally accepts what God says and lives as God says, and that person believes God’s Son. It would be impossible to accept what God says and not accept what He says about His Son. To reject what God says about His Son is to reject God’s Word. If a person does not believe God’s Son, to whom God witnesses, then God’s Word does not abide in that person.

Scripture

John 5:39 ESV

39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me,

The word search (eraunate, “ye search”) can be either a fact, that “ye search the scriptures,” or a command, “search the scriptures.” It seems that the words “for in them ye think” point toward the meaning being a statement of fact. The religionists do “search the scriptures,” for they think they have eternal life “in their searching.” The Scriptures proclaim the message of eternal life and show us how to secure eternal life, but the Scriptures do not impart or give eternal life. Only Christ can give eternal life. A person does not secure eternal life by doing “things” reading or knowing Scripture, by being “religious”, or by doing works. A person receives eternal life only by believing and giving his heart and life to Jesus Christ. But not everyone will accept Him.

Rejected

John 5:40–47 ESV

40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. 41 I do not receive glory from people. 42 But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. 43 I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. 44 How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? 45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”

People do reject Jesus and His claim to be “equal with God”. Jesus lays out the reasons, they refuse to come to Him, they do not love God, They do not receive Him but believe in idols and false messiahs, they look for approval of mankind, they do not believe Moses writings, and they do not believe His words. We deliberately choose to reject Jesus Christ. They actually exercise the will not to come to Him for salvation. There is an obstinacy and a hardness within man, a rebellion against God. We look for “life” in all the wrong places, and Jesus says HE was the holder of eternal life, and we receive life by coming to (and believing in) Jesus.

Refusal: Jesus was not claiming to be the Son of God in order to receive the praise and glory of men. He was proclaiming the truth because He loved them, and the fact of His deity is the truth. Men must face up to the truth if they wish to be saved. Man’s rejection cuts the heart of Christ, and the hurt is seen in the tenderness and appeal of this verse. There is a pleading in His words: “you refuse to come to me that you may have life.”

Rejection: People will reject Jesus because the TRUE love of God was not in them. They were going through all the motions, all the procedures, all the “laws”, but did not realize the true meaning of loving God. If they truly loved God, then they would have accepted Jesus.

Messiah: Jesus said, “I have come in my Father’s name,” but “another shall come in his own name.” Jesus came in the name, that is, in the authority and truthfulness, of God. “Another,” the false messiah, comes in the authority and word of himself. Jesus said, “Ye receive me not,” but “him ye will receive.” Men reject God’s Son, the true Messiah, but they receive the false messiah. Why? We want either to escape from the world or to get all they can from the world. Jesus, being the Son of God, cannot lie to man. He has to tell the truth. The way to life is not by escaping the world nor by getting plenty of the world. The way to life is to do exactly as Jesus said. The false messiah or human deliverer is not truthful. He is a mere man, full of all the weaknesses and infirmities of men. A false messiah is a person born of mere man and woman; he is a person who will die as a mere man just as all other men die. The false messiah is a deceiving person with leadership qualities and charisma who has learned to promise what men crave: escapism and possessions. Therefore, he sets himself up claiming that belief in his “name,” that is, in what he says, will meet man’s needs. Jesus says that most men “will receive” such a false messiah or deliverer.

Seeking Approval: Sometimes we want immediate gratification, and we try to find it by looking for the approval of others. But, in that effort, do we fail to seek the recognition, honor, and approval of God? The problem comes when we try to gauge our righteousness against other people instead of God. When we measure ourselves against others, not against God, we may be seen as good and acceptable. When a person is being praised and honored by others, he feels acceptable, complete, fulfilled. Therefore, he often senses no need for God. Only when men measure themselves against God do they see themselves for what they are: “short of God’s glory”. Only then do they bow in humility and beg forgiveness and cast themselves upon the mercy of God.

Forgetting Prophecy: People forgot to believe what had been written in the Old Testament. Jesus said, “Moses wrote of me.” All the prophecies in Genesis through Deuteronomy are the prophecies to which Jesus was referring. Jesus said that Moses was the one who condemned man’s unbelief, not Him. The men standing before Jesus professed to believe Moses, but they did not—not really.

And here lies the true, inherent problem. People were not believing the words coming from Jesus. Through plain, simple unbelief the rejected Moses’ prophecy, they rejected the rest of Scripture, and now they rejected the testimony of the One who had been sent. Many today may look at Jesus as a prophet, but still reject His testimony as the Son of God.