SERIES: The Gospel of John
The Witness Stand
SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus
Introduction: We are all familiar with a religious cult in our society known as the Jehovah’s Witnesses. They meet in Kingdom Halls and are well-known for their bold, door-to-door evangelism, which is their primary method of distributing literature from The Watchtower Society. My concern with Jehovah’s Witnesses this morning is not their doctrine, which I have already identified as cultic rather than orthodox; rather my concern is with their name. The OT name for God the Father is Jehovah or Yahweh, and Jehovah’s Witnesses believe the Father alone is God. They reject both the deity of Christ and the deity of the Holy Spirit. They claim to be witnesses for Jehovah.
But interestingly the word “witness” is used nearly 200 times in the Bible, and there are only a handful of times when anyone or anything is said to be a witness of Jehovah (or God the Father)? On the other hand, there are literally scores of times when people are called upon to be witnesses of Jesus or when various people or even things are said to be witnesses to Him. If I were going to come up with a biblical name for a truly Christian movement, it would certainly not be Jehovah’s Witnesses but Jesus’ Witnesses.
Jesus is the one whose character was always being challenged;
Jesus is the one who was accused of being a sinner and demon possessed;
Jesus is the one whose claims to deity were constantly being rejected.
And He is the one for whom the Scriptures constantly call forth witnesses.
Our passage today finds Jesus on trial—not in a formal courtroom but rather on the streets of Jerusalem. The prosecutors are religious leaders who have accused Him of a heinous crime—healing a man on the Sabbath. The fact that this man had been lame for 38 years and through Jesus had finally been released from his prison of paralysis, means nothing to these legalists. A religious rule has been broken and Jesus must pay! This mob has all the earmarks of a southern lynching. Guilt is assumed and evidence is irrelevant. His accusers are bent on killing Him, not only because He has violated the Sabbath, but also because He is claiming to be equal with God.
Jesus serves as His own lawyer. He answers the charges against Him by affirming that He does indeed claim equality with God; in fact, He claims it in six different areas—power, knowledge, life-giving ability, judging, honor, and self-existence. We don’t have time this morning to review these claims from last week’s message, but I will reiterate that they set Jesus apart as unique. He is God; He is King of Kings; He is Lord of Lords.
However, His enemies are not about to accept such claims just because He made them. In fact, why should even we accept them? There are many religious leaders throughout history who have made bizarre claims, and millions of gullible people have been led astray and deluded by those claims. Jesus comes along and declares Himself to be equal with God and, consequently, the only One through whom God can be known. But upon what evidence is such a stupendous claim grounded?
A certain level of skepticism is healthy and keeps us from being taken advantage of. For example, suppose this afternoon my doorbell rang, and I found a finely dressed man surrounded by a video crew, and the man said, “Mr. Andrus, I’m from Publisher’s Clearing House. You have just won Ten Million Dollars!” I want to tell you, that video crew would be very disappointed. They wouldn’t find me jumping up and down and crying and hugging everyone in sight. The first words out of my mouth would be, “Did Brad Harper put you up to this?” I would be almost certain it was a practical joke. In fact, I would call Publisher’s Clearing House and demand to speak to Ed McMahon before I would even begin to believe.
Well, Jesus knows that there are a lot of people like me, and He is willing to accommodate Himself to such people. He not only makes astounding claims, but He also offers proof of those claims in the form of three key witnesses which no Jewish religious leader could afford to ignore. Watch for them as we read our text, John 5:31-47:
“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 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?
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?”
Before identifying the witnesses, Jesus speaks briefly of …
The rules of evidence (31)
He says in verse 31, “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid.” Some of your versions may read, “my testimony is not true,” but clearly the meaning is not that a sole witness’ word is necessarily untrue; only that it is not admissible as legal evidence. In other words, Jesus is simply acknowledging that the unsupported witness of one person cannot be taken as proof.
You see, the Jews had a strong legal tradition demanding at least two witnesses in any legal proceeding. Deut. 17:6, for example, states, “On the testimony of two or three witnesses a man shall be put to death, but no one shall be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.” In Matt. 18:16 Jesus says that when a Christian has a legitimate complaint against a brother, he must take with him some others to confirm the charge. In 2 Cor. 13:1, when Paul threatens to come to the Corinthians with rebuke and discipline, he says that all his charges will be confirmed by two or three witnesses. And in 1 Tim. 5:19 Paul states that no charge against an elder will be entertained unless it is supported by two or three witnesses. So, Jesus is simply acknowledging the normal Jewish rules for evidence. Having done so, He turns to His three witnesses.
The calling of the witnesses (32-39)
He begins with an introductory assertion: “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid. There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is valid.” Who is this “other” witness? There is some debate among scholars, but it seems best to interpret it as a reference to God the Father. Each of the three specific testimonies he is about to mention—that of John the Baptizer, that of the miracles of Jesus, and that of the Scriptures—has value precisely because it is traceable to God.[i] The Father, of course, does not need to have His testimony corroborated because He is ultimate truth, but the point seems to be that He is willing to condescend to our weakness and our skepticism and provide us more than enough evidence to believe.
The witness of John the Baptist (33-35). John was the first great prophet of God in 400 years. From the time of Malachi until the opening pages of the NT, there was a lapse of some 4 centuries, known as the 400 Silent Years, during which God withdrew His prophetic voice from the nation of Israel. But then God raised up a special prophet to serve as the Forerunner of Messiah: “There was a man sent from God whose name was John.” He was a remarkable individual and serves as a dramatic first witness because of the nature of his testimony concerning Jesus.
We have already seen in previous messages that John spoke the truth even when the truth wasn’t popular. He spoke clearly, leaving no doubt as to who the Messiah was, identifying Jesus as the One upon whom the Spirit came down from heaven as a dove. He never allowed himself to become more important than his message—always a great temptation for prophets and preachers. On the contrary, John remained humble, referring to himself as just a voice crying in the wilderness.
Now here in 5:35 John is described as a lamp that burns and gives light. The words are chosen very carefully. John was not the light (as we were told back in John 1:8); rather he came only as a witness to the light. There’s a great difference between a light and a lamp. A lamp in the ancient world was just a light-bearer. That was, in effect, John’s role.
But the testimony he bore, despite its clarity, was still rejected, as is hinted at the end of verse 35: “You chose for a time to enjoy his light.” The key is that phrase “for a time.” When John first appeared on the scene, there was a healthy response to his preaching, and it generated considerable messianic excitement. But that was just a temporary reaction. As soon as the people realized that John was demanding repentance and introducing as the Messiah some unknown peasant carpenter from Nazareth, they turned away. Many listen to God’s truth like that today as well. They enjoy a sermon as a performance and grade it according to the speaker’s ability to keep their minds engaged and their emotions high. But God’s truth is not a thing by which to be pleasantly titillated.
The witness of John the Baptist was an extremely powerful affirmation of the Person of Jesus. The second witness called by Jesus is the witness of His miracles.
The witness of Jesus’ miracles (36). As compelling as John the Baptizer’s testimony should have been, this is a witness infinitely greater. Verse 36 reads, “I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the very work that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me.” Jesus often uses the term “work” to refer to His miracles, such as the healing of the lame man at Bethesda earlier in this very chapter.
What is the nature of the testimony of Jesus’ miracles? First of all, they were not just His miracles, but the Father’s. In fact, the Father gave Him the miracles as an assignment to finish. Jesus didn’t simply decide on His own what was appropriate for each situation; He did what the Father wanted Him to do.
Furthermore, the miracles which Jesus did were unique. Here’s what He says in John 15:24: “If I had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen these miracles, and yet they have hated both me and my Father.” Certainly, there were prophets and Apostles in the OT and NT who performed miracles, but no one did the kind or number of miracles which Jesus did.
Still further, the miracles prove His heavenly origin. How else can such things be explained? Some unusual events can be explained scientifically or dismissed as anomalies, but when a man gives sight to someone born blind or raises a dead man already decomposed, there’s only one explanation—He must be sent from God, and His claims to deity must be true. But just as the testimony of John the Baptizer was rejected, so also was the testimony of Jesus’ miracles.
Right here in this passage the religious leaders see a stupendous miracle performed, but they opt to kill the miracle-worker rather than worship Him. Again and again, they respond the same way. In fact, the greater the miracle, the greater the opposition. Why? Because His claims and His deeds didn’t fit into their preconceived notions of how God works. In other words, the box they had put God in wasn’t big enough to include Jesus.
You know, people are notorious for ignoring evidence that doesn’t fit into their prejudices. The other night I was watching the MacNeil/Lehrer Report. They were discussing the EPA’s ruling that second-hand smoke is toxic and possible federal regulation that could result. It was amazing to hear the representative of the Tobacco Institute throw up all kinds of smoke screens (pun intended) against common sense. It turned out to be a real-life illustration of the very principle of this passage—that the amount of evidence is rarely the problem; it’s the willingness or unwillingness of people to surrender their wills to the truth.
So far Jesus has appealed to the witness of John the Baptizer and the witness of His miracles. Thirdly, He calls for …
The witness of the Scriptures (37-39). These witnesses are presented in ascending order of importance, with the Scriptures being the epitome. Listen again starting in verse 37: “And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.”
The nature of the testimony of the Scriptures is that it is equivalent to God speaking. I believe the Bible to be a unique book. Every other book in the world is human in origin; the Bible is divine in origin. Recorded by 40 authors in three languages over a period of nearly 2,000 years, the Bible displays a remarkable unity of purpose and content; it demonstrates incredible insight into human psychology and behavior; and it speaks with unprecedented accuracy on all that it teaches.
Furthermore, Jesus Christ is clearly the central theme of the Scriptures, both OT and NT. Right here in verse 39 Jesus says, “These are the Scriptures that testify about me.” The Psalms are full of Messianic references to Jesus. In addition, the prophets are replete with predictions of His first and second comings, as well as of His Kingdom. Through pictures and types and direct prophecies Jesus fulfills the Levitical feasts, the Levitical offerings, and the Levitical priesthood. In other words, the Scriptures are a signpost pointing to Jesus.
Suppose, as John Stott suggests in one of his books, you and your family are determined to go on a picnic. You pick your spot and start driving toward it. At last, you come to a sign that contains the name of the picnic grounds. What do you do now? Do you immediately stop the car and get out and have your picnic around the signpost? Of course not! You follow the sign to the grounds themselves and have your picnic there. In the same way, God gave the Scriptures so that you and I, sinners that we are, might come to Christ in whom we have a true knowledge of the Father.
Why then doesn’t everyone believe the witness of both the Hebrew Scriptures and the NT? Why don’t most Jews believe? Why don’t the Muslims believe? Or the Hindus? Or the cultists? The reason for the rejection of Scripture’s testimony can be one of two opposites—either unbelief or bibliolatry. First, let’s consider the issue of unbelief.
1. Unbelief. One reason Jesus’ accusers refuse the testimony of Scripture to His deity is that they are spiritually deaf and blind. In verse 37 He says, “You have never heard God’s voice nor seen his form, nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent.” Before Jesus came, an occasional prophet heard the voice of God and a few even saw His form. But in the Living Word of God, Jesus Christ, all people are enabled to hear the voice of God and see His form. Listen to the first verse of the book of Hebrews: “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being.”
What, then, in the reason Jesus’ accusers have never heard God’s voice, or seen His form, or have His Word dwelling in them? Because they do not believe (verse 38). The modern skeptic says, “The Bible is just a mumbo jumbo mixture of myths, fairy tales, and culturally outdated rules; therefore, I will not believe.” But the Bible says, “The skeptic doesn’t believe; therefore, the Bible is to him just a mumbo jumbo mixture of myths, fairy tales, and culturally outdated rules.” The skeptic wants to think his problem is intellectual in that the Gospel just doesn’t make sense to him. But the truth is that his problem is moral. His whole life is lived in rebellion against God, and God will not reveal the truth of the Gospel to him fully until he humbles himself and surrenders his will.
Of course, it’s not just agnostics or skeptics who have a problem believing the claims of Jesus; even many religious people fail to see Him as God. In fact, many cultists are devout students of the Scripture and still they reject the deity of Christ. Jesus hints that the problem may be …
2. Bibliolatry, which is defined as the worship of the Scriptures. Jesus offers incredible insight as He says to the Jewish religious leaders in verse 39, “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” Is Jesus saying it is wrong to search the Scriptures? No certainly not, for elsewhere we are told that the Bereans were more noble than the Thessalonians, because they searched the Scriptures daily to see if what they were being taught was actually true.
No, the problem is that these religious leaders worshiped the OT instead of the God of the OT. They were so convinced of the sacredness of the Scriptures that their scribes counted every letter in it. They could tell you how many times the letter “g” was found in the OT, what the middle letter of each book was, and what was the middle letter of the entire OT.
Dr. Bruce Waltke, my Hebrew professor in seminary, told our class about an elderly rabbi he got to know while he was involved in archeological research in Israel. Since Waltke loved the Psalms, he began to discuss various Psalms with this rabbi. It wasn’t long before he realized that the rabbi had memorized many of the Psalms. When he finally asked him, the man acknowledged that he knew the entire Psalter by heart in Hebrew and proceeded to quote it without missing so much as a single syllable! But the really amazing thing is that he couldn’t see the truth of verse 39: “It is these OT Scriptures which witness of me.”
Unfortunately, there are still those even in our circles who treat Scripture as a book to be studied rather than lived, to be memorized rather than understood, to be revered rather than trusted and obeyed, and to be used as a trump card for one’s own pet theological views rather than as a source for truth. There are even those who buy a beautiful Bible to place in a prominent position in their home but fail to read it at all. When we do such things, the Bible’s fundamental witness—namely that Jesus Christ is Lord and God and Savior—is lost on us.
Jesus has called three witnesses to His defense. But before the audience renders a verdict, Jesus explains the consequences of their choice by offering a discourse on …
Reasons why people refuse to believe despite overwhelming evidence (40-47)
They are unwilling to surrender their wills. (40). Look at verse 40: “You refuse to come to me to have life.” Jesus doesn’t say that their minds are unable to understand, nor that their emotions are getting in the way, but rather that their wills are the culprits. They don’t want to believe. They refuse to believe. The clarity of the evidence often has nothing to do with the matter. Interestingly, the well-educated person seems to be particularly susceptible to unbelief, perhaps because of the intellectual pride which so easily controls him. I read a poem (anonymous, I think) recently which seems to reach the heart of the matter very succinctly:
Trained men’s minds are spread so thin
They let all sorts of darkness in;
Whatever light man finds they doubt it,
They love not light, but talk about it.
One reason why men reject clear evidence is that they are unwilling to surrender their wills. A second reason is that …
They do not have a genuine love for God. (41-42) Verse 42 reads, “I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts.” These Jews are like many people today—they don’t really love God; they just love their ideas about God. They make a profession of loving God, always saying the right things, performing the right rituals, doing the proper deeds. But in fact, there is no real devotion, no heart-warming to God’s voice, no tears of contrition when God is offended, no rejoicing at His forgiveness of sins. A third reason why some refuse to believe is that …
They are man-centered, not God-centered. (43-44) Jesus says in verse 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. How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?” The truth of this verse is more obvious in the 19th and 20th centuries than ever before. Others have come in their own names, without any evidence of divine attestation, and people have flocked to them—individuals like Joseph Smith, Mary Baker Eddy, Jim Jones, L. Ron Hubbard, Rev. Moon, and many others.
Why do people follow such religious charlatans? Because they would rather give and receive the glory which comes from one another than that which comes from God. The religious impostors come promising health and material prosperity and eternal life. They dispose of hell and God’s wrath, which are doctrines that tend to stick in people’s throats. Instead, they promise people that they can become gods, a promise tried first by a well-known religious imposter in the Garden of Eden. In summary, they offer the easy way. But Jesus offered the hard way of discipleship and sacrifice and obedience. And He gave no promise of recognition before men. In fact, He said that if we do things for human praise, then that’s all the praise we will ever receive.
Conclusion: The ultimate irony is this: man’s greatest hope can become his greatest condemnation. (45-47) Look at verse 45: “But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?”
In order to appreciate these final verses, we must understand how the Jews felt about Moses. To them Moses was the equivalent of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Babe Ruth, and Billy Graham all rolled into one. He was the greatest! If he couldn’t do it, then no one could! They were proud to be his descendants. They revered him for his lawgiving. They set their hopes in him. Isn’t it pathetic, then that Jesus has to say to them, “Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set.” I can’t think of any greater tragedy than to be condemned by the one whom you trusted to save you.
But do you know that irony is being played out in millions of lives today? People have set their hopes on religious leaders who are leading them down the primrose path to condemnation. Others have set their hopes on financial security. Jesus said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21)
Still others have set their hopes on family or friends. That’s certainly better, but people fail, and people die, and if that’s where your hopes are placed, you will sooner or later be disappointed. And some even set their hopes on their own efforts to do good works to keep God happy? Friend, that’s a very weak platform upon which to stand, and it too, will inevitably lead to condemnation.
No, there’s only one place to set your hopes and be sure you don’t end up condemned. There’s only one Person you can trust and be sure He won’t accuse you before the Father—and that’s Jesus Christ. You have heard the claims of Jesus and you have heard from three great witnesses. What is the verdict? Will you continue to treat Him with indifference? Or will you bow down before Him and cry as St. Thomas did, “My Lord and my God?”
DATE: January 10, 1993
Tags:
Evidence
John the Baptizer
Miracle
Scripture
Unbelief
Bibliolatry
Reasons for unbelief
[i] Interestingly, each of these three witnesses is also called to testify in John 10. John the Baptist is appealed to in 10:40-41, Jesus’ miracles in 10:38-39, and the Scriptures in 10:34-36.