God's Witness to the Truth, Part 1 - John 5:30-38

 

God’s Witness to the Truth, Part 1

John 5:30-38

Introduction: Remember the context. It was a question of authority. Who did Jesus think He was? He had healed a man who had been lame for 38 years in the first part of this chapter and then told him to take up his mat and walk. On the sabbath. That miracle was another sign, revealing the glory of Messiah Jesus, the Son of God.  The reaction of the leaders to the sign evokes the language of a courtroom. As Jesus responds to their accusations against Him the opposition intensified when He said, “My Father is working until now, and I am working” (17). To the leaders, that was blasphemy: He was calling God His own Father, making himself equal with God! Jesus turns the tables, announcing He is doing the Father’s will, and everyone will be judged on the basis of their response to Him. Suddenly, it’s the leaders who are on trial, their guilt being revealed by their unbelief. Truth: Jesus is uniquely the Son of God; as such He is the Lord of Life and the coming Judge. In verse 30, He reaffirms the unity of His works and words with those of the Father: “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” (30).  

This is no simple “claim” to be the messiah—others had done that before—all imposters, either lusting for fame and power or deluded by their own minds. Jesus was not simply unilaterally claiming to be the Messiah and Son of God.  “By the mouth of two or three witnesses let everything be established” (Dt 19:15).  If Jesus simply claimed to be the Messiah, with no corroborating testimony or evidence how could anyone know that he was any different than the many messianic pretenders that had come before?  We’ll see that His claims were clearly confirmed by the Father through the witnesses He sent. Jesus reminds his accusers that the One who sent Him, God the Father, has testified to his identity, through the witness of the forerunner that was sent to announce his coming; through the signs that he did (like the healing of the man); and through the Scriptures, written centuries before, that spoke of his person and his work. 

The Big Idea: The testimony to Jesus’ identity is clear and compelling: He is the Christ, the Son of God. The question is, how will you respond to the evidence? We’ll see that 1) Truth Matters, Was Jesus a lunatic, a liar, or Lord? 2) God sent John as a witness to the truth; 3) He gave the signs as testimony to the truth; 4) He has given His Word, revealing the truth… Let’s begin with 1) Truth Matters…

I. Truth Matters:  Jesus claimed unity with the works and words of the Father. Was He a Lunatic, a Liar, or LORD? (5:30-32).

³⁰ "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.  ³¹ If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not deemed true.  ³² There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true.

       Remember the context of this “conflict” in which Jesus is embroiled. He healed a man on the Sabbath, and then, in violation of the oral traditions of the rabbis, told the healed man to pick up his mat and go home. And he did! Then, to make matters worse, His response to their objection infuriated them: “But Jesus answered them, ‘My Father is working until now, and I am working” (5:17).

       The leaders took that as blasphemy, as Jesus, in calling God His own Father, was making Himself equal with God. They were right in what He was saying, but they could not see He was speaking the Truth. The discourse in 5:19-29 was essentially affirming that unique relationship between the Father and the Son (later, especially in the Upper Room, Jesus will teach more about the promise of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, who He would send after His ascension. Here, in v. 30, He is summarizing that complete unity of purpose and work with the Father. His will, only and always, is to do the Father’s will. His claim was shocking to the leaders, but now He says His witness is not the only testimony they have to the truth (31-32):

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

When I first read this, I assumed this other witness to whom Jesus refers was John the Baptist, since he is mentioned in the following verses. But John is only one part of what Jesus says. In looking at the rest of the chapter, it seems more likely to me that Jesus is referring to God the Father as “the One who bears witness,” HE is the true witness. God sent a  man, John, as the last of the Old Testament prophets, to testify. He proclaimed that the Messianic age was at hand, and introduced Jesus to the nation. Jesus also does the works the Father has given Him, which John the Gospel writer points to as signs, testimony to Jesus’ identity as Messiah and Son of God. And then He will refer to the Scriptures, God’s inspired written revelation (we’ll look at that next week).

       Jesus made some earth-shaking claims in this context. He is indeed affirming His equality with God. As readers of the Gospel of John we are prepared for what Jesus is saying, but the Jewish leaders were likely scratching their heads and asking each other, “Who does this man think he is?” His claims were stunning, but if it were only the personal claims of another man, they would just be words. God chose to send the Son, and He chose to give multiple witnesses to the Truth. The evidence demands a verdict. If what Jesus says in this chapter was not true, He would be either a liar or a lunatic. But it is true. Jesus Christ is Lord. In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis famously argued the options,

“A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic– on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg– or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us…”

 Jesus came as the ultimate revelation of God to man. He is Emmanuel, God with us. There is mystery in the doctrine of the Trinity: One God, eternally existing in three persons, Father, Son, and Spirit. John is affirming, from start to finish, the truth of that doctrine. Later, Jesus will say, “He who has seen me has seen the Father,” and, “I and the Father are One.” Those awesome statements are Truth. The Big idea here is that *the testimony to Jesus’ identity as Son of God and Messiah, is clear and compelling: He is the Christ, the Son of God. The question is, how will you respond to the evidence?

II. GOD’s WITNESS through a Man: John received the witness of the Father and Testified to the Jews: The Messiah has come, He is Jesus, God’s Lamb (33-36a)!

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.  ³⁶ But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John.

       Just count in this chapter the words “witness” and “testimony.” Here again, in 5:33-34, The legal language is striking. The Greek perfect tense (“You have sent… he has testified…”) present his testimony as something established with continuing validity, like a sworn affidavit. We are still in the courtroom and Jesus is reviewing some of the evidence that left no doubt as to His identity. John, the Gospel writer, already in the prologue, drew attention to John’s role,

⁶ There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.  ⁷ He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.  ⁸ He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light… (John 1:6-8).

Just as few verses later, a contingent from the Pharisees arrive to question John…

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.) [John 1:19-24].

John’s witness was important, since he claimed to have received direct verbal confirmation from Heaven regarding Jesus’ identity. The Father himself witnessed through the forerunner He sent (5:37; John 1:33). He said in John 1:32-34,  

³² And John bore witness, saying, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him.  ³³ "I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.'  ³⁴ "And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God."

       John, sent by God, presented loud and compelling testimony that the Messiah had come. He identified himself in terms of a specific Scriptural role, the one called to announce the coming of the Anointed. For John it was all about Jesus—He saw himself as "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: "Make straight the way of the LORD," as the prophet Isaiah said. (Jn 1:23). He was sent, the forerunner, call to prepare the way. As he understood and said in Chapter 3, “He must increase, I must decrease.” Of course, for John, he paid the price of discipleship by being cast into Herod’s dungeon and then beheaded.  John stands as a humble example of a servant, and a more than credible witness that Messiah Jesus is the Son of God. *The testimony to Jesus’ identity is clear and compelling: Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. The question is, how will you respond to the evidence? Do you believe?

III. God’s Witness through the Signs: The Works the Father gave Jesus to do bear witness to Him (5:36; see 20:30,31; 2:23).

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. 

       An aspect of Jesus statement in 5:36 is the witness of the miracles Jesus did as “signs.”  This brings to mind the words of Peter in Acts 2,  v.22  “Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know…” We had such a recognition as early as John 3 when Nicodemus confessed, “No man could do the signs you do except God be with Him.” Jesus of course went further, he did the works of God and claimed to be God. After the account of the resurrection, John, as the writer and narrator of the Gospel, tells what his purpose in writing was focused on in John 20:30-31,  

³⁰ Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;  ³¹ but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

       We know that Jesus acted messianically by reaching out to the marginalized people around him.  When he stood in the synagogue in Nazareth, he quoted Isaiah 61:1,

"The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound…”  

When John was arrested and seemingly struggling to understand the unfolding plan of God, from prison he sent some disciples to inquire of Jesus.  We read in Luke 7:20-22,  

²⁰ When the men had come to Him, they said, "John the Baptist has sent us to You, saying, 'Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?' "  ²¹ And that very hour He cured many of infirmities, afflictions, and evil spirits; and to many blind He gave sight.  ²² Jesus answered and said to them, "Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard: that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them.”

The compassion of the Lord was shown is his reaching out to the downtrodden and outcasts of society. But he not only preached Good News, he revealed the power of God in the miraculous signs that he did.  Of course, the principle work he came to do included the cross and resurrection. Recall the exchange after the Temple cleansing…

John 2:18-21, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?"  ¹⁹ Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."  ²⁰ Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?"  ²¹ But He was speaking of the temple of His body.”   

John is showing that Jesus’ death and resurrection, together, was the greatest “sign,” God acted for our good. The evidence proves Jesus is who He claimed to be. *That is the Big Idea: The testimony to Jesus’ identity is clear and compelling: Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. The question is, how will you respond to the evidence?

IV. God’s Witness through the Word: The Scriptures revealed the truth (37-38).

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.

      We’ll say more about this next week as we (hopefully!) finish this chapter. The leaders had the writings of Moses and the Prophets, but clearly they don’t have eyes to see, ears to hear, or a heart to understand. God has spoken in the Scriptures, and they have not recognized the One to whom the Scriptures point! John has consistently invited us to think back to the Old Testament, and also to see that, as the writer the Hebrews said, “At different times and in many ways God spoke in times past to the Fathers through the prophets, in these last days He has spoken in the Son” (1:1).

       The opening of the Gospel clearly alludes to Gen 1:1, any reader who knew the OT would immediately be drawn there. John is showing that the entire OT anticipates the coming of Messiah, and Jesus alone fulfilled that expectation. That theme of fulfillment is echoed throughout John and the other Gospels. In John 1:45,  Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote -- Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." In fact, we tried to show back in the first chapter of John that the writer points to the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings, the three main parts of the Hebrew Scriptures, as pointing ahead to Jesus. The two disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24 met with a stranger on the way, they were confused and dejected about the death of their Master. Jesus met them on the way,

 Luke 24:25-27 “How foolish you are and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!  ²⁶ "Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?"  ²⁷ And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.”

Later, right before the ascension, He said to the gathered disciples,

⁴⁴ "These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me."  ⁴⁵ And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.  ⁴⁶ Then He said to them, "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day,  ⁴⁷ "and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.  ⁴⁸ "And you are witnesses of these things” (Luke 24:44-48).

What is God saying to me in this passage? The testimony to Jesus’ identity is clear and compelling: Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. The question is, do you believe?

What would God have me to do in response to this passage?

1) Jesus claimed to be God. Either the leaders were right and he deserved to be stoned, or He spoke the truth and deserves our worship. Was he a liar, a lunatic, or Lord? If he is God the Son, think of the love is took, for Him to humble himself and become a man! He did it for you. Amazing grace, amazing love! As we grasp that, we are moved to worship.

2) If you believe in Him as your Savior and Lord, your sin, and the guilt and shame that goes with it, have been nailed to the Cross. How then will you live? You are free from the chains of the enemy, you are no longer in bondage to sin and Satan. You are free to serve the living and true God. Trust and obey! Embrace the mission, you are a witness, His witness, to the Gospel of Grace! AMEN.