Tuesday, June 19,
2012, 7:35 a.m. – the Lord woke me with the song “No Less” playing in my mind. Speak, Lord, for your servant is
listening. I read John 5:31-47 (NIV
1984):
“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.
“You have sent to John
and he has testified to the truth. Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention
it that you may be saved. John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you
chose for a time to enjoy his light.
“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. 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.
“I do not accept
praise from men, but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in
your hearts. 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?
“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?”
My Understanding: Jesus
had just been criticized and persecuted by the Jews because Jesus healed people
on the Sabbath, and because he made statements about himself that intimated
that he was equal with God, and they saw that as blasphemy. He responded to
their criticism concerning the Sabbath by saying, “My Father is always at his
work to this very day, and I, too, am working.” And, for that reason, the Jews
tried all the harder to kill him, said John.
Jesus said, “The Son
can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing,
because whatever the Father does the Son also does… He who does not honor the
Son does not honor the Father, who sent him. I tell you the truth, whoever
hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be
condemned; he has crossed over from death to life… By myself I can do nothing;
I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please
myself but him who sent me.”
Jesus was testifying about himself. And, there is no
question that he was saying he was himself God: He did what the Father did. The
Father raises the dead and gives them life. So does the Son. Both the Father
and the Son have the power to save lives and to give eternal life. The Father
has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just
as they honor the Father. If we do not honor the Son, we don’t honor the
Father. Believing in Jesus’ words is the same as believing in the Father. The
Father has life in himself and so does the Son, i.e. they are not created
beings but they are the creator. Jesus is God!
Yet, his testimony, alone, would not be considered valid by
the Jews, so Jesus said there was another who testified in Jesus’ favor, and he
knew his testimony was valid. Right after that he spoke of John’s testimony
concerning him, yet John’s testimony was not the only one Jesus mentioned. The
Father had testified to Jesus being the Son of God at Jesus’ baptism. Then,
John the Baptist testified as to what the Father had revealed to him about the
Son of God. Then, Jesus testified about himself, as well as his works, which
revealed his divine nature, also testified to the fact that he was indeed the
Son of God. And, the Scriptures, too, testified to Jesus Christ being the Son,
because Jesus was the fulfillment of the Scriptures.
The Baptist’s
Testimony
Jesus told his Jewish persecutors that they had sent to
John, and that John the Baptist had testified to the truth. In John 1, it is
recorded that the Jews of Jerusalem had sent a delegation of priests and
Levites to question John the Baptist as to who he was. John the Baptist told
them plainly that he was not the Christ, he was not a reincarnation of Elijah,
and he was not a prophet. Jesus later said that John was indeed a prophet and
greater than a prophet, and that he was the Elijah who was to come, i.e. he
would minister in the spirit and the power of Elijah, yet John did not promote
himself as thus. He took on the humble role of a servant when he stated,
quoting Isaiah, that he was “the voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Make
straight the way for the Lord.’” John was not interested in titles or in identifying
himself with great men of the past. He identified himself merely by the task he
had been assigned to do by God, and that was to prepare the way for the
Messiah.
John let those priests and Levites know that his job was
merely as a servant and as a messenger to prepare the way for one greater than
him who had already come, and who was now among them. He is the one who was to
come after John, and the one for whom John was preparing the way. He was
letting them know, essentially, that his job was in preparing the way for the
Christ who was to come, that he had already come, and that he was now among
them, yet they did not know him as the Christ.
The next day John declared publicly that Jesus was “the Lamb
of God, who takes away the sins of the world.” Then he told his hearers that
Jesus was the one he had spoken of previously when he said that a man would
come after him who had surpassed him because he was before him, even though
John was the older of the two. He was saying that before John existed Jesus
was. He was eternal. He was God. And, John came in order that Jesus might be
revealed to Israel as their promised and long-awaited Messiah and King. John
told how it was God the Father who had instructed him as to how he would
recognize Jesus, and it was through this testimony of God that John came to know
that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, and he testified to this fact, and to the
fact that Jesus Christ would be the one to baptize with the Holy Spirit.
Validation for
Salvation
So, going back to Jesus’ words in John 5, when Jesus said to
his persecutors that they had sent to John, and that he had testified to the
truth, he was saying that what John had said about himself, about the Father’s
testimony concerning Jesus, and what John had said concerning Jesus was all
true, and that what John had said validated what Jesus was saying about
himself. Jesus was letting his persecutors know that what he was saying about
himself could be substantiated by other witnesses, including the witness of
John the Baptist.
Then, he went on to talk with them about how, for a time,
they enjoyed the light of John’s lamp (of truth) that burned brightly, and that
Jesus’ testimony was weightier than John’s. And, his purpose in mentioning John’s
testimony was ultimately that the people might believe and be saved, because
John’s testimony about Jesus validated his own about himself, which validated
the Father’s testimony about Jesus. The work the Father had given to the Son to
do, and which he was doing, also testified that the Father had sent Jesus, and
if they believed John’s testimony, they would believe Jesus, and if they
believed Jesus, they believed the Father who sent Jesus, and if they believed
both the Father and the Son, and they put their faith in the Son of God, they
would be saved. So, it was critical that Jesus’ testimony about himself be
validated. It meant the salvation of human lives.
Exhortation and
Confrontation
Once Jesus had established his own testimony concerning
himself, and that John the Baptist, God the Father, and the work to which the
Father had called him, and that he was doing, all served to validate his own
testimony regarding himself, Jesus then spoke some strong words to his
persecutors. These indictments help explain why they would not accept Jesus’
testimony about himself. Jesus said about them:
- Though they knew the Scriptures through careful study, they did not recognize or know the voice of God speaking to them, or the person of God among them
- Even though they had a great deal of head knowledge of the Scriptures, it had not gotten into their hearts through faith and practice (obedience; applied knowledge)
- They did not know the word and it was not in their hearts, because they had the Living Word right there among them, and yet they did not believe his words
- They were so careful to study all the finest details of Scripture, thinking that knowledge would lead them to eternal life, yet they refused the God of the Scriptures through their refusal to accept the testimony about Christ in Scripture
- They did not have the love of God in their hearts for God, in heart response to God’s prior love for them, or for others whom God loved
- They did not accept Jesus, even though he came in the name of the Father, yet they accepted men who came in their own name (this is so true today)
- They were more interested in the praise of men they received from men than they were concerned about whether or not God accepted them and praised them
Jesus knew they had little regard for him, so his
accusations against them probably made little impact on them. So he cited one
name they did regard as important, valuable, honorable, and worthy of respect.
He told them that this man would accuse them. His name was Moses. They had put
their faith in Moses, but they refused to put their faith in Christ, to whom
Moses’ writings pointed. So, Jesus basically said to them that they didn’t
really believe Moses, because if they did, they would believe Christ, for Moses
wrote about Jesus.
So… how does this
apply to us today? We need to accept all the testimony about Jesus Christ from
the Scriptures and not just pick and choose what we want to believe. Many
people paint Jesus as a “Peace and Love” hippie from the 1970s, yet they forget
he is God, that he is also our judge, that he disciplines us for our good, that
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for “teaching, rebuking, correcting
and training in righteousness,” that Jesus said we need to repent (turn from)
our sins, and that we need to take up our cross and daily die to our old way of
lives if we are to be his followers, etc. He died to free us from sin, not to
give us a free license to continue in sin. He expects and demands obedience. Yet,
he promises much joy, peace, assurance, protection, guidance, comfort, freedom
from sin, strength, wisdom, empowerment and eternal life, etc.
So many preachers are preaching a watered-down gospel, which
is a gospel of men, and they are looking for their praise from men rather than
from God. We need to know the truth of Scripture by listening to God’s voice
speaking, and then by applying its truths to our lives, thus having the word
dwelling within us and living out through us. And, we need to respond to God’s
love for us by loving him; by obeying his commands and by following him
wherever he leads us and in doing whatever he says for us to do.
No Less / An
Original Work / March 19, 2012
I can do no less than
praise You,
Lord, for all You’ve
done for me.
You died for my sins
to save me,
So I would be set
free.
I adore You! Lord, I
praise You!
Jesus, Savior, King of
kings!
You provided my redemption.
Your grace has
pardoned me.
I can do no less than
serve You.
Lord, Your witness I
would be,
Telling others of Your
love,
And why You died on
that tree.
Tell of how You gave
of Your life,
So from sin we’d be
set free,
So we could worship
You forever,
And live eternally.
I can do no less than
love You,
Lord, for You have
first loved me.
You gave of Your life
so willing,
Because You cared for
me.
Turn from my sin! Obey
freely!
Live for You each
passing day.
Read Your word, and
follow Your lead,
Lord, as I humbly
pray.
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