As we will see here in John 5, He was willing to go to the nth degree to show them who He is by those who gave witness to His deity. Why?
“He knew what their future held. ”
John 5:31-47, NLT
31 “If I were to testify on my own behalf, my testimony would not be valid. 32 But someone else is also testifying about me, and I assure you that everything he says about me is true. 33 In fact, you sent investigators to listen to John the Baptist, and his testimony about me was true. 34 Of course, I have no need of human witnesses, but I say these things so you might be saved.
35 John was like a burning and shining lamp, and you were excited for a while about his message. 36 But I have a greater witness than John—my teachings and my miracles. The Father gave me these works to accomplish, and they prove that he sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me has testified about me himself. You have never heard his voice or seen him face to face, 38 and you do not have his message in your hearts, because you do not believe me—the one he sent to you.
39 “You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! 40 Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life.
41 “Your approval means nothing to me, 42 because I know you don’t have God’s love within you. 43 For I have come to you in my Father’s name, and you have rejected me. Yet if others come in their own name, you gladly welcome them. 44 No wonder you can’t believe! For you gladly honor each other, but you don’t care about the honor that comes from the one who alone is God.
45 “Yet it isn’t I who will accuse you before the Father. Moses will accuse you! Yes, Moses, in whom you put your hopes. 46 If you really believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me. 47 But since you don’t believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?” (John 5:31-47, NLT)
According to Old Testament law, multiple witnesses were needed for a truth to be established as certain.
For instance, in Deuteronomy 19:15 we find this legal requirement is necessary for a person to be convicted of a crime.
Why would Jesus go to all that trouble to bring in the witnesses to a group that wants Him dead? Jesus wanted to give them every opportunity to respond, repent and be saved. He was not there to render final judgment.
Ezekiel 33:11 says,
‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?’ (Ezekiel 33:11)
We see in this passage that Jesus introduces four witnesses:
John the Baptist
His Works
His Father
His Word
John the Baptist
Jesus said in vv. 33 -35,
In fact, you sent investigators to listen to John the Baptist, and his testimony about me was true. Of course, I have no need of human witnesses, but I say these things so you might be saved. John was like a burning and shining lamp, and you were excited for a while about his message (John 5:33-35, NLT).
Jesus first points to John the Baptist as the first witness of His Messiahship; a human witness whose message caused a great deal of excitement among the people, enough for the religious leaders to get involved. Some of the people thought that John himself was the Messiah, to which John responded by telling them that he is only a witness, a light to the Messiah whom he was pointing to; the true Light which gives light to everyone.
Jesus says that He does not need any human witnesses to validate His Messiahship, He only points to John’s testimony as a means for the Jews to believe in Him.
Knowing that the people He was speaking with were not willing to accept Him and wanted evidence for who He claimed to be, Jesus appealed to these four witnesses, including the testimony of John the Baptist, to help them see the truth.
His Works
In v. 36 Jesus said,
But I have a greater witness than John—my teachings and my miracles. The Father gave me these works to accomplish, and they prove that he sent me.. (John 5:36, NLT).
What were the works Jesus was referring to?
They were His powerful works, the miracles He did right before their eyes. Jesus was making it clear that there could be no natural explanation for the works He was accomplishing.
His works - the healings, the miracles, warranted a supernatural explanation. Jesus had fulfilled specific OT Messianic prophecies that testified to His deity. According to the Talmud, the sacred of writings of Judaism, there are four miracles that only the Messiah could perform.
Four Messianic Miracles:
Healing a leper
Casting out a mute demon
Healing someone blind from birth
Raising a person who had been dead for at least four days.
But even with the witness of John and the witness of Jesus’ messianic miracles and the confirmation of that these people really had leprosy, had been blind from birth, had been lame, and that they were now perfectly healed, they knew that these works were a messianic claim.
This is why Jesus told the man He healed from leprosy not to tell anyone but to go and show himself to the priests, why He waited until after Lazarus was dead for four days before He raised him from the dead. When investigating a messianic movement, the Sanhedrin (the religious council) checked out what was being said; what was being done; and what was being taught and Jesus wanted them to investigate His works and words.
The only logical conclusion that anyone could come to when witnessing His works is that Jesus is the Messiah. He is God.
His Father
And the Father who sent me has testified about me himself. You have never heard his voice or seen him face to face, and you do not have his message in your hearts, because you do not believe me—the one he sent to you (John 5:37-38, NLT).
Each time they witnessed any miracle Jesus performed, they either invalidated it because it was done on the Sabbath or else claimed it was done through the power of demons and never attributed it to God Himself.
Jesus was telling them the honest truth about their spiritual condition, that they didn’t have the love of God in themselves because they put their hope in the religious system but not in the Savior.
Therefore, they did not believe Him, did not respond, did not repent.
If they acknowledged Jesus as Messiah, they would have to admit that His words had authority and theirs did not. They took pride in their religion, in their traditions, and in keeping the law but they had been misrepresenting God to the people.
Jesus Christ points out the final witness to what He has communicated to the world. This witness is powerful, corroborating, and irrefutable, and backs up Jesus' claims to deity.
His Word
You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life (John 5:39-40, NLT).
When Jesus is talking to the Jews he is referring to the teaching of the OT. You have reduced God’s Word to a workbook of rules for people to follow. You are looking at what is written and ignoring the One who wrote it.
The OT describes in great detail the One who would come: the promised Seed, the Son of Man, the Suffering Servant, the Passover Lamb, the Messiah. Jesus is saying this is what John the Baptist, My works, My Father and the Scriptures testify about who I am.
How much more proof do you need?
If you really searched the Scriptures beyond the words to the One it points to, you would understand that everyone who believes in me will have eternal life.
