Lesson for April 21, 2021
The Life of Christ
Lesson 18
The Fourfold Testimony About Christ
John 5:31-47
Jesus had just stated to these Jewish religious leaders that He did only the will of the Father. Jesus now demonstrated to these men how to determine that He was sent from God and that His testimony regarding Himself was true.
Jesus cited four testimonies as to the validity of His message and His Messiahship. In verse thirty-one Jesus says that if He alone testifies of Himself, His testimony would not be taken as true by these Pharisees. Many had come in the past claiming to be the Messiah, so the Pharisees and other religious Jews were skeptical about anyone claiming to be the Messiah and they were blinded to the truth by their own arrogance and power lust. So, when Jesus made His statement in John 5:31, it was with this skeptical view of the Pharisees in mind. From the point of view of the Pharisees, an outside source would be more valid.
Jesus gave them four witnesses other than Himself. He began in verse thirty-two to name these sources. Starting with John the Baptist, a person to whom the Pharisees had sent an investigative committee, which was recorded in John 1:19-29. This committee recognized John to be someone sent from God. They even asked him if he was Elijah, or the prophet spoken of by Moses in Deuteronomy 18:15 (it was the Messiah Moses was speaking of in Deuteronomy. (Acts 3:22-23). John 1:25 shows just how confused these men were regarding the coming Messiah. Deuteronomy 18:15 was clearly a prophecy regarding the Messiah and yet they asked John if he was Elijah, the Messiah, or the prophet of Deuteronomy.
Since the Pharisees believed John to be a “man of God,” certainly his testimony about Jesus should be believed. In John 1:26-29, John gave testimony to the Pharisees regarding Jesus. This was the testimony to which Jesus referred in John 5. Jesus also revealed His motive in giving these testimonies to the Pharisees. Jesus was not just trying to win a debate, He had genuine concern for the salvation of these men. The testimony from the “man of God,” John the Baptist, should have been enough to convince the Pharisees that Jesus was the Messiah.
The second testimony that Jesus gave was the works that He performed in the fulfillment of the Father’s plan. By the power of God the Holy Spirit, Jesus performed many miracles in order to establish His divine authority. Demons were exorcised, the sick were made well, water was turned to wine, the hungry were fed, the dead were resuscitated, and the blind were made to see. The “works” (miracles) that Jesus performed testified that He was sent from God the Father.
The third testimony was that of God the Father. At the baptism of Christ by John the Baptist, a voice came from Heaven saying, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:16-17) This was the voice of God the Father. There would have been Pharisees present at the baptism and they would have heard the audible voice of God. When Jesus said in John 5:37 that these Pharisees had neither heard God’s voice nor seen His form, He was referring to their spiritual blindness. Jesus was, of course, the visible image of God and they were rejecting Him. He will say later, “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.”(John 14:9)
The fourth testimony was the Scriptures. The Pharisees, like many today, could quote from the Old Testament and had an academic knowledge of what was written. What they lacked was faith in the Messiah, Jesus Christ and the enlightenment that the Holy Spirit provides to understand the Scriptures. These pious religious leaders rejected the truth of God’s Word in favor of manmade tradition and religion. In John 5:38 Jesus told them that His Word was not “living” in them. They had academic knowledge but did not have spiritual knowledge. Standing before them was the Living Word and their lack of spiritual knowledge prevented them from recognizing Jesus as the Messiah.
John 5:39 shows the futility of searching the Scriptures without illumination from God the Holy Spirit. The Pharisees assumed that by being students of the Old Testament, learning the Mosaic Law and keeping their distorted interpretation of it they would earn eternal life. On the part of the Pharisees, they practiced ritual without reality. They were not seeking God. They were seeking power, fame and fortune for themselves.
John 5:40 is the summary of the attitude and the blindness of the Pharisees. They were “experts” in the letter of the Law and students of the Old testament and yet they could not see the fulfillment of the Messianic prophecies in the Person of Christ. They rejected the Person that they supposedly had been waiting for, which was an indication of their real attitude toward God and their lack of knowledge of God. They did not know Him!
John 5:41 Jesus says that He did not receive honor from men. It was God who honored or glorified Him. The Pharisees loved to receive glory or honor from men. In contrast, the Messiah came to glorify God, not Himself. John 5:42 confirms that these men did not have virtue-love, but only self-love, which is arrogance. They were not interested in the things of God or their fellowman.
John 5:43-44 further demonstrate the spiritual blindness of these Pharisees. If another came claiming to be Messiah, they would accept him (if he didn’t upset their program or if they could benefit from him). This was also likely a prophecy regarding the antichrist who will come in the future and deceive many in the nation of Israel. If a person was seeking praise from men (and they were), they would most likely reject the “glory” that came from God – Jesus Christ.
The final testimony from the Scriptures was the writings of Moses. Moses was the one who the Pharisees revered above everyone else because they viewed themselves as the guardians of the Law. Jesus said in John 5:45-47 that He, as the Judge of all mankind, did not even need to judge these Pharisees, the Law of Moses had already done that. If the Pharisees refused to believe what Moses wrote regarding the coming Messiah (and they did), they would also reject the One Who Moses wrote about. Remember that the entire Law of Moses (all 613 statutes) pointed to Jesus Christ as the coming Messiah.
The Pharisees completely ignored all that was written about the Messiah because of their arrogance and lust for power and recognition. The prophetic books of the Old Testament both foretell future events and forthtell messages for the current time period in which they lived. Often the message of the prophet had a twofold meaning. Such is the case in the book of Isaiah. Isaiah was a prophet in the period prior to the captivity in Assyria and directed his message to Judah (one of the two Jewish nations at the time).
Written under the Law, Isaiah gives the reader a clear view of grace and could be called the prophet of redemption. More than any other writer in the Old Testament, Isaiah describes the Messiah, Jesus Christ. The details of Christ’s sufferings, His life, His trials and His crucifixion are given in a number of passages in Isaiah, especially chapter 53.
Isaiah was also used by God to warn the nation of coming judgment against them for their rebellion. In this we see the grace policy of God toward His chosen people Israel. The nation is always given ample warning before it is destroyed or conquered by opposing nations. Even when this occurs in the nation’s history, a remnant of faithful believers always remains.
Isaiah 7 introduces the righteous ruler (Messiah) Who will come in the future to deliver the nation from her enemies. Of course, most of the nation did not understand that this promise was for the future when Messiah comes to rule and reign upon the earth at the Second Coming. Isaiah 7:14, predicts the virgin birth of Christ more than 700 years before He was born. Isaiah 53 describes the life and death of Christ and much more. These Pharisees had no excuse for rejecting Jesus as the Messiah.