By Sue Desmarais
How can you be sure that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God? And how can you be sure you are one of His followers?
What would you say if someone asked you
these questions today?
I've discovered over the years that there
is often a vast difference from following a particular religion and following
Christ Jesus, God's Son. Have you noticed just how many religions there are out
there today that all claim their way is the best, or even only way to God in
heaven? Have you ever wondered about what you believe and whether or not it's
correct? These were exactly the questions on the people's minds in chapter 5 -
How can we be certain Jesus is who he claims he is?
According to the Law of Moses which is what
the Jews followed, a testimony had to come from, “the mouths of two or three witnesses" before it was accepted.
(Deuteronomy 19:15). Because we live in a fallen world, we don't know whether
to believe someone's testimony or not, therefore The Lord prescribed in the Law
that there must be witnesses; people who will corroborate another's testimony
before it is to be believed, and this is exactly what our Lord is doing for the
people who are listening to Him.
Jesus has made
some amazing claims about Himself in this one chapter alone! He claimed to be:
·
"the Son of God,"
·
"the One sent by the
Father,"
·
"the Source of all life" (physical
and spiritual),
·
"the Judge of all the world"
(everyone is heading toward a confrontation with him), and
·
"the Raiser of the dead," - the very
One who one day will empty out all the cemeteries of the earth!
Imagine
for a moment that you were hearing all of this for the very first time! I'll
bet it was a "jaw-dropping" moment. I'm also willing to bet that
doubts began to form in the listener’s minds almost immediately, and knowing
their hearts and minds, Jesus proceeds to reveal three witnesses whose
testimony backs up His claims.
The first witness is Jesus Himself:
"If
I alone testify about Myself, My testimony is not valid. There
is another [My Father] who testifies about Me, and I
know [without any doubt] that His testimony on My behalf is
true and valid.”-John 5:31-32
(When our Lord says his testimony is not
valid, he does not mean it is false; he means it was not valid in their eyes
because of their need for more witnesses, referring back to the Law in Deut
19:15.)
The second witness was John the Baptist:
"You
sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. Not that the testimony
which I receive is from man; but I say this that you may be saved. He was a
burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his
light." -John 5:33-35
John the Baptist had said four specific
things about Jesus:
- John proclaimed Him to be the long-expected Messiah, the One
whom the prophets wrote of. John even quoted the word of Isaiah concerning
himself, "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, 'Make
straight the way of the Lord'" -John 1:23
- Secondly, as "the Lamb of God." To his own
disciples he said, "Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of
the world," -John 1:29. Which meant Jesus was to be the innocent
Substitute who will one day stand in our place and take our sins upon
Himself.
- Third as the "Baptizer with the Holy Spirit," (John
1:33). He is the One who will pour out "river of living water"
that will satisfy the thirsty hearts.
- Finally, as "the Son of God," (John 1:34). He is the
Word made flesh, God Himself, Lord of heaven and earth, who became a
man.
And in verse 33, Jesus declares that all
John said about Him is true!
The third witness and even greater witness
than John, according to Jesus, is the very works that Jesus has performed
before them:
“But
the testimony which I have is far greater than the testimony of John;
for the works that the Father has given Me to finish—the very same
works [that is, the miracles and proofs of My deity] that I
am [now] doing—testify about Me, [by providing
evidence] that the Father has sent Me.” -John 5:36
And if you still can't believe Him because
of the works He's done, believe Him because of His Father who sent Him to do
those very works:
"And
the Father who sent Me has Himself testified about Me."- John 5:37
Ah! But there is still a problem! And Jesus
goes on to explain it:
"You
have never heard His voice nor seen His form [His majesty and
greatness]. You do not have His word (Scripture) abiding in
you [actually living in your hearts and minds], because you do not
believe in Him whom He has sent.
You
search and keep on searching and examining the Scriptures
because you think that in them you have eternal life; and yet it is
those [very Scriptures] that testify about Me.
Do you know people like that? They think
they have it all figured out, so much so, nothing you could say would change
their minds?
There is this one man I know who comes to
mind. He's absolutely brilliant! He's an excellent Bible teacher; has
earned a Ph.D. from the very best schools in the country. He can win
an argument without ever opening up a Bible! He can quote Scripture
and cross-reference like the best of them, but He doesn't know
Jesus!! He is lost, utterly lost, but chooses to remaining right
where he is. Like these Jews, he has studied the Scriptures, but stopped short
of coming to Jesus in order to be assured of eternal life.
This tells me that there has got to be more
to knowing God’s word inside out and backwards! It's not enough to have only
head knowledge; we've got to have faith to believe it! Romans 10:8-10 comes to
mind and I'll close with this:
“The
word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith
which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth
Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised
Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person
believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he
confesses, resulting in salvation.”
Jesus is who He says He is, for not only
does Scripture testify to this fact in so many, many ways, but my heart also
believes it’s true. How about you?