Day 886: Why believe Jesus? - John 5 vs 31 - 40

31-33 If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not deemed true. There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true. You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. 34-35 Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.

36-37 But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. 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. And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me.

38-40 His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. John 5:31-40 English Standard Version

We live in times when 'Artificial Intelligence' is making it much more difficult to sort out fact from fiction and truth from lies. Can we readily believe things we read or hear? But the actual problem of truth and falsehood is not new, it existed even in the days of Jesus. In the verses just before today's reading Jesus had made some amazing claims, such as: “whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life”, and, “an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.” Those are staggering statements for any person to make. So why should the people who heard him then, and even people like us today, believe him?

Jesus would've been aware of the requirement in Jewish law that any legal matter “must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.” (Deuteronomy 19:15) They were not to simply accept someone's words without it being confirmed by other reliable witnesses. So who did Jesus call as His first witness? (vs 31-33)

A large number of people, including some religious leaders, believed that the man known as John the Baptizer was a prophet sent by God. And when John baptized Jesus something amazing happened. When the Pharisees asked him about it we read: “John gave this testimony: 'I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on Him' …. I have seen, and I testify, that this is God’s Chosen One.” (John 1:32-34)

But Jesus goes on to speak of an even greater witness and testimony than that of John’s. Who would that be? (vs 36-37)

This chapter started with a miracle Jesus had done by enabling a man who had been paralysed for 38 years to rise up and walk again. It was one of the many other miracles which the apostle John tells his readers about in the gospel he wrote. The claims Jesus made concerning Himself were matched by the amazing things He did. God was bearing witness to the world that Jesus was indeed His well beloved Son.

What was the tragic thing, though, about those who were still sceptical of who Jesus was? (vs 38-40)

Their ears were deaf to God's voice! They couldn't hear what the Father had said concerning His Son. The fact that Jesus refers to how they avidly 'read the Bible' suggests that the voice of God they were not hearing was that of the prophecies He had given in the Old Testament concerning the Messiah. What a warning this still is for us today. It's not reading the Bible that will save us (or any other religious activity) – it is only if we come by faith to Jesus and believe Him. An old hymn about the bread and wine which Christians take at Communion says: “If now, with eyes defiled and dim, we see the symbols, but see not Him - O may His love the scales displace, and bid us see Him face to face.” May that be true of us as we read the words of Jesus in our Bibles. May we hear God's testmony concerning the Son, and believe Him.