WITNESSES TO JESUS.
John 5:31-39.
JOHN 5:31. “If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.”
If any mere man were to make the claims that Jesus made for Himself, that man would be a liar. But, to show us that He is no mere man, Jesus goes on to speak of “other witnesses.”
JOHN 5:32. “There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which He witnesseth of me is true.”
The verbs “beareth witness” and “witnesseth” are in the present tense. This introduces the Father as a present witness. (He is also mentioned as a past witness, “hath borne witness,” in John 5:37.) Jesus, of course, knows that the Father’s testimony is true.
JOHN 5:33-35. “Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth. But I receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, that ye might be saved. He was a burning and shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.”
Here Jesus introduces John the Baptist as His second witness. Not that He needs man’s testimony: but He mentions John’s testimony “that ye might be saved.” They had been content “for a season” to delight in the teaching of this “burning and shining light” (what a great character testimony Jesus here gives of John!)
But they seemed to have forgotten what John was all about. If they would have genuinely believed John, they should surely believe in the one to whom John was forever pointing: Jesus! So, while Jesus does not need the witness of any man, He is happy to use such in order to bring others to salvation.
JOHN 5:36. “But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me.”
The third witness is the testimony of the miracles that Jesus was doing. These He calls “the works which the Father gave me to finish.”
That must encompass everything from the incarnation, through the great number of signs and miracles accomplished by Jesus during His sojourn in the earth, to the cry ‘It is finished’ upon the Cross.
But also, the ultimate miracle of His resurrection, and the ongoing things which Jesus continued ‘both to do and to teach’ (cf. Acts 1:1) through the Acts of the Apostles into the church era, and to the end of the age.
JOHN 5:37-39. “And the Father Himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard His voice, nor seen His shape. And ye have not His word abiding in you: for whom He hath sent, Him you believe not. Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of me.”
The fourth witness is the scriptures. Jesus’ hearers had neither heard an audible voice, nor received a vision of God. However, they claimed to be experts in the scriptures.
But, said Jesus, they did not have “His word” abiding in them. They failed to see Jesus as the fulfilment of all that they had been reading.
