THE MESSAGE OF JOHN AND THE MIRACLES OF JESUS.
John 5:33-36.
In JOHN 5:33-35, Jesus introduces John the Baptist as His 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. The "greater witness than that of John" 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 of ‘It is finished’ upon the Cross (cf. John 19:30).
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.
