In John 5 Jesus made some astonishing claims about Himself. He claimed that He did what He had seen His Father do. Thus, He claimed God was His Father. He claimed that as His Father raised the dead and gave them life, He would also do the same (v. 21). He claimed that as the Father gave eternal life to those who heard His voice, so also would the Son (vv. 24-26). He claimed that the hour was coming in which all who were in the graves would hear His voice and come forth (vv. 28-29). These claims were certain to bring voices of objection, denials and protests from those who did not believe in Him.
Granted, Jesus made some awesome claims, but His claims were neither unfounded nor without witnesses who testified His claims were true. In John 5 Jesus submitted five witnesses to testify that His claims were true. Jesus said, “I can of myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge: and my judgment is righteous; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. It is another that beareth witness of me …” (vv. 30-32).
With these words Jesus presented His first witness, John the Baptist. Jesus said that John had born witness unto the truth. John, Jesus said, was “the lamp that burneth and shineth” (vv. 33-35). In the first chapter of this gospel, John (the Baptist) had introduced Jesus of whom he said that One was coming after him, who was before Him (1:15). He also said that He was the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world (1:29). He furthermore claimed that he had been sent with the information that upon whom he saw the Holy Spirit descending and abiding, that was the one who baptized in the Holy Spirit, and John claimed he had seen the Spirit descending and abiding upon Jesus. At the same time John had heard the Father say, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” John was emphatic: “I have seen and have born witness that this is the Son of God” (1:34).
Jesus offered a second witness of Himself: “But the witness which I have is greater than that of John, for the works which the Father hath given to me to accomplish, the very works that I do bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me” (v. 36). Jesus’ miracles were a mighty testimony to His claims. Near the end of his record of Jesus John wrote, “Many other signs and wonders truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book, but these are written that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye may have life in his name” (John 20:30-31). Among the miracles which John did write of were the giving of sight to a blind man (John 9) and to raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11). These two miracles rank at the top of the marvels Jesus performed. Both miracles were performed in the presence of witnesses and the results were viewed by countless numbers more. So demonstratively true and astonishing was the giving sight to the blind man who exclaimed to unbelievers, “Why herein is the marvel that ye know not whence he is, and yet he opened mine eyes” (9:30-31) and the confession of Jesus’ enemies, “What do we, for this man doeth many signs” (11:47). These two phrases bear witness of the hardness of their hearts because they then feverishly set about to kill him.
Jesus’s third witness was His heavenly Father. He said, “The Father that sent me, he hath borne witness of me” (v. 37). Twice the heavenly Father vocally acknowledged Jesus as His Son. At His baptism, a voice from heaven said, “Thou art my Son, in thee I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). On the mount of transfiguration, the Father again said, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him” (Matthew 17:5).
Jesus’s fourth witness was the holy Scriptures. Jesus said, “Ye search the scriptures because ye think that in them you have eternal life and these are they that bear witness of me and ye will not come to me that ye may have life” (v. 39). The holy Scriptures promised He would come and gave dozens of prophecies which related to many aspects of His life. They include His virgin birth, His birth in Bethlehem, the prophecies of his life in Isaiah 53, and His death, resurrection, and ascension back to His Father.
The final witness Jesus offered of Himself was Moses. He said, “Think not that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye have set you hope. For if you believed Moses, ye would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?” (vv. 45-47). One of the most familiar truths Moses wrote of Jesus is found in Deuteronomy 18:15. Peter quoted this passage in his second sermon: “Moses indeed said a prophet shall the Lord God raise up unto you from among your brethren, liken unto me; to him shall ye hearken in all things whatsoever he shall speak unto you. And it shall be that every soul that hearkeneth not to that prophet shall be destroyed from among the people” (Acts 3:22-23).
If these witnesses are not enough, it is like that one thousand more would not convince the unbelieving.
Jim McDonald