John 5:30-46
“They Bear Witness About Me”
I am sure you all have heard these sayings before. They are the ideas that dominate our culture: “I believe that everyone is basically good”; “I believe that all religions are the same and that there are many roads to heaven”; “I believe that, as long as I try to be good and not hurt anyone, I will end up in a better place”; “I believe that whatever makes one happy is the right thing to do”; “I believe that anything is possible if we put our mind to it, if we believe in ourselves.”
Well, the common sense will tell us that not everything people believe is true, no matter how sincerely they believe it. Many children believe in Santa Clause, enough to be shocked and dismayed when they find out the truth, anyway. Then they themselves take up their place in the long line of fake Santa Clauses, doing exactly what their parents had done. But our flights of fancy are not limited to children’s naïve beliefs in fairytales. There are more somber and pathetic expressions in people’s desperate hope, which arises out of their dire need to hold on to something, even to a straw.
Think also about the irony of all the computer games and internet sites. They feed off people’s longing to escape from their reality defined and built by science and technology! The cutting-edge scientific technology is used to feed people’s longing for something beyond the routine and drudgery of their daily existence--their dry, scientific, mechanical existence. It seems as though the “scientific” education of the modern era could not eradicate man’s fascination with fantasies, fairytales and wishful thinking. There seems to be in man an undying longing for the Beyond, something beyond the here and now. And we should not be surprised by this: God did not just give us a physical body out of the dust of the ground but He also breathed into us the breath of life, making us into a living soul. We have a longing for God and eternity beyond the confines of this physical universe.
But should we believe whatever fits our fancy? Should there
be no other basis of our belief than the fact that it sounds good to us and we
would like it to be true? If that were the case, our belief would be nothing
but a mirage, which may give us the hope and courage we need to go on for now. But
the reality will bite us even harder when we get to the pool of dry sand rather
than the pool of refreshing water. If we want to anchor our belief in a solid
foundation, we must go beyond what sounds good to what it is based on. What are
some of the things that you believe as working hypotheses for your daily life?
Why do we believe what we believe? What is the basis? (Or, does it matter?)
In our passage, Jesus speaks of the validity of His
ministry. He does so not to win people’s approval, as though the legitimacy of
His ministry depended on it: “Not that the testimony that I receive is from
man…” (v. 34); “I do not
receive glory from people.…” (v. 41). But, when
challenged by the religious leaders of His time, Jesus goes on to demonstrate
the validity of His ministry. Why? So that His people may saved (v. 34). What
condescension! What humility! Sometimes there is nothing more degrading than
having to prove oneself. Imagine a father being challenged by his son to prove
his love for him when he gladly donated one of his kidneys to save his son’s
life not too long ago. Jesus knew who He was full well. His self-consciousness
and self-worth did not depend on popularity with men. But He willingly
subjected Himself to the humiliating task of validating His ministry--why?--so
that people might be saved, so that you and I might believe and be saved!
But His humility is further demonstrated by His manner of
defending His ministry. He says in v. 31, “If I alone bear witness about
myself, my testimony is not deemed true.” He is obviously referring to what the
Mosaic Law required for valid evidence: “A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any
crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed.
Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be
established” (Deut.
Jesus was also distinguishing Himself from others, those who
come in their own names (v. 44). For the Jews did not lack false
messiahs, who caused quite a stir with their large claims and their new
political/religious/military movements. But what were their credentials?
Where was the validation of their ministry? Their zeal?
Their charismatic personality? Their
willingness and courage to take on the
It was not John the Baptist. Jesus mentioned John the
Baptist and his witness about Him. He did so because John did bear witness
about Him. In fact, the first portion of this Gospel is filled with John’s
testimony concerning Jesus. John is introduced in the prologue as a witness to
the true, eternal Light (1:6-9).
He was not the Christ (
We may not fully appreciate such a testimony from John the
Baptist. We are at the beginning of presidential campaign and we hear the
candidates courting endorsements from who’s who in the political arena as well
as from any notable institutions. Not all endorsements make to the news, of
course: some are bigger deals than others. John’s testimony at that time,
John’s endorsement of Jesus, if you will, was as huge as any endorsement got. When
he came on the scene, “
Jesus acknowledged John’s testimony: “You sent to John, and he has borne
witness to the truth” (v. 33). But it was not because the authenticity of
Jesus’ ministry depended on man’s testimony, even John’s. For Jesus was so much
greater than John. Jesus says in vv. 35-36, “He was a burning and shining lamp,
and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. But the
testimony that I have is greater than that of John.” How can Jesus
derive any legitimacy from someone so much inferior to Himself? It is like my
appreciation of Yo-Yo Ma, Joshua Bell or Luciano
Pavarotti. Does the fact that I, James Lee, like listening to their performance
validate in any real way their respective virtuosity? Probably
not. The same could be said of John’s witness concerning Jesus. Notice
the sharp contrast between
John and Jesus. When people asked John whether he was the Messiah, his answer
was a simple and decisive “No!”--this, despite the fact that the whole nation
of
But Jesus does not totally denounce it. When he acknowledges
it, however, it was only to show even a greater witness (or
witnesses). This would not work if John’s testimony was not great in its own
right! Then who is the other witness greater even than John? It is ultimately God
the Father, who sent Him into the world. It was particularly the works that the
Father sent Him to do: “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” (v. 36). What does
Jesus mean by these works?
First, they
are the works that Jesus is and has been doing. What has He been doing? He has
been doing a lot: gathering His disciples, teaching about the kingdom of
heaven, etc. But of particular interest here are the miraculous signs that He
has performed. His teaching was accompanied by miraculous signs. He made water
into wine at the wedding in
But these
miracles were not meant to be some dazzling show for entertainment or some
medical, social service. John the Apostle calls them “signs”. Why? Because they
functioned like signposts: their main objective was to point to something
beyond themselves. To what? To the
true identity of Jesus as the Son of God, as the One, sent by the Father as the
promised Messiah. For these supernatural miracles were impossible with
men: they are possible only with God. These miracles showed that the Father was
behind Jesus’ ministry. And Jesus tells us that what He has been doing,
including these miraculous signs, are the very works that the Father gave Him
to fulfill.
But this
raises yet another question, doesn’t it? What proof is there that what Jesus is
doing is what the Father sent Him to do? So Jesus says to the religious
leaders, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have
eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me…” (v.
39). It is not just the miraculous signs that Jesus performed, which
testified to the divine origin and approval of Jesus’ ministry. It is also the
Scriptural testimonies concerning Jesus’ works. The works that Jesus performed
were not something conjured up by a religious genius, cleverly devised to wow
and dazzle the people. As new and as marvelous they seem, there is, in a sense,
nothing original about the works of Jesus--in the sense that they are commissioned
by His heavenly Father. In fact, God has written down what Jesus was supposed
to do, in the Scriptures, through the prophets, way in advance. That was the primary
purpose of the Scriptures--bearing witness to Jesus, the long-expected Messiah!
Do you hear what Jesus is saying in v. 39? He is saying that,
when God wrote down all the things in the Scriptures, when God did all the
things that are recorded in the Scriptures, God did them to point His people to
Jesus Christ, the promised Savior of the world! That was the ultimate purpose
of the Law (the Five Books of Moses), of the Historical Books (from Joshua to
Esther), of the Psalms and Wisdom Literature and of the Prophetic Books (from
Isaiah to Malachi)! Whatever application these Scriptures have for our life and
living are secondary. (By “secondary” I do not mean “unnecessary” or
“meaningless”. Clear directions on how we ought to think and live before God are
important, prior to our salvation, as a taskmaster driving us to Christ.
And those clear directions are necessary and important, after our salvation,
as a guide to a life worthy of God’s calling. But they are secondary: they flow
out of our union with Christ, out of what Christ has done for us and
what Christ is doing in us, the very subject of the Bible.)
But let us think about the Scriptures (in this context, the Old
Testament) point to Jesus Christ. Even in the previous chapters in John, we
have a few examples.
The Gospel
of John begins, “In the beginning….” This is an obvious allusion to the way
Genesis begins. But this beginning takes us beyond the beginning of Gen. 1 to
the eternal existence of God: “In the beginning was the Word [already], and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Thus John introduces Jesus Christ as
the eternal Word, by whom all things were created: “All things were made
through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made” (1:3). But
this is not just to affirm Jesus Christ as the Creator God. It is also to point
to the redemptive, new creation, by which that eternal Word, who became flesh
and dwelt among us, will bring us into new heaven and new earth. How do we get
this in Gen. 1? The creation account there is given as God fixing the problem
of “the earth… [being] formless and void”--do you
taste the redemptive flavor of fixing a problem? Although God through creation
established domains and filled them with appropriate occupants, the world was
soon plunged into chaos by Adam’s Fall. The world, which was “very good”, was thrust into a condition in desperate
need of redemption, re-creation, in fact. So John in His gospel records
only seven of Jesus’ miraculous signs to correspond to the first seven days, in
which God created the heavens and the earth and rested. Jesus, the Creator of
the first creation, is also the Creator of the new creation.
God also
pointed to Christ through prophecies. John the Baptist is a case in point. When
asked to reveal his identity, he presents himself as the fulfillment of the Isaianic
prophecy concerning the voice crying out in the wilderness, “Make straight the
way of the Lord” (
God pointed
to Christ through various ordinances as well. Take, for example, the
sacrificial system. John refers to Jesus as “the Lamb of God who takes
away the sin of the world” (
God also
used the temple to point His people to Christ. The temple built by Solomon was
a glorious edifice. And the new (the third) temple being built by Herod was
another impressive building. However, these earthly temples were destructible,
not to mention the irony of God’s people separated from the presence of God by
walls and curtains and veils in the temple. Jesus spoke of another temple,
which He would build in three days (Ch. 2). This temple was His resurrection
body, now indestructible, undefiled and eternal. The imperfections of the
earthly temples cried out for the perfect, heavenly temple, in which God and
His people could dwell forever in perfect harmony: the earthly temples with
their imperfections pointed to Jesus Christ, the true temple, in whom divine
nature and human nature dwell together in perfect harmony, through whom God and
men are reconciled forever in perfect peace.
Even the
institution of marriage was something that pointed to Christ. At the wedding in
God also
used the lives and ministries of the Old Testament characters to point to
Christ. One example of this in John is Moses: “the law was given through Moses;
grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (
We call those
ordinances (like the animal/grain sacrifices), institutions (like the Levitical priesthood), events (like the exodus), things
(like the temple) and people (like Adam and Moses) “types”. “Types” are the
symbols or signs or models that point to the real thing and serve as a
substitute until the real thing comes. There are positive types and negative
types. All the kings in the Bible are positive types, in a sense, in their
kingly role over their people. But they are also negative types in their
failures and shortcomings. There are also analogies, such as the institution of
marriage pointing to the marriage between Christ and His bride, the church.
As we
survey these examples in John, we can easily see that God’s revelation did not
come simply in the form of propositional truths--that is, God simply giving us
eternal, timeless truths about certain topics, as in a reference book. There
are certainly propositional truths in the Bible. But God’s revelation comes
mainly as an epic drama, as a grand historical narrative. This means that
divine revelation is historically progressive. It has beginning and end
as well as the middle: it begins with the first creation “in the beginning” and
it ends with the new creation on the last day. The middle consists of the fall,
God’s promise of redemption (in types and shadows and prophecies and covenants)
and God’s accomplishment of our redemption in Jesus Christ, leading to God’s
consummation of our redemption on the final day. This means that God is in
control: He is the sovereign Lord of history. He declares the end from the
beginning. He accomplishes all that He planned to do in the beginning. He
accomplishes all His purpose and plan without fail even though the world is
full of sin and rebellion. People may, and do, mean evil and devise evil
schemes and break God’s law and do all kinds of evil. But God means for good
and nothing hinder Him, as when Satan and Jews and Gentiles conspired together
to crucify Jesus. But God used the act of ultimate evil to accomplish our
salvation! No evil in the world can bewilder God or throw Him off. Nothing can
thwart His decree and will. Though the world looks chaotic and messy, though
your life may be beset with all kinds of afflictions and trials, God, who wrote
the script of redemptive history, who directs this script perfectly, will
unveil His good and gracious plot even for your life. We can rejoice and look
forward to the unveiling of God’s wonderful plan because our God works all
things together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His
purpose.
God’s
revelation is also organically one--that is, the Bible is essentially
one story. The Old Testament and the New Testament are two parts of the same
story. Augustine once said, “In the Old Testament the New lies hid; in the New
Testament the meaning of the Old becomes clear.” As the Old Testament
progresses into the New Testament, we see a caterpillar being transformed into
a butterfly, as it were. The New is much more glorious and so much better but
the New is not separated or different from the Old in its essence. That means, all of the Bible is interconnected as one story. And what is
the theme that brings all parts of the Bible together as one? God’s glorious
redemption of His people--the Father decreeing our redemption before the
foundation of the world, the Son accomplishing our salvation through His life,
death and resurrection in history and the Holy Spirit applying and sealing that
salvation to our hearts. Our salvation, then, is God’s singular passion
and zeal! If not even a hair falls from your head without God’s approval, how
secure is your salvation in the almighty hands of God!
God’s
revelation is also eschatologically oriented--that is, it points us
forward to the final day and upward to heaven as the ultimate anchor of our
hope. God’s revelation comes out of heaven, where God dwells in the fullness of
His glory. Is it any wonder that it should point us back to where it comes
from? The reason should be obvious. Heaven, where the fullness of God’s glory
abounds, is the only place where we can truly and fully and eternally be happy.
And God perfect love for His people could not give them anything less than what
is best, heaven. To settle for anything less is a tragedy of the worst possible
kind. For the greatest of pleasure in the world falls so far short in
comparison.
All this is
to say that Christ your Savior and Lord is trustworthy in a most absolute way.
He deserves our most absolute and complete trust. We can trust Him not because
He sounds good to you for some reason but because He is trustworthy
objectively.
·
When
Jesus says that He is the Way and the Truth and the Life (John 14:6), it is
true not only for you but for all, even for those in the world. As it makes you
rejoice that you have indeed found the Way and the Truth and the Life in
Christ, it makes you grieve for all those who are still lost, who are under the
deception of Satan, who are headed for eternal death.
·
When
Jesus says, “I am the Vine and you are the branches”, you can trust that word
to be true. You find in Christ the sap of eternal life, all the nutrition you
need to bear fruit for God. And apart from Christ, you can indeed do nothing.
So we cling to Christ and abide in Him for His life, His power, His joy.
·
When
Jesus says, “I am the good Shepherd,” you can trust Him for His goodness and
protection, His guidance and provision. To save us and preserve us, He was
willing to lay down His life. We can entrust our life into His nail-pierced
hands and know that He will keep us safe and bring us to our heavenly home.
This is not the kind of security, which makes us licentious to whatever we
want; rather it makes us work out our salvation in fear and trembling because
we know that He is at work in us to accomplish it!
·
So
when Jesus tells us to deny ourselves and take up the cross and follow Him, we
can readily and willingly and joyfully follow Him. Because, when Jesus calls us
to follow Him, it is not because He wants to exploit us and make our life
miserable! It is because He knows that what He offers us is far greater than
anything we can surrender! The call is to follow Him, you see? What can
be more precious than He? What treasure of this world can compare to Him in
value? A candy to the wealthiest daddy in the world? No, Paul says it is like
rubbish! What are we really giving up when we follow Christ? When we deny
ourselves, we are surrendering our sin for the righteousness of Christ. When we
deny ourselves, we are surrendering our guilt for the forgiveness of Christ. We
surrender the darkness of our regrets and sorrow for the light of heavenly joy
and peace in Christ. We surrender our weakness for the strength of Christ. We surrender
our death under the condemnation of the law for the resurrection life of
Christ! For many of us, the best thing we have is a hope, a distant possibility
for something better. But Christ offers us the present reality of His
forgiveness, His love, His joy, His peace and His life!
Does He not
deserve our absolute, unswerving trust? And the reasons for our trust are more
than just our emotional needs and destitute conditions. Concerning the
legitimacy of His ministry, John the Baptist testified; Jesus’ miraculous signs
testify; God Himself testifies through the Scriptures. Oh, what a friend we
have in Jesus! Do you have anyone, is there anyone in the world, who deserves
your most complete, absolute trust and confidence, who will never leave you or
abandon you, who has conquered death so that not even
death could come between you and him? And we have such a friend in Jesus
Christ! How secure, how rich, how glorious is our life because of Him! Let us
trust Him for all that He is, all that the Scriptures testify concerning him!
Let us love the Scriptures for that! And let us look forward to that day of
Christ’s full revelation, when we shall behold His glory to our full redemption
and satisfaction!
© Copyright
2008 by Jeong Woo "James" Lee
All Rights
Reserved.