John 5:31-47 Witnesses
A witness is someone who testifies before a court. Their testimony adds to the picture concerning matters under investigation. There can be many kinds of witnesses such as, character witness, expert witness, eyewitness, hostile witness. In Jesus’ sayings here he calls upon them all. In Deuteronomy 9:15 it says, “A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.” Jesus lists four witnesses that speak to his nature and authority.
The witness of John the Baptist found in John 1:29 names Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Though the Pharisees hated to admit it the prophetic nature of John the Baptist’s ministry required them to consider his words concerning Jesus.
The works, miracles, displays of authority, that Jesus did were impossible to deny and that they fulfilled many Old Testament prophecies was equally evident to anyone willing to see. In Isaiah 35:5-6 it says The Messiah will heal the blind, the deaf, the mute and the lame, specifically. In Mark 8:22-25 Jesus heals a blind man. In Mark 7:31-35 Jesus heals the deaf and mute man. In John 5:8 Jesus heals a lame man. Not just the works themselves but how they exactly match prophecy should have been like a neon billboard to the Jews.
The witness of the Father is found in Matthew 3:17 and again in Matthew 17:5 where the voice of the Father testifies that Jesus is His Son. On both occasions there were persons present who later added their testimony that they had heard it.
The witness of Scripture is on every page of the whole Bible. In the Old Testament there are more than 300 prophecies about the messiah. How and where Jesus would be born, his works, his death and resurrection and the coming Kingdom are all through it. A few of these are, Genesis 3:15, Jeremiah 31:31-34, Isaiah 53, Psalm 16:10, Psalm 22, Psalm 118:22, Isaiah 7:14, Zechariah 12:10, Micah 5:2, Psalm 110.
As students of the Scriptures the Pharisees ought to have seen clearly that Jesus is God’s Anointed One (Messiah). Jesus points out that Moses will be their prosecutor when Jesus is their judge. In Romans 3:19-20 Paul wrote, “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.”
The gospel of John was written that we might believe and believing have life in Jesus’ name. John has listed for us four strong witnesses and even through the inability of the Pharisees to refute Jesus their indirect though hostile witness. Which might be considered a fifth witness. As Paul said in Hebrews 12:1-3, “since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith.”
brotherpayne 