Read John 5
A fourfold witness of Jesus as God! It’s hard enough to find two witnesses to testify to find the truth, but here we have four witnesses that testify to the truth that Jesus is the Messiah. It’s even a Biblical principle to have two or three witnesses for any establishment of truth (Deuteronomy 19:15).
First, we have the book of John as a written witness to us.
Second is John the Baptist who preached of Jesus before His manifestation so that even many of the Pharisees believed for a time. I love the way Bible Teacher Nathan Johnson explains the use of John’s witness:
“Christ here assures them that the testimony of John was not what made up His mind that He was the Messiah. The Lord did not need to figure this out on His Own. He was not trying to ‘find himself’ and His mission in life and at last hit upon it when He heard John speak. The Lord always knew Who He was and what He was to do. The reason He is appealing to the witness of John is so that those who heard Him could be saved.”
Third is the witness of His works, the miracles that Jesus performed were not just some magic, no one else could even repeat or attempt them.
And the fourth witness is the Father Himself. How has the Father witnessed? In verse 38, the answer is through the scriptures. His word testified about Jesus, but these words were not abiding in the Pharisees, so they didn’t receive the witness of the Father. They trusted in Moses, yet they didn’t believe Moses’ words of the coming Messiah.
- Which of these witnesses speaks loudest to you of Christ and which one is harder for you to believe?
Write out a one sentence summary for this chapter.