John 5:37-47
37 And the Father who sent Me, He has borne witness of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. 38 And you do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He sent. 39 You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that bear witness of Me. 40 and you are unwilling to come to Me, that you may have life. 41 I do not receive glory from men. 42 but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves. 43 I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another shall come in his own name, you will receive him. 44 How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another, and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God? 45 Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote of Me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?
Time: John most likely wrote between A.D. 85 and 90. John's purpose in writing was, "that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name (John 20:31)."
What the Lord is Saying: From the previous lesson - John testified of Jesus prior to His coming and Jesus is sent by the Father and in the miracles He performed this also testified of Him. In these passages, Jesus is replying to the Jews still that are coming to him, questioning his claims of calling God His own Father. In verse 33 Jesus says, "You have sent to John" and the words of Chapter 1:19 can be recalled which said, "And this is the witness of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?" - So 'You' that Jesus mentions repeatedly in these passages are the priests and Levites the Jews sent to find out about Jesus and probably more on the accusatory level of "Who do you think You are?" And yet in that confrontation Jesus is telling us who He is, who sent Him and the authority in which He works. And in the process we get this testimony now in the words of Scripture.
The words of verse 37, "The Father who sent Me, He has borne witness of Me" are such powerful words that I often just read and yet in pondering them. That Jesus is in fact testifying of his equality with God. He isn't referring to God as God, but His own Father (v. 18). And Jesus is rather sharp in his words toward the these scribes and in a way, assaulting them by saying that they have not heard the voice of the Father (v. 37) nor "have His word abiding in you." Because they don't believe in Jesus. To believe in Jesus is to believe in the Father. And you can't have the Father unless you also believe in Jesus.
See this is the kind of phrase that really kind of makes me stop myself in my tracks. In thinking of the Trinity, even if we don't define it as "Trinity" how can we reconcile these words with the idea that Jesus is simply a man. To say that the Father does not abide in someone unless they believe in Jesus are very strong words. How can a religion even only call Jesus a great prophet. This isn't a momentary, one-time hearing of the voice of the Father by Jesus. And again, this is all in response to Jesus being accused of equality with God and calling God His own Father (v. 18). No wonder Islam totally rejects the book of John as scripture.
Jesus has witnesses to His claims: the Father, John the Baptist, and Jesus' own miracles. And the testimony of Jesus bears more witnesses. Jesus points out that the scriptures bears witness as well (v. 39). And yet the mere study of scriptures does not merit eternal life. People miss the revelation of God all of the time. Jesus points out that in the Old Testament words of Jesus by Moses writings (Genesis-Deuteronomy) we have a testimony or witness of Christ as well. Jesus remarked that Moses wrote of Him ("For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote of Me.")
This is an interesting passage as it shows us that people refuse to believe. People make the choice to not believe in Jesus. They want the answer to come in another way. They don't want to believe in Jesus. Even when Christ is presented to them, they won't believe. It is a hard realization but a true one.
Summary: The witness of Jesus continues with the words of Moses and the writings of Scripture, which testify of Jesus Christ and His glory.
Promise: All of our study of Scripture should lead us to glorify Christ and praise Him for His great salvation.
Prayer: Lord, it is hard to deal with this issue of people rejecting You despite hearing Your truth and Your Gospel. But in reality it is true, people want to find truth and meaning in other ways. Direct me to those that You want to save and help me to help them and give understanding to them. Thank you for the testimony of You and for the clarity of it and for giving it to us from so many sources: the Father, miracles, scripture, Moses. Thank You for speaking to me with such clarity.
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