When Amy and I came and visited Houma for the first time a little less than a year ago, one thing caught my eye on the way into town. No, it wasn’t the marshland, the architecture, or anything like that. In fact, it was really quite odd that I noticed this particular thing at all. It’s something that you probably don’t even notice, because I don’t notice it anymore. What caught my eye was the number of places advertising that they were notaries. I know that’s odd, but the reason I noticed this is because in MS, where we had both spent most of our lives, a notary doesn’t advertise like that. Why, you can just walk into your bank in MS and there will be a notary there ready to take care of what you need free of charge. The purpose of a notary is to verify or witness that the signature(s) on a document are indeed from those who they are supposed to be. While it might be a headache to track down a notary at times, it is an important and valuable requirement of legal documents. What if I were to sign a legal document on the appropriate line, and then sign my name on the witness line also since I had seen me sign my own name? That wouldn’t be a very effective witness that I was indeed who signed the document.
In the court of law in biblical times, spanning back to the days in the wilderness through Jesus’ day and extending even further, a crime required proof, just as it does today. And there couldn’t just be one witness to a crime, but there had to be at least two witnesses to a crime for the testimony any witness to be considered valid. There was never a he-said-she-said, but a he-said-they-said. This is the reason why Jesus tells the Jews who are accusing him of the crime that we have looked at over the last two weeks, the one about breaking Sabbath laws, the words of verse 31, “If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not deemed true.” In other words, Jesus is saying, “Don’t just take my word that I am who I say I am. There have been numerous others who have testified about my identity.” And what Jesus goes on to do over the next 15 verses, is to give us no less than four different witnesses other than himself about his identity and his claim to be the Son of God.
The first witness that Jesus gives is that of John the Baptist, a figure that we looked at in great detail during the beginning of our study of John’s gospel. And this would have been a great place to start seeing as how John would have at the very least been a familiar figure to many at this time. In fact, there would have still been areas where John was even more popular than Jesus. Every Jew in Israel had heard of John the Baptist, because of his restoration of the Old Testament office of a prophet. For you see, before John, there had been an almost 400 year absence of prophets of God. In keeping with the language already used of John in this gospel, Jesus refers to him as a “burning and shining lamp.” John was a spotlight whose ministry it was to shine and direct attention to the coming Messiah Jesus Christ. Jesus is telling these men here, these men who many of whom very much believed the words of John the Baptist, that Jesus himself is the fulfillment of John’s own witness. He’s saying to them, “Look, you believed John to be a prophet. You believed John to be pointing the way to a coming Messiah. Well, I am that Messiah. Yet, you do not accept my claim and authority?”
So, Jesus chooses to move on from John and now focus their attention on his miracles. We have seen several accounts of Jesus performing miracles already in our look at the first 5 chapters of John’s gospel. Keep in mind that these were not mere tricks in order for those around Christ to accept that he had some supernatural ability. These miracles were signs that Jesus was sent by God. The signs that we have seen so far involve making something out of nothing or bringing life out of death. You see, Jesus isn’t saying that just because he has done these works that he must be who he says he is. He is saying that these signs and miracles that have been done by God through him show that God Himself has authenticated Jesus’ identity and not just Jesus himself.
This brings us to the third witness of Christ in Jesus’ defense: The Father. “And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent.” R.C. Sproul, in his commentary on this section, points out the fact that obviously none of these men were present during Jesus’ baptism. Do you remember that account? No, we haven’t looked at it in our study of John’s gospel because it isn’t recorded for us in this account. We’re told in Matthew’s gospel account, however, that the heavens opened and the Spirit of God was seen descending like a dove and coming to rest of Jesus. We’re told that a voice from heaven, the voice of God, said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” You see, had these men been there for this event, then there would have been no doubt in their minds as to who Jesus is, but Jesus was there. Jesus knows exactly who he is and he is telling them as much. The problem is that they are still resisting believing him. There is a popular saying that goes, “God said it; I believe it; that settles it.” Now, that’s a catchy phrase, but it’s wrong. You see it should read even shorter, “God said it’ that settles it.” There’s no need for us to believe just for it to be true. Just as we said last Sunday when discussing the Trinity, our understanding and our belief isn’t really necessary for something to be truthful. The Father has said that this is His Son.
The fourth witness that Jesus appeals to is the very Scriptures themselves. “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me.” It is important here to note that these Jews that Jesus has been speaking to all this time are true biblical scholars. These men do much more than a 10 minute devotional each day; they spent vast amounts of their day studying and dissecting Scripture. They had devoted their lives to learning and knowing Scripture because they thought that it had some saving power in-and-of-itself. Now, it’s true that Scripture reading does lead to eternal life, but it’s not as if our salvation is based upon our knowledge of the Bible. I have known many a person who loved God with all they had, but they couldn’t tell you who Isaac’s father was or how many miracles Jesus performed or which letters were written by the Apostle Paul. I have known people who can hardly read, much less understand the history and words contained in Scripture, but they understand Jesus. Salvation comes from Christ alone, Scripture leads us to Christ and tells of the power of his sacrificial death and resurrection, but Christ alone has the power to save us.
These Jews were willing to study Scripture and prepare for the coming Messiah, but they weren’t willing to accept Jesus as that promised Messiah. Let’s put it in terms of politics since it’s an election year. Now I’m not going to tell you how to vote or try and influence your vote in any way because I don’t think that that is how this pulpit should be used, but would it even matter? For many in today’s world, we don’t even need to know who a candidate is or what they think, we just need to know what party he or she is aligned with. For many of us, if we hear a candidate from the party opposite the one we support speaking about a particular issue, we disagree with them simply because of who they are, or more importantly who they aren’t. So we can completely understand how these Jews would have read about Jesus, but because he wasn’t what they expected or really wanted, then they didn’t believe him to be the promised Messiah.
Friends, the Bible is much more than the life of Christ. It is much more than the gospels and the rest of the New Testament. It is comprised of the Old and New Testaments, spanning all of time from creation to about 95 A.D., and every single word of it is about Jesus, and not just his earthly life. For those of us raised in the church, we are exposed to the New Testament at an early age. I can remember that aside from a few key stories and figures from the Old Testament, that most of my time spent learning about the Bible as a little child at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Meridian, MS was spent in the New Testament. The entirety of God’s word tells us about the story of redemption. It tells us of the wondrous creation, immediately followed by the disastrous fall. From that point, Scripture is the unfolding of how God saves his people and calls them to Himself; an account of redemption.
Perhaps the most chilling and condemning statement for us today is found in the final verse of this chapter, “But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?” Jesus is asking this group of Jews, “But if you don’t believe all that I have told you, then why would you believe me know?” For us today, we more likely could ask the question in a different why, “What else do you have to see to believe?” I acknowledge, just as I did Wednesday morning at our Men’s Bible Study, that I am probably asking the wrong group this question, but what more do you need to know beyond the shadow of a doubt that Jesus is the Messiah? What more do you need to know that God is real? Every breath of air, every blade of grass, everything in this world reflects the handiwork of God; what more can we see? What more could we hope to see? For those who want to say that what they need is for God to speak directly to them, and maybe you’re there, my answer is that He is, and He has, you just haven’t been quiet long enough to hear Him. Even in the midst of chaos, anxiety, destruction, poverty, oppression, or any other circumstance, God is all around us. Every single part of this world testifies that He is real and that He has blessed us beyond measure. What more could we ask for before submitting and giving all that we have and all that we are to Him? Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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