THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

John: Believing On The Christ, The Son Of God, For Eternal Life

Part XVI: Believing On Christ Due To His Public Teaching On His Deity, John 5:16-47

B. Trusting In Christ Due To His Testimony Of The Witnesses As To His Deity

(John 5:31-47)

I. Introduction

A. Jesus Himself confessed that if He alone bore witness of Himself, His witness would not be valid (John 5:31 NIV), for the Law required that every testimony be verified by two or three witnesses, Deuteronomy 19:15.

B. Thus, Jesus alluded to multiple witnesses as to His deity in John 5:31-47, and we view them for edification:

II. Trusting In Christ Due To His Testimony Of The Witnesses As To His Deity, John 5:31-47.

A. Having conceded in John 5:31 that He needed testimonies of other witnesses for His claim that He was God to be true under the Mosaic Law (Deut. 19:15), and as Christ had to obey that Law since He had come under its jurisdiction to provide man's salvation (Gal. 4:4), He named those other witnesses in John 5:32-47 as follows:

1. Jesus claimed God the Father testified of His deity (John 5:32), doing so at His baptism (Matt. 3:16-17) when the Father said, "This is my beloved Son . . ." In calling Jesus His adult son (huios, U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 8), God the Father publicly declared Jesus to be His equal as GOD! (John 5:18)

2. Jesus said John the Baptizer testified of His deity, Jn. 5:33-35, calling Him "the Son of God," Jn. 1:33-34!

3. Jesus asserted His works testified of His deity, John 5:36: Isaiah 35:4-6 predicted that the coming of God would be marked by His opening the eyes of the blind, the ears of the deaf being unstopped, the lame being healed to leap as an hart and the tongue of the dumb released to sing, things Jesus did, Matt. 11:2-6.

4. Jesus claimed the Father's work in men's consciences testified of His deity, John 5:37: Nathaniel's John 1:45-49 interaction with Jesus led him to claim Jesus was "the Son of God," John 1:49.

5. Jesus said the Old Testament Scriptures testified of His deity (John 5:39), a claim we can amply verify:

a. Psalm 2:6-7 predicted that Messiah the King would be the Son of God!

b. Psalm 110:1 cited "the Lord," God the Father, addressing David's "my Lord," God the Son, as a separate Person of the Godhead! (Matthew 22:41-46; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to Matthew 22:44)

c. Isaiah 9:6 predicted Messiah would be born as man and yet be the "Mighty God" of Israel.

d. Jeremiah 23:5-6 predicted Messiah would be called "The Lord Our Righteousness."

e. Micah 5:2 predicted the Messiah, to be born in Bethlehem, would have His "goings forth" appearances in Israel's history as the Angel of the Lord in full deity (cf. passages like Gen. 22:1-2, 11-12 or Gen. 32:24-30 or Joshua 5:13-15 [in view of Exodus 3:4-5]) from antiquity, from eternity past!

6. Jesus asserted that the Old Testament prophet Moses witnessed of Him, John 5:45-46: though Moses did not speak of Jesus' deity, he (a) predicted a Prophet like unto himself Who would arise to bear God's Word to Israel (Deuteronomy 18:18-19), (b) he wrote of Balaam's prediction of Jesus' birth in association with the Bethlehem star as Israel's King (Num. 24:17 with Matt. 2:1-10) and of (c) Jacob's Genesis 49:10 prediction of Shiloh, testimonies that coupled with these other testimonies reveal Jesus as the Son of God.

B. Nevertheless, due to spiritual blindness, Israel's religious leaders failed to identify Christ as the Son of God:

1. The religious leaders did not love God (John 5:42), so they rejected Jesus Christ Who was God's true Messenger though accepting false teachers and prophets in their spiritual darkness, John 5:43, Ibid.

2. Consequently, these leaders could not believe in Christ, for they received honor of one another in artificial spirituality while not seeking the true honor that came from God, John 5:44.

3. These leaders thus could not even believe what their esteemed prophet Moses had written about Jesus Christ since they did not really heed even Moses' words in their spiritual darkness, John 5:45-47.

Lesson: In fulfillment of the validation requirements of the Mosaic Law, Christ's deity was testified not only by His own words, but by the words of God the Father, by the Father's convicting work concerning Christ in men's consciences, by John the Baptizer's testimony, by Jesus' miracles that fulfilled Scripture prophecy, by general Old Testament prophecies and by Moses' predictions in particular as taken with other Old Testament Scriptures. The religious leaders failed to heed these testimonies in their spiritual darkness, so they did not believe in Christ.

Application: (1) May we believe the multiple Biblical witnesses of Jesus' deity, (2) and so trust in Him as Savior. (3) May we believers firmly adhere to the deity of Christ as those who walk in the light, not in darkness. (4) May we heed the Old Testament words of Jesus' deity as a priceless surviving, verifiable witness that we have in our era.