Court Witnesses That Testify To Jesus' Deity (The Weightiest Witness)

5) Moses was the weightiest witness of all, to the scribes and teachers of the law

"Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me." [John 5:45b-46]

The Pharisees considered themselves the disciples of Moses and were extremely proud of their connection with him. The Pharisees claimed that they were the direct descendants of the elders to whom they said Moses gave the Oral Law. They said that when God gave the written law to Moses, He also gave a secret oral law that no one could know except for Jews, to protect Jewishness. And it was this oral law that had ended up in the Mishnah.

Every book in the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, written by Moses, has images of Messiah in them. But Moses also prophesied specifically about Messiah:

“[God] will raise up for [His people] a prophet like [Moses] from among their brothers.’And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.’” [Deuteronomy 18:17-19]

Now look at Jesus’ final remarks to the Jewish religious rulers.

"But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?" [John 5:47]

They thought they honored God, but God said that whoever did not listen to the Messiah, God Himself would deal with.

People often think that if someone does not believe something, what they need is more proof, more information. But Jesus said this was not the problem. Jesus said that if these scribes and Pharisees didn’t believe the truth they already had in their hands, God’s word in scripture, then they would not believe the greater truths Jesus had to give them.

The primary purpose of scripture is to point people to the Lord Jesus Christ

Studying the Bible will not save you, but the Bible points you to the One Who can save you. It’s not enough to memorize loads of verses, read the Bible every day, study it and carry it around. What is the Bible to you? The benefit of the Bible is believing what it says and applying these words of God to your life.

Living it.

Have these words become real in your every day real life.

It is Jesus Who has the power to bring us from death to life. His power profoundly changes life from earthly to eternal. The equation is so simple, hear His words and believe, and you will have life.

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Court Witnesses That Testify To Jesus' Deity (Next Three Witnesses)

2) The works Jesus had a much greater witness than John the Baptist

"But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me." [John 5:36]

The works the Father gave to Jesus would include not only the healings He had done so far, but feeding thousands of people, raising the dead, then Himself rising from the dead. These amazing displays of God’s power authenticated Jesus.

Nevertheless, other prophets had performed miracles, Moses, Elijah, Daniel, which though it proved they were sent from God, none of them were God; Jesus pressed on.

3) The Father Next Jesus brought in the mystery witness He had referred to earlier,

"And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen," [John 5:37]

This goes back to John chapter 1,

No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known. [John 1:18]

AND

And John bore witness: "I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but(BF) he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.'" [John 1:32-33]

4) Scripture You would think that would have been enough, but everything that is must be aligned with God’s word. Jesus brought in the most powerful witness yet, God’s written word

"...and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me," [John 5:38-39]

This is a problem. The Lord was saying that in spite of all the scripture memorizing these men had done, all the commentaries they had written, all the rules that they had scrupulously followed, all the lectures they had delivered, and on and on...after all that, God’s word was not in them. They searched the scriptures, but they did not find the meaning of life.

What went wrong?
* What would protect you and me from missing great truths in scripture?
* What would keep Bible study from being just an interesting intellectual exercise?

Jesus gives the answer:

"...yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life." [John 5:40]

Their wills. They were set against accepting Jesus.

"I know that you do not have the love of God within you." [John 5:42]

Their hearts were cold towards God, and therefore would not warm to Jesus and

"How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?" [John 5:44]

Their pride in themselves, and their love of each other’s admiration, and the honor given to them by all the people, filled them so full they had no appetite to seek God’s glory.

They were more ready to accept the words of an impressive big name person, than the simple truths of God.

The Jewish religious authorities had a lot of power and a lot of glory. They considered themselves to be second only to God Himself. They actually had stories in the Mishnah about certain rabbis being consulted by God for big decisions. They taught that they would live right next to God in heaven.

They had no need for Jesus, they already had it all.

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Court Witnesses That Testify To Jesus' Deity (First Witness)

In our day and age of science, we ask: where’s the proof? Why take someone’s word for it? Jesus put forward five proofs, five witnesses to His claims.

Of course Jesus was His own witness, but He knew the religious leaders would not accept His word. They were sitting in judgment over the Lord, and would require at least two witnesses. So He mentioned a mystery witness

There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true." John 5:32]

which He would return to in a little bit, then moved on to

1) John the Baptist

"You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light." [John 5:33-35]

John the Baptist testified to four things about Jesus:
• He announced Jesus as the predicted Messiah, the one the prophets had written about

• He announced Jesus as the Lamb of God, the sacrifice for all humankind’s sin

• He announced Jesus as the One Who would baptize with the Holy Spirit, and with fire

• He announced Jesus as the Son of God

At first the Pharisees and scribes were interested in John. They regarded him as a local celebrity. But they did not want to accept John’s message of repentance --> remember he called them a brood of vipers. They didn’t try to help him when he was arrested.

Jesus would not have brought John up, since the witnesses He was going to bring in had far greater weight than a human being, but He was giving the Jews as many chances as possible to be saved.

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