Thursday, May 8

THURSDAY, MAY 8, 2014

1 Samuel 2:22–4:22

John 5:24–47

Psalm 106:1–12

Proverbs 14:30,31

 

 

In the reading from John 5:31–47 today, Jesus details the multiplicity of testimonies about His life and ministry.  We understand from this passage that both past and contemporary figures confirmed His authenticity and that the very Word of God pointed to Him as Messiah.

 

Let’s examine the testimonies about Jesus, which serve as a foundation of our faith and trust in Him:

 

1.       The testimony of John the Baptist.  Here, Jesus refers back to John’s statements in John 1:29–34 concerning Jesus:

 

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!  This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’  I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”

 

Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him.  And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’  I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.”

 

In C. S. Lewis’s classic Mere Christianity, he explains that Jesus’s claims about Himself force us to consider Him as a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord of the Universe.  By accepting John’s testimony, Jesus then carried the Messiah’s mantle as the One Who would become the final Passover Lamb. 

 

 

2.       The testimony of God the Father and the Holy Spirit.  God the Father testified to Jesus’s authenticity through an audible voice at least twice during Jesus’s ministry:  at His baptism and at the Transfiguration.

 

At His baptism, we find evidence of the Trinity’s unity.  The Lord Jesus Christ submits to His earthly calling and symbolically foretells His death (into the water) and Resurrection (out of the water).  The grave (the water) would not hold Him.  The Holy Spirit descends as a dove, indicating His presence and empowerment in Jesus’s life and ministry.  God the Father then speaks:  “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well-pleased.”  At the Mount of Transfiguration, God the Father offers similar encouragement and support, admonishing Peter, James, and John to pay attention:  “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well-pleased.  Listen to him!”

 

 

3.       The testimony of His work.  Jesus explains that “the works that the Father has given me to finish – the very works I am doing – testify that the Father has sent me.”  Again, Jesus invites us to consider the liar vs. lunatic vs. Lord question.  By declaring His mission to have come from the Father, He brought upon accusations of blasphemy and extreme scrutiny to His ministry.  Given the large number of witnesses to His life and ministry – and the purity of the testimony concerning His work – we may have confidence that His work’s testimony does point to Him as Messiah.  As Hebrews 7:26 explains, Jesus rightly serves as High Priest because of His absolute purity:  “Such a high priest truly meets our need – one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.”

 

 

4.       The testimony of the Scriptures.  Jesus indicates that those Scriptures related to “eternal life” indeed “testify about me” and that Moses “wrote about me.”  By these statements, Jesus connected His life and ministry to the many Old Testament prophecies concerning the coming Messiah.  Two such significant prophecies come to us in Isaiah 53, which, although written 800 years before Jesus’s birth in Bethlehem, describes the Passion in extensive detail, and Deuteronomy 18:14–22. 

 

In the Deuteronomy passage, Moses explains:  “The Lord your God must raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites.  You must listen to him….  I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth.  He will tell them everything I command him.”  God the Father’s affirmation at the Transfiguration and Jesus’s own statements tie Him to this prophecy from Moses and further solidify Philip’s claim:  “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” (John 1:45)  In addition, Jesus explained the same on the road to Emmaus after His resurrection:  “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” (Luke 24:44)

 

 

Lord Jesus, may we rejoice today in the validity of the many testimonies about You.  Thank You for undertaking a ministry with many witnesses, none of whom could point to anything but blamelessness in You.  Thank You that the Scriptures clearly testify to Your uniqueness and worthiness to be called Messiah and Lord of the Universe.  Thank You that the Trinity is completely unified in their declaration that You are Savior of the world.  Help us to bring glory to Your Name and to share this testimony about You with those whom You have prepared to hear.  In Jesus’s Name, amen.

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