By 49 B.C., Julius Caesar had become the most powerful man in Rome. For two years he had been away from the city, fighting warring tribes and demonstrating his tremendous skills as a general and an administrator. Much to the dismay of his political opponents, his time in Gaul had only made Caesar more powerful back in Rome.

   When Caesar was ordered home by the Roman Senate, he became aware that his enemies were trying to destroy him. To return home he would have to cross the Rubicon River and leave his loyal army behind. For years that river had served as an absolute boundary, beyond which a general could not bring his army.

   Because his enemies would be allowed to keep their armies, Caesar knew that to enter Rome alone would be walking into a death sentence. Consequently, he made the bold decision to bring his army across the Rubicon and with him to Rome!

   When word arrived in the city that Caesar had "crossed the Rubicon," everyone knew that civil war had begun. He was acting in defiance of the Roman Senate, and his enemies quickly fled the city. Within two months, Julius Caesar had crushed all opposition and had all of Italy under his power. Because of this story, "crossing the Rubicon" is an expression used even today to describe a decision that cannot be revoked or a decisive action that cannot be changed.

     Up to this point in the Gospel of John, we have been looking at stories of Jesus and His dealings with people. We love to see Him healing their afflictions, comforting their broken spirits, and leading them toward life.

   At the beginning of chapter 5, Jesus healed a lame man and set off a firestorm of opposition by the Jewish leaders. Our text, 5:19-47, does not contain a story. Instead, it is a teaching section in which Jesus was doing all the talking. We must not skip this section in our haste to find another narrative section, because something of critical importance was happening here: Jesus was "crossing the Rubicon"!

    In this text, Jesus was making statements that declared to all, "This is war!" With fury raging over what He had done in the first part of this chapter, He could easily have withdrawn or tried to calm the Jews' anger. Instead, He "crossed the Rubicon," knowing that crucifixion was waiting for Him on the other side.

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  Preceding Christ's remarkable of verses 17-18 was the miraculous healing of a man who had been sick for 38 years! But the Jews' reactions scandalized His merciful act because it took place on the Sabbath. In His response, Jesus claims equality with the Father and incurs a whirlwind of religious wrath!

   He moves from a general response to the specific in our lesson for today...Jesus' claims become not only more profound but more pointed as well.

   This is the first of the long discourses of this gospel. When we read passages like this we must remember that John is not seeking so much to give us the words that Jesus spoke as the things which Jesus meant. He was writing around 100 A.D., so he had some 70 years to think about Jesus and the wonderful things which Jesus said.

   More than half a century of thinking under the guidance of the Holy Spirit had shown him deeper and deeper meaning. In response to their accusations, Jesus made three significant claims that proved His sonship:

A. He claimed to be Equal with God. (5:19-21)

   Throughout the passage, Jesus never refers to God generically as our Father. It is always MY Father or the Father. Instead of denying their accusation, He endorsed it!  If today a man made this kind of a claim, we would conclude that he was joking or mentally disturbed. Jesus was certainly not insane, and neither was He a liar!

   * Jesus claimed to be one with His Father in His works— (“I’m the giver of life” vs. 19-20).

    “Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. {20} For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these.”

This is the truth I tell you-he who listens to my word and believes on him who sent me has eternal life, and is not on the way to judgment, but he has crossed from death to life.

This is the truth I tell you-the hour is coming and now is when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and, when they have heard, they will live.  For, as the Father has life in himself; so he has given to the Son to have life in himself; and he has given him authority to exercise the process of judgment, because he is the Son of Man.  Do not be astonished at this, for the hour is coming when everyone in the tombs will hear his voice, and will come forth; those who have done good will come out to a resurrection which will give them life, but those whose actions were base will come out to a resurrection which will issue in judgment.

Here we come to the first of the long discourses of the Fourth Gospel.  When we read passages like this we must remember that John is not seeking so much to give us the words that Jesus spoke as the things which Jesus meant.  He was writing somewhere round about a.d. 100.  For seventy years he had thought about Jesus and the wonderful things which Jesus had said. 

Many of these things he had not fully understood when he had heard them.  But more than half a century of thinking under the guidance of the Holy Spirit had shown him deeper and deeper meaning in the words of Jesus.  And so he sets down for us not only what Jesus said, but also what Jesus meant.

This passage is so important that we must first study it as a whole and then take it in shorter sections.

First, then, let us look at it as a whole.  We must try to think not only how it sounds to us, but also how it sounded to the Jews who heard it for the first time.  They had a background of thoughts and ideas, of theology and belief, of literature and religion which is very far from our background; and, to understand a passage like this, we must try to think ourselves into the mind of a Jew who listened to it for the first time.

This is an amazing passage, because it is woven together of thoughts and expressions which are all claims by Jesus to be the promised Messiah.  Many of these claims we do not now readily see, but they would be crystal clear to the Jews and would leave them aghast.

(i)  The clearest claim is the statement that Jesus is the Son of Man.  We know how common that strange title is in the gospels.  It has a long history.  It was born in Daniel 7:1-14.  The Authorized Version mistranslates the Son of Man for a son of man (Daniel 7:13).

The point of the passage is this.  Daniel was written in days of terror and of persecution, and it is a vision of the glory which will some day replace the suffering which the people are undergoing.  In Daniel 7:1-7 the seer describes the great heathen empires which have held sway under the symbolism of beasts.  There is the lion with eagle's wings (7:4), which stands for the Babylonian Empire; the bear with the three ribs in his mouth, as one devouring the carcase (7:5), which stands for the Median Empire; the leopard with four wings and four heads (7:6), which stands for the Persian Empire; the beast, great and terrible, with iron teeth and with ten horns (7:7), which stands for the Macedonian Empire.  All these terrible powers will pass away and the power and the dominion will be given to one like a son of man.  The meaning is that the Empires which have held sway have been so savage that they could be described only in terms of wild beasts; but into the world there is going to come a power so gentle and kind that it will be human and not bestial.  In Daniel the phrase describes the kind of power which is going to rule the world.

Someone has to introduce and exercise that power; and the Jews took this title and gave it to the chosen one of God who some day would bring in the new age of gentleness and love and peace; and so they came to call the Messiah Son of Man.  Between the Old and the New Testaments there arose a whole literature which dealt with the golden age which was to come.

One book which was specially influential was the Book of Enoch and in it there appears again and again a great figure called That Son of Man, who is waiting in heaven until God sends him to earth to bring in his kingdom and rule over it.  So when Jesus called himself the Son of Man, he was doing nothing less than call himself the Messiah.  Here was a claim so clear that it could not be misunderstood.

(ii)  But not only is this claim to be God's Messiah made in so many words; in phrase after phrase it is implicit.  The very miracle which had happened to the paralysed man was a sign that Jesus was Messiah.  It was Isaiah's picture of the new age of God that "then shall the lame man leap like a hart" (Isaiah 35:6).  It was Jeremiah's vision that the blind and the lame would be gathered in (Jeremiah 31:8, 9).

(iii)  There is Jesus's repeated claim to raise the dead and to be their judge when they are raised.  In the Old Testament God alone can raise the dead and alone has the right to judge.  "I, even I, am he and there is no god beside me:  I kill and I make alive" (Deuteronomy 32:39).  "The Lord kills and brings to life" (1 Samuel 2:6).  When Naaman, the Syrian, came seeking to be cured from leprosy, the king of Israel said in bewildered despair:  "Am I God to kill and to make alive?" (2 Kings 5:6).  The function of killing and making alive belonged inalienably to God.  It is the same with judgment.  "The judgment is God's" (Deuteronomy 1:17).

In later thought this function of resurrecting the dead and then acting as judge became part of the duty of God's chosen one when he brought in the new age of God.  Enouch says of the Son of Man:  "The sum of judgment was committed to him" (Enoch 69:26, 27).  Jesus in our passage speaks of those who have done good being resurrected to life and of those who have done evil being resurrected to death.  The Apocalypse of Baruch lays it down that when God's age comes:  "The aspect of those who now act wickedly shall become worse than it is, as they shall suffer torment," whereas those who have trusted in the law and acted upon it shall be clothed in beauty and in splendour (Baruch 51:1-4).  Enoch has it that in that day:  "The earth shall be wholly rent asunder, and all that is on earth shall perish, and there shall be judgment on all men" (Enoch 1:5-7).  The Testament of Benjamin has it:  "All men shall rise, some to the exalted, and some to be humbled and put to shame."

For Jesus to speak like this was an act of the most extraordinary and unique courage.  He must have known well that to make claims like this would sound the sheerest blasphemy to the orthodox Jewish leaders and was to court death.  The man who listened to words like this had only two alternatives-he must either accept Jesus as the Son of God or hate him as a blasphemer.

This is the beginning of Jesus's answer to the Jews' charge that he was making himself equal to God.  He lays down three things about his relationship with God.

(i)  He lays down his identity with God.  The salient truth about Jesus is that in him we see God.  If we wish to see how God feels to men, if we wish to see how God reacts to sin, if we wish to see how God regards the human situation, we must look at Jesus.  The mind of Jesus is the mind of God; the words of Jesus are the words of God; the actions of Jesus are the actions of God.

(ii)  This identity is not so much based on equality as on complete obedience.  Jesus never did what he wanted to do but always what God wanted him to do.  It is because his will was completely submitted to God's will that we see God in him.  Jesus is to God as we must be to Jesus.

(iii)  This obedience is not based on submission to power; it is based on love.  The unity between Jesus and God is a unity of love.  We speak of two minds having only a single thought and two hearts beating as one.  In human terms that is a perfect description of the relationship between Jesus and God.  There is such complete identity of mind and will and heart that Father and Son are one.

But this passage has something still more to tell us about Jesus.

(i)  It tells us of his complete confidence.  He is quite sure that what men were seeing then was only a beginning.  On purely human grounds the one thing Jesus might reasonably expect was death.  The forces of Jewish orthodoxy were gathering against him and the end was already sure.  But Jesus was quite certain that the future was in the hands of God and that men could not stop what God had sent him to do.

(ii)  It tells of his complete fearlessness.  That he would be misunderstood was certain.  That his words would inflame the minds of his hearers and endanger his own life was beyond argument.  There was no human situation in which Jesus would lower his claims or adulterate the truth.  He would make his claim and speak his truth no matter what men might threaten to do.  To him it was much more important to be true to God than to fear men.

    If healing a man on the Sabbath was a sin, then the Father was to blame! Jesus did "nothing of Himself" but only that which the Father was doing.  The Father and the Son worked together, doing the same deeds in the same way. John 10:30: “I and the Father are one."

   Not only did the Father show the Son His works and enable Him to do them, but the Father also shared His love (vs. 20). The first three gospels open with the Father calling Jesus "My beloved Son," and John echoed this statement in John 3:35.

   To assert His equality, Jesus claims to have the same power the Father does over the dead. This statement comes from the germinal seed of truth buried in John's prologue, stating that "in Him was life" (1:4). While many can claim the power to heal, no one but Christ claims the ability to raise the dead!

   For Jesus to claim to have power to raise the dead was a blasphemous thing in the eyes of the Jewish leaders; they gave that power to God alone.

   They said that Jehovah held the three great keys:

   - the key to open the heavens and give rain

   Deuteronomy 28:12: "The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands.  You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none."

   - the key to open the womb and give conception

   Genesis 30:22: "Then God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and opened her womb."

   - the key to open the grave and raise the dead.

   Ezekiel 37:13: “Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them."

   As far as the gospels are concerned, Jesus had not yet raised anyone from the dead; so to make this claim was to invite even more opposition.

   * Jesus claimed to be equal with the Father in executing judgment—(“I am the final judge” vs. 21, 26).

     “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.  {26} For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself.”

   To orthodox Jew, Jehovah God was "the Judge of all the earth" (Gen. 18:25); and no one dared to apply that august title to himself. But Jesus did! By claiming to be the Judge, He claimed to be God.

   Most people mistakenly believe that God the Father is the final judge of mankind. But this verse, along with several others, indicates that Jesus will be the judge:

   Acts 10:42: "He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead."

   2 Corinthians 5:11: "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad."

   * Jesus claimed to be equal to the Father in honor—(“I am the final judge” vs. 22-23).

    “Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, {23} that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.... {27} And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.”

Here we see three great functions which belong to Jesus Christ as the Son of God.

(i)  He is the giver of life (vs. 20-23).  John meant this in a double sense.  He meant it in time.  No man is fully alive until Jesus Christ enters into him and he enters into Jesus Christ.  When we make the discovery of the realm of music or of literature or of art or of travel, we sometimes speak of a new world opening out to us.  That man into whose life Jesus Christ has entered finds life made new.  He himself is changed; his personal relationships are changed; his conception of work and duty and pleasure is changed; his relationship to God is changed.  He meant it in eternity.  After this life is ended, for the man who has accepted Jesus Christ there opens life still more full and still more wonderful; while for the man who has refused Jesus Christ, there comes that death which is separation from God.  Jesus Christ gives life both in this world and the world to come.

(ii)  He is the bringer of judgment (vs. 20-23).  John says that God committed the whole process of judgment to Jesus Christ.  What he means is this-a man's judgment depends on his reaction to Jesus.  If he finds in Jesus the one person to be loved and followed, he is on the way to life.  If he sees in Jesus an enemy, he has condemned himself.  Jesus is the touchstone by which all men are tested; reaction to him is the test by which all men are divided.

(iii)  He is the receiver of honour (vs. 20-23).  The most uplifting thing about the New Testament is its unquenchable hope and its unconquerable certainty.  It tells the story of a crucified Christ and yet never has any doubt that at the end all men will be drawn to that crucified figure and that all men will know him and acknowledge him and love him.  Amid persecution and disregard, in spite of smallness of numbers and poverty of influence, in the face of failure and disloyalty, the New Testament and the early church never doubted the ultimate triumph of Christ.  When we are tempted to despair we would do well to remember that the salvation of men is the purpose of God and that nothing, in the end, can frustrate his will.  The evil will of man may delay God's purpose; it cannot defeat it.

   This must be the test of every religious profession and practice, whether by individuals or organizations. Any that do not honor Jesus Christ as Lord are dishonoring God, and are condemned by this verse. Those who do not worship Jesus Christ do not worship God at all. Jesus Christ is all or nothing! He cannot be followed as a mere human teacher, not esteemed as a prophet commissioned by God...He must be exalted and worshipped as Creator, Redeemer, and Judge.

   And just as a judge is esteemed as Your Honor, and all participants rise when he enters the courtroom, so it is only fitting that the highest judge, enthroned at the right hand of God the Father, should receive such honor from His creatures. The fact that He is the appointed Judge should cause men to honor Him.

   B. He claimed to have authority to Raise the dead (5:24-29).

   For a second time, Jesus introduced His words with a solemn please for them to listen to His words. He wanted them to pay attention...to know that what He was about to say was extremely important.

   In this fascinating paragraph, Jesus spoke of four different resurrections:

   1. He described the resurrection of lost sinners in eternal life (24-25).

   "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. {25} I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.”

   Three crystal-clear facts surface regarding the final judgment:

   - there will definitely be life after death

   - every person will be affected by it

   - mankind will fall into two, and only two, categories

   - saved and unsaved alike will be there

   - the saved will be clothed in Christ's righteousness and under no sentence of condemnation

   Hearing and believing the Word of God is vitally important! Jesus healed the paralyzed man at the pool by His Word (5:8). Each time He raised anybody from the dead, He spoke the Word (Luke 7:11-17; 8:49-56; John 11:41-44); His Word is "living and powerful" (Heb. 4:12).

   To hear and respond to His Word means salvation; to reject His Word means condemnation ( John 12:48: "There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day.”)

   Let's not fail to make a needed point from verse 24: the man who trusts in Jesus enough to keep His Word will not come into condemnation!

   In other words, the Christian is even now in a state of eternal life:

   - He is restricted, to be sure, having to dwell in an earthly tabernacle

   - but he enjoys a present salvation

   - the Christian passes out of the state of living death (John 3:18) into a present condition of eternal life restricted only by flesh, time and space

Jesus says quite simply that to accept him is life; and to reject him is death.  What does it mean to listen to Jesus's word and to believe in the Father who sent him?  To put it at its briefest it means three things.  (i)  It means to believe that God is as Jesus says he is; that he is love; and so to enter into a new relationship with him in which fear is banished.  (ii)  It means to accept the way of life that Jesus offers us, however difficult it may be and whatever sacrifices it may involve, certain that to accept it is the ultimate way to peace and to happiness, and to refuse it the ultimate way to death and judgment.  (iii)  It means to accept the help that the Risen Christ gives and the guidance that the Holy Spirit offers, and so to find strength for all that the way of Christ involves.

When we do that we enter into three new relationships.  (i)  We enter into a new relationship with God.  The judge becomes the father; the distant becomes the near; strangeness becomes intimacy and fear becomes love.  (ii)  We enter into a new relationship with our fellow men.  Hatred becomes love; selfishness becomes service; and bitterness becomes forgiveness.  (iii)  We enter into a new relationship with ourselves.  Weakness becomes strength; frustration becomes achievement; and tension becomes peace.

To accept the offer of Jesus Christ is to find life.  Everyone in one sense may be said to be alive; but there are few who can be said to know life in the real sense of the term.  When Grenfell was writing to a nursing sister about her decision to come out to Labrador to help in his work there, he told her that he could not offer her much money, but that if she came she would discover that in serving Christ and the people of the country she would have the time of her life. 

Browning describes the meeting of two people into whose hearts love had entered.  She looked at him, he looked at her, and "suddenly life awoke."  A modern novelist makes one character say to another:  "I never knew what life was till I saw it in your eyes."

The person who accepts the way of Christ has passed from death to life.  In this world life becomes new and thrilling; in the world to come eternal life with God becomes a certainty.

   2. He described His own resurrection (vs. 26).

Here the Messianic claims of Jesus stand out most clearly.  He is the Son of Man; he is the life-giver and the life-bringer; he will raise the dead to life and, when they are raised, he will be their judge.

In this passage John seems to use the word dead in two senses.

(i)  He uses it of those who are spiritually dead; to them Jesus will bring new life.  What does it mean?

(a)  To be spiritually dead is to have stopped trying.  It is to have come to look on all faults as ineradicable and all virtues as unattainable.  But the Christian life cannot stand still; it must either go on or slip back; and to stop trying is therefore to slip back to death.

(b)  To be spiritually dead is to have stopped feeling.  There are many people who at one time felt intensely in face of the sin and the sorrow and the suffering of the world; but slowly they have become insensitive.  They can look at evil and feel no indignation; they can look at sorrow and suffering and feel no answering sword of grief and pity pierce their heart.  When compassion goes the heart is dead.

(c)                  To be spiritually dead is to have stopped thinking.  J.  Alexander Findlay tells of a saying of a friend of his-"When you reach a conclusion you're dead."  He meant that when a man's mind becomes so shut that it can accept no new truth, he is mentally and spiritually dead.  The day when the desire to learn leaves us, the day when new truth, new methods, new thought become simply a disturbance with which we cannot be bothered, is the day of our spiritual death.  (d)  To be spiritually dead is to have stopped repenting.  The day when a man can sin in peace is the day of his spiritual death; and it is easy to slip into that frame of mind.  The first time we do a wrong thing, we do it with fear and regret.  If we do it a second time, it is easier to do it.  If we do it a third time, it is easier yet.  If we go on doing it, the time comes when we scarcely give it a thought.  To avoid spiritual death a man must keep himself sensitive to sin by keeping himself sensitive to the presence of Jesus Christ. 

(ii)  John also uses the word dead literally.  Jesus teaches that the resurrection will come and that what happens to a man in the after-life is inextricably bound up with what he has done in this life.  The awful importance of this life is that it determines eternity.  All through it we are fitting or unfitting ourselves for the life to come, making ourselves fit or unfit for the presence of God.  We choose either the way which leads to life or the way which leads to death.

   “For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself.”

   The grave could not hold Him because He is the "prince of Life" (Acts 2:24; 3:15). Jesus laid down His life and then took it up again. Because He has life in Himself, He can share that life with all who will trust Him.

   3. He described the future resurrection of life by believers (vs. 28-29a).

   "Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice {29} and come out--those who have done good will rise to live...”

   This wonderful truth is explained further in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and in 1 Corinthians 15. The resurrected body is a new body, a glorified body, suited to the new heavenly environment. Death is not the end for the Christian, nor will he live in heaven as a disembodied spirit.

4. He described the future resurrection of condemnation (vs. 29b).

  “...and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.”

    This resurrection involves only the lost. The Father has committed all judgment to the Son and has given Him the authority to execute the judgment. Today He is the Savior; one day He shall sit as the judge.

   C. He claimed that there are valid witnesses who support His claim to Deity (5:30-47).

   Notice what is now happening as we begin to close this fifth chapter: Jesus provided us with a miracle, where a man paralyzed for 38 years is instantly healed. Now, Jesus concludes a series of claims, where He testifies that He is the Son of God. Now, He begins a defense, where witnesses are called to verify His claims!

   Jesus calls six witnesses to testify on His behalf.  We might seek to put these verses in a courtroom scene...Jesus, in essence, is on trial...but really it's the hearers who are on trial!

   The word "witness" is a key word in John's gospel; it is used 47 times. Jesus did bear witness to Himself but He knew they would not accept it; so He called in other witnesses.

   WITNESS #1: HIS WITNESS CONCERNING HIMSELF (vs. 30-31).

   “By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me. {31} "If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid.”

In the preceding passage Jesus has claimed the right of judgment.  It was not unnatural that men should ask by what right he proposed to judge others.  His answer was that his judgment was true and final because he had no desire to do anything other than the will of God.  His claim was that his judgment was the judgment of God.

It is very difficult for any man to judge another man fairly.  If we will honestly examine ourselves we will see that many motives may affect our judgment.  It may be rendered unfair by injured pride.  It may be rendered blind by our prejudices.  It may be made bitter by jealousy.  It may be made arrogant by contempt.  It may be made harsh by intolerance.  It may be made condemnatory by self-righteousness.  It may be affected by our own self-conceit.  It may be based on envy.  It may be vitiated by an insensitive or deliberate ignorance.  Only a man whose heart is pure and whose motives are completely unmixed can rightly judge another man-which means to say that no man can.

On the other hand the judgment of God is perfect.

God alone is holy and therefore he alone knows the standards by which all men must be judged.  God alone is perfectly loving and his judgment alone is delivered in the charity in which all true judgment must be given.  God alone has full knowledge and judgment can be perfect only when it takes into account all the circumstances.  The claim of Jesus to judge is based on the claim that in him is the perfect mind of God.  He does not judge with the inevitable mixture of human motives; he judges with the perfect holiness, the perfect love and the perfect sympathy of God.

   To many, there is an apparent contradiction between the statement of verse 31 and a statement of Jesus in John 8:14-18: "Jesus answered, "Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I cam from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from and where I am going. (15) You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. (16) but if I do judge, my decisions are right, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. (17) In your own law it is written that the testimony of two men is valid. (18) I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.”

    The first statement was a concession to the legal rule that a man's testimony about himself is inadmissible as evidence in court, since it might be assumed that his judgment would be prejudiced. The latter was an avowal of personal competency to speak concerning Himself since He knew more of Himself than anybody else.

   The statement of verse 30 indicated that He considered Himself unprejudiced because He was not seeking His own will, but was carrying out the will of Another, who sent Him. Verse 31 implies a simple fact: the Father and the Son are the two witnesses needed!

WITNESS #2: THE WITNESS OF JOHN THE BAPTIST (vs. 32-35).

    “There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is valid. {33} "You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth. {34} Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved. {35} John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.”

   The appeal of John the Baptist was really directed to popular opinion. Jesus' hearers had sent an accredicted deligation to report on John's message, for Jesus said, "You have sent to John, and He has born witness of the truth."

   They recognized John as the lamp that burneth and shineth...a true illuminator of darkness:

   - a lamp bears a borrowed light; it does not light itself

  - John had warmth, for his was not the cold message of the intellect but the burning message of the kindled heart

   - John had light; its function is to guide, to point men on the way to repentance and to God

   - in the nature of things a lamp burns itself out; in giving light it consumes itself; John was to decrease while Jesus increased

   Since Jesus' audience had accepted John, they should also believe his verdict of Jesus! They rejoiced in his message (John's) until that light turned upon them and revealed their worldliness and sin. Once the light illuminates one's worthlessness and picks their consciences by openly denouncing their sins, they haughtily reject both the preacher and the message.

Once again Jesus is answering the charges of his opponents.  His opponents are demanding.  "What evidence can you adduce that your claims are true?"  Jesus argues in a way that the Rabbis would understand for he uses their own methods.

(i)  He begins by admitting the universal principle that the unsupported evidence of one person cannot be taken as proof.  There must be at least two witnesses.  "On the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses he that is to die shall be put to death; a person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness" (Deuteronomy 17:6).  "A single witness shall not prevail against a man for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offence that he has committed; only on the evidence of two witnesses, or of three witnesses, shall a charge be sustained" (Deuteronomy 19:15).  When Paul threatens to come to the Corinthians with rebuke and discipline he says that all his charges will be confirmed by two or three witnesses (2 Corinthians 13:1).  Jesus says that when a Christian has a legitimate complaint against a brother he must take with him some others to confirm the charge (Matthew 18:16).  In the early church it was the rule that no charge against an elder was entertained unless it was supported by two or three witnesses (1 Timothy 5:19).  Jesus began by fully admitting the normal Jewish law of evidence.

Further, it was universally held that a man's evidence about himself could not be accepted.  The Mishnah said:  "A man is not worthy of belief when he is speaking about himself."  Demosthenes, the great Greek orator, laid it down as a principle of justice:  "The laws do not allow a man to give evidence on his own behalf."  Ancient law well knew that self-interest had an effect on a man's statements about himself.  So Jesus agrees that his own unsupported testimony to himself need not be true.

(ii)  But there are other witnesses to him.  He says that "Another" is his witness, meaning God.  He will return to that, but for the moment he cites John the Baptist who had repeatedly borne witness to him (John 1:19, 20, 26; 1:29; 1:35, 36).  Then Jesus pays a tribute to John and issues a rebuke to the Jewish authorities.

He says that John was the lamp which burns and shines.  That was the perfect tribute to him.  (a)  A lamp bears a borrowed light.  It does not light itself; it is lit.  (b)  John had warmth, for his was not the cold message of the intellect but the burning message of the kindled heart.  (c)  John had light.  The function of light is to guide, and John pointed men on the way to repentance and to God.  (d)  In the nature of things a lamp burns itself out; in giving light it consumes itself.  John was to decrease while Jesus increased.  The true witness burns himself out for God.

In paying tribute to John, Jesus rebukes the Jews.  They were pleased to take pleasure in John for a time, but they never really took him seriously.  They were, as one has put it, like "gnats dancing in the sunlight," or like children playing while the sun shone.  John was a pleasant sensation, to be listened to as long as he said the things they liked, and to be abandoned whenever he became awkward.  Many people listen to God's truth like that; they enjoy a sermon as a performance.  A famous preacher tells how after he had preached a sombre sermon on judgment, he was greeted with the comment:  "That sermon was sure cute!"  God's truth is not a thing by which to be pleasantly titillated; it is often something to be received in the dust and ashes of humiliation and repentance.

But Jesus does not even plead John's evidence.  He says it is not the human evidence of any fallible man he is going to adduce to support his claims.

(iii)  So he adduces the witness of his works.  He had done that when John sent from prison to ask if he was the Messiah.  He had told John's enquiring envoys to go back and tell him what they saw happening (Matthew 11:4; Luke 7:22).  But Jesus cites his works, not to point to himself but to point to the power of God working in him and through him.  His supreme witness is God.

   Verse 34 gives the purpose of Christ's coming: that the world might be saved (3:17).

   Different writers have said: "The Jews were attracted to John the Baptist like moths to a candle. They were attracted by his brightness, not by his warmth. The interest in the Baptist was a frivolous, superficial, and short-lived excitement."

WITNESS #3: THE WITNESS OF HIS WORK (S) (vs. 36).

     "I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the very work that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me.”

   Works in the gospels usually refer to action as illustrative of character. In particular, the word means the miracles which are outstanding in importance and samples of divine power.

   Remember Nicodemus in John 3:2? "He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."

   Remember the brothers of our Lord in John 7:3? "Jesus' brothers said to him, "You ought to leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the miracles you do.”

   Remember the Jewish leaders in Acts 4:16 when describing the apostles? "What are we going to do with these men?" they asked. "Everybody living in Jerusalem knows they have done an outstanding miracle, and we cannot deny it."

   Jesus had used His works to convince the disciples of John the Baptist, who had been put in prison. Matthew 11:1-6: "After Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee. {2} When John heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples {3} to ask him, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?" {4} Jesus replied, "Go back and report to John what you hear and see: {5} The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. {6} Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me."

   But realize that Jesus cites His works, not to point to Himself but to point to the power of God working in Him and through Him. His supreme witness is God!

WITNESS #4: THE WITNESS OF THE FATHER (vs. 37-38).

    “And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, {38} nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent.”

   Verse 37 is a connecting verse between Jesus' miracles (vs. 36) and the scriptures (vs. 38-39). The direct testimony of the Father is referred to here, and it's unsure if Jesus was talking about the three voices from heaven:

   - at the baptism of Jesus (Matt. 3:17; Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22)

   - at the transfiguration (Matt. 17:5-6; Mark 9:7; Luke 9:35)

   - after the triumphal entry (John 12:28)

   The gospel of John does not even give two of them!...and verse 37 says that "you have never heard his voice nor seen his form."

   It appears evident that He does not mean literal failure to hear and see, for some had heard His voice at the baptism, on the Mount, and in the temple area.

   Jesus is probably referring to spiritual reception Jesus had given them God's Word, but they rejected both Jesus and God's Word (Joh 14:9).

The early part of this section may be taken in two ways.

(i)  It may be that it refers to the unseen witness of God in a man's heart.  In his first letter John writes:  "He who believes in the Son of God, has the testimony (of God) in himself" (1 John 5:9, 10).  The Jew would have insisted that no man can ever see God.  Even in the giving of the Ten Commandments "you heard the sound of words, but saw no form; there was only a voice" (Deuteronomy 4:12).  So this may mean:  "It is true that God is invisible; and so is his witness, for it is the response which rises in the human heart when a man is confronted with me."  When we are confronted with Christ we see in him the altogether lovely and the altogether wise; that conviction is the witness of God in our hearts.  The Stoics held that the highest kind of knowledge comes not by thought but by what they called "arresting impressions;" a conviction seizes a man like someone laying an arresting hand on his shoulder.  It may be that Jesus here means that the conviction in our hearts of his supremacy is the witness of God within.

(ii)  It may be that John is really meaning that God's witness to Christ is to be found in the scriptures.  To the Jew the scriptures were all in all.  "He who has acquired the words of the law has acquired eternal life."  "He who has the Law has a cord of grace drawn around him in this world and in the world to come."  "He who says that Moses wrote even one verse of the Law in his own knowledge is a despiser of God."  "This is the book of the commandments of God and the Law that endureth for ever.  All they that hold it fast are appointed to life, but such as leave it shall die" (1 Baruch 4:1, 2).  "If food which is your life but for an hour, requires a blessing before and after it be eaten, how much more does the Law, in which lies the world that is to be, require a blessing?"  The Jew searched the Law and yet failed to recognize Christ when he came.  What was wrong?  The best Bible students in the world, people who meticulously and continuously read scripture, rejected Jesus.  How could that happen?

One thing is clear-they read scripture in the wrong way.

(i)  They read it with a shut mind.  They read it not to search for God but to find arguments to support their own positions.  They did not really love God; they loved their own ideas about him.  Water has as much chance of getting into concrete as the word of God had of getting into their minds.  They did not humbly learn a theology from scripture; they used scripture to defend a theology which they themselves had produced.  There is still danger that we should use the Bible to prove our beliefs and not to test them.

(ii)  They made a still bigger mistake-they regarded God as having given men a written revelation.  The revelation of God is a revelation in history.  It is not God speaking, but God acting.  The Bible itself is not his revelation; it is the record of his revelation.  But they worshipped the Bible's words.

There is only one proper way to read the Bible-to read it as all pointing to Jesus Christ.  Then many of the things which puzzle us, and sometimes distress us, are clearly seen as stages on the way, a pointing forward to Jesus Christ, who is the supreme revelation and by whose light all other revelation is to be tested.  The Jews worshipped a God who wrote rather than a God who acted and therefore when Christ came they did not recognize him.  The function of the scriptures is not to give life, but to point to him who can.

There are two most revealing things here.

(i)  In verse 34 Jesus had said the purpose of his words was "that you may be saved."  Here he says:  "I am not looking for any glory from man."  That is to say:  "I am not arguing like this because I want to win an argument.  I am not talking like this because I want to score off you and win the applause of men.  It is because I love you and want to save you."

There is something tremendous here.  When people oppose us and we argue back, what is our main feeling?  Wounded pride?  The conceit that hates any kind of failure?  Annoyance?  A desire to cram our opinions down other people's throats because we think them fools?  Jesus talked as he did only because he loved men.  His voice might be stern, but in the sternness there was still the accent of yearning love; his eyes might flash fire, but the flame was the flame of love.

(ii)  Jesus says:  "If another comes in his own name, him you will receive."  The Jews had their succession of impostors claiming to be the Messiah and every one had his following (cp.  Mark 13:6, 22; Matthew 24:5, 24).  Why do men follow impostors?  Because they are "men whose claims correspond with men's own desires."  The impostors came promising empires and victory and material prosperity; Jesus came offering a Cross.  The characteristic of the impostor is the offer of the easy way; Jesus offered men the hard way of God.  The impostors perished and Christ lives on.

WITNESS #5: THE WITNESS OF THE SCRIPTURES (vs. 39-44).

    “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, {40} yet you refuse to come to me to have life. {41} "I do not accept praise from men, {42} but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. {43} I have come in my Father's name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. {44} How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God ?”

   At least 18 unmistakable references to the Old Testament are found in John. There is little doubt that Christ was coming and that He had now come.

   The Pharisees were searching:

   - for a reason which would preclude the necessity for a command for them to search the scriptures

   - Jesus is basing His whole argument as to their unbelief on their perverted use of the Scriptures

   - The practice of the Jews at that time was to study each word minutely, and to build absurd mystical and allegorical interpretations around those word studies

   - As a result, they rejected the Messiah, because their minds were made up as to what the Messiah must be before they read the Scriptures

   They were BIBLIOTRISTS (Bible worshippers)! They worshipped the words of the Bible, but not the Christ of the Bible. We need to always realize that the Bible is merely the inspired record of God's revelation about His Son. The Devil and his demons could quote scriptures...but they were still BOUND FOR hell! Verse 40 affirms the free will choice of man!

The scribes and Pharisees desired the praise of men.  They dressed in such a way that everyone would recognize them.  They prayed in such a way that everyone would see.  They loved the front seats in the Synagogue.  They loved the deferential greetings of men on the street.  And just because of that they could not hear the voice of God.  Why?  So long as a man measures himself against his fellow men he will be well content.  But the point is not:  "Am I as good as my neighbour?" The point is:  "Am I as good as God?"  "What do I look like to him?" 

So long as we judge ourselves by human comparisons there is plenty of room for self-satisfaction, and that kills faith, for faith is born of the sense of need.  But when we compare ourselves with Jesus Christ, we are humbled to the dust, and then faith is born, for there is nothing left to do but trust to the mercy of God.

Jesus finishes with a change that would strike home.  The Jews believed the books which they believed Moses had given them to be the very word of God.  Jesus said:  "If you had read these books aright, you would have seen that they all pointed to me."  He went on:  "You think that because you have Moses to be your mediator you are safe; but Moses is the very one who will condemn you.  Maybe you could not be expected to listen to me, but you are bound to listen to the words of Moses to which you attach such value-and they all spoke of me."

Here is the great and threatening truth.  What had been the greatest privilege of the Jews had become their greatest condemnation.  No one could condemn a man who had never had a chance.  But knowledge had been given to the Jews; and the knowledge they had failed to use had become their condemnation.  Responsibility is always the other side of privilege.

WITNESS #6: THE WITNESS OF MOSES (vs. 45-47).

     "But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. {46} If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. {47} But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?""

   As His trump card, Jesus pulls an ace out of the deck of Jewish heroes: Moses! Why Moses? Because, like Abraham, Isaac, and Joseph, Moses was one of the founding fathers of Judaism.

   The authority of Moses was the greatest of all for Jews!  He spearheaded the Exodus, gave them the Law, and was looked up to with reverence.

   But when did Moses ever write of Christ?  Turn back to prophetic pages of Deuteronomy 18:15, 19: "The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him...If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account."

   But how can we be sure Jesus was "the prophet" referred to by Moses? Listen to Peter's words in Acts 3:18-23: "But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ would suffer. {19} Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, {20} and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you--even Jesus. {21} He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. {22} For Moses said, 'The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. {23} Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from among his people.'"

   There was no answer by the rabbis to this conclusion of Christ.  The witnesses had been carefully chosen. Each had taken the stand, and the evidence had been judiciously presented. The defense rests!

* There are two more witnesses which we have, which were not available for the Jews.

   - the Holy Spirit (15:26) dwelling within each Christian

   - the witness of individual apostles (15:27), who would be ready to speak on His behalf only after being empowered by the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8)

   Certainly, today, we are without excuse!

   In reality, we must all weigh the evidence presented here in our life. We must reach a similar verdict, and it will be a matter of life and death.

—————————————

   For the teachers: another interesting short study here is the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, which offers some insight as to witnesses which were judged to be “sufficient” in the time of Jesus to convict the human heart. Take the time to discuss some of the lessons there since we’ve allowed two weeks for this long section. (Luke 16:19-31)

 CONCLUSION

   Today, most people do not take a strong stand for the truth. A major cultural force is pluralism--a movement away from the concept of absolute truth and toward relativism in everything.

   All peoples and all religions are viewed as being right in their own way. Our task, we are told, is to understand life from others' perspectives and to accept others' views.

   In the text we have studied, Jesus steps into our world and says, in essence, "My people should respect all people, love all people, and seek to understand all people. However, some principles cannot be compromised. Some things are true and must be proclaimed as absolute truth, regardless of what anyone else thinks about it."

G.   Campbell Morgan, "the prince of Bible expositors," once said about this text, "On the human level, what Jesus did that day and what He said that day cost Him His life. They never forgave Him." That is another way of saying that in chapter 5 Jesus "crossed the Rubicon." We can do nothing less than cross with Him.

Like several other chapters in John, we have here a message based on a miracle (5:17-47).

I. The Miracle: Salvation Is by Grace (5:1-16)

This sign completes the three miracles that show how a person is saved. The first (water to wine) shows that salvation is through the Word of God. The second (healing the nobleman’s son) shows that salvation is by faith. This third miracle demonstrates that salvation is by grace.

This man was in a pitiable condition...he had been afflicted for thirty-eight years. He was surrounded by afflicted people, all of whom illustrate the sad condition of the unsaved; impotent (without power—Rom. 5:6), blind, halt (unable to walk correctly—Eph. 2:1-3), withered (paralysis), and waiting for something to happen (without hope—Eph. 2:12).

If these people could get into the water when the angel came, they believed they could be healed; but they lacked the power to get there! How like the sinner today: if he could keep God’s perfect law, he could be saved; but he is unable to do so.

But see the grace of God at work. “Bethesda” (v. 2) means “house of grace,” and this is what it became for this one man. What does “grace” mean? It means kindness to those who are undeserving. Jesus saw a multitude of sick people—but He chose only one man and healed him! This man was no more deserving than the others, but God chose him.

This is a beautiful picture of salvation, and how it ought to humble us to know that we are chosen “in Him” and not because of our own merits but because of His grace (Eph. 1:4). What Christ says in 5:21 applies here: He quickens (gives life to) whom He will. We cannot explain the grace of God (Rom. 9:14-16), but if it were not for God’s grace, nobody would ever be saved (Rom. 11:32-36).

Note several other points: There were five porches, and five in the Bible is the number of grace; and the pool was by the sheep gate, which speaks of sacrifice. The Lamb of God had to die before God’s grace could be poured out on sinners.

Christ healed him on the Sabbath, thus proving that Law had nothing to do with the cure. We are not saved by keeping the Law. He healed the man by Himself, for salvation is of Christ alone. The man complained, “I have no man” (v. 7), but had a dozen men been there to help him, they could not do what Jesus did. The lost sinner does not need help; he needs healing.

The man went to the temple, probably to worship (Acts 3:1-8), and publicly witnessed that Christ had healed him (v. 15). When Jesus healed on the Sabbath, it was the beginning of the hatred and opposition from the religious leaders. This conflict grew worse and finally led to the crucifixion of Christ.

II. The Message: Christ Is Equal with the Father (5:17-47)

A. Christ’s threefold equality with the Father (vv. 17-23).

Healing the man on the Sabbath was contrary to Jewish tradition, so the Jews persecuted Christ as a law-breaker. In the first part of His message, He showed them that He is equal to the Father in three ways:

(1) Equal in works (vv. 17-21). The Father’s Sabbath rest was broken in Gen. 3 when Adam and Eve sinned. Since that time, God has been at work seeking and saving the lost. Christ states that the Father enables Him to do what He does and reveals His knowledge to Him personally. His works (miracles) come from the Father, including the miracle of raising the dead.

(2) Equal in judgment (v. 22). God has committed all judgment to the Son. This makes the Son equal with the Father, for only God can judge a man for his sins. See also v. 27.

(3) Equal in honor (v. 23). No mortal man would dare ask men to show him the honor that only God deserves. People who ignore Christ but who claim to worship God are deceived.

B. The threefold resurrection (vv. 24-29)

C. The threefold witness to Christ’s deity (vv. 30-47)

(1) John the Baptist (vv. 30-35). The people listened to John and even rejoiced at his ministry, but rejected him and his message. Read 1:15-34 and 3:27-36 to see how John pointed people to Christ.

(2) Christ’s works (v. 36). Even Nicodemus admitted that Christ’s miracles proved that He came from God (3:2).

(1)  The Father in the Word (vv. 37-47). The OT Scriptures are the Father’s witness to His Son. The Jews searched the Scriptures, thinking that their studies would save them, but they read with eyes that were spiritually blind. Moses wrote of Christ and would accuse them at the judgment. They refused the Word (v. 38); they would not come to Him (v. 40); they had no love for God (v. 42); they would not receive Him (v. 43); they sought honor from men and not from God (v. 44); and they would not listen to His Word (v. 47). No wonder they could not believe and be saved.