Six Witnesses

Word study: Unique - u·nique -adjective
1. existing as the only one or as the sole example; single; solitary in type or characteristics.
2. having no like or equal; unparalleled; incomparable.
3. limited in occurrence to a given class, situation, or area.
4. limited to a single outcome or result; without alternative possibilities. 

Unique does not mean rare, unusual, peculiar, or one of just a few. A thing is either unique or not; there are no degrees of uniqueness. Unique means the only one. When Jesus is referred to as the only-begotten Son of God, it literally means the uniquely-born Son of God; He’s the ONLY ONE conceived of eternal God and born of a woman. The only human ever born without an old sin nature. He is total deity and true humanity in one person forever. We must never become confused about Who and What Jesus Christ is.

We continue with the Unique Person of the universe as He states His credentials to the people He came to save. Speaking to hostile unbelievers, Jesus knew they were suspicious of His power and authority. Whether they asked or not, He offered them evidence of His deity.

Witness I – The Holy Spirit

John 5:31-32: If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true.

Jesus always honored the law He came to fulfill. In that law, the testimony of only one person was not accepted as valid evidence. Jesus made reference to “another who bears witness,” and that witness cannot be disputed. This is another of the same kind as Himself, witnessing to truth in the minds of human beings.

Witness 2 – 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. John 5:33-34

Jesus did not require any man’s testimony to prove His deity, but if people are to receive salvation, they need to understand Who He is. He reminded them that at one time, they sent an official delegation to John.

He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. John 5:35

God’s message had been burned into John’s soul for 30 years. Result: John’s ministry shown publicly for about 6 months. Truth burns as a flame in our souls until it has taken control of our thinking. Then it shines forth for the world to see, because we cannot contain it within. Such was John’s testimony regarding the Christ.

Witness 3 – The Works

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

Even John the Baptist didn’t know, however, the extent of the works the Father had assigned to the Son. Only the Godhead had access to that information. That is the witness of Jesus – His Father’s works. The Jews’ temporary attentiveness to John was entirely the will of their emotional pattern. They were fascinated by John’s power, but they rejected John’s Christ. This somewhat reminds me of that oft quoted remark attributed to Gandhi, “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians.” Coming from an unbeliever, this means absolutely nothing. If he’d believed in Christ, he would have loved Christ’s Church, even though we seem so unlike our Christ. What he liked was his own human good, which he was mistakenly comparing to our Christ. The Jews were looking for their own brand of religion in both John and Jesus. It wasn’t there. Religion cannot co-exist with God’s grace.

Witness 4 – 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. John 5:38-39

They claimed to believe in the Father. They called themselves His people. These Jews could have never heard His voice or seen His form, for He is spirit and has no physical being or audible voice. Matthew 3:17 records a phenomenal “voice from heaven” identifying Jesus as “My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased” The Father speaks to us through His written Word. Those who believe in Him and take in His Word, cultivating it in our souls, cannot help but believe in the One Whom He has sent. Jesus is the embodiment of God’s Word, The Logos. Those in whom that Logos abides will know and believe the Word incarnate – God the Son. Those in search of religion will never recognize the Son. Those with God’s Word abiding within will know Him anywhere.

Witness 5 – The Scriptures

You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. I do not receive glory from people. But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. John 5:39-44

Of course, they searched the Old Testament scriptures. They were professional theologians. They had the scriptures and set great store by them. At least they knew where to look for eternal life. The problem was they were so blinded by religion that they couldn’t see that the eternal life they were seeking was in the Person of Jesus Christ, God the Son. The scriptures bear Him witness, but the legalists refuse to receive His grace. Jesus doesn’t depend on mankind for honor and glory; He has those things in abundance from the Father and the Holy Spirit. He came to give them something they could not receive any other way. They refused it.

Jesus knew their scripture-quoting was just an act. He observed their speech and behavior, and saw no love for God in their souls. Here He stood before them, representing the Father and being rejected. When another comes, representing himself (Antichrist), these phonies will gladly accept his lies. They walk among us, brethren.

Witness 6 – Moses

How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? 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. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?” John 5:44-47

The phony religionists are only interested in impressing one another; they are not really seeking God’s glory. Jesus came to provide salvation for them, not to accuse them. They could never be any more condemned than they already were, from birth. The very Old Testament scripture (Moses) is the one who exposes their shame. They study and discuss Moses (the Pentateuch) among themselves and challenge each other’s intellect and theology regarding Moses; their confidence is in Moses. Moses wrote of the Savior – Deuteronomy 18:15-19:

“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me (Moses) from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horebon the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ And the Lord said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you 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.”

If they really believed Moses, they would have believed Jesus, for He was the subject of Moses’ writings. They didn’t really believe Moses’ writings; they just loved to debate those writings, as a means of justifying to one another their own arrogance.

This same principle was demonstrated to the rich man in Torments. Luke 16:27-31: I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house—for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”

The Word of God – Logos – is the life force of the universe. We who believe the Logos recognize and believe the uniquely born Son of God, Who is Logos incarnate and our only Savior. 

Moses wrote of Him.