Discovering Who Jesus Really Is: John 5:16-47

Coming immediately following Jesus’ miracle in our last episode, which happened on the Sabbath, and following the religious leaders learning it was Jesus who had healed the man and told him to pick up his mat on the Sabbath, we discover these religious leaders challenge Jesus about what He is doing. In this challenge, and specifically in how Jesus responds, we discover many amazing things about God, and about who Jesus truly is.

Since this is a longer passage, let’s dive into it and discover some amazing truths about Jesus from this passage and this conversation. Our passage is found in John’s gospel, chapter 5, and we will read it from the New International Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 16, John tells us that:

¹⁶ [So,] because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. ¹⁷ In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” ¹⁸ For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

¹⁹ Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, 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, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. ²¹ 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. ²² 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. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.

²⁴ “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. ²⁵ Very truly I tell you, 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. ²⁶ For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. ²⁷ And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.

Pausing briefly, I want to draw our attention onto the huge truth that God the Father is not the Judge. While God the Father could easily be the judge, He gave the authority to judge to Jesus. While Jesus had said earlier in His conversation with Nicodemus that He did not come to judge the world but to save it, the next time Jesus comes to this earth, it will be as King and Judge. Jesus’ first coming was to save the world, Jesus’ second coming will be to judge the world and redeem God’s people. God the Father has given Jesus the authority to judge.

However, that isn’t all. Let’s continue reading to discover what else Jesus tells us that is powerful. Picking back up in verse 28, Jesus continues saying:

²⁸ “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 what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned. ³⁰ 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 true. ³² There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is true.

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.

³⁶ “I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to finish—the very works that I am doing—testify that the Father has sent me. ³⁷ 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. ³⁹ You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, ⁴⁰ yet you refuse to come to me to have life.

Let’s pause reading again briefly, because what we just finished reading is powerful, and I don’t want you to miss it.

In the first century culture, that was built on the Old Testament structure, in order for a testimony to be valid, it must be validated by additional witnesses. When two or more people gave testimony that was in line with each other, that testimony would be considered valid.

While some people have claimed that Jesus only spoke on His own, and that His single testimony is not valid, John has just recorded Jesus telling the religious leaders three additional witnesses that testify about Him.

The first witness, which should be the clearest, is John the Baptist. John the Baptist came testifying about Jesus, and he directly tells people Jesus is the Messiah on more than one occasion. However, Jesus tells these religious leaders that John the Baptist was given for their benefit, and Jesus doesn’t need to rest on John’s testimony.

The second witness Jesus gives is the witness of God the Father. When Jesus was baptized, God spoke from heaven affirming Jesus. When Jesus was transfigured on the mountain, God the Father spoke from heaven affirming Jesus. And, later in John’s gospel, while Jesus is teaching in the temple, God the Father speaks from heaven affirming Jesus. Rejecting Jesus’ second witness means rejecting God the Father.

The third witness Jesus gives is the witness of the Old Testament scriptures. When we look at the Old Testament, there are so many layers of prophecies foreshadowing Jesus that it is difficult to get away from them. From obvious prophecies about where Jesus would be born, to subtle symbolic prophecies like the lamb given as a sacrifice on the alter to pay for sins, the Old Testament speaks loudly about who Jesus truly is. Rejecting Jesus’ third witness means rejecting the Old Testament scriptures.

Unfortunately, today we have Christians who reject God the Father and there are Christians who reject the Old Testament. By rejecting Jesus, these Jewish leaders ultimately reject not just John the Baptist, but God the Father and the Old Testament scriptures as well. When we let our preconceived biases get in the way of God’s truth, we blind ourselves to what God wants to teach us.

However, Jesus isn’t finished. Picking back up in verse 41, Jesus tells these religious leaders:

⁴¹ “I do not accept glory from human beings, 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 since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?

⁴⁵ “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?”

In this passage, and in Jesus’ counter challenge to the religious leaders, we discover that Jesus only accepts glory from God. Jesus is not interested in glory from people.

It is also interesting to note that Jesus won’t accuse those who don’t believe in Him. Instead, he will let historical individuals who the people did believe in to accuse them. In the religious leaders’ case, their accuser is Moses, who did believe in Jesus, and who wrote about Him.

Ultimately in this passage, we discover that Jesus is God’s Son, that Jesus has multiple witnesses to testify to this, and that Jesus is more interested in doing God’s will and receiving God’s glory than on being accepted or praised by people. We are called to be like Jesus, to trust in the multiple witnesses of the Old and New Testament scriptures, and to focus on receiving glory from God and not praise from people.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As always, seek God first and place your hope, faith, trust, and belief in Jesus and what He accomplished for each of us on the cross. Through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, we discover how much God loves us and how much He wants to redeem us from this sin-filled world.

Also, always pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn, grow, and discover who God really is. While it is easy to rest on other people for your knowledge of the Bible, by doing so, you short-change yourself because you will only grow as much as those you pay attention to. God wants a personal relationship with you, and this relationship begins when we make it personal, without putting anyone else in the middle.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or give up on where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!