Witness 5: Scriptures

John included seven witnesses to prove Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God; so that readers of his gospel would believe in Jesus and believing, would have eternal life!

You pore over the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them, yet they testify about Me. (John 5:39)

Anyone who reads the Bible with an open mind will find Jesus is the Messiah.  From the beginning to the end – Genesis to Revelation; creation to culmination – all Scripture speaks of God’s plan to redeem a portion of mankind to live with Him for eternity.  Jesus is the means that makes possible this plan.

In this passage from John’s Gospel, Jesus is discussing with the Jewish religious leaders all the people/things that testify about Him.  In this verse, it is the Bible that testifies.

Remember, in Jesus’ day the Scriptures the religious leaders would “pore over” would be the Old Testament writings (the New Testament had not been written).  One of their key Old Testament figures, and important contributor to Old Testament Scripture, was Moses.  He was revered and his writings – the Pentateuch; first five books in the Bible – were studied regularly and in depth.  So Jesus takes this opportunity to remind the Jewish leaders that Moses wrote about Him.

Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father.  Your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope.  For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, because He wrote about Me.  (John 5:45-46)

A similar statement was made by Jesus (as recorded by Luke) when relating the story of the rich man and Lazarus:

“But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them…If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.’” (Luke 16:29,31)

And Jesus was right.  He did rise from the dead, and still many Jewish leaders did not believe!  They refused to believe – they purposefully made that choice – even though their revered Moses and the prophets believed and bore witness to Jesus.

Indeed, all Scripture points to God and to His solution for mankind’s sin problem: Jesus.  Eternal life is in Jesus.  The Scriptures testify that this is true.