John 5:31-40. Evidence Based Faith
Dr. E.V. Rieu translated Homer for the Penguin Classics series. He had been an agnostic all his life. He was subsequently asked to translate the four gospels for the same series. When his son heard of this he commented,
“Its going to be interesting to see what father will do with the four gospels, and its going to be more interesting to see what the four gospels will do to father.”
He did not have to wait very long. Within one year E.V. Rieu responded to the evidence he saw in the gospels; he became a committed Christian and joined a church. He subsequently sat on the committee that produced the New English Bible.
John wrote his gospel in order to convince people about Jesus. He recorded key evidence, much as a barrister selects what evidence to present to a court to convince a judge and jury. It is worth remembering the key verses he puts towards the end of his gospel.
“Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” John 20:30-31
In John chapter 5, Jesus selects some key witnesses to support his claims made earlier in the chapter to be one with God his Father. Jesus has already had his say about who he is, but he acknowledges that his testimony alone is not enough. As Mark Twain wrote in another context,
“His saying so don’t make it so.”
So Jesus calls up other witnesses,
The Evidence of John the Baptist
John appeared, unannounced, and started to preach in the inhospitable desert that God sees people’s hearts. Outward religion was not enough for God, a public repentance and turning back to the Lord is essential and this change can be sealed by public baptism. People recognised that his was the voice of God and vast numbers responded to his shining light – temporarily.
“John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose, for a time to enjoy his light” John 5:35
However the main message of John was to prepare the way for God’s Messiah.
“ . . . but the reason I came baptising with water was that he might be revealed to Israel. . . . I have seen and testify that this is the Son of God.” John 1:31
But as so often happens John and his message were rejected. In fact it was Herod Antipas who was so opposed to John the Baptist, because John had publicly opposed the affair that Herod was having with his brother’s wife. This resulted in John being imprisoned and then beheaded. When leaders reject the truth other people usually follow.
In the eighteenth century, London and all England were stirred by the preaching of the Wesley brothers and George Whitfield, much as John the Baptist’s preaching had affected first century Israel. When he was young John Wesley, being an ordained Anglican minister, was invited to preach in London churches. However after preaching in St. Helen’s Bishopsgate, he was told in no uncertain way by the Church Wardens,
“Sir, you must preach here no more.”
If you read the history of London in the 18th century, it is striking that the revival ministry of the Wesleys and Whitefield are hardly mentioned. Historians were selective according to their own prejudices.
For a time people rejoiced in the light of John the Baptist but then they turned back to their old ways. They realised the implications of this teaching, and found this hard. The evidence was there but they rejected it.
The Evidence of the Miracles
“I have a testimony that is weightier than that of John. For the very work that my father has given me to finish, and that which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me.” John 5:36
Already in John’s gospel several of these miracles have been alluded to. When Nicodemus, a ruler of Israel who sat on the Sanhedrin Council, came to meet Jesus his opening line was,
“Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who comes from God. For no-one could do the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.” John 3:2
There are thirty-three separate miracles that Jesus performed that are recorded in the gospels but John tells us that he did many more. A miracle occurs when the laws of nature are broken. God also causes coincidences to happen but strictly these are not miracles. In the Old Testament one of the features of God’s coming Messiah would be his ability to perform astounding miracles. Isaiah talks about what will happen when God himself will come to his earth,
“Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy.” Isaiah 35:5
Jesus did fulfil all these prophecies, both physically but also figuratively; the spiritually blind and spiritually deaf came to see and hear what God had come to do.
Earlier in this chapter Jesus had mentioned his ability to ‘give life’ to people. Life was considered then as well as today, as a gift that only God can give to inanimate matter. When Jesus was on the earth, he raised four people from the dead. He raised the widow’s son in the village of Nain (Luke 7:15), the 12-year-old daughter of Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue (Mark 5:42), and Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha in Bethany after he had been dead four days (John 11:44). Finally he raised himself from the dead after he had been crucified. He had repeatedly told his disciples that three days after his death he would rise again.
The miracles Jesus enacted are important evidence and to reject this evidence will be counted against us on the day of judgment. Jesus said later to his disciples that unbelief was irrational,
“He who hates me hates my Father as well. If I had not done among them what no-one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen these miracles, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. But this was to fulfil what is written in their Law; ‘They hated me without reason.’” John 15:25
The Evidence of God himself‘
There is some debate about the meaning of the next argument Jesus uses:
“And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice . . .” John 5:37
Does this refer to the proclamation the Father made when Jesus began his public ministry, when he was baptised by John the Baptist:
“And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” Mark 1:11
This declaration was to be repeated when Jesus was transfigured into a dazzling being in the presence of Moses and Elijah on top of a high mountain. Peter, James and John witnessed this and heard a voice from the cloud clearly saying,
“This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him.” Mark 9:7
An alternative view is that they have heard God speak through the Scriptures as Jesus continues,
“ . . . nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent.” John 5:38
The Evidence of Scripture
In Jesus’ time there were many religious Jews who scrupulously studied the Scriptures but somehow they had missed what they were talking about. The Scriptures are all about God’s Chosen Servant King who was to come into his world – His Messiah.
The Jewish Rabbis were meticulous in their copying and studying the Scriptures, which are now our Old Testament. Copyists would only copy one letter at a time before going back to the original, just to be sure no mistakes were made. They would check the central letter of each line and each book. They would collect those sentences that contained all of the 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet. Each letter had a numeric equivalent and they loved to discover significances in such discoveries.
The highly esteemed Rabbi, Hillel made the interesting observations,
“More flesh – more worms
More wealth – more carefully
More maidservants – more lewdness
More menservants – more thieving
More women – more witchcraft
There was one thing he did value,
“More Torah – more life”.
Hillel went on,
“Whosoever has gained a good name has gained it for himself,
Whosever has gained the words of the Torah has gained for himself life in the world to come.”
A similar thinking is seen amongst some Muslims who consider that learning the Qur'an by heart will put them in good stead with God. Such people associate knowledge of the Scriptures with salvation.
A group of school children were taken to the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam . They trooped into a room with paintings by Rubens. The children started to criticise the pictures and discussed all that they considered to be wrong, ‘The hands are two big,’ ‘No-one smiles like that,’ The colours aren’t real,’ and so on. After a while the curator could stand this no more and he went up to the teacher in charge and said,
“Please could you explain to the children that it is not the Rubens pictures that are being judged here, it is the visitors.”
There is great power in the Bible to change people – but only if we see our need, are willing to be changed, and submit to the Saviour the Bible talks about. If we, like those children in the art museum, think we are superior, then we can gain nothing from God’s word. This is what Moses said to God’s chosen people of old,
“Take this book of the Law and place it besides the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God. There it will remain as a witness against you. For I know how rebellious and stiff necked you are. If you have been rebellious against the LORD while I am still alive and with you, how much more will you rebel after I die.” Deuteronomy 31:26-27
Many homes have a Bible somewhere on their bookshelves. In Victorian times most families would have a large Family Bible but this was usually just used to record births, deaths, and to press flowers. Yet the Bible tells us how our relationship with God can be restored by Jesus, God’s Messiah.
All of God’s people should be Bible students, should work to understand it, and learn sections by heart. Without such dedication we cannot progress as Christians. Dr. Harry Ironside became Minister of Moody Church in Chicago. He had no college education yet became the foremost Bible teacher in his generation. From his biography we learn,
“Under his mother’s guidance, Harry began to memorise Scripture from the age of 3. By the age of 14 he had read through the Bible 14 times, once for each year of his life. During the rest of his life he read the Bible through at least once each year.”
On one occasion he was speaking at a conference and he and a fellow speaker began to discuss their own devotional life. The other speaker said what he had been reading from the Bible that morning and he then asked Harry Ironside when he had read. At first he was hesitant, but then he said,
“I read the book of Isaiah!”
He was saturated with the word of God. This is true for most of the great Bible teachers. John Bunyan, who wrote Pilgrim’s Progress spent 12 years in Bedford prison for refusing not to preach the word of God. He had little formal education but it was said of him,
“Cut him and you will find his blood is Bibline.”
Everything John Bunyan did was steeped in the Bible. The point of Scripture is to show us our deep needs and to point us to the only Saviour our creator has provided.
The agnostic who became a Christian, E.V. Rieu, concluded about the Bible,
“These words bear the seal of the Son of Man and of God, and they are the Magna Carta of the human spirit.”
The Evidence of Our Hearts
God knows what is really important for each of us. He is not interested in the volume of our verbal praise of him. The only worship he accepts is hearts devoted to him.
“I do not accept praise from men, but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts.” John 5:41-42
The Bible students of Jesus’ day were much more concerned to be recognised by fellow scholars that to be recognised by God. The way they dressed, talked and performed their outward religion was all to impress people – they weren’t so concerned about pleasing God. Yet their Scriptures emphasised that true worship should always be the purpose of life.
A headteacher was addressing the pupils in his school on their speech day. He said,
“The purpose of life is to discover the purpose of life and then to make that the purpose of your life.”
The Jewish Confession of faith, the Shema, taken from what God told Moses, explains the priority of life,
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD you God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Deuteronomy 6:4-5
What God wants is nothing less than our hearts. A missionary to some tribes people in the Amazon attended a tribal meeting. The chief stood up and said,
“I am impressed with Jesus. I want to give him a gift of some money.”
The missionary then told the group that God does not need our gifts. The Chief thought again and said,
“I am so impressed with Jesus that I want to give him my youngest wife!”
Again the missionary explained that this was not what God required. The light then dawned on the Chief,
“I now understand. God wants my heart, then I give myself to Jesus because he is God.”
BVP
