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John 5:31-47: Four Witnesses That Validate The Claims Of Yeshua
God the Father had used Yeshua to heal a man who had been an invalid for 38 years. Yeshua told him to pick up his mat and walk. Healing a man on the Sabbath and then telling him to carry a mat was, according to the understanding of the Jewish leaders, a violation of the command against working on the Sabbath. That gave the leaders a justification to persecute Yeshua. To defend Himself, Yeshua made the most astounding claims about Himself.
Many people have made claims about themselves: I understand the truth better than anyone else. I’ve attained enlightenment. I’ve discovered secret knowledge. I’m a messenger of God. I’m a prophet. I’m the Messiah. I’m a god. What makes Yeshua’s claims about Himself so special is that they are so amazing; and they are true; and they give us some of the very clearest revelation about who Yeshua is.
Yeshua claimed the command about not working on the Sabbath didn’t apply to Him because, just as God works on the Sabbath, so does He, because He is the unique Son of God who shares the same divine nature and the same divine authority as God the Father!
He claimed He has life in Himself, the same kind of eternal, uncreated, life-in-Himself kind of life that God the Father has.
He claimed He never acted on His own. He was always directed by God.
He claimed He never acted independently from God because He was always motivated by the desire to please the Father.
He claimed He had the same kind of authority and ability to resurrect the dead and give life to the people who please Him that God the Father has.
He claimed He will resurrect the dead in the future and gives spiritual life, a life-giving relationship with God, to people in the present.
He claimed that He alone will be the judge on the Day of Judgment; that the judgment of mankind is a responsibility given exclusively to Him.
He claimed the person who believes that God sent Him and has faith in Him and His teachings will be pardoned and live forever.
As far as I know, these are the most astounding claims any human being has made about himself. If they are true, we must believe them. We must accept Yeshua as the Messiah and the Son of God and as the Lord. If these claims are not true, we must reject them and reject Yeshua as a liar or a lunatic.
Can we know these amazing claims that Yeshua made about Himself are true? Yeshua told us that we can know – by four reliable witnesses. We start with verse 31:
If I testify about Myself, My testimony is not true – not that what Yeshua said is wrong, but because according to Torah, two or three witnesses are needed for confirmation – not just one witness – in this case, Yeshua Himself.
The first witness that validates the claims of Yeshua: John the Baptist: There is another who testifies in My favor, and I know that his testimony about Me is true. You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth. Not that I accept (accept in the sense of need) human testimony. But I mention it that you may be saved. John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light. Yeshua knew who He was. He knew He is the Messiah and the Son of God. He knew He was the One who made the universe and everything in it. The Creator does not need the creature to validate anything He says. Yeshua did not need the testimony of John; but the testimony of John was helpful for other human beings, to help them understand the truth of Yeshua’s claims.
What was the testimony of John about Yeshua?
Yeshua has a heavenly origin.
Yeshua is the Son of God.
God the Father loves Yeshua in the most special way.
Yeshua is Someone whom God Himself had spoken the truth about and made it clear that He is the Messiah.
Yeshua is God’s spokesman, God’s representative, God’s prophet. Yeshua speaks the words of God.
Yeshua is unique among humans because God the Father gave the Spirit of God to Yeshua without limit.
God the Father has placed all things for all time under the authority of Yeshua.
That is the testimony of John – what John said about Yeshua.
Yeshua said that John was a prophet, and more than a prophet, and among those born of women there had not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist. That means John was greater than Adam, Enoch and Noah; greater than Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph; greater than Moses, Joshua and David; greater than Daniel or any of the other prophets; greater than any of the priest and kings and holy ones who came before him.
The greatest man who ever lived, who was filled with the Spirit of God before he was born, who was more than a prophet, who was the very special forerunner of the Messiah, testified that Yeshua was the Son of God who came from Heaven; that He was loved by God in the most special way; that He is the Messiah to whom God gave the Spirit without limit; that Yeshua speaks the words of God; that God the Father has placed all things for all time under the authority of Yeshua.
Did the leaders want to disregard the testimony of John, whom so many of the Jewish people considered to be a prophet? Did they want to contradict John, who revealed about such great truths about Yeshua, the same truths Yeshua claimed about Himself?
The second witness that validates the claims of Yeshua, a witness that was weightier than the testimony of John: Yeshua’s miracles: 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. Why were Yeshua’s miracles weightier than the testimony of John. It think the answer is that God-ordained miracles are weightier than words. Ordinary human beings don’t do miracles. Normally, God will only allow someone who is very close to Him to do a miracle. And even among the Chosen People, only a few prophets in Israel’s long history ever did miracles – Moses and Joshua, Elijah and Elisha and a few others – and Yeshua’s miracles exceeded them all.
He turned water into wine; healed many who were sick; healed the son of a royal official; a centurion’s servant; Peter’s mother-in-law; a man who was an invalid and a man who was paralyzed; two men who were blind; another man who was born blind. He restored the sight of Bartimaeus; healed a man who was unable to speak; healed a man’s withered hand; healed a woman who had been sick for 12 years; healed the ear that was cut off from the servant of the high priest; healed those who had leprosy; removed evil spirits from many; sent an army of demons into a herd of pigs; withered a fig tree; was involved in two miraculous catches of fish; was involved in catching a fish that paid the temple tax; fed 5,000 from a few loaves of bread and some fish; fed 4,000 from a few loaves of bread and some fish; stilled the winds and waves with a word; walked on water; raised the son of a woman in Nain from the dead; raised the daughter of Yair back to life; raised Lazarus from the dead; and was Himself raised from the dead.
The miracles of Yeshua are amazing. They are real. They are unprecedented in number and in greatness. They are weighty. The miracles of Yeshua let us know that Yeshua was very close to God, was sent by God, was approved by God, and is who He claimed to be – the Messiah and the Son of God. Did the leaders want to reject Someone who was doing so many great miracles, miracles that validated His claims?
The third witness that validates the claims of Yeshua: God the Father: And the Father who sent Me has Himself testified concerning Me. It’s extremely rare for God to speak audibly to people on Earth. Yet, at Yeshua’s baptism, the Father declared: This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And again on the mountain on which Yeshua was transformed: This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased. Listen to Him! And in response to Yeshua’s prayer, shortly before He died, that He would glorify God’s name through His life and death: I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. God the Father Himself spoke, not once, not twice, but at least three times, testifying that Yeshua was His beloved Son who honored Him and who should be obeyed. Did the leaders want to contradict the testimony of the Almighty God, who cannot lie?
God the Father knew Yeshua – very well and God the Father testified about Yeshua. And Yeshua knew God the Father – very well, and spoke the words of God. On the other hand, Yeshua told these leaders of the holy people that that was not true of them: You have never heard His voice nor seen His form. Yeshua heard God speak and had seen God, but these leaders were not close enough to the Father to have ever heard Him speak or to have seen Him.
Yeshua knew God the Father very well, and knew and understood the Word of God very well. The Word of God was understandable to Him, alive to Him, part of Him, living in Him. He declared that that was not true of these leaders: nor does His word dwell in you.
What was the evidence of their distance from God and their inability to understand the Word of God? It was their refusal to believe in Yeshua. For you do not believe the one He sent.
We insist that those we send on an important mission, and who represent us, are respected. If they’re not respected, it’s a rejection of the one who sent them and who they represent.
God the Father sent Yeshua on the most important mission. Yeshua is God’s representative, God’s ambassador, God’s prophet. It is impossible to separate the Father who sent the Son from the Son who was sent by the Father. Therefore to not believe in Yeshua is to reject God the Father. To reject Yeshua indicates that the one doing the rejecting does not know God or the Word of God.
It’s still true today. No one, I don’t care who they are or how religious they are, really knows God or is hearing from God or is understanding the Word of God if they don’t believe in Yeshua.
The fourth witness that validates the claims of Yeshua: The Word of God: The Jewish people are among the most literate people on Earth. We’ve been that way for more than 2000 years. The primary reason for our high literacy rate was so that we could study the divinely inspired writings, which we believed would give us the knowledge that leads to eternal life. And it is those divinely inspired writings that testify so clearly, so abundantly, about Yeshua.
You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about Me, yet you refuse to come to Me to have life.
The divinely inspired writing are all about Yeshua. He is the focus of the Tenach. He is the One who fulfills the many prophecies about the Messiah, from the first prophecy about the Seed of the Woman who will crush the head of the satanic serpent, to the last prophecy in Malachi about the Lord who will suddenly come to His temple, and the messenger of the covenant who will come.
Not only does Yeshua fulfill the many prophecies about the Messiah in the Tenach – like being born in Bethlehem and yet originating from the days of eternity; being born into the royal family of king David; arriving before 70 AD; entering Jerusalem triumphantly, yet humbly, on a donkey; being a prophet like Moses yet rejected by the majority of Israel, especially the leaders; being tried and condemned even though innocent; being silent before His accusers; being stripped of His clothes and having them taken by those who gambled for them; being pierced and dying a crucifixion-like death; being resurrected; and having a world-wide impact on the nations – not only does Yeshua fulfill the many Messianic prophecies, He also fulfills the types, symbols, shadows, people and events found in the divinely inspired writings.
He is the Messiah, the God-ordained Anointed Leader that God sent to save us, who fulfills the three offices of prophet, priest and king.
He is the prophet greater than Moses, who most clearly heard from God and told us the truth.
He is our High Priest whose priesthood is superior to that of Aaron, and able to completely and eternally bring us closer to God and bring God closer to us.
He is the ultimate King of David’s royal line, who will save Israel and the nations and rule Israel and the nations.
He is our Sabbath, who brings rest to the human soul. He is the fulfillment of the Year of Jubilee, providing ultimate peace and rest. He is our Passover Lamb who enables God to passover our sins, saving us from our Egypts of sin and death. He is our Matzah – the Unleavened Bread, who was perfect and victorious over sin and who can break the cycle of sin transmitted from generation to generation. He is our Firstfruits, the first one to be raised from the dead, enabling all who become loyal to Him to be raised from the dead and live forever. He is our coming King, whose arrival will be heralded by the blowing of the shofar. He is our Yom Kippur Scape-Goat, who brings ultimate atonement and will judge Israel and the nations. He is our Sukkah, our Tabernacle into which we are gathered into God’s eternal Kingdom.
He is the Temple, in whom God lives in the greatest degree. He is the Holy Ark in which the Word of God lived, over which the presence of God hovered. He is the Bronze Altar who atones for us. He is the Washbasin who cleans us so we can serve God. He is the Golden Menorah who shines God’s light on us. He is the Bread of the Presence who feeds us. He is the Golden Altar who enables our prayers and praises to be accepted by God.
He is the Final Sacrifice, enabling us to be reconciled to the Creator from whom the whole world is estranged. He is our sin offering who atones for us; our burnt offering who enables us to be dedicated to God; our peace offering who brings us wholeness and peace with God.
He is Noah’s Ark who saves us from destruction. He is the Seed of Abraham through whom the whole world will be blessed. He is the Ram who is better than the one Abraham offered on Mount Moriah. He is Jacob’s Ladder, connecting Earth and Heaven. He is the One who wrestled with Jacob and changed his name to Israel; He is the ultimate Israel, who succeeded where the nation of Israel failed. He is the manna that fed us in the desert. He is the rock that provided water for us to survive in the wilderness. He is Aaron’s rod that budded, indicating that His superior priesthood is based on resurrection and endless life; He is the star that will rise from Jacob; He is the Angel of the Lord, God’s powerful and holy messenger. He is the ultimate kinsman redeemer.
The Torah, the Prophets and the Writings point us to Yeshua, and to no one else; and they point us to Him in so many ways. You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about Me, yet you refuse to come to Me to have life. Didn’t the leaders want to really understand the Word of God? Did the leaders really want to ignore the testimony of the divinely inspired writings that so powerfully testify about the Messiah, who is the One who is able to give us eternal life? If so, they needed to believe in Yeshua.
A friend will tell you, not what you want to hear, but what you need to hear. Even though the leaders disliked Yeshua intensely, for His part, He was still their friend. He told them truths they needed to hear. I do not accept honor from human beings, but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. 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. How can you believe since you accept honor from one another but do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?
Yeshua told them that it was right for them to honor Him, but that He did not need their honor. The Creator is perfect. The Creator is complete. The Creator remains perfect and complete whether the creature does what he should do or does not do what he should do. The Creator has no need to be honored by human beings. I do not accept honor from human beings.
Yeshua told them that they really did not love God. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. They may have thought they loved God, but the reality was they didn’t.
The evidence that they didn’t love God? They didn’t love Yeshua, who was sent by God, who represents God and who is just like God. I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not accept Me. If you have a child who is just like you, and thinks like you, acts like you, and shares your values, and someone claims to love you but hates your child, does he really love you?
Yeshua told them that, because they really didn’t know God or the Word of God or the Messiah of God, they were vulnerable to believing in false prophets and false Messiahs. If someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. And of course, Yeshua was right. The Jewish people have accepted many false prophets and false Messiahs since that time; and no doubt will again in the future.
Yeshua told them the source of their inability to believe correctly – choosing the fear of man above the fear of God; wanting the approval of man more than the approval of God caused them to go along with a confused, rebellious majority, distorted their discernment and prevented them from having genuine faith that would save them.
Didn’t the leaders want to truly love God? Receive the approval of God? Be kept from confusion and receiving false prophets and false Messiahs? Then they must believe in Yeshua and honor Him.
Yeshua, who can’t lie, told us who He is. John the Baptist, the miracles of Yeshua, the testimony of God Himself and the divinely inspired scriptures which include the Torah of Moses, all confirm Yeshua’s claims. Therefore Yeshua must be accepted for who is.
And if He isn’t? If those leaders continued in their rejection of Yeshua? Yeshua claimed that on the Day of Judgment, when these men are being judged, they will have an awful surprise. They will discover that Moses, whom they claimed to be disciples of, will not acknowledge them. Moses will reject them and be their prosecutor. But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. If you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?
On the Day of Judgment, when these leaders are being judged, and on trial, Moses will not acknowledge them as his disciples. Moses will disavow them. Moses will be asking the one who sits on the great white throne to find them guilty. Why? Moses knew about the coming of the Messiah and wrote the Torah to help others believe in the Messiah when He arrived.
The focus of the five books of Moses is the Messiah. Therefore to reject Yeshua is to reject the Torah and Moses who wrote it. To reject Yeshua is to be rejected by Moses. Did the Jewish leaders really want to prosecuted by Moses on the Day of Judgment? If not, they must believe in Yeshua.
Yeshua wanted these men, and us, to understand that the Torah is not primarily a book about laws and law-keeping, but a book about Messianic redemption. Yes, Moses was the great law-giver who gave the set-apart nation laws that formed a constitution for the newly freed nation, but the greater purpose of the Torah is to point Israel and the nations to the Messiah – and Yeshua is that Messiah who can give us eternal life.
May God give us the grace to believe the claims of Yeshua, which are validated by four of the greatest witnesses. And may He help us tell others about Yeshua, and His claims, and the great witnesses which let us know that Yeshua is who He claimed to be, so that they might be saved and live with us forever. Amen?