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Jesus Calls Witnesses in His Own Defense (John 5:30-47)

 Jesus says he does nothing on his own authority, but judges according to what he hears from the Father. What's interesting about that is that Jesus has plenty of authority. Yet even here, we see him submitting to the will of the Father. Jesus is also subtly reminding people that the law given to Moses said that a witness's testimony was only valid when backed up by two or three witnesses.

Therefore, Jesus calls John the Baptist in his own defense, and he also says the Father bears witness to the truth of who he is, and what he is doing. He says John the Baptist's witness would otherwise not be good enough, because John is just a man, but Jesus knows that many of the people respect John the Baptist.

Also, Jesus says the works that he is doing bear witness to the truth of who he is. Basically Jesus sees himself as the one who was sent by the Father. He goes on to say that his opponents do not love the Father, because they do not believe Jesus, whom the Father has sent.

Then we have to wonder what Jesus is saying about the Scriptures in verse 39. Is it wrong to know the Scriptures? Is it wrong to read them as much as possible? No; what Jesus is saying is that if you know the Scriptures backwards and forwards, but you don't know Him, you're wasting your time at best. Let's come to Jesus to receive all that he intends to give.

Jesus is frustrated with the leaders, because they will praise one another, before they praise the Father for sending His Son. They see their identity as those who obey Moses, but Jesus says they are not obeying Moses, because Moses wrote about Him. This is really an astonishing claim, because Moses is believed traditionally to only have written most of the first five books of the Bible. God was trying to tell us about His Son more than 3000 years ago!

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