A GREATER WITNESS
OR
SEARCHING THE SCRIPTURES
SUNDAY MARCH 17, 2019
Scripture To Consider:
“I [Jesus] can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of the Father who sent Me. If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true. There is another who bears witness of Me, and know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true. You [Jewish religious leaders] have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved. He [John the Baptist] was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light.”
“But I have a greater witness than John’s; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish, the very works that I do, bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me. And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. But you do not have His Word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe.”
“You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. I do not receive honor from men. But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you. I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.”
“How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God? Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you, Moses, in whom you trust. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My Words?” John 5.30-47
Something To Consider:
Jesus mentioned no less than four witnesses of Himself; John the Baptist, Moses, the Old Testament Scriptures, and a greater witness than all these. The greater witness than these was the mighty works that God the Father was accomplishing in and through Jesus for the entire world to see and hopefully to believe. What is it that God is accomplishing in us that others will no doubt see? Will what others see in us draw them to Jesus?
Or will what others see in us draw their attention to other things, to other agendas, other kingdoms, other fanciful fables, and finally, to be deceived? Will we become a great witness of the things of God or a great witness of the Word of God, Jesus Christ, our Savior and God? Or will we be unfaithful in a faithless generation surrounded by so much abounding lawlessness that it causes us to conform to that lawlessness rather than being transformed by the Word of God?
Something Else To Consider:
God forbid we are conformed to this world and not transformed by the renewing of our minds by the washing of our minds and hearts by the water of the Word of God. Have we not understood that as Jesus declared, “I can of Myself do nothing…” that we too can do nothing outside of or without Jesus and our abiding in the Words of Jesus? We truly can do nothing of eternal consequences without God’s Holy Spirit living within our lives because of a present tense and personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
The question to be asked is, have we come to do our will on earth or to do the will of God our Father on earth as it is being done in heaven? While searching the Old Testament Scriptures the evidence is overwhelmingly clear that God’s Word prophetically points to Jesus as the Anointed and prophesied coming Son of God. There are well over 300 Messianic prophecies fulfilled that positively point directly to the person of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
Many of these prophesies have been fulfilled and all of them will be fulfilled perfectly and exactly according to the Word of God. Fulfilled prophecy to me is one of the greatest witness and testimony to the faithfulness of Almighty God, as well as the best witness to His all-knowing omnipotent characteristic. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Can anyone else claim that same achievement or equal the power and all existent knowledge of our heavenly Father? No! The Antichrist will claim Himself God, but He will be proven to be a liar and the father of lies in the end!
Something More To Consider:
The apostle John wrote in John 1.1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word [Jesus] was God.” Thus, Jesus in our Scripture to consider proclaimed, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life…” The religious but not spiritual world thinks they have eternal life because religious appearing men have told them they have eternal life because of a one-time visit to an altar, or due to mouthing the world’s idea of a sinner’s prayer.
But Jesus declared the truth by stating, “You think you have eternal life…” What Jesus is saying is, “You search the Scriptures, for in them [in the Word of God not in the word of religious appearing men] you think you have eternal life; and these [the Scriptures] are they which testify of Me.” Have we searched the Scriptures for the truth concerning eternal life? Or are we depending upon religious men and religious organized systems to falsely proclaim a different message than what the Word of God depicts?
Jesus has come in His Father’s name, a greater witness than man indeed, and many have not received Him or God the Father’s witness of Him. But quite the contrary, according to Jesus in Matthew 24, the unbelieving world and world’s system will receive another with a much sinister agenda. For according to Jesus, “For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I [Jesus] am the Christ [the Messiah],’ and will deceive many [not few and not some but will deceive many].”
By our searching the Scriptures daily we are comforted by God’s greater witness and convinced of our need to believe and benefit from the Spirit inspired Words of Jesus. After Jesus declared our need for searching the Scriptures, He acknowledged to the religious leaders of His day, “But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.” Jesus went on to state, “But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you.”
A Few Final Words:
Therefore, are we willing to come to Jesus on a daily basis that we might have life? Are we willing to maintain a present tense personal relationship with Jesus and our heavenly Father as if enduring to the end in obedience to Jesus’ biblical instruction? Or are we not willing to come to Jesus on a daily basis even after an emotional one-time trip to the altar after being convicted of our sins or frightened by the prospect of eternal fire?
Let us not be deceived into thinking we have eternal life because we have made a sentimental trip to the front of a church or even after praying for forgiveness, and then continue to practice iniquity and partake in the world’s sin as if nothing has ever changed. If we have truly become spiritually born again by God’s design, then we must become new creations in Christ and have our old things such as sinful habits to no longer dominate our lives.
If we have become true enduring to the end saints of God, behold old things have become new. Have old things become new? If new creatures in Christ we will desire to live our lives in a godly and biblical manner. Is that the case? And if we truly desire to live godly in and for Jesus Christ, we must realize that according to the Scriptures we are required to search, we will suffer persecution if we indeed belong to Christ.
If new creatures in Christ, we will want to learn more about Jesus and searching the Scriptures will accomplish that instructed by Jesus task. Searching the Scriptures daily creates a greater witness in the lives of every true believer. Therefore, this adventure should be enjoyed by every true believer every dawning of every new day. “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.”
Prayer:
Our Father in heaven, may our lives witness to our believing in Jesus. And by our believing His Word, fill us with the love of God in Christ. In Him Always, Amen!
According to Jesus 