John 5:31-47

A witness to Jesus -- John 5:31-47: Jesus called the attention of the Jews to the fact that God the Father was His witness. John was a great witness but the things that the Father had given Him to do speak even stronger as prove that the Father sent Him. The miracles that Jesus performed were done in accordance with God the Father's will and in His power. Jesus Christ is God come in the flesh. The Father who sent Jesus witnessed for Him, yet they refused to have faith in the one He sent. Their rejection of the one sent by God stands as proof that they did not really know God the Father. These Jews did not have God's word abiding in them. They did not believed His message, because they refused to have faith in the one He sent. It is so heart breaking to reach out to the lost sharing with them the wonderful news of the Gospel and have it fall on deaf ears. It is bewildering to me to teach people how their sins can be forgiven and how they can go to heaven and spend eternity with God and have them ignore this truth and choose to remain lost. They love darkness rather than the light! It is always such a blessing when some do receive the salvation that is in Christ Jesus. Jesus was offering the love of God to these people and they rejected Him. They should have quickly received Him because they claimed the Old Testament Scriptures as the source of their faith. Jesus said those Scriptures testified of Him. Jesus said, "Moses wrote about me, and if you had believed Moses, you would have believed me. But if you do not believe what Moses wrote, how can you believe what I say?" The Jews had the word of God available to them to learn but they rejected God's truth. We likewise have access to God's Word. Let us learn about Jesus, receive and obey Him as the Son of God.

We must come to believe that Jesus is the one sent from God to bring salvation. "But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me." To begin your Christian life hear the gospel (Romans 10:17), believe in Jesus (John 8:24), repent of your sins (Luke 13:3), confess Jesus as Lord (Romans 10:9-10) and be baptized into Christ. "For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ." (Galatians 3:26-27) After being washed in the blood of Jesus at baptism we must be among those who are blessed by serving as a faithful member of the one body or church of Christ.