Ye search the scriptures, for ye think that in them ye have life eternal, and they it is which bear witness concerning me;
Jesus has healed a man on the Sabbath and called God His own Father, and now men want Him dead. He answers by calling witnesses, and the last is the book His accusers trusted most — so how could they read it and still miss the life it points to?
The verse does not stand alone. It closes a list of witnesses the Lord builds through this chapter.
In this chapter the Lord brings forward four witnesses to Himself, and it is very important that you and I pay attention to what Jesus says. (1) John the Baptist bore witness of Him. (2) The works the Father gave Him to finish bear witness of Him — a greater witness than John's. (3) And then again, the Father Himself, who sent Him, has borne witness of Him. (4) And last of all, the Scriptures bear witness of Him.
Some translations read "Search the Scriptures" as a command. The same words can also describe what these men already did. One commentator says the difference matters little.
It makes little practical difference whether we read it as "you search the Scriptures" or as "search the Scriptures." The context decides that it is an appeal, as others have well said, rather than a command. They were not so foolish as to think they had eternal life in themselves. They looked for it in the Scriptures, and so they were in the habit of searching them, as they do, more or less, to this day.
The witness Jesus points to covers the whole Old Testament, not a few scattered predictions. Later in the same conversation He names Moses in particular.
Verse 39 applies to all the Old Testament Scriptures: they bear witness about Christ. Verse 46 points to the early books written by Moses, and he wrote of Christ. This, then, is the key that unlocks the whole Old Testament. Its main theme is the Christ who was to come.
These men were not wrong to look for life in the Bible. Their mistake was narrower than that.
The Scriptures, as the Jews judged, were the storehouse of life; and in this they judged rightly. Their error was that they mistook where in the Scriptures the life lay. They thought it lay in the law God had given them, so that life belonged to them alone. But we know it really lay in "the testimony of Jesus," who is the Life.
The verse settles what Bible study is for. Reading that ends anywhere but Christ has failed, however thorough it was.
They thought they had eternal life in the Scriptures, but Christ is the Giver of it, and to Him they would not come. If searching the Scriptures brings men to Christ, then they do have eternal life through the Scriptures. If not, they only gain knowledge of a technical, theological sort and remain in spiritual death.
Another writer points to the motive behind their search.
They did search the Scriptures, but not to honestly seek the mind of God. They searched only because they wanted eternal life without truly submitting to God. So men may know a great deal about the truth of the Bible and still be complete strangers to the word of God.
The next verse names the real obstacle: they refuse to come to Him. One writer weighs an older translation's wording, "you will not come."
The Lord does not say, "You cannot come," but "You will not come." It is true that man is dead in trespasses and sins and cannot come. It is just as true that he is alive in sins and will not come.
For a reader today, the verse turns from rebuke into invitation. It names the one place where we still meet Christ.
The only place where we can come into contact with Christ is in the written word of God... In the Scriptures we find Christ in every aspect, position, character, and office: Christ in humiliation and rejection, and Christ in exaltation and glory. So the more I read and think about God's word, the more I will learn of Christ.
- Witness. Scripture is the fourth and final witness Jesus calls, after John the Baptist, His works, and the Father.
- Witness to whom. Its testimony has one subject. The whole Old Testament points to Christ, and Moses wrote of Him.
- Witness misread. They were right to look for life in the Bible. But they looked for it in the law, not in the One the law announced.
- Witness refused. The barrier was not inability but unwillingness. The Lord said they will not come, not that they cannot.
- Witness received. Study that leads to Christ gives life. Study that stops at facts leaves a person expert in the Bible and a stranger to God's word.
and ye will not come to me that ye might have life.
Jesus has just named four witnesses to who He is: John the Baptist, His own works, the Father, and the Scriptures. This verse is His verdict on the men listening. Life itself was standing in front of them, and the one thing lacking was not evidence but willingness.
(The ESV says "you refuse to come to me." The commentators quote an older wording, "you will not come to me," and their comments turn on that "will not.")
The verse lands at the end of a legal case. Christ had produced every witness, and the refusal still stood.
The Son gives life to whom He will, but when you come to the end of the chapter, you get the side of man's responsibility. You have the testimony of John the Baptist, the testimony of My Father, the testimony of My works, and the testimony of your own Scriptures (where you think you have eternal life), which testify of Me. And yet you will not come to Me that you might have life. I have four witnesses that there is eternal life here for you, and you will not have it. It was the rejection of the One in whom life was present from God.
These men were Bible students. The verse shows what Bible study is for, and what it becomes when it stops short of the Person it describes.
They thought they had eternal life in the Scriptures, but Christ is the Giver of it, and to Him they would not come. If searching the Scriptures leads men to Christ, then they really do have eternal life through the Scriptures. If it does not, they only gain knowledge of a technical, theological sort and remain in spiritual death. These words are most illuminating as to what the true function of Scripture is.
The exact wording matters. Jesus points at their desire, not their ability.
The Lord does not say, "You cannot come," but "You will not come." It is true that man is dead in trespasses and sins and cannot come. It is just as true that he is alive in sins and will not come.
Verse 39 can be read as a statement or as a command.
Whether the words are a statement or a command makes little practical difference. The context decides that it is an appeal, as others have well noted, rather than a command. They were not so foolish as to suppose that they had eternal life in themselves. They looked for it in the Scriptures, and so were in the habit of searching them, as they do, more or less, to this day. But though the Scriptures testify about the Lord Jesus, they are not willing to come to Him for the life He alone can give. For the Scriptures cannot give life apart from Him, nor will the Father.
Nothing on God's side blocks anyone. Something on man's side does.
As far as God is concerned, man is completely free to come now. He is invited to come — yes, begged. The precious blood of Christ is there on the mercy seat, so God's own grace has removed the moral difficulty in the holy One receiving a sinner. But then there is the other side, man's own will and state. There is no will to come, but the opposite. Life was there in Christ. "You will not come to me that you might have life."
A heart closed to Christ is not closed to everything. It will open — to someone else.
What a testimony against man!
Refusal does not stop Christ. What follows their no is more grace.
Here (chapter 5:40) He says, "I have eternal life for you, and a fourfold testimony to the truth, and you will not come!" What comes out next? ... Do you not feel our need of the Holy Spirit? We need Him to lead our souls into a full appreciation of a grace that yields to no rejection, until everything has been tried in vain.
- Witnesses. Jesus named four witnesses — John, the works, the Father, the Scriptures — and the answer was still no.
- Where life is. Life is not stored in the letter of Scripture; the Scriptures testify of Christ, and He is the Giver of it.
- Will, not power. Jesus said "you will not," not "you cannot" — the block is in the desire, not the door.
- Both sides. God leaves the way open and sends the invitation. The obstacle lies in man's own will and state.
- The alternative. A heart that refuses Christ, who came in the Father's name, will receive another who comes in his own. Yet grace keeps offering until everything has been tried.
I do not receive glory from men,
Jesus is speaking to men who have already turned against Him. He tells them that their approval was never what He wanted — and He goes on to say what their refusal proves.
His refusal was not a single statement made under pressure; it was the shape of His whole life. One writer contrasts what drives everyone else with what drove Him.
Did the Lord Jesus seek present honour? His whole life, from His birth to His death, declared the opposite, so plainly that no one could mistake it. Glory from men is the driving force of the world. Jesus not only did not seek it; He did not receive it. He always did the things that pleased the Father, who told Him what He should say and what He should speak. He kept His Father's commandments and remained in His love.
His refusal went deeper than modesty. To accept honour from someone is to vouch for them.
He was no creature of His circumstances. He did not derive anything from man; He received no honour from him. Nor could He, on His part, put honour on man, or vouch for one who had fallen away from God. He could serve, and for this come into the lowest place, when from man He could not accept the highest.
If not honour, what was He after when He invited people to come to Him?
The Lord's motive in inviting men to come to Him was not to gain honour from man. It was that man might get blessing from God. Their refusal to come to Christ exposed their condition. It proved that the love of God meant nothing to them. It had no place in their hearts.
He refused more than praise.
We have just heard Him say, "I do not receive testimony from man," and again, "I do not receive glory from people." So we are not surprised that He will not receive a kingdom from the hands of men either. The glory of the greatest kingdom on earth that man can build is only tinsel before Him.
What the Lord refused, people still chase. One writer warns where that ends.
It is a fatal thing to seek glory from men. God and the world are always opposed. The Lord says, "I do not receive glory from people," and, "I know that you do not have the love of God within you." God looks for the single eye. It would settle many a difficulty if our one aim were to please the Lord. There is no such thing as labouring for salvation; that would be uphill drudgery. But having received it, I can labour to please Him. Those who seek glory from men will get it, but this is not glory from God.
Christ's refusal is not only something to admire. It also settles where His followers look for honour, and whose company they keep.
"I am among you as the one who serves." "I do not receive glory from people." True honour comes from God only. If I know something of gathering up the manna, Christ's friends — mark it well — will be my friends. His path will be mine, His joy mine, His interests mine.
- Source. Honour from men drives the world. Jesus lived to please the Father instead, and His whole life said so.
- Refusal. To take honour from man would be to vouch for man. So He stooped to the lowest place and refused the highest.
- Consistency. He refused man's testimony, man's honour and man's crown. The greatest kingdom on earth is only tinsel to Him.
- Motive. He called people so they might get blessing from God, not so He might get honour. Their refusal exposed hearts with no love of God in them.
- Path. Seeking glory from men is fatal. Those who chase it get it and nothing more. Make pleasing the Lord your one aim, and most other questions settle themselves.
but I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you.
Jesus has just laid out the witnesses to who He is — and none of them moved His hearers. So He stops arguing from evidence. He tells them what He sees inside them.
The verse opens with what Jesus knows. Older translations read "I know you." Commentators say this is not a guess about their behaviour. It is a claim about His own knowledge of them.
But His divine knowledge shines through in verse 42. He knew their inmost souls had no love of God in them. Compare this with John 12:43, those loving the praise of men more than the praise of God. For when someone really knows God's love, His honour comes first of all.
The Lord had just said they were unwilling to come to Him for life. Their refusal is what makes the diagnosis visible.
The Lord invited men to come to Him. His motive was not to gain honour from man, but that man might get blessing from God. Their refusal to come to Christ exposed their condition. It proved that the love of God was nothing to them. It had no place in their hearts.
They were the people entrusted with the Scriptures, and they had heard and seen more than anyone. So their problem lay deeper than the mind.
And the Jew, the specially favoured Jew, was found in the same atheism as other men. Our Lord's discourse in this chapter was moving to uncover this hidden spring of unbelief in Israel. It was not for want of light and testimony. They had the works of Christ, the Father's voice, their own Scriptures, and the testimony of John. But along with all this, they had the love of the world in them, and not the love of God. So they were not ready for the Son of God.
An empty heart still wants something. Writers see the missing love of God as the cause of a craving for human praise, and they trace where that craving ends.
They had nothing of the love of God in them. So they were greedy for honour from one another, instead of seeking the honour that comes from God. In their minds they glorified men. This, as always, was an effective barrier to faith, and they could not believe… Another would come in his own name, seeking his own glory. That would suit them exactly, and they would receive him.
Several writers apply the sentence past the crowd standing in front of Jesus, taking it as the plain state of anyone apart from new life.
There is one great sin that leads men to commit all the others — the desire to please themselves… While we act on this as a principle, we are spiritually dead in trespasses and sins. There is no life, no love, in us. As our Saviour said to those standing around Him: "I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you." This is the real fact: in man's natural state there is nothing like God in him. Instead there is the opposite principle — hatred, enmity.
Read that way, the words reach past those old opponents. They question the reader's everyday motives — even the pleasant ones.
What is the spring, the stimulus, the motive of almost every action? What is it that makes a man — perhaps you — try to be likeable, pleasing and agreeable? Is it not so that you may "receive honour one of another"? And yet of such people the word says, "I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you." Man's actions begin and end in one continual effort to raise self up. Instead, there must be the death of self.
This verdict is not the end of Israel's story. One writer sets their promised future beside it.
Israel, gathered from the four corners of the earth, shall rest in peace under the rule of David's Son… The heart of redeemed Israel shall throb with the love of God. And this is the very people to whom He has to say, "I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you."
- Known. "I know you" is how One who sees inside speaks. His verdict rests on His own knowledge of their souls, not on their record.
- Empty. The heart He looks into has no love of God in it. Their refusal to come to Him for life proved it.
- Fed. An empty heart still hungers, so it feeds on honour from other people — and that appetite is what blocks faith.
- Deceived. A heart trained to prize man's glory will one day welcome the man who comes in his own name.
- Cured. The problem is not a self that needs improving. It is a self that must die. And a day comes when this same people's heart beats with the love of God.
I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not; if another come in his own name, him ye will receive.
Jesus has just told these hearers that they have no love of God in them. In one sentence He now names why they refuse Him, and who they will welcome instead.
One writer sets the two names side by side. Each name shows whose glory the bearer is seeking:
He was here in His Father's name, so the honour and glory that man can offer meant nothing to Him. ... Jesus came in His Father's name, which means He was seeking His Father's glory. All that was foreign to them, and they refused Him. Another would come in his own name, and so would be seeking his own glory. That would suit them exactly, and they would receive him. In these words the Lord predicted the coming of antichrist, in whom the false glory of man will reach its climax.
One writer weighs what these men lived on, and what they had no room for:
"Glory from men" is the moving spring of the world: Jesus not only did not seek it, He did not receive it. He always did the things that pleased the Father... In no sense did the Jews have the love of God in them. They were ambitious for human glory and pleased with themselves. Their souls hated Jesus, while His soul was pained for them. His coming had put them to a fresh and far fuller test. He had brought God too close to them — yes, the Father; but they knew neither Christ nor the Father.
There is a warning here for anyone who wants truth on flattering terms:
The Son came in the name of the Father, and they would not receive Him. Another will come in his own name, and him they will receive. This better suits the heart of man. They sought honour from one another: how could they believe? Let us remember this. God does not adjust Himself to the pride of man — He does not shape the truth to feed it.
So who is this other one? One writer answers from the verse itself:
Be clear about this: antichrist is not a figurative term for some evil principle or system. The word points to an actual person... Our Lord, no doubt referring to this embodiment of evil, says, "If another comes in his own name, you will receive him" (John 5:43). This is unthinkable unless he came from their own nation. He will in fact present himself as the Messiah in his opposition to Christ.
The swap is a moral one. The Man they refuse and the man they accept are opposites in character:
Self-exaltation is man's downfall and Satan's bait. It ends in ruin under God's judgment, and that ruin cannot be undone. It is the man of sin in contrast with the Son of God, the Man of obedience and righteousness... They would not have the true God and eternal life in the Son, who became man and suffered in love for man. They will receive Satan's man when he sets himself up to be God.
The verse looks ahead, but it also names something true now. A soul that turns Christ away does not stay empty:
They received glory from one another; they did not seek it from God; they had not the love of God. So they would not receive One coming in His Father's Name. But that would put them into the hands of Antichrist. He will come in his own name, doing his own will, and be received. It is a solemn thing to realise, and yet certain: everything that would displace Christ in the soul makes room for Antichrist.
One writer turns it into a personal question:
The Saviour's voice, now heard in the gospel, will soon be silent. The next thing will be the last great deception. Men who would not come to Him so that they might have life will welcome the Antichrist of the Devil with delight, to their eternal ruin. Let us ask ourselves how far His bitter complaint applies to our own case.
- Name means motive. Coming in the Father's name means seeking the Father's glory. Coming in your own name means seeking your own.
- Cause. They had no love of God. They lived on praise from one another, and that praise was the one thing they would not give up. It blocked faith.
- Refusal. God will not reshape the truth to flatter human pride. So they rejected the One who sought only His Father's glory.
- Substitute. Commentators read "another" as a real person, the antichrist. Men will welcome him because his self-exaltation matches their own.
- Result. Anything that displaces Christ in a soul makes room for his rival. So this verse asks about today, not only about the end.
How can ye believe, who receive glory one of another, and seek not the glory which [comes] from God alone?
Jesus has been showing the religious leaders who He is, and they still will not believe. Now He names the real obstacle — not a lack of evidence, but a heart trading in the wrong currency of glory.
Jesus does not ask why they will not believe. He asks how they can. Commentators read this as a verdict on their moral state, not their reasoning power.
Their own low moral condition made it impossible for them to believe in Christ and receive the truth. Wanting honour and esteem from men kept them from taking the low place. It kept them from owning their true condition as sinners, so that they might receive blessing and honour from God.
Human praise here works like a rival god. One writer links it to the command that God's children keep clear of idols.
If God tells His "children" to keep themselves from idols, it is no surprise that the idolatry of man — of self — should be the death of faith. The heart welcomes any object rather than the true and only God.
There is no way to hold both glories at once.
They sought honour from one another: how could they believe? Let us remember this. God does not adapt Himself to the pride of man. He does not shape the truth to feed it.
The verse does not only forbid something. It points to a glory worth seeking. One writer points to the One who won that glory and then shared it.
Here we have the hindrance to faith and hope: receiving glory from each other, and not seeking the glory that comes from God only, or "the only God." … There has been One on this earth who said at the end of His journey, "I glorified you on earth," … "and now, Father, glorify me." God has answered this. He has already glorified Him, and more than that (wonder of wonders!) "the glory that you have given me I have given to them" (John 17).
Jesus can ask this question because He lived the opposite of it.
"Glory from men" is the driving force of the world. Jesus not only did not seek it, He did not receive it. He always did the things that pleased the Father, who told Him what He should say and what He should speak. He kept His Father's commandments, and remained in His love.
A heart hungry for human glory will not stay empty. It will welcome someone who comes offering it.
The truth was, the conditions of faith were lacking in them. They received glory from one another; they did not seek it from God; they had not the love of God. So they would not receive One who came in His Father's name. But that would put them into the hands of Antichrist. He will come in his own name, doing his own will, and they will receive him. It is solemn to realise, and yet completely certain, that everything which would displace Christ in the soul makes room for Antichrist.
The love of reputation is not only a sin of open opponents. It can hide under a godly life. One writer points to Job.
This has a voice for our ears, dear friends! Does it not tell us that we must watch the heart and its hidden motions? "Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life." There may be strong and dangerous currents running under the surface. Job was a godly man. There were none like him in his generation. But in his soul there was flowing a rapid current. He valued his character and his circumstances… He valued his estimation among men. In the hidden exercises of his heart, he used to survey his good condition with satisfaction. That was a strong undercurrent. His neighbours had not traced the course of that stream; but his heavenly Father had.
- Cause. Faith fails here for a moral reason, not an intellectual one. A heart set on human esteem cannot take the low place of a sinner before God.
- Rival. The praise of men works as an idol. The heart will welcome any object rather than the only God, and that idolatry kills faith.
- Refusal. God will not reshape His truth to flatter pride, so the glory-seeker and the gospel never meet.
- Exchange. The glory God gives is real. Christ glorified the Father. The Father glorified Him in return, and Christ has given that same glory to His own.
- Result. A soul that refuses the One who came in the Father's name lies open to one who comes in his own name. So watch the hidden currents of your heart, as Job had to.
Think not that I will accuse you to the Father there is [one] who accuses you, Moses, on whom ye trust;
Jesus is speaking to men who trusted the law and rejected His claims. He tells them He will not be the one to bring charges against them before the Father. The accuser they must fear is the very figure they had built their confidence on — Moses, the man who gave them the law.
Jesus refuses the role of accuser. One writer ties this to how He lived among men: He sought His Father's honour, not His own.
He did not receive testimony from men. It was with the Father He had to do, whose honour He bore. However, He would not accuse them to Him. That would have been seeking His own honour, at their expense. But it was the reception of Him as bearing His Father's honour that tried their moral character. But that in which they trusted and boasted, being of God, would be their ruin or their accusation — even Moses, for it was his business to bear witness of Jesus.
He showed the same grace to a guilty woman in the temple.
What wonderful grace! Christ did not come to accuse, nor condemn. He said to the poor trespasser in the temple, "Neither do I condemn you." Moses accused her, and his law condemned her, but Jesus came to save.
Moses had stood between God and the nation as the go-between of the law. That very office turns against them. The law he mediated exposed sin but could not repair it.
This is the law as given the second time, after the people had made the golden calf. It is not pure law. It is law modified and tempered by mercy, to give man, having failed, a means of self-recovery — if self-recovery were possible. But it was not possible for them, and is not possible for any. The mediator of this law was Moses, not Christ. The law was so useless that its own mediator must become the accuser of the people.
Their mistake was not respecting Moses too much. It was where they chose to stand.
Again Moses, instead of defending them, becomes their accuser and judge. It is always dangerous for a sinner to take his stand on the law. The law can only expose and condemn him. It has no power to pardon and forgive.
Their history with Moses did not match their claim to follow him.
Despite their boasted reverence for Moses, the people of Israel never really received him as God's messenger. They rejected him in Egypt, and later grumbled against him again and again. But when Jesus came — the true and faithful witness, the true light — the Jews used Moses' claims to reject His own. This is one of the marks of the evil heart and twisted will of man. He constantly refuses to own the rights of God. Despisers of His grace in Christ, they pretend to own His rights in the law, and use the law to reject Christ. But Jesus would not accept their pretended submission to Moses. Had they believed Moses, they would have believed Him, for Moses wrote of Him. The veil was on their hearts when they read Moses.
The same trust is alive today. One writer names what lies underneath it.
The law, as 2 Corinthians 3 tells us, was a ministry of condemnation and death. Sinful flesh cannot meet its righteous requirements. Yet men love the Moses principle! Peter's words in Acts 15:21 are as true as ever: in every city there are those who preach Moses. Everywhere people preach works as the ground of blessing before God. Confidence in Moses is really confidence in self. Men cling to the notion that flesh holds some good in it, if only it gets a fair chance.
Moses stands in contrast to Christ, and one word marks the difference.
After Israel's dreadful sin with the golden calf, we hear him say, "Now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin." No such uncertain words ever rested on the Saviour's lips. He first made complete atonement for His people's guilt, and then went up on high in the power of it.
- Trust decides. Whatever you set your hope on will speak at the judgment. For these men, the one they trusted became their accuser.
- Moses accuses. The mediator of the law had no power to recover them, so his office turned into a charge against them.
- Christ declines. He will not accuse them to the Father; that would be seeking His own honour, and He came to save, not to condemn.
- Self, not Moses. Confidence in law is confidence in self — the idea that flesh has some good in it if given a fair chance.
- Certainty replaces "perhaps." Moses could only hope he might make atonement. Christ made it in full, then went up on high in the power of it.
for if ye had believed Moses, ye would have believed me, for he wrote of me.
Jesus is speaking to men who prized Moses above everyone else and who had just refused Him. He tells them that Moses himself wrote about Him, so their confidence in Moses and their rejection of Him cannot stand together.
They were resting their case on Moses. One writer shows why that case collapses: the law Moses gave could not save anyone.
The mediator of the law was Moses, not Christ. The law was so completely unable to help that its own mediator must become the accuser of the people. "There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope," says the Lord to Israel.
The obvious question is where in the five books Moses spoke of Christ. Commentators point to Moses' promise of a coming Prophet — and note that the New Testament itself identifies who that Prophet is.
There is one special prediction of the lawgiver. He foretold the coming of a Prophet like himself, to whom they were to listen. Both Peter (Acts 3:22-23) and Stephen (Acts 7:37) quote it... Refusing, then, to listen to Christ, they were guilty of direct disobedience to Moses. The lawgiver would be their accuser. The professed disciples of Moses, so sure they were guarding his honour, would find themselves accused before God by him!
Others read the reference more widely than one prophecy. > Moses wrote of Christ in many ways, in pictures and in prophecy, as the true and full answer to Israel's needs.
Christ gives Moses' writings a weight beyond His own spoken words. The Jews never doubted those writings — and one writer shows why that was still not faith.
Here the Son Himself gives the writings of Moses a place in testimony beyond His own words. This is not because the servant approached the Master, but because Scripture has a permanence in testimony that can belong only to the written word... Had the Jews believed Moses, they would have believed Christ. These words teach us that faith is no idle exercise, as some would make it. The Jews in no way questioned his writings; they received them as Divine. But not to doubt is far from believing. In none of his books did they see the great object of testimony in all of them: Jesus the Messiah, a man, yet far more than man, a Divine Saviour of sinners and Sacrifice for sins, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
The Lord links His own words to the writings of Moses. One writer takes that straight into the modern argument over who wrote the first five books of the Bible.
If men refuse the earlier testimony through the servant, they will not receive the Son, when He speaks. And so indeed it is. The men today, who disbelieve the books of Moses and even deny his authorship, do not believe the words of Jesus. This is perfectly clear, since He endorses here the very thing they deny. We must make our choice between the rationalistic critics and Christ. They have stepped into the shoes of His Jewish opponents: that is all.
The phrase itself carries further weight, and it bears on how the five books hold together.
This scripture — "he wrote of Me" — shows a unity of purpose in the writings of Moses. It also shows a prophetic outlook into the future that could be nothing short of divine inspiration. However many "documents" Moses may have used in putting the Pentateuch together, all of them serve one dominant purpose: testimony to Christ.
Their unbelief cost them more than a right opinion about old books. One writer describes the loss in the language of Egypt.
His brothers should have understood that God would deliver them by His hand. But they did not understand. They did not believe Moses, and so were, in principle, still in Egypt, still in the flesh, still unredeemed. Had they believed Moses they would have believed Christ. He would have led them out, as at this time, from under the hand of Pharaoh — the power of the flesh and the world.
- Trust — they leaned on Moses, and the support gave way. The mediator of a law that could not rescue had to become their accuser.
- Testimony — Moses promised a Prophet like himself. Refusing Christ was not loyalty to Moses but direct disobedience to him.
- Test — accepting the writings as divine is not yet faith. They never doubted Moses, yet they missed the Person all his books point to.
- Two voices — Christ ties His own words to Moses' writings. Denying Moses' books means siding against the One who endorsed them.
- Result — unbelief left them, in principle, still in Egypt and unredeemed, while the true Deliverer stood in front of them.
But if ye do not believe his writings, how shall ye believe my words?
Jesus ends this exchange with a question, not a claim. He is speaking to religious leaders who prized the books of Moses. If those writings could not win their faith, what hope was there that His spoken words would?
The verse belongs to a reversal. The men who assumed Moses was on their side are told he stands against them, and the reason is that his writings point to Christ.
The Lord Jesus had not come as their adversary, to accuse them. Their actual accuser was Moses, of whom they claimed to be disciples. Moses was of course the lawgiver, and the very law he gave was their condemnation — and they could not see it. But Moses wrote of Christ in many ways, in pictures and in prophecy, as the true and full answer to Israel's needs. Moses' writings and Christ's words were perfectly in agreement. So they did not believe Christ's words because they had not believed Moses' writings.
Others add a caution about where a sinner takes his stand:
Moses becomes their accuser and judge instead of their defender. "There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope" (John 5:45). It is always dangerous for a sinner to take his stand on the law. The law can only expose and condemn him. It has no power to pardon and forgive.
The leaders knew Moses' words well. What they missed was who those words were about.
The importance of the Old Testament Scriptures lies in the fact that they speak of Christ. "It is they that bear witness about me," our Lord told the religious leaders of His day. That statement carries enormous weight. They failed to grasp the meaning of what they read. They boasted in their knowledge of Moses' words. Pride and self-importance marked their approach to God. Yet they failed to see that Moses wrote of Christ.
Notice the direction of the argument. Jesus does not put His own spoken words first. He treats the written record of Moses as the greater test.
The Lord closes the discourse by bearing striking witness to the importance and value of the writings of Moses. He gives greater value to the form of Moses' communications than to the form of His own. Moses' communications were written; His were spoken. The writings of Moses and the Lord's words had the same divine authority. But inspired writing has a greater lasting value than inspired words spoken aloud.
This answers a wish many readers have — to have heard Him in person:
Let no one make light of the word out of ignorance, or think that because His word is written it is not He Himself speaking to us. What difference does the writing make? What difference there is, is in our favour. Suppose we could hear the Lord speaking to us in person, without His word in permanent written form. Would we gain? No — beyond doubt we would lose. And that is why our Lord in John 5 puts the Scripture, as a weapon to use with others, above His own words.
Jesus says Moses wrote these books, and that they speak of Him. So doubts about who wrote them land on Jesus Himself.
The way the Lord linked His words with Moses' writings is very striking. If men refuse the earlier testimony given through the servant, they will not receive the Son when He speaks. The men today who disbelieve the books of Moses, and even deny that he wrote them, do not believe the words of Jesus. This is perfectly clear, since He endorses here the very thing they deny. We must make our choice. As the love of God is in us, and as the glory of man fades in our eyes, we shall accept and believe the Holy Writings. They will lead us in faith to Christ.
The warning reaches past five books. Take away the base, and the top comes down too.
What does the Lord Himself say? He says, "If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead" (Luke 16:31). That is the power of Moses and the prophets. And again Jesus said, "If you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?" So Satan knows what he is doing. Let him remove the foundation in these books of Moses, and he is in fact removing the very Word — or part of the Word — that we do prize. He is removing the New Testament itself.
- Written — Jesus set Moses' writings above His own spoken words: what is written stays, and we can return to it again and again.
- Wrote of Christ — their value is their subject; the men who knew the text best missed the Person it was pointing to.
- Weighed against Him — the Moses they trusted became their accuser; the law they leaned on could only condemn.
- Warning — refuse the earlier writings, and you will not receive the later words. Deny that Moses wrote of Christ, and you contradict Christ Himself.
- Welcome — as love for God grows and human reputation loses its shine, we receive the writings, and they lead us to Christ.