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.