"THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE" - 6

"THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE"
The Human Testimony

In our study so far we have considered claims made by John about Jesus in his prologue - Jn 1:1-18 Claims made by Jesus concerning Himself throughout the gospel of John in relation to God, in relation to the Messianic hope and in relation to human needs. The nature of these claims prevent Jesus from being simply a great man. He must be what He claimed to be (the Son of God) or He was either a deceiver (liar) or a deranged man (lunatic). We now begin to consider the evidence presented to sustain these claims starting with the human testimony recorded by John. Being careful to properly define and declare the value of such testimony.

First lets define and look at the testimony of human impressions made on the witnesses by their contact with Jesus" - Homer Hailey, That You Might Believe, p. 88. "The testimony of and within itself does not prove any claim made by Jesus" (ibid.). "The evidence is circumstantial and incidental, but it is worthy of a candid and fair consideration" (ibid.)

Second, in evaluating human testimony we need to look at, "The force of human testimony depends upon three things...". "First, the honesty of the witnesses". "Second, their competency". "Third, their number" -- J. W. McGarvey, Evidences Of Christianity, Book II, p. 146 2. McGarvey goes on to explain: "We ascertain whether they are honest, by considering their general character and their motives in the particular case...". "Competency is determined by considering the opportunities of the witness to obtain knowledge of that to which he testifies, and his mental capacity to observe and remember the facts.". "The requisite number varies with the degree of probability attached to the facts." -- (ibid.)

With this brief introduction to the meaning and value of human testimony, let's now take a look at the human testimony offered by John and the friends of Jesus. John the Baptist - Jn 1:29-34 "The next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him and said: Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! He is the one I told you about when I said, "Someone else will come. He is greater than I am, because he was alive before I was born." I didn't know who he was. But I came to baptize you with water, so that everyone in Israel would see him. I was there and saw the Spirit come down on him like a dove from heaven. And the Spirit stayed on him. Before this I didn't know who he was. But the one who sent me to baptize with water had told me, "You will see the Spirit come down and stay on someone. Then you will know that he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit." I saw this happen, and I tell you that he is the Son of God.". As a cousin of Jesus he had been told how to identify the Messiah. He declared Jesus to be the Lamb of God, the Son of God. The early disciples - Jn 1:40-49 "One of the two men who had heard John and had gone with Jesus was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother and tell him, "We have found the Messiah!" The Hebrew word "Messiah" means the same as the Greek word "Christ." Andrew brought his brother to Jesus. And when Jesus saw him, he said, "Simon son of John, you will be called Cephas." This name oftlinecan be translated as "Peter." The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. There he met Philip, who was from Bethsaida, the hometown of Andrew and Peter. Jesus said to Philip, "Come with me." Philip then found Nathanael and said, "We have found the one that Moses and the Prophets wrote about. He is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth." Nathanael asked, "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" Philip answered, "Come and see." When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said, "Here is a true descendant of our ancestor Israel. And he isn't deceitful." "How do you know me?" Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, "Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree." Nathanael said, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God and the King of Israel!"". Andrew declared Him to be the Messiah. Philip said He was the One of whom Moses and the prophets wrote. Nathanael confessed him to be the Son of God, King of Israel. Peter - Jn 6:67-69 "Jesus then asked his twelve disciples if they were going to leave him. Simon Peter answered, "Lord, there is no one else that we can go to! Your words give eternal life. We have faith in you, and we are sure that you are God's Holy One."". Peter believed Jesus to have the words of eternal life and declared Jesus as the Holy One of God. Martha - Jn 11:27 ""Yes, Lord!" she replied. "I believe that you are Christ, the Son of God. You are the one we hoped would come into the world.". She believed Jesus to be the Christ and believed Jesus to be the Son of God. The disciples at the last supper - Jn 16:30 "At last we know that you understand everything, and we don't have any more questions. Now we believe that you truly have come from God."". They believed that He knew all things and believed that He came from God. Thomas - Jn 20:24-28 "Although Thomas the Twin was one of the twelve disciples, he wasn't with the others when Jesus appeared to them. So they told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But Thomas said, "First, I must see the nail scars in his hands and touch them with my finger. I must put my hand where the spear went into his side. I won't believe unless I do this!" A week later the disciples were together again. This time, Thomas was with them. Jesus came in while the doors were still locked and stood in the middle of the group. He greeted his disciples and said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and look at my hands! Put your hand into my side. Stop doubting and have faith!" Thomas replied, "You are my Lord and my God!"" . Skeptical of the other apostles' testimony Thomas was convinced by empirical evidence that Jesus was Lord and God.Such testimony did not come without a price; one must wonder what their motive was to lie (if such was the case)

Now let’s look at some of the testimony offered by the masses. Nicodemus - Jn 3:1-2 "There was a man named Nicodemus who was a Pharisee and a Jewish leader. One night he went to Jesus and said, "Sir, we know that God has sent you to teach us. You could not work these miracles, unless God were with you."". Nicodemus was an official of the Sanhedrin council - cf. Jn 7:50-51 "Nicodemus was there at the time. He was a member of the council, and was the same one who had earlier come to see Jesus. He said, "Our Law doesn't let us condemn people before we hear what they have to say. We cannot judge them before we know what they have done."". He confessed Jesus to be a teacher from God. The Samaritans - Jn 4:19 "The woman said, "Sir, I can see that you are a prophet." , 42 "They told the woman, "We no longer have faith in Jesus just because of what you told us. We have heard him ourselves, and we are certain that he is the Savior of the world!"" . The woman at the well confessed Him to be a prophet. The villagers were convinced that He was the Christ, the savior of the world. n The multitude (offering a divided opinion). "He is a good man" vs. "He leads the multitude away" - Jn 7:12 "The crowds even got into an argument about him. Some were saying, "Jesus is a good man," while others were saying, "He is lying to everyone."". "The Prophet" or "the Christ" vs. doubt concerning Him - Jn 7:40-43 "When the crowd heard Jesus say this, some of them said, "He must be the Prophet!" Others said, "He is the Messiah!" Others even said, "Can the Messiah come from Galilee? The Scriptures say that the Messiah will come from the family of King David. Doesn't this mean that he will be born in David's hometown of Bethlehem?" The people started taking sides against each other because of Jesus.". "The King of Israel" vs. "Crucify Him!" - cf. Jn 12:12-13 "The next day a large crowd was in Jerusalem for Passover. When they heard that Jesus was coming for the festival, they took palm branches and went out to greet him. They shouted, "Hooray! God bless the one who comes in the name of the Lord! God bless the King of Israel!""; 19:15 ""Kill him! Kill him!" they yelled. "Nail him to a cross!" "So you want me to nail your king to a cross?" Pilate asked. The chief priests replied, "The Emperor is our king!"". The Jews (also divided) - Jn 10:19-21 "The people took sides because of what Jesus had told them. Many of them said, "He has a demon in him! He is crazy! Why listen to him?" But others said, "How could anyone with a demon in him say these things? No one like that could give sight to a blind person!"". "He has a demon and is mad!". "Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?". The man born blind - Jn 9:17 "they asked the man, "What do you say about this one who healed your eyes?" "He is a prophet!" the man told them." , 25 "The man replied, "I don't know if he is a sinner or not. All I know is that I used to be blind, but now I can see!"". "He is a prophet". "One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see." Pilate - Jn 18:38 "Pilate asked Jesus, "What is truth?" Pilate went back out and said, "I don't find this man guilty of anything!"; 19:4 "Once again Pilate went out. This time he said, "I will have Jesus brought out to you again. Then you can see for yourselves that I have not found him guilty."", 6 "When the chief priests and the temple police saw him, they yelled, "Nail him to a cross! Nail him to a cross!" Pilate told them, "You take him and nail him to a cross! I don't find him guilty of anything."". The Roman governor who interrogated Jesus stated three times: "I find no fault in Him." The testimony of these human witnesses varies, but is seems that the closer one got to Jesus, the more convinced they became that He was who He claimed to be.

Finally let’s look at the testimony of His enemies. The officers, sent to arrest Him - Jn 7:45-46 "When the temple police returned to the chief priests and Pharisees, they were asked, "Why didn't you bring Jesus here?" They answered, "No one has ever spoken like that man!"". Sent by the chief priests and Pharisees to arrest Jesus they were so moved by Jesus, they could not arrest Him ("No man ever spoke like this Man!"). The Pharisees - Jn 11:47-48 "Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called the council together and said, "What should we do? This man is working a lot of miracles. If we don't stop him now, everyone will put their faith in him. Then the Romans will come and destroy our temple and our nation."". They acknowledged that Jesus worked many signs and was aware of His great influence. They may have tried to deny who He claimed to be, but they did not try to deny what He did.

I will close our lesson with some thoughts concerning the human testimony recorded by John. For one seeking to produce faith in Jesus, John demonstrates remarkable objectivity. He does not gloss over the fact that many did not believe in Jesus. He presents a fair representation of the human testimony concerning Jesus. Some believed in Jesus, others did not; but note carefully, those who knew Him best, believed in Him. Those who were ignorant of the facts, were quick to deny Him. Even His enemies could not deny the force of His teachings and the power of His miracles. They could only try to attribute His power to the devil. As a last resort, they felt they had to kill Him. What about us today? What will we do with Jesus? Will we make the effort to learn more about Him? Will we be like many who were quick to draw conclusions before they had all the facts? Jesus made a powerful impression upon those who saw and heard Him. Those who knew Him best were even more impressed. Hopefully, their testimony will encourage us to consider what further testimony John presents in His gospel about Jesus, the Son of God.