Witness

You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they who bear witness about me

John 5:39

Jesus was explaining to the religious leaders that he is the Son of God. In the Law of Moses there needed to be 2 or three witnesses to establish a matter. Jesus pointed to his miraculous signs, the testimony of John the Baptist, and here, the witness of Scripture.

The religious leaders diligently searched the Scriptures because they thought that in them they had life. But they missed the wood for the trees. They couldn't see that the Scriptures testified of Jesus.

It's like a jury that find a witness statement compelling and compulsive reading, who then go on to come to the complete opposite conclusion to it. It's like they've decided that the Scriptures are not about how God will reconcile a people to himself through the promised Messiah. Instead they think it's about us redeeming ourselves by trying to observe the Law.

But as Jesus goes on to say, even Moses, in whom they trusted, would condemn them because he promised another prophet who would show how we can be delivered from sin God. Jesus is that final prophet, who calls people to look to him and be saved. There is salvation in none other.

"Father God, thank you for sending your Son with compelling evidence that he is who he claims to be. Help me to worship him as he really is, and forgive me for times I've failed to recognise him in his gloriousness. For your sake, amen"