John 5:30-47New International Version (NIV)
30 By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.
Testimonies About Jesus
31 “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. 32 There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is true. 33 “You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth. 34 Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved. 35 John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light. 36 “I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to finish—the very works that I am doing—testify that the Father has sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, 38 nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. 39 You study[a] the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life. 41 “I do not accept glory from human beings, 42 but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. 43 I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. 44 How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God[b]? 45 “But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. 46 If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. 47 But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?”
Where did Moses write about Jesus?
Deuteronomy 18:14-22
New International Version (NIV)
The Prophet
14 The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so. 15 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him. 16 For this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.”
17 The Lord said to me: “What they say is good. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. 19 I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name. 20 But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, is to be put to death.”
21 You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?” 22 If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously, so do not be alarmed.
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To give you some background on the Scripture in John Chapter 5, we read that Jesus just healed a man who was a beggar who was crippled and could not walk. Jesus healed him on the Sabbath and told him to pick up his mat and walk. The religiuous leaders of the time were angered that someone healed a man on a Sabbath. How dare this healed man carry anything on the Sabbath. They later found it was Jesus who healed this man and then they wanted to destroy him. Let's think about that for a moment: Jesus healed a man, told him to get up and walk and carry his mat and what he said to do - HAPPENED.
The Author of Life was before man and was saying to them - don't let religion get in the way of the truth. Jesus is the truth. Jesus is the way. No man can come to the Father (God) but through Jesus.
I agree with Lance on his previous post, Religion is the problem. We let tradition and practice get in the way Jesus Christ, the Son of God. We let our insecurities and pride and anger and search for significance and lust in the way of true faith. Jesus said to these leaders that they search the scriptures daily (a lot of these leaders even memorized books of the Bible. In their very own brand of religion, they missed the one and only true Messiah.
What are you holding to? Are you missing the very one who calls us to be his? We should listen to God's Son as He is the way, the truth and the life. Moses had so much to saw about this man:
- Jesus is represented as the Passover Lamb (why we need the perfect Lamb)
- Jesus testified that He is the bread of life (Moses prayed for Manna)
- Jesus is the Living Water (Moses struck the Rock for water)
- Jesus is the prophet that Moses spoke about
From Genesis to Revelation please don't misunderstand that Jesus is the reason, the way and the only truth we should believe to be saved. Religion will not, could not nor ever will replace Him.
Be a true disciple,
Dante