Read John 5:24–6:15
In this section, we’re coming off the heels of the religious leaders “trying all the more to kill” Jesus, and we end with the people almost taking “him by force to make him king” (5:18; 6:15). Talk about whiplash. But sandwiched between these two misunderstandings of who Jesus is and what He came to do is Jesus’ own testimony about who He is as a person and His work.
Jesus lays out three major topics here: judgment and resurrection, true testimony, and receiving that testimony.
About resurrection and judgment, He says that everyone will be raised, and He will be their just judge.
About true testimony, He explains why they should (already) believe Him. Though Jesus’ self-testimony is obviously true to us, He references the testimonies of John the Baptist and God the Father. Referencing these two other witnesses follows the teaching in Deuteronomy, where two to three witnesses are required to establish a charge as true (19:15; 17:1).
Although unnecessary, Jesus abides by the two-witness rule, written by Moses, then tops it off with Moses as the third witness. Jesus shows He is adhering to the letter of the law in response to their accusation that Jesus breaks the letter of the law. About receiving truth, Jesus says that despite His true testimony, they don’t accept him and they don’t have God’s word residing in them, even though they pour over the Scriptures. So here’s the question for us: do we merely read God’s words, or do we have God’s Word dwelling in us? Jesus is highlighting the chasm of the difference between knowing about God and knowing God.
Begin praying with Psalm 50:16–17:
“But God says to the wicked:
‘What right do you have to recite my statutes
and to take my covenant on your lips?
You hate instruction
and fling my words behind you.’”