Articles
The Fourfold Witness
At any point in history and anywhere in the world, if someone appeared and claimed to be a god, we would expect to see some proof of that claim before we would believe. Just as we would expect someone knocking on our door claiming to be the police department, we would expect them to show some identification — some proof that they were who they claimed to be. We expect proof and evidence for many things before believing, and on a much greater scale for the one who would come to this earth and claim to be the Son of God.
And it would not be enough if the one making such a claim had only his own testimony as evidence; even Jesus said that: “If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true [valid]” (John 5:31). In the first century, there was one who was “claiming to be somebody,” but after this man was killed, “all who obeyed him were scattered and came to nothing” (Acts 5:36). Another had also risen up and drew followers, but when he died, his followers, too, “were dispersed” (Acts 5:37). When Jesus foretold of the coming fall of Jerusalem, He warned His disciples, “false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect” (Matt. 24:23, 24). It should be obvious that there will be many who can make a claim that cannot be verified, and there is no reason to believe without that evidence and proof of the claim.
But Jesus did not have only His own testimony! Yes, Jesus made the claim to be the Christ and Son of God [despite what modern-day ‘scholars’ say], but He did not expect anyone to simply take Him at His word. He even noted to a disbelieving audience that He had at least four witnesses to the claim He made. Let us consider those witnesses!
John the Baptist. Jesus told this audience, “You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth” (John 5:33), pointing to John the Baptist as one of the witnesses who testified to who Jesus was. So what did John say? Well, John once said, when he saw Jesus coming toward him, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). And if there is any doubt what John meant by that, he would follow that by saying, “I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God” (John 1:34).
John would later remind his followers that he had already told them, “I am not the Christ,’ but, I have been sent before Him,” and then told them, “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” (John 3:28-36). After having already pointed everyone to Jesus, the equation of Jesus as the Son of God is obvious! John was a witness to the claim Jesus made to be the Son of God because John had been sent by God to do just that!
The Works Jesus Did. But Jesus also noted, “But I have a greater witness than John’s; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish—the very works that I do—bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me” (John 5:36). Nicodemus recognized this truth when he told Jesus, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him” (John 3:2). Many in Jerusalem, when they saw the things Jesus did, exclaimed, “When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?” (John 7:31); they recognized that such signs would be evidence of the Christ’s appearance!
When the gospel message was first preached on the Day of Pentecost, Peter began by reminding the audience — who were familiar with Jesus and His works — that Jesus was “a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know” (Acts 2:22). Clearly, these signs should have told the witnesses that Jesus was indeed the Son of God!
The Father. Of course, Jesus had an even greater witness than John or even the works He did; He had the testimony of God Himself! To this audience, Jesus said, “There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true…And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me” (John 5:32, 37). We may remember the two occasions when God spoke — at the baptism of Jesus and on the mount of transfiguration — and said plainly, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17; 17:5).
The strength of this testimony lies in the fact “God…cannot lie” (Titus 1:2) and “it is impossible for God to lie” (Heb. 6:18). With this being the case, there could be no greater witness than this! Just as it was noted by Nicodemus, the works Jesus did would not be possible if He was not of God, and those works were, in fact, God’s testimony to the claim of Jesus. John reminds us, “he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son” (1 John 5:10, 11). God said so!
The Scriptures. Jesus concluded His ‘witness list’ by telling the audience, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me” (John 5:39). In other words, the written word of God [for them, the Old Testament] testified to Jesus. But how so?
The most obvious means of the Scriptures’ testimony of Jesus was through the numerous prophecies about who the Christ would be. It is said that there are over 300 prophecies regarding the coming Christ, beyond just the fact of the Christ being prophesied! Professor Peter W. Stoner, Chairman of the Departments of Mathematics and Astronomy at Pasadena City College and Chairman of the science division at Westmont College, calculated the likelihood of someone fulfilling just 48 of those prophecies at 1 in 10157 — effectively impossible. Impossible without God, that is.
The point of this article is the point of the words of Jesus to that particular audience: There is enough evidence and more-than-credible testimony to the validity of His claim to be the Christ and Son of God. We really have no excuse for disbelief. But, just as many disbelieved in the first century — some of whom were eyewitnesses to the words and works of Jesus — there will be some today who deny the evidence or simply dismiss the evidence without a fair or thorough consideration. Denial does not change reality, though, and it does not change the weight of the testimony.
Post mortem. While all these things and ones testified to the truth of the claim of Jesus to be the Christ and Son of God, there is one more thing that we should consider: His resurrection. Paul noted in his opening words to the Roman brethren that he was a bondservant to “Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Rom. 1:1-4). Just as God would not have permitted Jesus to do such great works if His claim was false, so God would not have raised Jesus from the dead if He was a fraud. But when He raised Him, the testimony was complete.
Do you believe it? — Steven Harper
