(Nuggets from John 5:39)
It was during a Jewish feast, precisely the FEAST OF TABERNACLES, and Jesus had just healed a man who had been paralyzed for 38 years at the pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath day. This miracle sparked an outrage among the Jewish religious leaders because it “broke” their Sabbath rules.
The healed man was asked who healed him, but he didn't know until Jesus found him in the temple and consolidated his healing, telling him "Behold, you are made whole, go and sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto you.."
It was at this point he knew that Jesus was the one who healed him, and then he went and told the Jews innocently that it was Jesus that healed him, not knowing they wanted to kill Jesus.
The Jewish leaders began to persecute Jesus and eventually sought to kill Him for two reasons:
1. Healing (doing “work”) on the Sabbath.
They alleged He was claiming God was His Father, thereby “making Himself equal with God.” (v. 18).
2. Jesus’ defense (John 5:19-47):
Jesus gave a powerful speech about His divine authority and unity with the Father. He listed four infallible witnesses that prove He is the Messiah and the Son of God:
A). John the Baptist (verses 33–35)
B). His own miraculous works (verse 36)
C). God the Father Himself (verses 37–38)
D). The Scriptures (verses 39) ← this is where verse 39 comes in.
Jesus turned directly to the religious Jews who prided themselves on their deep knowledge of Scripture:
John 5:39 (Amplified version)
"You search and investigate and pore over the Scriptures diligently, because you suppose and trust that you have eternal life through them. And these [very Scriptures] testify about Me!"
It was such a stunning rebuke:
They treated the Scriptures as an academic treasure that gave them religious status, while completely missing the point that the entire Old Testament is one GIANT ARROW pointing to Jesus as the only source of eternal life.
John 5:39 was Jesus exposing religious hypocrisy and biblical scholarship without faith in Him. You can know the Bible perfectly and still be lost if you don’t come to the Person the Bible is all about.
"You search the scriptures, and therefore, if you were not willfully blind, you would believe in me."
It is possible for men to be very studious in the letter of the scripture, and yet to be strangers to the power and influence of it.
Today, God enjoins us through this verse to SEARCH THE ENTIRE SCRIPTURE, comparing one passage with another, and seek explanations from experienced vessels of God who are knowledgeable in the scriptures and have their eyes of understanding enlightened.
Study the scriptures with one another, not once in a blue moon, but REGULARLY.
Search scripture passages with an intent to UNDERSTAND it, not just to read it as every other literature.
Read in between the lines, and see not what they seem to say prima facie (at the first appearance), but what they say INDEED.
Jesus is speaking to EVERY GENUINE FOLLOWER of His, both as an advice and a command to SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES.
All those who would love to find Christ MUST search the scriptures, not only read them, and hear them, but search them, which denotes:
1. Diligence in seeking, labor, and study, and thorough meditation.
2. Desire of finding. You must aim at some spiritual benefit and advantage in reading and studying the scripture, and often ask, "What am I now searching for?" You must search it as though you are looking for hidden treasures (Proverbs 2:4), as someone exploring and mining gold or someone diving for pearls with the intent of harvesting pearls from oysters in the deep blue sea.
This attitude of SEARCHING THE SCRIPTURES WITH INTENTIONALITY was what ennobled the Bereans. (Acts 17:11)
Now there are two things which we are here directed to have in our eye, in our searching the scripture: HEAVEN IN VIEW AS YOUR ULTIMATE DESTINATION, and JESUS CHRIST AS YOUR ONLY WAY TO HEAVEN.
1). You must SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES as the ONLY COMPASS that will direct you to find your WAY TO HEAVEN - JESUS.
The scripture assures you of an ETERNAL BLISS set before you, and offers to you ETERNAL LIFE therein: it contains the chart that describes it, the charter that conveys it, the direction in the way that leads to it, and the foundation upon which the hope of it is built and this is worth searching for where we are sure to find it.
Jesus said to the Jews, "You think you have eternal life in the scriptures", because, though they did retain the belief and hope of eternal life, and grounded their expectations of it upon the scriptures, yet herein they missed it, that they looked for it by the bare reading and studying of the scripture as an ACADEMIC BOOK.
It was a common but corrupt saying among them, "he that has the words of the law has eternal life", because they thought they were sure of Heaven if they could say by heart, or recite the verses, so they concluded all the learned amongst them undoubtedly had eternal life.
What an error!
2). You must SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES TO FIND JESUS CHRIST, as the ONLY WAY that leads to this end and GUARANTEES ETERNAL LIFE.
"These are they, the great and principal witnesses, that testify of me". Note, first, the SCRIPTURES, even the Old Testament, testify of Christ, and by them God bears witness of Him. The Spirit of Christ in the prophets testified beforehand of Him (1 Peter 1:11), the purposes and promises of God concerning Him - the SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST, and the GLORY THAT SHOULD FOLLOW.
The Jews knew very well that the Old Testament testified of the Messiah, and were critical in their remarks upon the passages that looked that way and yet were careless LESS CONCERNED about applying them.
LIKE THE BEREAN CHURCH, SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES EVERYDAY, AND YOU WILL FIND ALL THE ANSWERS YOU SEEK.
This is HOLINESS CHALLENGE
DAY 339 OF 365🔥
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