John 3:31-36
Jesus the Witness
Introduction:
Read the passage and Pray………………
Scholars disagree as to who spoke these words, whether it was John the Baptist or John the Apostle. They also do not agree who wrote verses 16 through 21 either. In the original writings of the manuscripts the authors did not use quotation marks. There is no significant impact on the interpretation of this passage based on who spoke here, so, we need not divide ourselves over which man’s words they actually were. Ultimately, because all Scripture is God-breathed (2 Tim. 3:16), God is the ultimate Source of these words.
Witness
The emphasis of this passage is on witness (testimony). This is a key theme in John’s gospel as the Greek word for witness occurs 47 times. It’s the word from which we get our English word, “martyr”. The gospel starts out with John the Baptist as a witness to Jesus. Then we see Andrew witness to Peter and Phillip witness to Nathanael.
But the reason Jesus came was to also be a witness. Listen to Hebrews chapter 1 verse 1, “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things and through whom he made the universe.”
Chapter 1 verse 18, “No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.” God has made Himself known by His Son; the Father sent His Son to bear witness of Him, in other words, to explain and make known who the Father is. If you have ever looked up into the sky, or, if you have ever hung your head in despair and asked the question, “God are you there? God, will you let me know you are real? I want – no, I need – to know.” God has answered that prayer by sending His Son into the world.
John the Baptist Cult
Remember our context. John the Baptist has just told his disciples that Jesus must become greater and that he himself must become less. They were upset that Jesus’ ministry was growing at the expense of John’s ministry. They never got over it.
And probably from these very men – these disciples of John the Baptist - a cult developed that is even still in existence today. They are called the Mandeans, and they are a small group over in Iraq and Iran that believe John the Baptist is the Messiah and that Jesus was a false prophet.
Ephesus seems to be a place that this cult was growing. We see in Acts 18 that Apollos was in Ephesus and although he was a fierce and successful debater who proved Jesus from the Scriptures, it says that he was only aware of the baptism of John.
And then, in the next chapter, Acts 19, we see Paul on his 2nd missionary journey. (Turn there with me please). Read verses 1-5.
These guys never heard of the Holy Spirit, they only had received the baptism of John, and, they are 15 years later and 500 miles away from where and when John the Baptist ministered. It seems very likely that they never met John, but, they had only met his disciples ….the disciples who didn’t like Jesus. The disciples that would only teach the baptism of repentance that John did, and not the baptism of the Holy Spirit that came from Jesus.
John the Apostle Combats the Baptist Cult
So while this John the Baptist cult is around Ephesus, guess who comes to Ephesus later on? John the Apostle, the writer of John’s Gospel. Why is this important?
Because the emphasis on John the Baptist’s inferiority to Jesus, and the careful effort to show that he was only the forerunner to the Christ, was to combat the lingering disciple’s of John the Baptist and their denial of Jesus Christ as the Messiah.
That’s why in chapter one we so much attention given to John the Baptist – John the Apostle, now in his 80’s, and having been combating these guys for decades, was going to put pen to parchment, write a gospel and record the truth about the true identity of Jesus Christ, and the identity of John the Baptist. He uses John the Baptist’s own words to as a testimony: Verse 28, “You yourselves can testify that I said ‘I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.’”
Why do we Listen to Jesus’ Witness?
Verses 31-36 focus on Jesus as a witness. Why should we listen to His witness? With so many voices in the world, with so many paths available to follow, with so many claims to what is true – why do we listen to the words of Jesus? Because the testimony and witness that Jesus Christ gives is supreme to all others. His words are true because He is truth, John 14:6. But, John gives us 4 reasons to accept the testimony of Jesus: 1) the Source, 2) the Certification, 3) the Spirit, and, 4) the Sovereignty.
The Source
First of all, I want us to see the Source of Jesus testimony. Jesus came from heaven. Notice verse 31, “The One who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks as one from the earth. The One who comes from heaven is above all.”
Whereas John the Baptist was called by heaven to be a witness, Jesus came from heaven as a witness.
I’ve been trying to help my wife with some misconceptions she has since we’ve been married. She seems to think that all soft drinks can be called a Coke. I’ve been counseling her for 2 years that they are called Pop, and that Coke is a brand of Pop. But she’s a Hoosier and the Lord can overlook that.
Where you come from affects how you talk. “Nicodemus, I’m telling you about earthly things and you don’t believe how are you going to believe if I tell you about the heavenly things I’ve seen and heard? Nobody but me has ever gone into heaven – I’ve come from heaven.”
No man came from heaven; God came from heaven (John 1:1). Jesus is God’s perfect, ultimate, and final representative. He existed in the form of God – equal with God (Phil. 2:6) and being with God in eternity was God (John 1:1) before taking on the human flesh and nature (Jn. 1:14; Phil. 2:7-8); He is the image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15); the exact representation of God’s nature (Heb. 1:3); and in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form (Col. 2:9); 1 Corinthians 15:47 compares Adam and Jesus, “The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven.”
John the Baptist was the greatest man who ever lived. But he was a man and only a man. He is of the earth and spoke as one from the earth. Jesus Christ is the eternal God who came from heaven and became a man. He was the God-Man. He is from heaven and testifies to what He has heard from God and seen in heaven.
He testifies to the things He has heard in heaven from God. John 7:16, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me.” He tells the disciples intimate knowledge of God in 15:15, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead I call you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” He says in chapter 17, “I have revealed you (v. 6)….I gave them the words you gave me (v. 8) …. I have given them your word (v. 14) …. I have made you known to them (v. 26)”. His purpose was to bring God’s message to the world, to be a witness. Jesus is God’s ultimate, final and perfect witness.
The Seal
Second of all, the reason we accept Jesus witness is that we certify that God is truthful. Notice verse 32 and 33, “He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. The man who has accepted it has certified that God is truthful.”
That phrase, “has certified” there in the NIV, or, if you’re reading the NAS it says, “has set his seal”, means to approve of something as being true. It means to attest to something that it is valid, legitimate, and true.
This means that by putting my faith in what Jesus says, I am declaring God to be truthful. I believe Him. He is telling the truth. Romans 3:4, “Let God be true and every man a liar.” First John 5:10, “Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made Him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about His Son.” The last thing I want to do is call a liar the One I will face after I die. Rejecting His Son, and rejecting His testimony is equivalent – is equal to – is the same as – calling God a liar.
Notice 2 reactions to Jesus testimony: those who reject it and those who accept it. John is saying that in general – on the whole, the world rejects the testimony of Jesus Christ. We saw this back in chapter 1 verse 11, “He came to that which was his own but his own did not receive him.”
But, it is not a total rejection of Jesus for there are some who are going to receive Him. “The man who accepts it has certified that God is truthful.”
The Spirit
Thirdly, the reason Jesus testimony is supreme is that He has received the Spirit without measure. Read verse 34 with me, “For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit.”
He speaks the words of God because He has the Holy Spirit without any limit. First, we see a glimpse of the Trinitarian God here. We have God, we have the One whom God has sent, and we have the Spirit. One God, three persons. All four Gospels give the record of Jesus baptism. It was there that we learn the Spirit descended out of heaven like a dove onto Jesus. He receives the Spirit without limit, without measure.
We also see in the baptism of Jesus the teaching of the Trinity as well.
Jesus speaks the words of God – we can know what God says because Jesus has the Spirit without limit. We receive the Spirit inside of us as believers when we trust Christ as Savior. But, that is not like Jesus. We are sinful – He is sinless. We are only human – He is both God and human. We receive the Spirit in measure and with limit – He receives the Spirit without measure and without limit.
The Sovereignty
So we see the Source of Jesus testimony, the Certification (or Seal), the Spirit and lastly, we see the Sovereignty of Jesus. Jesus is sovereign, and therefore His testimony is to be accepted. Notice verse 35, “The Father loves the Son and has placed all things into his hands.”
The Father loves the Son. (Turn with me to John 5:20-23 please).
-He shows Him all that He does (Jesus said in John 15 that He shows His disciples all that the Father has shown Him. Jesus says in John 17 that He has made known the Father so that the Father’s love may be in them, and, so that Christ Himself may be in them.)
The Son also gives life…………-The Son judges all………-The Son is to be honored as the Father is honored
Jesus is sovereign over all. He has received authority from the highest authority in all of existence – God the Father, the Creator of all. Matthew 28 records Jesus words after He was raised from the dead, “All authority in heaven and on earth have been give to me.” Ephesians 1:20-22, “God seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God has placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church.” Everything has been placed in his hands. Everything has been put under his feet. The Bible says that Jesus has ultimate authority over all things.
The world hates Jesus (Jn. 7:7), but the Father loves Jesus. The Father has given Jesus all authority, the world rejects Jesus authority. But the world will be accountable to His authority. You and I are accountable to Him. Mohammed knows right now that Jesus is the highest authority. Buddha knows it. Joseph Smith (Mormans), Charles T. Russell (Jehovah’s Witness), Darwin, Voltaire, Pontius Pilate, and every other skeptic, and doubter who has died knows it right now.
Everyone is going to become a believer, either in this life or the next. That’s what Philippians says, “Every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord.” Every knee, and every tongue. There will be those who will bow and confess in shame because they rejected Christ, and there will be those of us who bow and confess in glory because finally, Christ will be revealed and reign.
Two Choices, Two Destinies
Verse 36, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.”
-This is stated so plainly I don’t know how else to explain it. There are two types of people in the world. Who are you? Either the man who believes in the Son and has eternal life. Or, you are the man who rejects the Son, you will not see life, and the wrath of God remains on you.
Correlation with verse 18, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but, whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
This is the only time John uses the word wrath in this gospel. Wrath is the Current Condition of the Unbeliever. God’s wrath is already on you – right now, as you sit here and hear these words the wrath of God is abiding on you. That means His holy displeasure, His holy indignation with your sinful condition has already been decided. There is no waiting until after you die to sort thru your life and weigh the good and the bad. God has already judged and declared you guilty. That is a here and now, present, current, real condition for all those who reject Jesus Christ as their only Savior.
You see, when we say God sent His Son to save the world, it is God whom He is saving the world from. It is God’s wrath that is on every single person that is appointed to come at some point.
Conclusion
The witness of Jesus Christ. He is God’s ultimate, perfect and final witness. Because of the Source of Jesus testimony (heaven)….. because we Certify the truthfulness of God when we believe his testimony …. Because Jesus has the Spirit without limit …………. Because He is Sovereign over all ……… and because by believing Him – by believing in His name is the only way to be saved ………. Then I beg you.
If you are here today and have never put your faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and your salvation from God’s wrath, then today I am begging you. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:20, “We implore you on Christ’s behalf: be reconciled to God.” Listen, heaven and hell are determined by the decision you make about Jesus Christ’s witness. Whether you are welcomed by God or under His wrath is at stake.
If God wanted you to remain under His wrath, to remain in condemnation, why would He send His Son? He sent His Son not to condemn you, but to save you (3:18). He sent His Son so that the love He has for His Son may be in you, and so that you could be in His love (17:26).
Jesus the Witness
Introduction:
Read the passage and Pray………………
Scholars disagree as to who spoke these words, whether it was John the Baptist or John the Apostle. They also do not agree who wrote verses 16 through 21 either. In the original writings of the manuscripts the authors did not use quotation marks. There is no significant impact on the interpretation of this passage based on who spoke here, so, we need not divide ourselves over which man’s words they actually were. Ultimately, because all Scripture is God-breathed (2 Tim. 3:16), God is the ultimate Source of these words.
Witness
The emphasis of this passage is on witness (testimony). This is a key theme in John’s gospel as the Greek word for witness occurs 47 times. It’s the word from which we get our English word, “martyr”. The gospel starts out with John the Baptist as a witness to Jesus. Then we see Andrew witness to Peter and Phillip witness to Nathanael.
But the reason Jesus came was to also be a witness. Listen to Hebrews chapter 1 verse 1, “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things and through whom he made the universe.”
Chapter 1 verse 18, “No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.” God has made Himself known by His Son; the Father sent His Son to bear witness of Him, in other words, to explain and make known who the Father is. If you have ever looked up into the sky, or, if you have ever hung your head in despair and asked the question, “God are you there? God, will you let me know you are real? I want – no, I need – to know.” God has answered that prayer by sending His Son into the world.
John the Baptist Cult
Remember our context. John the Baptist has just told his disciples that Jesus must become greater and that he himself must become less. They were upset that Jesus’ ministry was growing at the expense of John’s ministry. They never got over it.
And probably from these very men – these disciples of John the Baptist - a cult developed that is even still in existence today. They are called the Mandeans, and they are a small group over in Iraq and Iran that believe John the Baptist is the Messiah and that Jesus was a false prophet.
Ephesus seems to be a place that this cult was growing. We see in Acts 18 that Apollos was in Ephesus and although he was a fierce and successful debater who proved Jesus from the Scriptures, it says that he was only aware of the baptism of John.
And then, in the next chapter, Acts 19, we see Paul on his 2nd missionary journey. (Turn there with me please). Read verses 1-5.
These guys never heard of the Holy Spirit, they only had received the baptism of John, and, they are 15 years later and 500 miles away from where and when John the Baptist ministered. It seems very likely that they never met John, but, they had only met his disciples ….the disciples who didn’t like Jesus. The disciples that would only teach the baptism of repentance that John did, and not the baptism of the Holy Spirit that came from Jesus.
John the Apostle Combats the Baptist Cult
So while this John the Baptist cult is around Ephesus, guess who comes to Ephesus later on? John the Apostle, the writer of John’s Gospel. Why is this important?
Because the emphasis on John the Baptist’s inferiority to Jesus, and the careful effort to show that he was only the forerunner to the Christ, was to combat the lingering disciple’s of John the Baptist and their denial of Jesus Christ as the Messiah.
That’s why in chapter one we so much attention given to John the Baptist – John the Apostle, now in his 80’s, and having been combating these guys for decades, was going to put pen to parchment, write a gospel and record the truth about the true identity of Jesus Christ, and the identity of John the Baptist. He uses John the Baptist’s own words to as a testimony: Verse 28, “You yourselves can testify that I said ‘I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.’”
Why do we Listen to Jesus’ Witness?
Verses 31-36 focus on Jesus as a witness. Why should we listen to His witness? With so many voices in the world, with so many paths available to follow, with so many claims to what is true – why do we listen to the words of Jesus? Because the testimony and witness that Jesus Christ gives is supreme to all others. His words are true because He is truth, John 14:6. But, John gives us 4 reasons to accept the testimony of Jesus: 1) the Source, 2) the Certification, 3) the Spirit, and, 4) the Sovereignty.
The Source
First of all, I want us to see the Source of Jesus testimony. Jesus came from heaven. Notice verse 31, “The One who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks as one from the earth. The One who comes from heaven is above all.”
Whereas John the Baptist was called by heaven to be a witness, Jesus came from heaven as a witness.
I’ve been trying to help my wife with some misconceptions she has since we’ve been married. She seems to think that all soft drinks can be called a Coke. I’ve been counseling her for 2 years that they are called Pop, and that Coke is a brand of Pop. But she’s a Hoosier and the Lord can overlook that.
Where you come from affects how you talk. “Nicodemus, I’m telling you about earthly things and you don’t believe how are you going to believe if I tell you about the heavenly things I’ve seen and heard? Nobody but me has ever gone into heaven – I’ve come from heaven.”
No man came from heaven; God came from heaven (John 1:1). Jesus is God’s perfect, ultimate, and final representative. He existed in the form of God – equal with God (Phil. 2:6) and being with God in eternity was God (John 1:1) before taking on the human flesh and nature (Jn. 1:14; Phil. 2:7-8); He is the image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15); the exact representation of God’s nature (Heb. 1:3); and in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form (Col. 2:9); 1 Corinthians 15:47 compares Adam and Jesus, “The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven.”
John the Baptist was the greatest man who ever lived. But he was a man and only a man. He is of the earth and spoke as one from the earth. Jesus Christ is the eternal God who came from heaven and became a man. He was the God-Man. He is from heaven and testifies to what He has heard from God and seen in heaven.
He testifies to the things He has heard in heaven from God. John 7:16, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me.” He tells the disciples intimate knowledge of God in 15:15, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead I call you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” He says in chapter 17, “I have revealed you (v. 6)….I gave them the words you gave me (v. 8) …. I have given them your word (v. 14) …. I have made you known to them (v. 26)”. His purpose was to bring God’s message to the world, to be a witness. Jesus is God’s ultimate, final and perfect witness.
The Seal
Second of all, the reason we accept Jesus witness is that we certify that God is truthful. Notice verse 32 and 33, “He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. The man who has accepted it has certified that God is truthful.”
That phrase, “has certified” there in the NIV, or, if you’re reading the NAS it says, “has set his seal”, means to approve of something as being true. It means to attest to something that it is valid, legitimate, and true.
This means that by putting my faith in what Jesus says, I am declaring God to be truthful. I believe Him. He is telling the truth. Romans 3:4, “Let God be true and every man a liar.” First John 5:10, “Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made Him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about His Son.” The last thing I want to do is call a liar the One I will face after I die. Rejecting His Son, and rejecting His testimony is equivalent – is equal to – is the same as – calling God a liar.
Notice 2 reactions to Jesus testimony: those who reject it and those who accept it. John is saying that in general – on the whole, the world rejects the testimony of Jesus Christ. We saw this back in chapter 1 verse 11, “He came to that which was his own but his own did not receive him.”
But, it is not a total rejection of Jesus for there are some who are going to receive Him. “The man who accepts it has certified that God is truthful.”
The Spirit
Thirdly, the reason Jesus testimony is supreme is that He has received the Spirit without measure. Read verse 34 with me, “For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit.”
He speaks the words of God because He has the Holy Spirit without any limit. First, we see a glimpse of the Trinitarian God here. We have God, we have the One whom God has sent, and we have the Spirit. One God, three persons. All four Gospels give the record of Jesus baptism. It was there that we learn the Spirit descended out of heaven like a dove onto Jesus. He receives the Spirit without limit, without measure.
We also see in the baptism of Jesus the teaching of the Trinity as well.
Jesus speaks the words of God – we can know what God says because Jesus has the Spirit without limit. We receive the Spirit inside of us as believers when we trust Christ as Savior. But, that is not like Jesus. We are sinful – He is sinless. We are only human – He is both God and human. We receive the Spirit in measure and with limit – He receives the Spirit without measure and without limit.
The Sovereignty
So we see the Source of Jesus testimony, the Certification (or Seal), the Spirit and lastly, we see the Sovereignty of Jesus. Jesus is sovereign, and therefore His testimony is to be accepted. Notice verse 35, “The Father loves the Son and has placed all things into his hands.”
The Father loves the Son. (Turn with me to John 5:20-23 please).
-He shows Him all that He does (Jesus said in John 15 that He shows His disciples all that the Father has shown Him. Jesus says in John 17 that He has made known the Father so that the Father’s love may be in them, and, so that Christ Himself may be in them.)
The Son also gives life…………-The Son judges all………-The Son is to be honored as the Father is honored
Jesus is sovereign over all. He has received authority from the highest authority in all of existence – God the Father, the Creator of all. Matthew 28 records Jesus words after He was raised from the dead, “All authority in heaven and on earth have been give to me.” Ephesians 1:20-22, “God seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God has placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church.” Everything has been placed in his hands. Everything has been put under his feet. The Bible says that Jesus has ultimate authority over all things.
The world hates Jesus (Jn. 7:7), but the Father loves Jesus. The Father has given Jesus all authority, the world rejects Jesus authority. But the world will be accountable to His authority. You and I are accountable to Him. Mohammed knows right now that Jesus is the highest authority. Buddha knows it. Joseph Smith (Mormans), Charles T. Russell (Jehovah’s Witness), Darwin, Voltaire, Pontius Pilate, and every other skeptic, and doubter who has died knows it right now.
Everyone is going to become a believer, either in this life or the next. That’s what Philippians says, “Every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord.” Every knee, and every tongue. There will be those who will bow and confess in shame because they rejected Christ, and there will be those of us who bow and confess in glory because finally, Christ will be revealed and reign.
Two Choices, Two Destinies
Verse 36, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.”
-This is stated so plainly I don’t know how else to explain it. There are two types of people in the world. Who are you? Either the man who believes in the Son and has eternal life. Or, you are the man who rejects the Son, you will not see life, and the wrath of God remains on you.
Correlation with verse 18, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but, whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
This is the only time John uses the word wrath in this gospel. Wrath is the Current Condition of the Unbeliever. God’s wrath is already on you – right now, as you sit here and hear these words the wrath of God is abiding on you. That means His holy displeasure, His holy indignation with your sinful condition has already been decided. There is no waiting until after you die to sort thru your life and weigh the good and the bad. God has already judged and declared you guilty. That is a here and now, present, current, real condition for all those who reject Jesus Christ as their only Savior.
You see, when we say God sent His Son to save the world, it is God whom He is saving the world from. It is God’s wrath that is on every single person that is appointed to come at some point.
Conclusion
The witness of Jesus Christ. He is God’s ultimate, perfect and final witness. Because of the Source of Jesus testimony (heaven)….. because we Certify the truthfulness of God when we believe his testimony …. Because Jesus has the Spirit without limit …………. Because He is Sovereign over all ……… and because by believing Him – by believing in His name is the only way to be saved ………. Then I beg you.
If you are here today and have never put your faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and your salvation from God’s wrath, then today I am begging you. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:20, “We implore you on Christ’s behalf: be reconciled to God.” Listen, heaven and hell are determined by the decision you make about Jesus Christ’s witness. Whether you are welcomed by God or under His wrath is at stake.
If God wanted you to remain under His wrath, to remain in condemnation, why would He send His Son? He sent His Son not to condemn you, but to save you (3:18). He sent His Son so that the love He has for His Son may be in you, and so that you could be in His love (17:26).
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