John 5:41-47 (CLICK HERE FOR BIBLE VERSES)
Hi GAMErs,
Today’s passage is John 5:41-47. I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help, then read the GAME sharing below. Let’s go!
John 5:41-44 (NIV)
41 “I do not accept praise from men,
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 if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?
On verses 41-44: Interesting. Jesus seems to be saying that if we’re all about living for people’s praise and approval and are not interested in pleasing God, the result is that we won’t have the love of God in our hearts (v42), we will reject Jesus in favour of others (v43) and have a weak and ineffective faith (“how can you believe” – v44). In other words, whose praise you live for will greatly impact how much real faith, hope and love you have.
John 5:45-47 (NIV)
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?”
On verse 45: Why does Jesus call Moses “your accuser” (v45)? It’s because Moses wrote down God’s law, the ultimate purpose of which was to show people how far they fall short of God’s standards. So “Moses” here is a reference to the Jewish law, not so much Moses the person. While Moses (i.e. the Jewish law) accused the Jews and showed them that they were sinners who failed God’s standards and who deserved death as punishment, Jesus came not to accuse and punish the Jews further for their sins but to save them from their sins.
Jesus says that his Jewish audience had set their hopes on Moses (v45b). How had they done so? The Jews had set their hopes on Moses in that they thought that by obeying the Jewish law they could gain eternal life. The Jews thought that they could earn God’s approval and entrance into heaven by their own merit and performance. But in thinking this way, they missed the point of the Jewish law, which ultimately was there to show their need for a Saviour. That is why Jesus came: to be the Saviour that the Jewish people and all people everywhere need.
In what way did Moses write about Jesus (v46)? By writing down the law which revealed our need for a Saviour, by instituting a system for sacrificing animals as atonement for sins, Moses was effectively painting pictures that were ultimately pointing to Jesus, the lamb of God who takes away our sins. In this way Moses “wrote about” (v46) Jesus. Some scholars believe that Deuteronomy 18:15 is also Moses writing about Jesus and how he would come to earth one day. However, by not seeing their need for a Saviour when they thought about the law, by not recognizing Jesus as the lamb of God who would take away their sins, and by not recognizing Jesus as the one whom Moses said would come, Jesus’ hearers were effectively not believing what Moses had written (v47), despite them saying that they were aligned with Moses.
Lord Jesus, may I be focused on pleasing You and not living for the praise of people, that real faith, real hope and real love from You would fill my life. Thank You for not coming not as our accuser but as the Saviour we need, the One whom Moses wrote about. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
Copyright © 2021 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.
