John 5:45-47 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuses you, even Moses, in whom you trust.… There is much controversy about the Book. It will be interesting, amid the din and tumult, to find out what Christ thought of it. If He makes it out to be a good Book, I shall continue my faith in it. If He is hesitant or doubtful, I shall not hesitate to give it up. I. IN REGARD TO OTHERS. 1. He commended it as an object of study. (1) Without one word of caution. He points to it as you would point your child to a garden, where you give him liberty to roam where and eat what it may. If there was a pit there, or a poisonous serpent, and your child came to harm, you would be to blame. So Christ sends us to the Bible, and takes the entire responsibility. (2) Authoritatively; not with a polite wish, but with a command. We want to do away with the imperative mood, and are inviting people to be courteous enough to let the sunlight into their chambers. If you have any doubt about your Bible, then go like a crouching dog and ask people to kindly listen to your tale. But if it be in your heart as the life of your life, then speak it boldly and lovingly. (3) Completely. He does not say, "When you come upon anything that taxes your fancy, put that into the waste-paper basket, and go on; when you meet with a difficulty, pass it by, and accept what you can accept; when something appears incredible, reject it, and pass on to what you can accept." Had there been anything wrong there I know, because I know His truth and nobleness, that He would have told me of it. 2. He declared its absolute integrity, and exactly as a truth-speaking man would do. Persons came to Him with a difficulty, and in His answer there is this parenthesis: "The Scriptures cannot be broken." This was not special pleading. The subject had no reference to Scripture. The remark is casual and unstudied, and one on which those who examine witnesses place great reliance. He had the opportunity of making annotations, of saying, "I now refer to the moral parts," or "I am speaking eclectically"; but His whole assumption, on the contrary, broadens out into an infinite confidence in the integrity of the Scriptures. 3. He taught that it contains the great answers to all the great questions of the soul(1) As regards duty. A man came to Him, asking, "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus instantly replied, "What is written in the law?" and showed that that great question had been answered from the beginning. (2) As regards destiny. In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus He showed that the men of olden time did not go down to hell without warning. "If they hear not Moses," etc. II. IN REGARD TO HIMSELF. He was not a mere lecturer about the Bible. 1. He fled Himself to it in the time of His temptation and agony. "It is written." In His great crisis He goes to the Bible; He has it in His heart; He quotes it as if He had written it. 2. Coming out of the wilderness into society, we find Him even quoting it in self-vindication. Again and again He said to learned men, "Have ye never read?" To His own disciples, "How is it that ye do not understand?" And when He began to read, their hearts began to burn. They had been reading the Scriptures, and yet had made nothing of them, like many to-day. Read it with Christ, and you will find His person, claims, promises, vindicated everywhere. 3. Christ found Himself in the whole Bible. "Had ye believed Moses," etc. "Beginning at Moses," etc. And what is the Old Testament testimony to Him? That He is Creator, Preserver, Redeemer, Sovereign, Friend; "the same to-day, yesterday, and for ever." Then search the Scriptures; read them through. 1. This alone will qualify you for criticizing it. 2. This alone will give you solid comfort and eternal life. (J. Parker, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. |
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