Volume 1, Issue 13
13 Aug 2015
 How did the Father—Christ’s divine witness—testify for the Son? According to Jesus, it was through “the works” of “the Father” done through Him and the “word” of “the Father” testifying of Him (John 5:36-47).
First, there were the “works” of “the Father” done through Christ (John 5:36).
- “There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.” (John 3:1-2)
- “Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth. Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. If this man were not of God, he could do nothing.” (John 9:31-33)
- “If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.” (John 10:37-38)
- “Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.” (John 14:8-11)
Second, there was the “word” of “the Father” testifying of Christ. To begin with, there was the spoken Word (John 5:37-38).
- The word spoken at Christ’s baptism — “And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:16-17)
- The word spoken at Christ’s transfiguration — “And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And…a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.” (Matthew 17:1-5)
There is a passage of Scripture in John’s Gospel that I call the “thunder blunder.” It speaks volumes about the spiritual deafness of our day. In this passage, John 12:27-29, Jesus prays to the Father to “glorify [His] name.” Afterward, the Father answers from Heaven and says, “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” The people who are standing by hear the Father’s voice but mistake it for thunder. They hear a noise, but not the voice; they simply can’t make out what God is saying.
This reminds me of Paul’s conversion on Damascus Road. According to Paul, he alone saw Jesus and heard His voice (Acts 9:7, 22). Those with him only heard a sound and saw a light. They did not hear the voice nor see the Savior; consequently, Paul alone was miraculously transformed.
How many people in our churches today hear noises but never the still, small voice of the Spirit (1 Kings 19:12)? How many have “seen the light,” but never the Lord? Every now and then, the Father speaks to a heart revealing His Son and miraculously transforms some life, but for the most part, folks today remain unchanged mistaking the call of Christ for clapping thunder.
Unfortunately, our day, like Christ’s day, is filled with people who have neither “heard [God’s] voice at any time, nor seen his shape” in anything. They can’t see the Creator in creation, the glory of God in the face of Jesus, the love of God in the Gospel story or the truth of God in the Bible. Neither can they hear the witness of the Spirit convicting their heart of sin and counseling them to come to the Savior.
No matter how many times and ways God reveals Himself to them, they never see Him. No matter how or how often God speaks to them, they never hear Him. They have neither spiritual ears to hear nor spiritual eyes to see.
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Don Walton
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