Under Jewish law a man's testimony about himself was not valid, it needed two or three other witnesses. Jesus' confidence was based on His Father's testimony. This could refer to the continual testimony of Scripture (Lk 24:27), or the Holy Spirit descending on Him at His baptism, or the voice of God at the same time (Matt 3:16,17).
Jesus refers also to other witnesses. First to John the Baptist. John had attracted a large following, but he had testified that Jesus was the Lamb of God. Jesus referred to John only for the benefit of His hearers.
The things that Jesus did testified that He was indeed the Son of God. The things that Jesus did demonstrated who He was.
The Jewish leaders needed to accept their true state. They had not seen God (unlike Jesus, who was with the Father from the very beginning). A key step towards true wisdom is to accept the limits of our knowledge. In terms of science we do well to recognise our limits. None of us were there at the beginning of creation, we only have scientific readings for at most a few hundred years, so any claims about what happened billions of years ago should at least be treated with a degree of caution!
They spent lots of their life studying the Scriptures, yet had learnt nothing. The mere fact of studying the Bible is not enough. We need to come to the Word of God in humility, ready to be taught by God, not looking to prove our own pet theories. We need to bow down to the person of Jesus Christ, then we can truly learn something.
The stupidity of the Jewish leaders was that they accepted other false messiahs at various times (and suffered greatly because of it), but refused to believe the one who would have given them true life.
The most galling thing for the Jewish leaders would be that at the judgement it would be Moses who would accuse them, for he testified to Jesus.
Jesus refers also to other witnesses. First to John the Baptist. John had attracted a large following, but he had testified that Jesus was the Lamb of God. Jesus referred to John only for the benefit of His hearers.
The things that Jesus did testified that He was indeed the Son of God. The things that Jesus did demonstrated who He was.
The Jewish leaders needed to accept their true state. They had not seen God (unlike Jesus, who was with the Father from the very beginning). A key step towards true wisdom is to accept the limits of our knowledge. In terms of science we do well to recognise our limits. None of us were there at the beginning of creation, we only have scientific readings for at most a few hundred years, so any claims about what happened billions of years ago should at least be treated with a degree of caution!
They spent lots of their life studying the Scriptures, yet had learnt nothing. The mere fact of studying the Bible is not enough. We need to come to the Word of God in humility, ready to be taught by God, not looking to prove our own pet theories. We need to bow down to the person of Jesus Christ, then we can truly learn something.
The stupidity of the Jewish leaders was that they accepted other false messiahs at various times (and suffered greatly because of it), but refused to believe the one who would have given them true life.
The most galling thing for the Jewish leaders would be that at the judgement it would be Moses who would accuse them, for he testified to Jesus.
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